and politics – but in single-song format. "State of Mind" and "Big Wedge" stand out as the most overtly political songs: "State of Mind" strongly articulates the growing civic disillusionment in the late Thatcher years (although it does not mention her by name), "Big Wedge" is an explicit criticism of capitalist greed, American society and policies (the cover of the single features Uncle Sam offering a wedge of dollar bills to the viewer). Incidentally, the lyric had earlier been vetoed by Marillion as "anti-American", they feared it might have hampered their entry into the U.S. market with the next album. Other songs express a more general disgust with materialism ("Vigil", "View From The Hill" and "The Company", the last of which is also a coded account of Fish's disillusionment with and departure from Marillion). "Family Business" refers to domestic violence, the bonus track "The Voyeur (I Like To Watch)" to TV voyeurism. Finally, "A Gentleman's Excuse Me" and "Cliché" are love songs. The phrase "wilderness of mirrors" is originally from T. S. Eliot's poem Gerontion, but has since become a widely used metaphor for disinformation in spy fiction, where Fish picked it up. A number of the lyrical concepts on the album (most particularly, the Voice in the Crowd motif) can be heard in Marillion demo sessions released on the 1999 remaster of Clutching at Straws. These sessions were part of the writing process for Marillion's fifth studio album with Fish, which never came to fruition. Many of the musical ideas developed on those demos can be heard on Seasons End, the first Marillion album with Steve Hogarth. Musical style and contributing musicians The album covers a variety of musical styles, including progressive rock ("Vigil"), pop rock ("Big Wedge"), hard rock ("View From the Hill"), and folk music ("The Company"). As he is primarily a lyricist and not a musical composer, Fish collaborated with keyboardist Mickey Simmonds in writing all songs except "View From the Hill", which was co-written and recorded with current Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers. Ex-Dire Straits guitarist Hal Lindes contributed additionally to the writing of "State of Mind", "Family Business" and "Cliché". He also played guitar on most tracks, along with Frank Usher, a Fish companion from pre-Marillion times. Drums were handled by Mark Brzezicki (of Big Country), John Keeble (of Spandau Ballet, "State of Mind" only), bass by John Giblin, additional percussion by Luís Jardim,