FISH OUT OF WATER

Now I was only but a sperm when this album was out, but I think that this album really was an interesting point in the mid 70's. With Yes' superstardom only increasing, after cementing themselves with some real classic prog albums, and really defining prog...a solo album from the bands bass player could really have been an added bonus. And to be honest it probabbly was...at the time.

Yes, the bass players solo album doesn't really ring a bell of interest to many, but when talking about Yes, it does. Because not only is Chris Squire one of the most interesting 4 string players their is, he also did alot of songwriting in Yes, so it does make sense that a solo album would spark interest (as well as every other member of Yes having interesting solo outputs).

Now vocally, Chris didn't have a massive imput, only prividing backing vocals in Yes, but this album suprised me, cause 1. he actually can sing really well, and 2. doesn't he sound alot like Sting when he sings? I don't know what it is, to be honest, I think Chris is a better singer, but their is a certain similar timbre to both singers vocals.

As an album itself, it does bode some really strong moments, but to be honest, it's the epics that let it down.

I think the shorter songs bode more power and are neatly compactiable, but with the 2 epics being over 10 minutes, and one being near 15 minutes, they're quite boring at times. Now don't get me wrong, I love long songs, but these are quite weak compared to most epics. I think those longer songs were made, just to be long and fill out time on an album. Also, with this album being close to the year of the death of prog (although thats only an overstatement, it doesn't really hold alot of truth), you can see where the genre started to fail...with songs being long just to be long. Compare any of these songs to Yes epics, e.g. Close To The Edge, Heart Of The Sunrise, Ritual Nous De Soliel...they're weak in comparison, and they all seem to only have one or 2 main ideas, and can be quite repetitive.

The album also features an orchestra, which to be honest, does work really well at times. All in all, the songwriting is pretty good at times, but then it can be a bit too over indulgent, and way too drawn out.

1. Hold Out Your Hand - What an intro. Best song on the album, in my opinion (it's also the shortest...hmmm I wonder why I like it so much). Great vocals and arrangement. Interesting lyrics. Beautiful ending. 10/10

2. You By My Side - Quite atmospheric with a nice calm feeling throughout. I love the build up. 9/10

3. Silently Falling - Beautiful intro. This song is way too long. Has some interesting changes and parts to it, but its just way too drawn out. 6/10

4. Lucky 7 - Very jazzy. In fact, when listening to this song, Dave Brubeck always comes into my mind, I love that cool jazz contemporary feel to it. This song has a great fusion of styles in it. 10/10

5. Safe (Canon Song) - Great orchestration. Still a bit too long. The recapitulation of the themes is pretty interesting. I like the ending, but even then, it feels drawn out. 8/10

CONCLUSION: Some great moments, but still, its pompousness is its weakness. This is where self indulgence can fail an album at times, and it's such a shame, cause it did have great potential and great moments. Although, those seperate moments are still good enough. I think Yes fans would love this album, but Prog fans in general, might have a few problems with it.