For Fish the 'Vigil...' album and tour-cycle ended prematurely. The album sold decently and the tour to promote it did great in terms of tickets sold. The singer however was in a hole due to the high costs of recording the album as well as having an expensive stage set-up live. Add the creation of his own studio at his new home in Haddington, Scotland. Fish needed more revenue but EMI resolutely stopped further tour funding and promotion of new singles and wanted Fish to make a new album. Eventually things came to a blow with the Scot entering litigation with the label for the second time within a short time. This court battle prevented him from releasing new material but it didn't stop the writing process where he again was joined by Mickey Simmonds, Frank Usher and Robin Boult. In the end he had to settle on a deal where EMI pretty much was the winner, the only good thing was Fish was released from his pretty awful contract and in that sense was a free man finally. Once the dust had settled Polydor Records came in and offered a contract allowing to at last record his sophomore solo album.
Once the recording session began the quartet was joined by David Paton on bass guitar and Ted McKenna on drums, the latter formerly of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Gary Moore and Michael Schenker to name but a few. Things didn't work out with Ted however who only played on two songs before being replaced by Ethan Johns. The son of producer Glyn Johns, Ethan is himself a renowned producer and multi-instrumentalist these days.
Fish's second album begins with 'Shadowplay' where he looks back on how and why his first marriage almost ended during the creation of 'Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors'. 'Credo' follows and came about when he was fathering his firstborn child while watching images of war on TV. The senselessness of the fighting with so many people dying for nothing clashed with the joy and pride of being a father making him think what kind of world is he bringing his child in to? On 'Just Good Friends' he candidly tells how he and a close friend and confident got much too close than intended. Thankfully a heart to heart prevented anything bad from happening and they parted on good terms. 'Favourite Stranger' deals with emotional isolation and losing yourself in that process. As a consequence you seek out strangers who are willing to listen as you unburden...at least for a few minutes. In 'Lucky' we find Fish singing about his roots, he does mention his hometown Dalkeith. It also a song for Scotland and its hardworking especially miners, a profession which ran deep within his family.
Fish opens again on 'Dear Friend' as he reflects on becoming a father but it is also a letter to his old self. Growing up and turning into the artist Fish he lost touch with friends who chose the family life and parenthood. But now he was there himself. 'Tongues' is basically Fish unleashing his thoughts and feelings regarding the recent litigation situation. Words is something he knows as well as a sharp tongue – pun intended – so this is his way of getting back at EMI. The title track 'Internal Exile' is a two-folded composition as it on the one hand deals with Fish's position in the music business at the time: ostracized and prevented from releasing music. On the other hand it's about his discovery of a country he didn't know despite being born there. However, returning to Scotland after years living in England, he now experienced his motherland differently. The album ends with a cover of Thunderclap Newman's song 'Something In The Air'. Being about revolution and people getting together to change the world the lyrics fit Fish's new-found political stance about his country.
'Internal Exile' is a strange album in that individually most of the songs on the album are good and the lyrical subject matter follows a common thread. But somehow they don't work well together collectively. The main reason for this, I believe, is the enormous pressure and stress Fish was under while creating the album. It is baffling that he wrote good songs during this ordeal but the problem was the songs were written here and there instead of during focused sessions meaning musically Fish missed, in lack of better words, that the music strayed too much far apart. There was so much potential especially since songs like 'Lucky' and 'Just Good Friends' remained in his setlists for so many years but sadly the album underwhelmed.
-Swedebeast
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