If you are looking for a Chris Squire bass solo, one piece is the reference point: “The Fish”, the track he built out of nothing but bass guitar for Yes in 1971, and the stage feature it grew into over the following decades. Around it sit the live versions, a later medley with drummer Alan White, and a handful of Yes songs in which the bass takes the lead. This guide goes through them one by one – album, year, line-up and where exactly to listen.

The player, in brief

Squire co-founded Yes in London in 1968 and played on every Yes album released in his lifetime, the only member to do so. His nickname in the band was “Fish”, which is where the titles of his showcase pieces come from. The instrument most associated with him in the classic years is the Rickenbacker 4001 bass, which is the one heard on “The Fish”. He also sang, and his harmony vocals are part of the Yes sound alongside Jon Anderson’s lead.

“The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)” — Fragile (1971)

The starting point. For Fragile, each of the five members contributed a short piece of his own, and Squire’s was built almost entirely from bass guitar parts layered on top of one another, with Bill Bruford on drums and Steve Howe’s guitar leading into it. It follows straight on from “Long Distance Runaround”, and the two are often played together on the radio. The only words are the subtitle, the Latin name of a species of fish, repeated by Anderson and Squire. It lasts about two and a half minutes. Line-up on the album: Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford.

“The Fish” live — Yessongs (1973)

On stage the piece became a full bass solo. The triple live album Yessongs (1973) includes “Long Distance Runaround” and “The Fish” recorded on the Fragile tour of 1971–72, Rick Wakeman’s first tour with the band. “The Fish” went on to be played on many later Yes tours.

“Whitefish” — 9012Live: The Solos (1985)

By the 1980s the solo had become a duet with drummer Alan White, hence the title. “Whitefish”, credited to both of them and running over eight and a half minutes, is on 9012Live: The Solos, recorded on the 1984 tour for 90125. It is a medley of pieces written by Squire and White: “The Fish”, the bass line of “Tempus Fugit” from Drama (1980) and part of “Sound Chaser” from Relayer (1974). The same album has a short Squire arrangement of “Amazing Grace” for bass. The companion concert film, 9012Live, was filmed in Edmonton, Canada, in September 1984. Line-up: Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Tony Kaye, Chris Squire and Alan White.

Where the bass leads: the songs

The two pieces quoted in “Whitefish” are the obvious next stops. “Sound Chaser”, on Relayer (1974), comes from the line-up with Patrick Moraz on keyboards; “Tempus Fugit”, on Drama (1980), whose bass line Squire reused, was recorded when Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes had taken the places of Anderson and Wakeman. And for the bass inside the band’s best-known songs, go back to Fragile for “Roundabout” and “Heart of the Sunrise”.

Where to start

Start with “The Fish” on Fragile, then hear how it changed on Yessongs. For the 1980s form of the solo, go to “Whitefish” on 9012Live: The Solos. And if you want Squire on his own terms, his solo album Fish Out of Water (1975) is the record he made between Relayer and Going for the One.

Go deeper

For bass across the genre, see the best bass solos in prog rock and the countdown of the best prog rock bassists of all time; the drummer on “The Fish” has his own guide, Bill Bruford’s drum solos. For the band itself, start with the Yes band guide, the best Yes albums, the best Yes songs and where to start with Yes, or browse the prog musicians hub. The full story of British progressive rock, Yes included, is told in Beyond the Thames, the second book in my Beyond the Sound series.

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