89. Fish - 'Weltschmerz'

A couple of weeks back, Fish appeared on Gardeners World, showing off his personally curated garden. In the write up he was described as the singer with rock band Marillion. I appreciate that Gardeners World is not at the heart of the zeitgeist but being 31 years behind the curve does take the biscuit. Fish has been a solo agent for four times the length of his stint in Marillion, yet Kayleigh et al will be a milestone he forever wears around his neck. “Weltschmerz” is his eleventh solo record and (theoretically) his last. After a couple of victory laps around the world satisfying the desire of 50 somethings desperate to hear “Script for a Jesters Tear” sung by the man who wrote it, he will retire. Even before you listen to it “Weltschmerz” is a triumph of human resilience and ingenuity. Fish doesn’t have a record deal and he doesn’t even have a distribution chain. Recording costs were covered by pre-orders and if you want a physical copy, you buy it from the man himself and he sends it out with a personnel note (I know, Ive got mine). It’s rock n’ roll as a (Scottish) cottage industry. And the man with last laugh is the tall enigmatic scot, because if “Weltschmerz” had been eligible for the official album charts (as a self-release it was disqualified) it would have made number five. Musically, whilst darn good in places, it does have some fat that could have been trimmed. First four tracks are ace, but ‘This Party’s Over’ sounds like an outtake from a Jethro Tull Christmas album and ‘Garden of Remembrance’ is trying to be ‘A Gentlemen’s Excuse Me’ but fails miserably. Thankful it recovers its mojo for the final three tracks, with ‘Waverly Steps almost cinematic in scope. Whilst a bit of editing would not have gone a miss, this is still a fitting send off for one of the great poets of the last fifty years.