Posts by thecolon

No doubt not a general enough question for time limitations but here it is anyway for the hell of it:

Steve, hello from New Zealand. A terribly specific question: your solo on "So Long the Day" by Tony Patterson and Brendan Eyre is absolutely magnificent, a yearning, swooping, howling snarl of a guitar solo that transforms a superbly moving song into a masterpiece. How does that solo/a solo like that come about? Do they send you a tape of the song with a note saying "fill in this bit here anyway you like"? Do they supply a description of the vibe/style they think it should be to guide you towards what they want? Do you record something, they listen, critique, back and forth etc. until they have what they want?

My two cents worth.

I'm not a Fish (or Marillion) fan - just haven't listened to either enough, and am honestly not really inspired to delve any deeper.

But out of curiosity, having heard that it was to be his last, and seeing some videos listed in my Youtube feed, I listened to his new Weltschmerz album and after a couple of days of casual listening came to the conclusion....that it is outstanding. Simply outstanding.

"Rose of Damascus" and "Waverley Steps" are superb musical journeys, deeply involving and wonderfully put together, "Garden of Remembrance" is utterly, gorgeously heartbreaking, and "Walking on Eggshells" and "Man With a Stick" are memorably excellent too, with the remainder being at worst, merely very good. It really is a fantastic album, and if this is Fish signing off, then in my (completely uninformed, therefore relatively useless) opinion, then he is doing so in superb fashion.

Max Richter

Henryk Gorecki (but when do I not?)

Genesis (see above)

Johann Johannsson

Frost*

A superb band, I most definitely recommend listening to them. Anything in their catalogue, but my personal favourites would have to be Takk and Valtari. Very cinematic music, if you know what I mean.

Passion is his masterpiece. A 67min slice of perfection. Tender, driving, moving, contemplative, soothing, sinuous - but above all unified, a complete, whole work. My 3rd favourite album of all time. Genius.