FISH OUT OF WATER

When I heard "Lucky Seven" at first time through a compilation cassette titled Yes Player by Perina Aquarius (the black and white version)sometime in late 1975 my first reaction was: "Oh boy . this is an accessible form of Yes music!". It quickly became my favorite track of this album because I really love the combination of sharp bass lines by Squire and unique snare drum sounds by Bruford whom I was so longing for with his style in Yes "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge". I remember that one year later, my friends who're music buffs and I, established a radio station (illegal one, oops .. sorry Mr. Cops - but finally you struck down our antenna and transmission unit system; how dare were you stopping our prog blood?? Uughhh ..!!) airing classic rock and art rock music. Ehm, you know the radio station name? It was called TS BC (Thunderstorm Broadcasting Corp.). Yes, our vision was clear: we wanted to socialize rock music like a thunderstorm .!!! There were no such thing called "progressive" at that time. You can guess, this "Lucky Seven" was becoming our favorite track as it had large share of airing time.

And this morning: July 4, 2005 (thirty years later - thanks GOD you still give me a chance to enjoy prog rock!) when I was in my car this morning, an FM classic rock radio station (the legal one, of course) aired "Lucky Seven". My pulse was running rapidly, and I was stunned. It reminded me to the glory days of seventies rock scene. Oh, I remember my teenage times when we had a strong passion for rock and sometime we even yelled "I sold my soul for rock'n'roll, and never turning back!!!" (Friends, do you remember Triumvirat? Yeah .. they have that part of rocking lyrics!). Hey, the passion has got stronger nowadays - that's why we are much more appreciative to prog musicians! They are our hero.

The other tracks that blew me away were the first two tracks that must be enjoyed as one: "Hold Out Your Hand" and "You By My Side". You know what? I love the orchestration at the end of first track and continues seamlessly to the opening of "You By My Side" with powerful vocal line by Squire. The melody is really killing me man!

Sorry, I don't actually plan to bombard you with my right-placed childhood but . you know,. talking about this album brings me back to my teenage times so it always connects me to my past - beautiful one of course. As far as this album concern, I would recommend you to have it in your collection. It's an excellent addition to any prog music collection. If you love Yes, this is a MUST! Keep on proggin' .!

With the heart of prog, PEACE! - Peace on earth and mercy mild, Mother Brown has lost her child, just another forgotten sons!!!!

GW