General Music Chat

Having seem them with Anderson and Wakeman twice, the current lineup doesn't interest me. Saw them with the Anderson fill-in a couple of years ago, he could hit the notes but it wasn't the same thing.

We cannot expect bands that have replaced members to remain exactly the same.
Attrition takes it's toll and chemistry changes.
Should still be a good show.

Enjoy

I got into Yes for the first time in 2006. I had been listening to a lot of classic rock radio while driving all day at work. I kept hearing the same 3 songs (you know which ones), and they always made me wonder if there was a lot of material waiting to be discovered on their albums. I was amazed by their talent and songwriting. I kept asking myself, why would Rush (my favorite band, growing up) have so many more songs on the radio than Yes. I knew that Yes had probably been around longer, and I knew plenty of diehard fans. I also knew that the classic rock stations really have their heads up their asses, regarding what gets played and what doesn't.
I read tons of reviews on Amazon, to figure out where to start. That's where I first learned about the major lineup change (Yes-West) in the 80's, that led to the dreaded 90125/ Owner Of A Lonely Heart era. So I ordered a couple of best of compilations, which centered mostly around Fragile and Close To The Edge. I enjoyed them, but it didn't quite open up this world of Yes for me. The one thing that really amazed me was the title track from Going For The One. That was some real Genre-Bending, ahead of it's time stuff, right there. So that experiment had pretty much run aground.
About a year ago, I was at the chiropractor, laid out on the table. I always have to prepare myself to hear some of the worst music in the world, for that half hour. I was relieved that they were playing a classic rock station on satellite radio. They played Owner Of... and I was enjoying it, as I always have. It's ear candy, like Good Vibrations, everything is right where it's supposed to be. Every passage is like a little symphonic piece. Right after the song, the dj (ugh!!!) states that he hates that song and that that is not really Yes. That pissed me off. I decided that I was going to investigate this matter, just to figure out why these two lineups are so different (or if there really is that much of a difference, at all). To make my long story short I bought everything that Yes-West released. The more I listen to it, the more I love it. It even helped me get into the 70's stuff, more than I had before. I know that simply stating any of this will cause people to profile me as a loser, who doesn't know anything, but I simply don't care. Judge me all you want.
Enjoy your Yes show dude. Don't worry about who's on stage. It's about the music. I wish that I would have seen them, on one of the many times I could have. Check out Jon's original band, too. They're called Sky Cries Mary. He was the bassist. It was some totally awesome hippie music, with other elements (a turntablist, metal guitars....). Their Seeds ep is a good starting point.

I was never a big Yes fan but I like them. I was however, a huge Chris Squire fan. He is definitely in the Stanley Clark, John Entwhistle. The guy plays a lot of notes, super fast yet his work never sounds cluttered nor does it do anything but enhance the overall performance of the band.

In Yes - the bass man was an key integral element of their sound, not just some pocket player acting as a metronome. Playing with Wakeman and the gang it took some talent to fill that roll.

My sister met him a couple times. She told me that after a big gig where Yes performed at their best, Squire quietly asked her, "Was it all right?"

Talbot