RAINGODS WITH ZIPPOS

There was something very wrong with the previous one, Sunsets on Empire ('97); I disliked it so much I sold it away quite soon after buying. This one I only borrowed, but probably wouldn't have been sorry at all for buying it instead. It has a mature, relaxed, clean production and song-writing. The tougher ones ('Tumbledown' and 'Faith Healer') are accessible, catchy and not very complex songs, and the mellower ones are shamelessly serene and emotional. 'Incomplete' is a melancholic statement of feeling so incomplete (every human ought to relate to that feeling), and 'Tilted Cross' is a soft countryish ballad with a nice female backing/duet vocal, though it may be the weakest link on the album. 'Rites of Passage' reminds me a lot of Peter HAMMILL's ballad 'Your Tall Ship' (on Roaring Forties, '94) - which has a line "all rites of passage have an end", but also the peaceful music in these tracks is very similar.

The epic 'Plague of Ghosts' - a(nother) nod to Hammill/VDGG perhaps? - is the cream of the album. It is very clear-shaped and clear-sounding and the way the tension rises as it progresses from the meditative parts to climax-building sections is lovely, all this in the most tasteful manner of Neo-Prog (compare IQ).

I haven't heard the later studio albums but at least judging by this one Fish is still going strong, his solo career already 2-3 times longer than his time with MARILLION. As a singer he has matured a lot, I think, though not necessarily as a lyricist.