Fish, Frogs and the Future

Fish at the Ramblin' Man Fair in Maidstone, 2018.

 Fish has announced his retirement for next year. He will also close his label Chocolate Frog Records. He said he would sell the rights, likely getting on the bandwagon started by Bob Dylan and just peaked by Queen. Fish already sold his share of his Marillion tracks from 1982-88 to Primary Wave, one of the leading independent music companies who have Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, the late Olivia Newton-John and many others on their roster. Primary Wave could have Fish's solo catalogue on their label as they have the Cambridgeshire-born Australian legend in a deal she signed before she passed. Fish only just reissued his first two albums on LP and CD. He has expressed the difficulties of dealing with the manufacturers and the post after Brexit for EU fans. He and his wife Simone have been running the label themselves and have been moving house to the Outer Hebrides from Midlothian. They have been downsizing like many people their age. I'd love to buy the LPs except for the first, which I have the original of already, but the fish here aren't biting! Going to see him is even more elusive than his former colleagues coming to the US again since it's not like forty years ago. We'll just have to keep an eye on things for the next year and a half and see where this goes.