Bouillabaisse is a compilation double album by Fish released in 2005. It is the 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.

Bouillabaisse: The Best of Fish
Cover art by Mark Wilkinson
Greatest hits album by
Released25 September-10 October 2005
Recorded1982–2003
GenreNeo-prog
Length143:47
LabelChocolate Frog Records
ProducerChris Kimsey
Jon Kelly
James Cassidy
Steven Wilson
Elliot Ness
Calum Malcolm
Fish chronology
Field of Crows
(2004)
Bouillabaisse: The Best of Fish
(2005)
13th Star
(2007)

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 European 2002 release, The Best of Marillion.)

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 edit

Disc One: Balladeer edit

  1. "Just Good Friends" (Dick/Usher/Boult/Simmonds) – 4:02
    • Features Sam Brown. From Yin, 1995.
  2. "Shot the Craw" (Dick/Watson/Duguid) – 3:59
  3. "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" (Dick/Simmonds) – 4:16
  4. "Kayleigh" (Dick/Rothery/Kelly/Trewavas/Mosley) – 3:36
  5. "Solo" (Sandy Denny) – 4:11
  6. "Incomplete" (Dick/Antwi/Millett) – 3:44
  7. "The Company" (Dick/Simmonds) – 4:04
  8. "Fortunes of War" (Dick/Cassidy/Boult) – 5:06
  9. "Our Smile" (Dick/Wesley/Young) – 4:15
  10. "Lavender" (Dick/Rothery/Kelly/Trewavas/Mosley) – 3:43
  11. "Lady Let It Lie" (Dick/Paton/Cassidy) – 4:09
  12. "Cliché" (Dick/Simmonds/Lindes) – 7:05
  13. "Scattering Crows" (Dick/Watson/Turrell/Duguid) – 5:08
  14. "Tara" (Dick/Paterson) – 4:03
  15. "Caledonia" (MacLean) – 4:21
  16. "Raw Meat" (Dick/Paterson) – 5:15

Disc Two: Rocketeer edit

  1. "Big Wedge" (Dick/Simmonds) – 4:37
  2. "Credo" (Dick/Simmonds/Boult/Usher) – 4:03
  3. "Incommunicado" (Dick/Rothery/Trewavas/Kelly/Mosley) – 3:56
  4. "Goldfish and Clowns" (Dick/Wilson) – 4:11
  5. "Long Cold Day" (Dick/Wesley/Young) – 5:33
  6. "Brother 52" (Dick/Wilson) – 3:57
  7. "Clock Moves Sideways" (Dick/Wesley) – 7:02
  8. "The Perception of Johnny Punter" (Dick/Wilson) – 8:39
  9. "Moving Targets" (Dick/Watson/Duguid) – 5:45
  10. "Plague of Ghosts" (Dick/Turrell/Doghorn)
    1. "Old Haunts" – 3:14
    2. "Digging Deep" – 6:48
    3. "Chocolate Frogs" – 4:04
    4. "Waving at Stars" – 3:12
    5. "Raingods Dancing" – 4:16
    6. "Wake Up Call (Make It Happen)" – 3:32