SONGS FROM THE MIRROR

For reasons best know to himself, but on the face of it unabashed self indulgence, Fish decided to record an entire album of cover versions. The songs chosen are among his favourites, but that does not necessarily mean they are suitable for his style.

The opening track, "Question" was a hit single for the Moody Blues in the early 70's, also appearing on their "Question of balance" album. It's a wonderful song, which requires the melodic tones of Justin Hayward to work. Fish has a very distinctive vocal style. He can at times sing quieter passages with great delicacy, but his delivery on up-tempo songs is less melodic. Thus, while his performance on the middle section of "Question" is adequate, the faster sections at the start and end are poor.

The Sensational Alex Harvey band's "Boston Tea Party" is a more appropriate choice in terms of suitability, although even here, Fish does not offer anything other than a faithful cover of the original. Argent's "Hold your head up" also holds up better, the chorus becoming a multi-tracked chant. It lacks Rod Argent's excellent organ solo though.

Elsewhere "Fearless" (Pink Floyd) has a good guitar riff, but lacks the distinctive football crowd ending. Tracks such as "Jeepster" (T Rex), and "Five years" (Bowie) are reasonably faithful to the originals.

What we do get is the opportunity to hear Fish performing a Genesis song, and thus the chance to compare his delivery with that of Peter Gabriel. The choruses of "I know what I like" do find Fish sounding very Gabrielesque, probably deliberately.

One has to "question" the purpose of this release. The songs are all very familiar, the definitive versions of each being the originals. If anything, all the album goes to show is that Fish is not that great a singer. He's fine within the bounds of his own material, but here he sounds like a so-so night-club performer, the versions he presents on this album are little more than his party pieces.

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