Album Reviews |

Chris Squire



Fish Out Of Water 9 ( 1975 )
Hold Out Your Hand / With You By My Side / Silently Falling / Lucky Seven / Safe (Canon Song)

As mighty bass-player for Prog behemoths Yes, Chris Squire surprisingly just has this one solo album to his name. On the otherhand, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman have both released more solo albums that is naturally healthy. In 1975, all the members of Yes took time out for solo projects and the smart money certainly wasn't on Chris Squire to produce the goods. That he did, in fine spectacular style, is one of those happy occasions that occurs, well, far too occasionally in rock music. 'Fish Out Of Water' is a real gem of a record. 'Hold Out Your Hand' for instance is just ridiculously silly and wonderfully catchy. The bass playing is supreme if you concentrate on it. If you've ever seen the video for this song, Bill Bruford can't stop grinning. Now, having Bill Bruford as your drummer means you're going to have superbly melodic drum work on your album. Chris Squire's bass melodies are like skipping from cloud to cloud and then we get these delightful church organ trills in the best ( truly daft ) progressive rock style. As backing vocalist in Yes, Chris Squire handles lead here confidently. Fans of Yes will hear the clear similarities in style between Chris and Jon, so no wonder Yes harmony vocals are always so accomplished. For Yes fans also, 'Hold Out Your Hand' will be familiar territory, continuing from the shorter song experiments contained on 'Fragile', or the 'pop songs' contained on 'The Yes Album'.'You By My Side' reveals and revels in Chris Squires Beatles influences for a power ballad. The vocal sounds a bit like when Ozzy Osbourne sing ballads, but don't let that put you off, the song has immense quality.

Of course, this album being of a decidedly progressive bent ( jazzy, too ) means that two songs when added together equals twenty six minutes of the forty two the albums offers in total. Don't despair yet though you non prog lovers and don't turn away! First up is 'Silently Falling', all eleven minutes of it. Opens up very soundtrack style with light orchestral melodies before the melody descends just as Chris opens up with light rising bass melodies. A really sweet intro. The vocal is appropriately quiet as the flute flutters away in the background. The main of the song enters with Brufords reliably melodic drums and Chris plucking away providing lead melody on the bass. The backing vocals and assorted instrumentation create a satisfyingly full backing track and the movie-like nature of the tune continues most enjoyably. The fifteen minute 'Safe (Canon Song)' presents us with more orchestral styled rock music, the highlight of which has to be Bill Brufords drum work, although obvious credit remains with Chris Squire's vocals and bass playing, naturally. A highlight among highlights arrives with the delicious 'Lucky Seven', seven minutes of jazzy, nighttimey rock music. Satisfiyingly crunchy bass, rock solid drums and lovely trumpet work spelling out the dream-like nature of this hypnotic, brilliant piece of music.

Add A Comment?