Acoustic Sessions Live at the Farm

AMG Review of Acoustic Sessions Live at the Farm

John Franck
All Music Guide

One can only guess that Fish released Acoustic Session as a way of announcing the birth of his privately held record company The Dick Bros. Record Company. Recorded live at the Funny Farm with apparently no audience participation (Fish's house perhaps?), the record features nine tracks, including "Lucky," an animated version of "Internal Exile," Marillion's "Kayleigh," and a warm, stripped down version of "Sugar Mice." On its original Marillion two-track demo version, "Sugar Mice" had benefited from a simple, acoustic arrangement. The song was later augmented by additional instrumentation (as evidenced on Clutching at Straws). The version included on Acoustic Session makes a good argument for restoring the song to its original simple mantra. "Somebody Special" is another winner, as is "Lady Let It Lie," which sounds almost Baroque.