Artist: FISH [ex-MARILLION]
Album: YANG 1980-1995 (CD US-IMPORT)

Year: 1995
EAN/UPS: 5020667201225
Media type: CD

Yang is the companion album to Yin, which together, are a truely `essential' collection of hits, should-have-been-hits, and classic material from Fish's solo albums as well as those with Marillion, retooled to the artist's present standards with his more recent bandmates. Great solo songs such as "Big Wedge" and "Lady Let It Lie" are presented here in a remixed form which they benefit from: there's a bit more kick to them.

There are re-recordings of songs from one of my favourite Fish albums, Internal Exile. "Lucky" and especially "Credo" sound much better than the originals. There is also an early version of the title track from `89, which is a bit more raw, closer to live. "Somebody Special" is not as over-produced as the original, on Suits.

Classic Marillion material has been made Fish-y, and for the better. The version of "Lavender" on Yang is much improved, given more atmosphere, depth, and passion than the original. The new "Kayleigh" is okay, but it was never a favourite song ("Heart Of Lothian" would have suited me better). "Sugar Mice" is good enough, but the new "Punch & Judy" is rip-roaring.

The re-recordings and re-mixes make this less crass than a `hits' album, but more of a testament to artistic determination.


TRACKLIST CD:

1.    "Lucky" (1995 Re-recording) – 4:55 (Dick, Boult, Simmonds), originally from the Fish album Internal Exile (1991)
2.    "Big Wedge" (1995 Re-mix of 1990 original) – 5:49 (Dick, Simmonds), originally from the Fish album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (1990)
3.    "Lady Let It Lie" (1995 Re-mix of 1994 original) – 6:56 (Dick, Paton, James Cassidy), originally from the Fish album Suits (1994)
4.    "Lavender" (1995 Re-recording) – 4:59 (Dick, Rothery, Kelly, Trewavas, Mosley), originally from the Marillion album Misplaced Childhood (1985)
5.    "Credo" (1995 Re-recording) – 6:46 (Dick, Simmonds, Boult, Usher), originally from the Fish album Internal Exile (1991)
6.    "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" (1990 Original) – 4:16 (Dick, Simmonds), from the Fish album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (1990)
7.    "Kayleigh" (1995 Re-recording) – 4:10 (Dick, Rothery, Kelly, Trewavas, Mosley), originally from the Marillion album Misplaced Childhood (1985)
8.    "State of Mind" (1995 Re-recording) – 6:50 (Dick, Simmonds, Lindes), originally from the Fish album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (1990)
9.    "Somebody Special" (1995 Re-recording) – 4:23 (Dick, Boult, Paton), originally from the Fish album Suits (1994)
10.   "Sugar Mice" (1995 Re-recording) – 6:19 (Dick, Rothery, Kelly, Trewavas, Mosley), originally from the Marillion album Clutching at Straws (1987)
11.   "Punch & Judy" (1995 Re-recording) – 3:28 (Dick, Rothery, Kelly, Trewavas, Mosley), originally from the Marillion album Fugazi (1984)
12.   “Fortunes of War” (1994 Original) – 8:08 (Dick, Cassidy, Boult), from the Fish album Suits (1994)
13.   "Internal Exile" (1989 Recording not previously released) – 4:48 (Dick, Boult, Simmonds), this version originally recorded for the Fish album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (1990), a different version from this one appears on Internal Exile (1991)