INTERNAL EXILE

After "Vigil in a wilderness of mirrors" had been a promising new start for the singer - and a good selling one - he had to discover that EMI payed him only a fifth of the royalities as an artist - due to his contract subscribed as one of 5 members of Marillion ! The record company wasn't willing to improve the deal - and so he, quite understandably, headed out of it... well, he had to be "bought" out of it, and Polydor stepped in, paying in advance for an act that promised to be a "good investment" - and if sales-figures had remained as high as they were with Fish's debut, well, this move wouldn't have thrown ( enslaved ) him into so much debt. But, unfortunately, they did not, and it's not easy to figure out why, cause "Internal Exile" is a solid effort that starts out great with "Shadowplay" and "Credo", two of Fish's very best compositions, and though the rest of the album doesn't really keep that level it's still a very decent one. As a whole, well, it can't match its predecessor, but it's worth having for those two great tracks alone, and the title track is a lot of fun with Fish digging into his Scottish folk roots more distinctive than ever, while the head of his former record-company, my namesake Rupert Perry, even gets "his own song" for what had happened with "Speaking in tongues", an official "settlement" that may have left him unimpressed, but remains quite listenable in spite of its vicious contents. But pressures were high on the artist - and after "Internal Exile" had failed to sell as expected, Polydor did in no way act wiser than EMI... urging Fish to make a compromise that did not serve him well at all ( see my review to "Songs from the Mirror" ). If you like "Vigil", check out this one, too, it's not quite as impressive as a whole but still very enjoyable...