Solo Chris Squire

[Lo-Fi Resistance]

The whole album was going to be released in about 1997 under the name Chemistry (and as by The Chris Squire Experiment) and I don't think much happened between then and the final version. Much of the album was recorded earlier than that, so, yes, I would have thought parts were recorded in the early '90s.

Henry

Thanks for the info!

[tom unbound]

Squire /Sherwood stuff gets interesting...not the same old, same old stuff....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzG-Xl-ANDc

[bondegezou]

Squire /Sherwood stuff gets interesting...not the same old, same old stuff....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzG-Xl-ANDc

It's a nice cover, but the umpteenth cover song done for Cleopatra Records seems like the same old same old to me!

Henry

[tom unbound]

Yeah, it's only a cover song, piss on it.

with which I agree, is that everyone makes judgements on albums before they hear them. It would be impossible to listen to every new release, so you have to make choices which releases to consider, to investigate.

[Progatron]

I actually think those two Conspiracy albums are quite good. In typical Sherwood style, they are polished and have a real pop sensibility to the songwriting but overall I think most of the songs are quite effective and I rather enjoy them when I'm in the mood for something a little less weighty. Not to mention I always love hearing Squire's voice. Squackett is a fun one too.

[Sean]

Squire is very open that FOoW owes a lot to Jackman.
Indeed, Conspiracy began as The Chris Squire Experiment. Yes, that was always with Sherwood. They toured in 1992 with Squire, Sherwood, White, Jimmy Haun and Steve Porcaro, with a set list typically of "Open Your Eyes", "The Lonesome Trail", "You're the Reason", "One World Going Round", "Days of Wonder", "Follow Our Dreams". Most of that ended up on Conspiracy 8 years later. One show is currently on Dime
Henry

I saw one of those shows. It was about as musically satisfying as you would expect. I think we all really wished he'd play some FOOW or Yes tunes, but all we got was a glimpse at where Yes would head in the mid 90s.

[tarotmusic]

One of my faves

[Sean]

Wish they played it when I saw them!

[timmy]

I finally picked up the remastered Fish Out Of Water this week. It's definitely an upgrade to my old Japanese CD pressing which sounds a bit muddy compared to this update. The clarity of this new remaster has revealed some phrases I hadn't properly picked up on previously. Forgot just how cool this album was... and still is! If you're on the fence about picking it up - go for it.

Get well, Chris.

[Rand Kelly]

I finally picked up the remastered Fish Out Of Water this week. It's definitely an upgrade to my old Japanese CD pressing which sounds a bit muddy compared to this update. The clarity of this new remaster has revealed some phrases I hadn't properly picked up on previously. Forgot just how cool this album was... and still is! If you're on the fence about picking it up - go for it.

Get well, Chris.

I get the very opposite reaction. To me,the remaster is way too hot to enjoy comfortably. Otoh,my Jap. Atlantic cd sounds sweet as can be.

[Progatron]

I finally picked up the remastered Fish Out Of Water this week. It's definitely an upgrade to my old Japanese CD pressing which sounds a bit muddy compared to this update. The clarity of this new remaster has revealed some phrases I hadn't properly picked up on previously. Forgot just how cool this album was... and still is! If you're on the fence about picking it up - go for it.

Get well, Chris.

And it comes with a really enjoyable interview with Jon Kirkman, as well as a full-album commentary by Chris. Both of these revealed some interesting info about the album. This and Acolyte are still my two favourite solo albums by any member of the "Big Five/Seven/Whatever".

[ssully]

I finally picked up the remastered Fish Out Of Water this week. It's definitely an upgrade to my old Japanese CD pressing which sounds a bit muddy compared to this update. The clarity of this new remaster has revealed some phrases I hadn't properly picked up on previously. Forgot just how cool this album was... and still is! If you're on the fence about picking it up - go for it.

Get well, Chris.

They just compressed it dynamically and jacked up the treble.

It's good for the videos and CS's track by track commentary (how many times does he say..'Bill Bruford...good drummer'? ;>) But for audio I'd stick with the older CD. And hope for the Steven Wilson stereo/surround remix + flat transfer bonus version

[ItalProgRules]

With every song seemingly driven by the bass and written around bass riffs, DRAMA does sort of stand up as a second Squire solo album.

[bondegezou]

With every song seemingly driven by the bass and written around bass riffs, DRAMA does sort of stand up as a second Squire solo album.

Yes, in many ways, Drama is the obvious follow-up to Fish Out of Water.

"Does It Really Happen?", "Tempus Fugit" and "Run Through the Light" seem to have been mainly written by Squire (or Squire/White), while "Into the Lens" and "White Car" were Buggles songs. Which leaves "Machine Messiah", which at core is another Buggles song, but with a lot of work from everyone to expand and arrange it.

Henry

[rich]

So i took the original Conspiracy LP/CD for a spin today and noticed something new. I've heard the LP many times before but never took note of the liner notes. The booklet shows 10 songs but there are 13 on the cd? Very bizarre. Looked on a few websites and could not find an explanation... does anyone know the story behind the last 3 tracks... mainly why they are not listed in the booklet. The tracks for reference are Wish I knew, Man in the Moon and Say Goodbye.

A shame Chris did not have more solo material. I always loved his voice and Fish Out of Water in particular... The Squackett LP is brilliant to these ears. I wished Steve might have had some unreleased tunes from his work with Chris on that one!

[bondegezou]

So i took the original Conspiracy LP/CD for a spin today and noticed something new. I've heard the LP many times before but never took note of the liner notes. The booklet shows 10 songs but there are 13 on the cd? Very bizarre. Looked on a few websites and could not find an explanation... does anyone know the story behind the last 3 tracks... mainly why they are not listed in the booklet. The tracks for reference are Wish I knew, Man in the Moon and Say Goodbye.

All three songs had been previously released (in somewhat different versions), so I think they didn't want to advertise the album as having 13 tracks and then have people disappointed they already had 3 of them.

Henry

[calyx]

Billy mentions the 'ghost tracks' in the interview we did in 2000 which is hosted on Henry's website -
http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/iv/bsinterview.htm

Basically, the implication is that the versions on "Open Your Eyes" were originally made for the Conspiracy project but were re-purposed for Yes rather than actually re-made from scratch by Yes (whatever that meant at the time - OYE was a Squire-Sherwood-led project anyway).

[bondegezou]

Billy mentions the 'ghost tracks' in the interview we did in 2000 which is hosted on Henry's website -
http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/iv/bsinterview.htm

Basically, the implication is that the versions on "Open Your Eyes" were originally made for the Conspiracy project but were re-purposed for Yes rather than actually re-made from scratch by Yes (whatever that meant at the time - OYE was a Squire-Sherwood-led project anyway).

I presume that some recording was done for the versions of these tracks on Open Your Eyes, not least Anderson's vocals, but many parts were just carried forward (Porcaro's keyboards on "OYE" were all from the Chris Squire Experiment sessions).

Henry

[rcarlberg]

[calyx]

^^^Best pun ever.

[fiberman]

This is (IMO) an excellent album, and a good pun also.

[rich]

This is (IMO) an excellent album, and a good pun also.

I could not agree more. Superb recording.

[per anporth]

^^^Best pun ever.

Pedant's corner, entry #472:

Technically, this is not a pun, but a "spoonerism" - ie when the initial sounds of two words are inverted. The name derives from the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was, apparently, prone to inadvertantly spoonerising. The best spoonerisms, however, are those that, in some way or another, allude to an alternative truth about a situation (eg it is kisstomary to cuss the bride) - & Swiss Choir does just this!

Pedant's corner, entry #472, Appendix 1: In order to make this spoonerism "work", one has to presume "rhotacism" - ie the inability to pronounce the <r> sound, & replacing it with a <w> (as with Elmer Fudd, chasing the wabbit, Buggs Bunny). Thinking back to interviews I've heard with Squire, I don't recall him having any problems with his <r>s (so to speak!!) - I wonder if there's a further "in joke" directed at another member of the Yes entourage here...)

[calyx]

I stand corrected. I tend to equate spoonerisms to their supposed French equivalent, "contrepèteries", which are almost always sexual in nature. So whenever a wordplay isn't sexual, "pun" comes to my French mind.

[bondegezou]

I stand corrected. I tend to equate spoonerisms to their supposed French equivalent, "contrepèteries", which are almost always sexual in nature. So whenever a wordplay isn't sexual, "pun" comes to my French mind.

I have learnt much here.

May I also suggest the catch-all English term "wordplay"? ('Jeu de mots', I guess?)

Henry