Label: Chocolate Frog Records
Release date: 8/13/2001
Production: Elliot Ness
Album length: 51.42 min
Genre: Progressive Rock / Neo-Prog
Rating: 8.5/10
In 2001, Scottish frontman Fish put out his seventh studio album, »Fellini Days«, which was also his first on his own independent label, Chocolate Frog Records. It carried on the successful sonic formula of its predecessor »Raingods With Zippos« (1999) while toying with some new ingredients that seriously modernized his sound. With its backing female vocal harmonies, massive walls of sound and dreamy soundscapes, the record reflected a number of trends in progressive rock at the start of the 21st century. The album title was Fish’s tribute to his love of film and to the legendary Italian director Federico Fellini.
Fish’s backing band went through two interesting changes as well. Longtime guitarist Frank Usher was replaced on »Fellini Days« by John Wesley, known as a successful solo musician and a longtime collaborator of Porcupine Tree, while John Young (Lifesigns, ex-Greenslade) took over the keyboards and did a superb job on what was, at the time of its release, arguably Fish’s darkest album in terms of atmosphere.
Wesley and Young also had a big songwriting influence on the creation of individual »Fellini Days« tracks. Much like Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) on the previous two records, they helped the charismatic Scottish singer modernize his sound and bring it closer to contemporary progressive rock. With this album, Fish finally waved goodbye to his neo-prog rock past, something he’d more or less been working toward as a solo artist ever since leaving Marillion in 1988.
Fish’s lyrics on »Fellini Days« are even more cynical and socially critical than usual, which is clear from the gloomy, almost post-apocalyptic opener »3D«, his take on the runaway development of electronic technology, which sadly outpaces the development of human emotional intelligence. You can also hear recordings of Fellini’s directions during the shooting of one of his many films. Plenty of electronic samples and sound effects in the background nicely deepen the nostalgic yet melancholic mood, while Fish masterfully builds a real ambient drama with the help of female vocal harmonies. On the no less melancholic and even gloomier »So Fellini«, another successful ‘soaking up’ of the prog trends of the day, Fish’s vocals practically burst with dramatic emotion.
»Tiki 4«, with its fine acoustic arrangements and excellent vocal harmonies born from the blend of Fish’s chameleon-like voice and the female backing vocals, is a somewhat brighter piece. »Our Smile«, without a doubt the most accessible track on »Fellini Days«, is an emotional power ballad with an interesting guitar phrase, mighty female backing harmonies and one of Fish’s most moving vocal performances on the album. The lively, passionate »Long Cold Day«, which quickly became a Fish live staple, unexpectedly puts a bluesy rock guitar phrase front and center, while the great vocal chameleon reaches for the higher registers he often avoided after leaving Marillion.
»Dancing in Fog« is another prime example of prog’s sonic ‘modernism’ at the start of the 21st century, with heavy use of soundscapes and programmed electronic samples, while the female backing vocal lines are pushed a bit further into the background this time. »Obligatory Ballad«, as its title already suggests, is an acoustic-leaning love ballad and easily the weakest, most ‘sleepy’ moment on the album. Even Fish’s vocal performance sounds a little bored here, as if the man were simply ‘strolling through the emotions’, which is quite unusual for him. »The Pilgrim’s Address« also opens as a slow, acoustic-leaning ballad that promises yet another dull experience, but then it suddenly shifts into a lively, dramatic section in the middle of which the Scottish highlander finally comes alive in his trademark melodramatic, ‘larger than life’ vocal style, while the song’s structure quickly moves closer to symphonic prog than to folk rock.
The mixed impression left by the second half of »Fellini Days« is nicely patched up by the dark drama »Clock Moves Sideways«, which closes the album the way a Fish record should: in a melodramatic and utterly emotional way. Somewhere in the middle comes a short ‘Spanish’ section with acoustic guitar passages and a conversation in Spanish. In the dramatic chorus, which tears at Fish emotionally again and which mentions the title of this album, the lyrics eventually swap in the word »Fugazi«, well known to every fan of Fish-era Marillion. A reference to the glorious past amid the all-pervading gloom only deepens the nostalgic, dark ambience of this closing composition.
With »Fellini Days«, Fish finally stepped into his next creative phase, making what was practically a logical step forward from his previous body of work and ceasing to worry about the expectations of his ‘traditional’ fan base or about possible commercial success. You could say this album had a key influence on his new creative phase, which began at the turn of the century, when, with the help of gifted collaborators like Wesley and Young, he refreshed his sound at just the right time. Even though the album isn’t without a moment or two of weaker, duller stretches, something that happened to Fish more than once throughout his solo career, »Fellini Days« as a whole was still one of the better prog rock albums of 2001.
Author: Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. 3D (9:11)
2. So Fellini (4:06)
3. Tiki 4 (7:32)
4. Our Smile (5:25)
5. Long Cold Day (5:33)
6. Dancing In Fog (5:30)
7. Obligatory Ballad (5:15)
8. The Pilgrim’s Address (7:18)
9. Clock Moves Sideways (7:17)
Lineup:
Derek Dick “Fish” – vocals
John Wesley – guitar
John Young – keyboards
Steve Vantsis – bass guitar
Dave Stewart – drums
Dave Haswell – percussion
Susie Webb – backing vocals
Zoe Nicholas – backing vocals
Paddy Mayne – spoken word on track no. 8
Eric Dewolf – programming on track no. 9
