FISH OUT OF WATER

So, coming from a guy of which Yes was a band that changed his musical outlook and Chris Squire changed his viewpoint of bass playing, you'd expect a guy like me to praise this as a masterpiece well before first listen.

NOT!

Sure, Chris Squire put out a great album in FISH OUT OF WATER; it has his bass playing to the forefront complete with technically brilliant solos and foot tapping licks. Soundwise, I might suspect hardcore Yes fans will find this trinket delightful as it (to me) sounds like what Yes might have sounded like if they directly followed up RELAYER. It's loaded with spurts of orchestra, brash synth solos (to be expected from Mr. Patrick Moraz), occasional flute and saxophone and drumming that can only be described as Bill Bruford.

If anything, this sounds like a halfway Yes album, just missing bunches of guitar riffs and Jon Anderson vocals. Instead, we get Chris Squire vocals...not exactly welcome in my book. He's done great backing vocals for Yes before and after, but his lead vocal attempts sound only halfway decent at best. The bass more than makes up for that shortcoming though.

Compositionally, there's a lot going on. In order, ''Hold Out Your Hand'' is very funky, ''You By My Side'' is a sappy, orchestra-led ballad, ''Silently Falling'' sound like any typical prog piece, ''Lucky Seven'' is back to funky rock and ''Safe'' sounds like sappy prog with an interesting orchestra/bass contrast right when the instrumental affair starts. It's a mixed bag, but it surprisingly exerts one overall sound, something I really enjoy from artists.

Not great because of Squire's prog star power, but very good by what it exerts. A mighty good ''filet of prog'' to put it lightly.