FISH OUT OF WATER

Chris Squire's single solo effort is quite a treat for Yes and symphonic fans alike, managing to pull together YesSounds with a new kind of sound that makes it sound familiar, yet new and refreshing. In the prog world its not uncommon to hear about lead piano, lead organ, or even lead sax, but ever heard of lead bass? Squire has, apparently, and in this effort manages to give bass players everywhere a good name. Five compositions fill this disc, each one a thing of beauty worthy of any prog fan's time.

The album starts out with a pair of twins separated at birth. Hold Out Your Hand and You By My Side should really be seen as two parts to one song, since the flow together seamlessly and work with one another to make one complete theme that opens up the album quite nicely. This pair may be a little out of character for a YesMember, being that they sound almost commercial but really in the end they just have that kind of sound without any annoying pop-ishness. In the same vein is Lucky Seven which, while slower, is another cool song that trudges along bringing you for the ride and turns out being another song that a big prog fan might not expect to be good, but it is. All the while one is likely thinking, wow, this guy can actually sing! True (for now, anyways. In hindsight it seems his voice doesn't age too well as shown on Yes' last studio album), it seems that all those years standing too close to Jon Anderson has given him the 'balls in a vice' syndrome that forces his voice to be so high. Of course, anyone who listens really close to Yes already knows the parallels the two men's voices share, it's good that Squire actually chose to use it for once. Back on subject the shorter songs actually work quite well on this album.

Now for the best part, the long songs. It's easy to get very excited as a prog fan when one sees a track that reaches over 10 minutes. Many will also feel a sense of terror, fearing the artist may not be able to deliver. But Squire, baby, he d-e-livers. Safe (Canon Song) is a great track that's easy on these ears, it just keeps going and going like song sort of Energizer Bunny of nirvana (not the band[s]) until the album ultimately comes to a close. Even this song, however, must bow down to the majesty that is the ultimate lost Yes song, Silently Falling. This is a serene track that's just about as sublime as any track can possibly come. Listening to this song evokes such a feeling of absolute zen and bliss that one loses all sense of time and space. Beautiful flutes peacefully open the track as Squire proceeds to blow away the audience with supreme vocals and bass that is just awesome (I've run out of intelligent words at this point). This one song is worth buying the entire album for, even if the rest of the album is excellent as well.

Conclusion time!

5 stars, this is a masterpiece. Maybe it's the lost Yes album, but really it's just Squire proving how great he is. Recommended to any Yes fan, any Symphonic Prog fan, and any prog fan in general. In fact, recommended to everyone short of metal-heads and rappers. Excellent album. It's too bad that Squire never followed up one this, or maybe it's good that he never spoiled his reputation by releasing poor solo work. Eh, that can be argued, but what can't be argued is the caliber of this album. Buy it.

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