Chris Squire: "The greatest bass player in prog rock history." - his 30 greatest performances

He was one of the most influential and creative rock musicians, who transformed the way the bass was viewed. Chris Squire's impact on the world of progressive rock is still felt to this day, as is the music he played a major role in creating. Prog asks former bandmembers, collaborators and musical fans to share their favourite songs from his back catalogue. Is yours among them?

- David West

In my opinion, Chris was the greatest rock bass player that ever lived," declares selfconfessed mega-fan and Squire's Conspiracy bandmate Steve Stevens. It's a sentiment repeated time and again from the friends, collaborators, and fans that Prog spoke to in assembling this tribute. A decade after his passing, Chris Squire remains the giant on whose shoulders stands every bassist in prog's expansive pantheon. "Aspiring young bass players will forever use his wonderful playing as inspiration, and as a musician I can truly say that you couldn't ask for more," says Gentle Giant's John P Weathers, for example.

Squire was the only Yes member to appear on every album from their eponymous debut in 1969 to Heaven & Earth 45 years later, even as the outfit rotated singers, guitarists, keyboardists and drummers alike. In that cast of the good and the great, the bassist was the bedrock upon which Yes constructed their reputation and legacy. He navigated their path through five decades of changing styles, from their psychedelic beginnings through to their genre-defining albums of the 1970s that expanded the limits of progressive rock, their 1980s sonic reinvention with Trevor Horn, and the return to classic prog in the 1990s and new millennium.

Beyond the broad confines of Yes, Squire released just two solo albums, 1975’s Fish Out Of Water, a popular choice with our interviewees, and 2007's collection of Christmas songs, Chris Squire’s Swiss Choir. He also collaborated regularly with Steve Hackett and Rick Wakeman on their solo ventures, forming the sadly short-lived Squackett with the former, and released two albums and a live concert DVD with Conspiracy.

Whatever the setting, Squire’s aggressive yet articulate sound was unmistakable, imitated and admired in equal measure.

“I saw Yes, it was around