FISH OUT OF WATER

A Yes album with more emphasis on the bass. This is the first impression. I think there's a bit more. The composing is less pretentious than most of the YES works of that period (mid 70s), and contains very interesting things. The line-up contains both Mel Collins and Jimmy Hastings. I think it's probably the only time when the saxes and flutes of Caravan and Camel play together in the same album.

The songs:

"Hold out your head" is a typical YES song. Chris sings on high tones and the effect is not too far from Anderson.

"You by my side" is not bad and contains a nice flute section at the end. The melody is nice and the voice, too, is very appropriate.

"Silently falling" is my favourite track. Other than YES, it contains echoes of Genesis and a lot of Canterbury, mainly thanks to the flute in the background. The middle section contains a nice organ solo whose volume is low enough to leave Bass and drums in evidence. The result is something that flows very well until it stops leaving piano and voice starting the last section. The initial theme is reprised and a slow sequence of just 3 chords leads it to the end. Chris sings. "Silently falling....falling down...down..down" . It couldn't be more appropriate to the music. I think it's the b est moment of the album.

"Lucky Seven" starts with an electric piano that could have been placed on a Camel album. Bass and Sax follow. Only the singing reminds to YES. between the singing, the Bass is very in evidence, as we can expect from a bassist's album. A nice "light dark" song, good for the evenings. Sax, Bass and drums close this jazzy song. Very Canterbury.

"Safe" is the longest track (about 15 mins). The intro makes me think to some Soft Machine late works (Land of Cockayne as example). Here is where Chris tries to make his voice sound like Jon Anderson's. Far from being an epic, it's in any case a very enjoyable track on which winds and strings are the counterpart to the dominating bass.

I would rate it between 3 and 4 stars, as it doesn't add anything to the story of YES, but contains Canterbury elements that make it enjoyable not only by YES fans. It's played by very skilled musicians and the composing is good enough. 4 stars.