Crish Squire - (1975) Fish out Water

Studio Album, released in 1975

When all the members of Yes released solo albums after the appearance of the glorious RELAYER, only three of them came up with (more or less) convincing results. Jon Anderson produced an embarrassing science-fiction fairytale which contained a couple of great tunes. Patrick Moraz came up with wild, half-Brasilian jazz-rock fusion. And Chris Squire emerged with an album so conceited and self-satisfied that more than half of it proved unlistenable. To this day I do not understand how someone can write a supposedly sensitive love song like “You by my Side”, and spoil it completely by bleating out the lyrics as insensitively as possible. To say nothing about the overblown orchestral finale of the same piece! Similarly, the so-called ‘canon’ towards the end of “Safe” (instrument after instrument taking up the same dire melody, accompanied by Chris on bass) must have been intended to prove how many musicians Mr Squire could afford to pay...

Fortunately, the Fish also pulled off two great performances, which trumped anything his colleagues from Yes had on offer. “Hold out your hand” is an exciting opening number with delightfully 'floating' organ playing, more convincing than the similar “Parallells” which would appear two years later on GOING FOR THE ONE. And “Lucky Seven” is superb: Squire, Bill Bruford and the gorgeous Mel Collins conspiring to give us all a catchy, funky tune that proves how much music they’ve got in their blood.

If only Chris had kept FISH OUT OF WATER simple and left out those orchestral excrescences! Two and a half stars.

Track Listings

1. Hold Out Your Hand (4:13)
2. You By My Side (4:59)
3. Silently Falling (11:26)
4. Lucky Seven (6:54)
5. Safe (Canon Song) (14:56)

Total Time: 42:34

Line-up/Musicians
- Chris Squire / vocals, bass, 12-string electric guitar
- Andrew Pryce Jackman / acoustic and electric pianos, orchestrations
- Bill Bruford / drums
- Patrick Moraz / organ, bass, synthesizer
- Barry Rose / pipe organ
- Mel Collins / saxophone
- Jimmy Hastings / flute