Bouillabaisse (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Bouillabaisse: The Best of Fish
Type = Compilation album
Artist = Fish


Released = 25 September-10 October, 2005
Recorded =
Genre =
Length = 71:04 and 72:43
Label =
Producer = Chris Kimsey
Jon Kelly
James Cassidy
Steven Wilson
Elliot Ness
Calum Malcolm
Reviews =
Last album = "Field of Crows"
(2004)
This album = "Bouillabaisse"
(2005)
Next album = "13th Star"
(2007)

Bouillabaisse is a compilation double album by Fish released in 2005. The title is a pun, referring to a French fish soup. It is is third "best-of" collection after "Yin" and "Yang" (1995) and "Kettle of Fish" (1998), however, it covers Fish's entire solo career up to the previous year's studio album "Field of Crows". The songs are divided into two sets: Disc 1, entitled "Balladeer", and disc 2, entitled "Rocketeer".It also features the single edits Marillion's three biggest hits, "Kayleigh", "Lavender" (1985) and "Incommunicado" (1987). (Unlike on "Yin" and "Yang", these are the original versions rather than re-recordings.) It also features an edited version of "Goldfish and Clowns" from "Sunsets on Empire" (1997) which has never been released due to the planned single being ultimately cancelled.

The only "new" track is Fish's version of the Scottish folk song "Caledonia", which had first been released on a 2002 tribute album to Frankie Miller, who had a Scottish number one with his own version in 1992.

In total, the two discs contain 26 tracks (or 31, if the parts of the "Plague of Ghosts" suite are counted individually) with a total time of 143 minutes.

Although not credited, the cover is a digitally edited design by Mark Wilkinson. It shows Fish sitting over a bowl of soup (presumably Bouillabaisse) in a restaurant whose walls are decorated with posters of Fish's previous album covers (an idea strikingly similar to Marillion's continental 2002 best-of album).

The album marked the beginning of Fish's cooperation with the Snapper Music label, which took over the retail distribution of Fish's backcatalogue released on his own imprint Chocolate Frog Record Company. (Similarly, the previous best-of "Kettle of Fish" had been the first release on his short-lived connection with Roadrunner Records.)

Track listing

Disc One: Balladeer

# "Just Good Friends" (Dick/Usher/Boult/Simmonds) – 4:02
#* Features Sam Brown. From "Yin/Yang", 1995.
# "Shot the Craw" (Dick/Watson/Duguid) – 3:59
#* From "Field of Crows", 2004.
# "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" (Dick/Simmonds) – 4:16
#* From "Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors", 1989
# "Kayleigh" (Dick/Rothery/Kelly/Trewavas/Mosley) – 3:36
#* From Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood", 1985.
# "Solo" (Sandy Denny) – 4:11
#* From "Songs from the Mirror", 1993.
# "Incomplete" (Dick/Antwi/Millett) – 3:44
#* Features Elizabeth Troy Antwi. From "Raingods With Zippos", 1999.
# "The Company" (Dick/Simmonds) – 4:04
#* From "Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors", 1989.
# "Fortunes of War" (Dick/Cassidy/Boult) – 5:06
#* From "Suits", 1994.
# "Our Smile" (Dick/Wesley/Young) – 4:15
#* From "Fellini Days", 2001.
# "Lavender" (Dick/Rothery/Kelly/Trewavas/Mosley) – 3:43
#* From Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood", 1985.
# "Lady Let It Lie" (Dick/Paton/Cassidy) – 4:09
#* From "Suits", 1994.
# "Cliché" (Dick/Simmonds/Lindes) – 7:05
#* From "Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors", 1989.
# "Scattering Crows" (Dick/Watson/Turrell/Duguid) – 5:08
#* From "Field of Crows", 2004.
# "Tara" (Dick/Paterson) – 4:03
#* From "Sunsets on Empire", 1997.
# "Caledonia" (McLean) – 4:21
#* From "A Tribute to Frankie Miller", 2002.
# "Raw Meat" (Dick/Paterson) – 5:15
#* From "Suits", 1994.

Disc Two: Rocketeer

# "Big Wedge" (Dick/Simmonds) – 4:37
#* From "Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors", 1989.
# "Credo" (Dick/Simmonds/Boult/Usher) – 4:03
#* From "Internal Exile", 1991.
# "Incommunicado" (Dick/Rothery/Trewavas/Kelly/Mosley) – 3:56
#* From Marillion's "Clutching at Straws", 1987.
# "Goldfish and Clowns" (Dick/Wilson) – 4:11
#* From "Sunsets on Empire", 1997.
# "Long Cold Day" (Dick/Wesley/Young) – 5:33
#* From "Fellini Days", 2001.
# "Brother 52" (Dick/Wilson) – 3:57
#* From "Sunsets on Empire", 1997.
# "Clock Moves Sideways" (Dick/Wesley) – 7:02
#* From "Fellini Days", 2001.
# "The Perception of Johnny Punter" (Dick/Wilson) – 8:39
#* From "Sunsets on Empire", 1997.
# "Moving Targets" (Dick/Watson/Duguid) – 5:45
#* From "Field of Crows", 2004.
# "Plague of Ghosts" (Dick/Turrell/Doghorn)
#* From "Raingods With Zippos", 1999.
## "Old Haunts" – 3:14
## "Digging Deep" – 6:48
## "Chocolate Frogs" – 4:04
## "Waving at Stars" – 3:12
## "Raingods Dancing" – 4:16
## "Wake Up Call (Make It Happen)" – 3:32