Search - Fish :: Sunsets on Empire

Fish's Most Powerful Album To Date

Chris MB | Washington DC | 04/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With Sunsets On Empire, former Marillion front-man Fish makes his most powerful musical statement to date. Proving that he's not merely a Peter Gabriel clone (something he was continually accused of during his stint with Marillion) or a solo artist content with past successes, Fish produces a hard, gritty album that's unlike anything he's released to date.Highlights include the riff-heavy "Perception of Johnny Punter," the defiant "What Colour Is God," "Brother 52" about the life and death of a Marillion fan, and my personal favorite "Goldfish and Clowns." Fish's lyrics are meaningful and hard-hitting and his backing band is incredibly tight.I had the good fortune to see Fish live as his tour supporting this album swung through the Washington DC area and I was astounded - I'd been listening to Marillion and Fish for several years but I became even more of a fan after seeing the man in person.Sunsets on Empire is a must-own for everyone. Its not just for Marillion fans, Fish fans or progressive rock junkies. There's something for everyone here."

Fish - Joins Up With Stephen Wilson For One Of His Strongest

Steven Sly | Kalamazoo, MI United States | 02/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After the lackluster "Internal Exile" and it's follow-up "Suits" (which many fans consider Fish's weakest album), things seemed to be on a downhill slide for the former Marillion vocalist. For the "Sunsets" album Fish made the brilliant move of bringing in Porcupine Tree's Stephen Wilson as co-writer, guitarist, and producer and the result is Fish's best album since "Vigil" and possibly the best solo album of his career. Wilson has the golden touch and his influence is felt all over this disc. This is a much more modern sounding album than it's predecessors and is overall a bit more guitar heavy as well. The songs are not nearly as prog oriented as his Marillion or early solo stuff, but the change in style really works for Fish this time around. The highlights of the album tend to be the songs co-written by Fish and Wilson. "The Perception Of Johnny Punter" with it's spoken word middle passage is a simple yet very effective opening track. Fish uses spoken word on several tracks on this disc, and he has the perfect voice to pull it off. "Perception" is downright creepy with the protagonist "Johnny Punter" telling of how he views (and will take down) those who live "on the hill". "Goldfish And Clowns" and "What Color Is God?" are two more strong Fish / Wilson tracks. "Worm In A Bottle" again uses spoken word and contains some really outstanding Fish lyrics. "Brother 52" was the single and a video for the song is included on the disc. It is another great track. The title track "Sunsets On Empire" is yet another strong Fish / Wilson collaboration. The rest of the album is all decent stuff too. Wilson seems to be able to bring out the best in Fish and contributes some killer (albeit infrequent) guitar solos here and there as well. This was to be Fish's big comeback in America. He did his one and only full US tour in support of this disc, and really made the promotional rounds in support of it. Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, the record company went under right after this was released so the rug was pretty much pulled out from under him. With the exception of a very short mini-tour in conjunction with John Wesley's wedding a few years ago, Fish has not been back to the U.S. since. This really is the album that should have put him back on the map here, but unfortunately the music "biz" left Fish out to dry. If you are at all a fan of Fish or Stephen Wilson this is a good one to pick up."