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Archive for the ‘Yes’ Category

Colm Toibin–“Sleep” (New Yorker, March 23, 2015)

Posted in Colm Tóibín, Dreams, Irish Writer, LGBTQ, New Yorker, Religion, Sex, Short Story, Yes on July 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

nymarc22SOUNDTRACK: YES-Tormato (1978).

TormatoTormato might be Yes’ most hated album (I think people grudgingly respect Topographic, but they hate Tormato).  I mean the cover is weird and, well, weird.  The songs are not bad but they sound so far from Yes of old, that it could possibly not be the same band.  And then there’s those lyrics.  I find myself blaming Jon Anderson for this middling period style of Yes music.  It seems like he was the impetus behind topographic and he has a number of songs that he wrote on the last two albums.  If Anderson is the flighty stratosphere, Squire and White are the ground.  And the ground is sorely lacking on the last two albums.

There’s no Roger Dean on this album either (more Hipgnosis with a giant tomato spill (get it, Tormato?  No I don’t really either.)  Wikipedia sheds some light, kind of:

Howe pitched the album’s original title of Yes Tor, referring to the highest point on Dartmoor, an area of moorland in Devon, England. Wakeman claimed to have thrown a tomato at the pictures taken for the album as he was disappointed with its design. The album’s title and cover was changed accordingly. Howe said it was someone at Hipgnosis who threw the tomato on purpose, something that he felt insulted about.  According to White, the band “couldn’t decide on the cover. I think Po … put a picture of a guy with divining sticks on the front.  He took it home one night and decided it wasn’t working. So he threw a tomato at it”. 

I always thought it was drumsticks not divining sticks.  Oh well.  So there that in no way clears up the tomato business.

So what about the music?Even though Squire shows up a bit more here, the overall sound of the album is really tinny—a problem that to me plagued Yes throughout this period—there’s just no low end to speak of, even when Squire does some rumbling lines.

“Future Times/Rejoice” opens with an interesting riff and some cool bass lines from Squire.  The song itself is bouncy and jaunty, moving along briskly with some wild riffs from Howe.  It’s kind of refreshing.  At 3 minutes the song slows down with some counting and replies from Anderson. The next section has a pretty classic Yes build up and then a return to the beginning of the song. There’s a very 70s sounding keyboard solo from Wakeman as the song reaches the end—which is a coda called Rejoice (starting at 5:44), which is mostly harmony voices until the repeat of musical themes from earlier.

Next comes the divisive “Don’t Kill the Whale” This is one of those major heart-on-your-sleeve songs.  Musically it’s pretty interesting with some wild soloing from Howe, but those lyrics: “don’t kill the whale, dig it.” It’s hard not to agree with the sentiment but it’s hard to sing along to at the same time. The synth solo is also astonishingly dated and kind of nauseating at the end.

“Madrigal” is a ballad played on a harpsichord with vocals from Anderson. By the end some classical guitar is played with it. It’s a pretty piece.

“Release/Release” is probably the most interesting track on the disc. It’s got a great riff from Howe and although (some of) the synths feel dated it rocks along like a good mid 70s rocker should. I like the audacity of having a “live” drum solo tacked into the middle of the song. It reminds me in style of a King Crimson track with the staccato voices, although it is not produced anywhere as well.

“Arriving UFO” is, indeed, about seeing UFOs.  The narrator is incredulous about them at the beginning of the song (which comes with very “eerier” keyboard notes) but I believe is a believer by the end. I do like the way the music builds for the bridge, although the chorus is bit much (as is the dreadful synth middle section). The solo section has some really bizarre sounds that I take to be “alien” conversation. Whether its made by guitar synth or voice I cannot say.

“Circus of Heaven” might just be the worst Yes song ever. It is all high notes (even the bass is high notes). Around 2 and a half minutes in the song shifts from its whimsical circus feel to a slightly more serious tone that hearkens back to better Yes moments, but it does not remain there.  Rather, the narrator asks his son what he thought of the circus of heaven and then Anderson’s actual son tells him that he’s not impressed. It’s hard to listen to I have to say.

There’s more high notes in “Onward” which is more orchestral washes and Anderson’s vocals over the top. It’s not really much of a song, frankly, even with the string arrangement.

“On the Silent Wings of Freedom” is nearly 8 minutes long.  It tries to hearken back to longer classic Yes songs but it never quite makes it.  It opens with some loud basslines, some fiddly Howe guitar bits and a lot of synths. But none of it sounds as interesting as previous long song intros. Even the wah wah bass sound isn’t as interesting as the early 70s bass sound. Anderson comes in almost 3 minutes in and around 3:30 the song picks up speed and the elements gel in a really good way. Around 4:45 the song slows down to an interesting instrumental section with bass and percussion.   After a return to vocals the fast part picks up again, although with a synth solo that is less than stellar.  There’s a lot of “la la las” in the song and a mention of “celestial seasons” which I hope came out before the tea brand.  The song isn’t bad, and if Yes didn’t have such a great catalog behind them I might actually say it ‘s quite good, but like the rest of the album it pales with their peak.

And that’s probably why Wakeman left again and, shocking, Jon Anderson split from the band too (which i find surprising since I feel like the past two albums were all about him).

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.   With the middling success of Going for the One, this line up stayed in place for a second album!

Chris Squire-bass
Jon Anderson-vocals
Alan White (#2)-drums
Rick Wakeman (#2)-keybaords
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar

[READ: March 22, 2015] “Sleep”

This story was written in direct address, from an “I” narrator to a “you” subject.  It really personalized the story and was interesting to watch as the story that started as one thing was able to travel to another thing entirely.

It begins with the narrator, an older man, talking in his mind to his young lover.  The younger man’s parents are concerned that the narrator is older, but they do like him.  I loved the way it was constructed with him reminiscing about how they met and about how the world allowed them to be together: “Germany, Ireland, the Internet, gay rights, Judaism, Catholicism, they have all brought us here.”  The beginning of the story really stresses their differences, which he finds charming:

“Like a good American you wear a T-shirt and boxers in bed.  I am wearing pajamas like a good Irishman.”

They have been sharing living space for a while, but the younger man is concerned that the older man’s dreams are plagued by nightmares.  The nightmares are so strong that the older man often screams out loud –but does not wake up. (more…)

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Marlon James–“French Town Rock” (Harper’s, September 2014)

Posted in Excerpt, Gambling, Harper's, Marlon James, Roger Dean, Yes on July 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harpers-sept-2014-LA-coverSOUNDTRACK: YES-Going for the One (1977).

Yes_Going_for_the_OneThere’s many interesting things about this Yes album.  It was the first album since they hit it big to not have a Roger Dean cover (it did use the logo of course).  This cover is a photo done by Hipgnosis.  It also features the return of Rick Wakeman (the first player to come back).  Further, there aren’t really any epic songs.  Sure, there’s a 6 and 7 and even a 15 minute song, but none of them feel epic.  There’s even a song less than four minutes long!

It’s also interesting for having a naked man on the cover about a year before Rush would release Hemispheres with a naked man on the cover.  Must have been a thing.

This album opens with a big rock n roll bluesy guitar and steel guitar solo and sounds nothing like any Yes song ever did.  Then Anderson’s voice comes in and it sounds a lot more Yes.  But again, something feels different about this album.  The song is only 5 minutes, but it has many different parts all anchored by the wild careening steel guitar.  The chorus “going for the one” is pretty catchy and is probably the most memorable moment in the song, although I understand it did pretty well as a single.  The wavery solo at the end just shows how much the guitar permeates this song.

“Turn of the Century” is a 7 minute song. It is mellow and is mostly Howe’s classical guitar and waves of keyboards.  The song slowly builds.  It is quite pretty.  It was originally supposed to be short but it grew during the recordings and includes a very lovely Wakeman piano solo and a beautiful Howe classical solo at the end.

“Parallels” was written by Chris Squire and was supposed to be on his solo album, but it didn’t fit.  So instead Yes recorded it together.  It opens with Rick Wakeman playing a church organ (there’s a fascinating story about how they recorded that).  This of course makes the song feel bigger than it needs to.  But Squire has a great sense of interesting vocal lines, and this song sounds like pure Yes.

“Wonderous Stories” is a sweet song that sounds like it could be the closing credits of a kids’ fantasy movie.  “Awaken” is the fifteen minute song.  It opens with a classic sounding piano section.  The keyboard washes come in with Anderson’s vocals.  And the around 1:30 the song kicks in with a cool Howe guitar riff and some big Squire bass.  This middle section rings as classic Yes–lots of guitar and bass pyrotechnics and Anderson’s voice floating over the lot.   The solo culminates in what feels like a great conclusion to this song–except that the song has only hit the 5 minute mark (and there’s ten more to go), but that doesn’t stop the song from building and building (with some great Wakeman moments). And then it reaches a hard stop for a pause as the song rebuilds with a lot of percussion and keyboards.   This meandering instrumental section is cool and trippy and lasts for about four minutes.  When the song resumes, it picks up more or less where it stopped with Anderson’s voice soaring over what sounds like ea choir of voices.  Around 12 minutes in, Wakeman gets another pipe organ solo–it’s a brief flourish before the song kicks back in to build to the proper conclusion.  Except that once again, the song fades away and there is a quieter coda, of keys and bells and Anderson’s voice.  It feels like it should be bigger and grander somehow.  And it may just be a poor production quality that makes this album seem flat.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.   Here we have the first time someone has returned to the band, with Wakeman deciding (for no doubt complicate reasons) to return.

Chris Squire-bass
Jon Anderson-vocals
Alan White (#2)-drums
Rick Wakeman (#2 replaced Patrick Moraz #3)-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar

[READ: April 12, 2015] “French Town Rock”

This is another excerpt from a novel (A Brief History of Seven Killings).  This excerpt is done in a Jamaican dialect, which I found challenging to read.

I enjoyed that there was a guy named Shotta Sheriff.

The story comes down to gambling and money.  There’s a character known as the Singer.  His brother fixed a horse race and made a ton of money.  But then he absconded with the profits. (more…)

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Rachel Kushner–“The Great Exception” (Harper’s, November 2014)

Posted in Excerpt, Harper's, History, Rachel Kushner, Roger Dean, Romance, Short Story, Simon and Garfunkel, West Side Story, Yes on July 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:  nov2014YES-Yesterdays (1975).

yesterdaysAfter Relayer, Yes decided to explore solo projects.  And their label released this compilation.  Oddly enough, it consists entirely of songs from Yes and Time and a Word (and is a great collection of those two middling albums).  It also includes a B-side called “Dear Father” and, most unexpectedly, a 10 minute version of the Simon and Garfunkel song “America.”  All the songs have the original lineup except “America” which features Howe and Wakeman and was recorded in 1972.

“Looking Around” and “Survival” from Yes and “Time and a Word,” “Sweet Dreams” “Astral Traveler” and “Then” from Time and a Word.

“Dear Father” is a  sounds very much like a B-side from Time and a Word (meaning it has elements of Yes, but not enough to make the song especially interesting).  The bass is thumping, but there’s also strings which add a less dramatic element than intended.  The ending sounds very 1970s (almost like a TV special) especially in the way the strings swell, but it’s a cool sounding end to the disc.

The sound of “America” (which opens the disc) is pure early 70s’s Yes, with loud guitars and some good bass lines.  They play around with the original quite a lot (and most of the time it is unrecognizable).  I really enjoy that the guitar and bass throw in lines from the West Side Storys “America.”  There’s moments where you know the S&G original (like the “I don’t know why” line and they play it totally wrong (but in very Yes fashion), but other parts like “counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike” sounds different but also really good.  This is the kind of cover I like, when a band completely make a song their own.  I still prefer the original, but this is an interesting interpretation.

The cover of the album is the last one that Roger Dean would do for the band for a while.  It’s pretty bizarre (even for a Dean cover) with a little boy peeing on the back.

[READ: March 27, 2015] “The Great Exception”

This story comes from The Strange Case of Rachel K.  I assume it is a short story, as I can’t even imagine what it might have to do with Rachel K in general.

This piece opens with Part 1 in which there is a brief history of people’s beliefs in the flatness and/or roundness of the Earth.  The Admiral goes to the queen to inform her that the Earth is actually shaped like a pear or violin and he requests gold for his expedition.  But when he is in her presence, and a little drunk and a little bold, he informed her that the earth was really shaped like a woman’s breast.  The orient was the protrusion.  And the nipple–he locked eyes with the queen–was warm and tumultuous.

The Cardinal had given him excessive jewels to wear on his hand and they flash as he makes the shape of breasts in the air in front of the queen.  She gave in to his request and he set sail with no instruments, using only his instincts. (more…)

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Joy Williams–“The Route” (Lucky Peach, No. 14: Obsession: Spring 2015)

Posted in Death, Escapes, Joy Williams, Lucky Peach, McSweeney's, Moody Blues, Roger Dean, Short Story, Taylor Ham, Yes on July 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

lp14SOUNDTRACK: YES-Relayer (1974).

Relayer_REMUS_spine_Layout 1After Tales, Rick Wakeman left and the band decided to get back to business.  So they made an album kind of like Close to Edge.  Relayer is a dark album which didn’t quite bring the band back from the brink (even if there were only 3 songs and one was 20 minutes long).  It did sell well, though, even if there wasn’t any real radio airplay.

I happened to really like this album in college (my friend Sean introduced me to it).  And there are moments here that I think are great, but I can also see that it is not quite as user friendly as CttE.

I love the way “The Gates of Delirium” opens with guitar harmonics and some loud bashes of noise (good to see Squire and White asserting themselves again).  The lyrics come in around 2 minutes in and it’s a very sweet and interesting opening.  The guitar lines grow more complex as the song progresses.  Anderson says that it is a war song, with a prelude, a charge, a victory tune, and peace at the end, with hope for the future.  The “listen” section is quite catchy and moves along very well.

Around 5 minutes, the song changes into more of an instrumental sound (the charge, perhaps?)  A great riff begins at 8 minutes with a very heavy section (the battle?) beginning as well.  Squire takes over around 10 minutes and then the chaos befalls the song.  Anderson and White stopped by a scrap yard and bought metal car parts which were used as percussion during the song’s battle section. During the battle section, White formed a tower of the parts and pushed it over to make a crashing sound.

Patrick Moraz (who later played with the Moody Blues) took over for Rick Wakeman on this album and the difference is notable.  Moraz adds good keyboard sounds, but it is so clearly not Wakeman–there’s no flourishes or frills  (one imagines he would have added some pretty impressive things to this battle scene).

At around 13 the battle ends and a new riff comes out–uplifting but not overtly so.  Then things mellow out at around 15 minutes, with some washes of sound.  The biggest surprise comes around 16 minutes when the song turns very pretty with a slow echoey section known as the “Soon” section.  This section, which is about 5 minutes, was released as a single.

Track 2 “Sound Chaser” opens with a weird keyboard sound and then some chaotic drumming and bass (it’s loud and cool).  This is their jazz fusion song with drumming that’s all over the place and some cool riffs.  There are vocals (it’s hard to imagine them fitting vocals on to the riffage).  And then around 3 minutes the song turns into a big time guitar section with a lengthy dramatic solo and then Moraz’ keys underneath.   At 5 and a half minutes the songs mellow out an Anderson begins singing a gentle passage.  Then a little after 6 minutes the songs repeats with the chaos of the opening and that cool riff.  But this time, a noisy guitar picks up afterwards and a new riff begins and slows down until the unusual “cha cha cha/cha cha” section begins.  It’s followed by a wild keyboard solo from Moraz.

“To Be Over” opens with some more gentle notes as it slowly builds. Sitar plays over the notes.  This is a mellow track with lovely harmony vocals.  There’s an interesting slide guitar section in the middle of the song.  It shifts to a very typical Steve Howe guitar solo after that (very staccato and interesting).  By 5 and half minutes there’s big harmony vocals and then around 7 and a half minutes the song breaks into a new, catchier section, with a cool keyboard outro.

It’s not as immediate and grabbing as previous Yes albums, but I still think it’s pretty great.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.   Here we have a new keyboardist, although Wakeman would soon be back.

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Alan White (#2)-drums
Patrick Moraz (#3 replaced Rick Wakeman)-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar

[READ: March 24, 2015] “The Route”

I’m generally puzzled about the fiction in Lucky Peach.  It’s usually food related, which makes sense. But this one wasn’t especially.  And then at the end of the story to see that it was originally published in Escapes in 1990 just makes the whole thing seem odd.  But hey, they can publish what they want, right?

The story is about a married couple–she is a youngster and he is middle-aged.  Their marriage is poor and so they go on a road trip from New York.

Each entry in the story is about a spot and what they did that day–traveling through Connecticut and Spotsylvania, Virginia.  Until they get to North Carolina where he is bitten by a bat.

And this is evidently, fatal.

They continue on South, with this soon to be fatality proving to be an aphrodisiac.  They go through Georgia and into Florida. And they finally get to Mile 0 in Key West.

The whole story was strange and unsettling and I really didn’t get a lot out of it. It seems odd that they would bother to reprint it here.

~~~~~~~~

The rest of the issue was, as usual, excellent.

There were several articles about wheat and other grains and interviews with different chefs.

But my favorite article was the one about Colonial Chocolate (and how Mars got involved).  And my second was about the Monopoly game at McDonalds which I’ve never played and had no idea was over 25 years old.

The theme of the issue is obsession, and there are obsessions about endives (pronounced ondeev) and Pizza (including the guy with the record for most pizza boxes) and so much more.

The story about a Jewish man and his love of pork was interesting, especially the part about pork roll:

She takes a bite and her eyes roll back.  Then she hands it to me.
As I dig into my first Taylor Pork Roll I realize that everything I appreciated in the ham… is more concentrated in this superior sandwich.  It’s saltier porkier and smokier and the flavor lingers on the tongue….  It’s like a ham sandwich squared.

There’s also a fascinating look at Ranch dressing and its belovedness in West Virginia.

I may not always love the stories, but Lucky Peach continues to be a great magazine.

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Lemony Snicket–“Shouldn’t You Be in School?” : All the Wrong Questions #3 (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Black Sabbath, Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Huh?, Lemony Snicket, Mystery, Paramahansa Yogananda, Roger Dean, Seth, Word usage, Yes on July 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

atwq3SOUNDTRACK: YES-Tales from Topographic Oceans (1974).

Tales_from_Topographic_Oceans_(Yes_album)After the huge success of Fragile and Close to the Edge (with its 18 minute suite), what could Yes do next?  Well first they would release a triple live album, which I’ll get to later.  And then?  Why they would release a double album with only 4 songs on it!  That’s right 4 songs each around 20 minutes long!  And it would be ponderous and pretentious and it would be reviled by everyone!

The album shipped gold (because their previous records were so popular) and then sales plummeted.  The album is much maligned and, frankly, deservedly so.  Now, I love me a good prog rock epic.  So, four 20 minutes songs is pretty heavenly for me.  But man, these songs just don’t really have any oomph.

My CD’s recording quality is a little poor, but I don’t know if the original is too.  The whole album feels warm and soft and a little muffled.  You can barely hear Anderson’s vocals (which I believe is a good thing as the lyrics are a bunch of mystical jiggery pokery).  But despite the hatred for the album, it’s not really bad.  It’s just kind of dull.

Overall, there is a Yes vibe…and Yes were good songwriters–it’s not like they suddenly weren’t anymore.  There are plenty of really interesting sections in the various songs.  It just sounds like they have soft gauze between them.  Or more accurately, it sounds like you get to hear some interesting song sections and then the song is overtaken by another song that is mostly just mellow ambient music.

Without suggesting in any way that this album influenced anyone, contemporary artists are no longer afraid to make songs that are super long (see jam bands) or songs that are just swells of keyboards (see ambient musicians).  Yes just happened to put them all in the same song–way before anyone else did.

The album is very warm and soft—rather unlike the last couple of Yes albums which were sharp and harsh.  There are washes of keyboards and guitars and Anderson’s echoing voice. But what you’ll notice is that I haven’t really mentioned Chris Squire.  He’s barely on the album at all, and when he is, it’s usually to provide very simple bass notes–bass notes that anyone could play–it’s such a waste!  And while Alan White is no Bill Bruford (who was off rocking with King Crimson then), he’s also barely there.  In fact, Rick Wakeman himself is barely there–the king of elaborate classical riffs is mostly playing single notes at a time.  According to Wikipedia,

Wakeman took a dislike to the album’s concept and structure from the beginning. He made only minimal musical contributions to the recording, and often spent time drinking at the studio bar and playing darts. [During the recording session] he played the piano and synthesiser on the Black Sabbath track “Sabbra Cadabra”.

Evidently Anderson wanted a pastoral feeling in the studio

According to Squire, Brian Lane, the band’s manager, proceeded to decorate the studio like a farmyard to make Anderson “happy”.  Wakeman described the studio, “There were white picket fences … All the keyboards and amplifiers were placed on stacks of hay.” At the time of recording, heavy metal group Black Sabbath were producing Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the studio next door.  Ozzy Osbourne recalled that placed in the Yes studio was a model cow with electronic udders and a small barn to give the room an “earthy” feel. Anderson recalled that he expressed a wish to record the album in a forest at night, “When I suggested that, they all said, ‘Jon, get a life!'”

So we have an earthy pastoral album.  But what about the four sides?  Steve Howe describes it:

“Side one was the commercial or easy-listening side of Topographic Oceans, side two was a much lighter, folky side of Yes, side three was electronic mayhem turning into acoustic simplicity, and side four was us trying to drive the whole thing home on a biggie.”

Despite Wakeman’s complaints, he did have some nice thing to say about it.  he said that there are

“very nice musical moments in Topographic Oceans, but because of the […] format of how records used to be we had too much for a single album but not enough for a double […] so we padded it out and the padding is awful […] but there are some beautiful solos like “Nous sommes du soleil” […] one of the most beautiful melodies […] and deserved to be developed even more perhaps.”

And if Rick Wakeman says an album is padded, you can just imagine what the rest of the world thought!

The lyrics (and mood) are based on Jon Anderson’s vision of four classes of Hindu scripture, collectively named the shastras, based on a footnote in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.  So if I read this correctly–he wrote 80 minutes of music based ona  footnote!

The four songs are

“The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)” [which Howe says is the commercial or easy-listening side] builds slowly and eventually adds vocals.  And then come the drums and a decent keyboard riff.  There’s some noodling on the keyboards.  The riff is catchy but not immediate (which might be the subtitle for the album).  At nearly 4 minutes a faster section kicks in and there’s a catchy vocal part, which seems like where Anderson might normally soar but he holds back.  The “must have waited all our lives for this moment moment moment” is catchy, but again I can’t help but feel it would have been much more dramatic sounding on an earlier record.  At 7 minutes there’s a nice jump to something more dramatic—good drums, but the bass is mixed very low (poor Squire).  There’s some good soloing and such but it is short lived and things mellow out again.  It resolves into a new riff at 9 minutes, but resumes that feeling of washes and noodling guitars.  At 11 minutes there’s an elaborate piano section and the song picks up some tempo and drama. Especially when the bass kicks in around 12 minutes.  The most exciting part happens around 17 minutes when the whole band comes to life and adds a full sound, including a good solo from Wakeman.  And while this doesn’t last, it recycles some previous sections which are nice to hear.

Track 2 “The Remembering (High the Memory)” [which Howe described as the much lighter, folky side of Yes] has a slow, pretty guitar opening with more harmony vocals.  The whole first opening section is like this—layers of voices and keys. Then come some keyboard swells and more vocals.  Some bass is added around 6 minutes. And then around 8 minutes the tone shifts and there is a lengthy slow keyboard solo that reminds me of the solo in Rush’ “Jacob’s Ladder” (released 6 years later).  At around 9 minutes there’s a more breezy upbeat section with a cool riff.  At 10:40 a new section comes in with some great bass lines and guitars and an interesting vocal part. It could easily have been the structure for a great Yes song (vocals are singing “relayer” which of course is their next album’s title). But this is all too brief (it thankfully returns again) and then it’s back to the gentle keyboards.  At 12 minutes there’s a new medieval type section with some great guitar work.  When the “relayer” part returns around 13 minutes there’s a whole section that is great fun.  And even though it doesn’t keep up, the song feels rejuvenated. By around 17 minutes there some interesting soloing going on and then the band resumes to bring it to the end (with a reprise of an early section). And the final section is quite lovely.

Track 3 “The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)” [Howe: electronic mayhem turning into acoustic simplicity] is probably the most interesting.  It opens with some clashing cymbals and then a fairly complex percussion section and mildly dissonant guitar riff.  There’s even some staccato bass line. The vocals come in around 4:30 and the song shifts to a less aggressive sound, but the big bass continues throughout the beginning of the song until a fast riff emerges around 6 minutes. But more unusual Yes-type riffage resume briefly before segueing into the next part with lots of percussion.  While the staccato bass and drums continues, Howe solos away.  Then around 12 :30 the whole things shifts to a pretty, slow acoustic section with a classical guitar and vocals.  This entire end section sounds like it could easily have been its own song and it is quite lovely.  Howe’s acoustic work is great and there’s even a lengthy solo.

Track 4 “Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)” [Howe: us trying to drive the whole thing home on a biggie] is also quite good.  It’s probably the most fully Yes track of the four, with many sections of “full band” material.  There’s a noodly guitar intro switching to an interesting dramatic minor key movement.  There’s a pretty, if simple, riff (done by guitar and voice) that is quite lovely.  Around 4:30 the guitar solo brings in a riff from a previous Yes song. By 7 minutes, the song settles into a fairly conventional sounding Yes song (with actual bass and drums and…sitar!).   Around 11 there’s a bit of Wakeman soloing (he did show up for some of the album after all) and then some wild guitar and bass work.   The crazy percussion resumes and there’s a wild keyboard solo on top of it. The end of the guitar solo even has a bit of “Born Free” in it.

I hadn’t listened to this record in probably 25 years.  And so I listened to it 4 times in the last few days.  And I have to say that I thought it was bloated and awful at first, but it slowly grew on me.  I found some really interesting sections and some very cool riffs.  If these pieces could have been truncated into individual songs they would be quite good.  The biggest problem for me is that so much of it is so slow and mellow–like it’s building up to a big climax which never arrives.  On previous albums, Yes had made quite a show of being insane musicians, and that just isn’t here.

So even though I have come around on these songs, they certainly aren’t my favorites.  But if you’re at all interested in Yes, there’s some gems hidden away in these monstrosities (just don’t think too much about what Anderson is talking about).

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.  The band stayed together after Close to the Edge, but this was too much for Wakeman who left after the recording:

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Alan White (#2)-drums
Rick Wakeman (#2)-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar

[READ: June 20, 2015] Shouldn’t You Be in School?

I am finding this series to be ever more and more confounding.  And I know that is its intent, but it is still a challenge.  Whenever anyone asks a question someone else replies that it is the wrong question.  But they never say what the right question should be (deliberately confusing!).  There are also so many threads and confusing characters, that if Snicket didn’t make the story funny and strangely compelling, it would be incredibly frustrating.

In this story, Hangfire, having been thwarted in his previous endeavor to capture children (for what end we do not know) is back with a new plan to capture children.  Also, the mysterious (and presumably wicked, but who can be sure) Ellington Feint has returned as well to help or hinder as she sees fit.

The other characters are back too, of course: Moxie is back taking notes, Jake Hix is cooking delicious foods at Hungry’s (in fact there are even some recipes that sound pretty yummy–Snicket himself makes a passable tandoori chicken).  S. Theodora is still his mentor (and the pictures by Seth of her are hilarious).  Late in the book Pip and Squeak show up.  And naturally the policemen and their bratty son Stewie are there too.  And we are still wondering what in the heck is going on with the bombinating beast.

There’s also some new characters, like Kellar Haines, a young boy who when we first meet him is typing up something in the offices of the Department of Education (with posters all over the walls that say Learn! Learning is Fun, etc).  And his mother is also becoming quite chummy with S. Theodora.

The danger in this book is fire.  Building after building is being burnt down.  The Stain’d Secondary School is engulfed.  Even the library is at risk!  And that’s when S. Theodora solves the crime!  She gets the library Dashiell Qwerty arrested for setting the fires.  And even though it is quickly determined that he did not do it (a building was burnt down while he was in custody), that doesn’t stop S. Theodora and her new friend Sharon Haines (in matching yellow nails) from partying.  It also doesn’t stop Qwerty from being taken to prison.

This story is a bit darker than the other ones (which were admittedly pretty dark).  Every kid is being drugged with laudanum which makes you sleepy.  We’re unclear exactly what they are being drugged for, but Snicket has a plan to stop it.  Snicket himself winds up getting beaten up–pretty badly–from Stew and others.

And for the first time, S. Theodora is kind to Snicket (more or less) and apologizes for her behavior (sort of).

By the end of the book a plan is hatched, a bunch of people join the V.F.D. (as seen in A Series of Unfortunate Events) and someone is taken to jail. There’s even a mysterious beast who is living in the fire pond.

As in previous books there is ample definition building–either from people saying they don’t know what a word means so that it can be defined or from Snicket himself simply defining a word.  As in “my brother and I played an inane game” “inane is a word which here means that my brother and I would pretend we couldn’t hear each other very well while we were talking.”  This game actually sounds fun:

What do you think of the weather this morning?
Feather? I’m not wearing a feather this morning.  This is just a hat.
Just a cat? Why would you wear a cat on your head?
A Bat in your bed etc etc.

The artwork by Seth is once again fantastic and noirish.

And the end of the book has a fragmentary plot “a great number of people working together, but they plotted together in such a way that nobody knew exactly what the other people were doing”  And finally we learn what the right question is, but it’s the unsatisfying: “Can we save this town?”  We’ll have to find out in the concluding book 4.

You can also check out the website for some fun.

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Maxwell Eaton III–The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Crazy Critter Race (2015)

Posted in Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Maxwell Eaton III, Roger Dean, Short Books, Yes on July 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

critterSOUNDTRACK: YES-Close to the Edge (1972).

Yes-closeHaving such success with Fragile, the same line up toured that album and then planned a tour for the successful follow-up Close to the Edge.  This album is the first one to feature their now iconic logo and a clearly designed by Roger Dean album cover (even if it’s fairly plain).

This is also their first album to feature a side one suite, the title track “Close to the Edge.”  It also features only two other tracks (10 and 9 minutes each).  And despite (or because of that) it was a huge success.

“Close to the Edge” opens with part I “The Solid Time of Change.”  The opening is soft and then blam, some crazy guitar lines over a fast and complex bass line.  There’s so much going on it’s near cacophony for 3 minutes (I’m not even sure how they did it).  Until a beautiful soaring guitar riff breaks from the noise.  I love that Howe plays the riff a second time with slight variation to it—really keeping it interesting and complex.  And at nearly 5 minutes we get to the “close to the edge” chorus, or at the first part of it (I also love that the chorus gets bigger as the song progresses).  I don’t really know where the “parts” begin, (confusingly they sing the titles of the sections through the song).

Ok, so Wikipedia tells me that part II “Total Mass Retain” begins with the big thudding bass at around 6:04.  And part III “I Get Up, I Get Down” evidently starts right after the keyboard solo around 8:28 which begins with the slow washes of keyboards.  It is the mellow section with the multiple layers of vocals and the gorgeous church organ.  Part IV “Seasons of Man” starts with the reprise of the earlier music (in a weird key change).  There’s a lengthy keyboard solo here and then more vocals reprising all of the section with a slightly different feel. Until it all fades out much like it faded in.  It’s a dynamite track and never feels 18 minutes long.

Side two has two songs.  “And You And I” is only 10 minutes long but it too has 4 parts.

Par I “Cord of Life” opens with what is more or less guitar tuning (although it sounds lovely with his guitar).  And then there’s some very pretty acoustic guitar playing.  I really like when the bass notes come in around 1:15 and then there’s Wakeman’s keyboards.  It gets big and bassy just at the end of part 1.  Part II “Eclipse” starts around 3.48 right after the “call” when the big orchestral instrumental kicks in. This part lasts for 2 and a half minutes.

The opening guitar returns and then part III “The Preacher, the Teacher” begins with a new guitar section (and more keyboards) this is more or less a reprise of the other verses.   Part IV “The Apocalypse” is just 52 seconds long and is the reintroduction of the “and you and I theme” (and is not apocalyptic at all).

“Siberian Khatru” is 9 minutes but only one part. It opens with a fast cool guitar riff and then adds a fast cool keyboard riff.  The bass rumbles through and the guitar floats over the top.  There’s a great guitar riff that comes in around a minute in, which is the main riff of the song.  And then there’s some harmony vocals   After the harmonies, the song sort of resets and we get another verse with more great harmony voices.  The keyboard solo is on a harpsichord and sounds very classical.  Then there’s a trippy guitar solo.  A new section of song starts around 4 and a half minutes.  Around 6 minutes the song switches to the ending coda, a smooth cool riff with a guitar solo floating over the top.  The band jumps in with a sung staccato  “doh dah doh” bit which sounds like it would end the song, but they’re not done, there’ another refrain of that cool keyboards section with a neat noodly guitar solo.

This was a band of soloists that were at the top of their game and not only did great work by themselves but played very well together.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.  Two albums in  row with the same lineup!:

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Bill Bruford-drums
Rick Wakeman (#2)-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar

[READ: June 30, 2015] The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Crazy Critter Race

I love the Flying Beaver Brothers.  And even though the last couple haven’t been quite as awesome as the first ones, this one has definitely brought the series back on an upswing.

The book casually mentions the baboons from the previous book and what they did to Beaver Island (don’t ask) and then gets right into the action.  A local businessman is having a race.  Everyone is invited to replant the trees that the baboons destroyed and the winner will win a houseboat.

Turns out the entrepreneur is named Crazy Critter (they assumed that was the name of the race) and he is super gung ho about getting the race started.  In Crazy Eddie tradition, he calls himself crazy a LOT. (more…)

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Dwayne McDuffie & Robert L. Washington III–Static Shock: Trial by Fire (1990)

Posted in Batman, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, CSN&Y, Dwayne McDuffie, Graphic Novel, Racism, Robert L. Washington III, Roger Dean, Superheroes, Violence, Yes on July 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

staticSOUNDTRACK: YES-Fragile (1971).

fragileComing out just nine months (!) after The Yes Album, Fragile (which included new keyboardist Rick Wakeman) was a brilliant classic rock album that (depending on how much you like Wakeman) eclipses The Yes Album in greatness.

This was the first Yes album with a cover by Roger Dean (not up to his usual style for the band and prior to his creating their iconic logo).

Some might argue that Fragile is a better album than The Yes Album, and I might be one of them, but it’s really close (and depends on the day).  Fragile has bigger hits in “Roundabaout” and “Long Distance Runaround” (at only 3 minutes an actual radio song!), but it also has a number of weird little “solo” items.

“Roundabout is a staple in classic rock—not bad for an 8 minute song.  The opening notes are iconic, and then the bass comes in, big and round and heavy.  And there’s so many little fiddly bits-the keys, the guitars, even the bass, that it’s not even that clear to me how they did it all.   But there’s also the “in and around the lake” part that has such simple guitars and is so catchy.  It’s also the first time you really get to hear new keyboardist Rick Wakeman who is insanely talented and full of all kinds of interesting notions (and evidently a rack of 12 keyboards). And sure, the end of the song is mostly a chance for everyone to show off their skills and that’s pretty cool.  The final section has some great harmonies ala Crosby, Stills and Nash.

According to Bruford: “I said—brightly—’Why don’t we do some individual things, whereby we all use the group for our own musical fantasy? I’ll be the director, conductor, and maestro for the day, then you do your track, and so on.’  And that’s why there are five tiny pieces of songs scattered between the longer songs.  The first one is by Wakeman and is called “Cans and Brahms” a piano and organ piece.  Wakeman later described the track as “dreadful” as contractual problems with A&M Records prevented him from writing a composition of his own.  The following solo piece is by John Anderson and has multiple vocal lines overlapping over a simple musical base.  I never knew the lines were “Tell the Moon dog, tell the March hare.”  I love that it ends with footsteps running away and a door slamming—to what?

“South Side of the Sky” returns to a proper 8 minute song. It opens with a cool drum fill and some great guitar lines (all with Squire’s rumbling bass underneath–or actually in front).  After about two minutes there’s some interesting piano sections, including an almost spooky solo section of high notes.  There’s a pretty section of “la las” after this until the song comes bouncing back to the noisy part nearly 6 minutes in.

“Five Per Cent for Nothing” is a Bruford composition.  It’s staccato and all over the place and was, evidently his first composition (all 38 seconds of it).  Then comes “Long Distance Runaround,” another classic with an iconic guitar intro.  There’s some more unusual guitar lines (and a lot of open space) in this song.   It segues (and when I grew up the radio station often played both parts) into the next track written by Squire: “The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus).”  Even though it is Squire’s it does not have a lot of crazy bass in it, well, until the end when he gets to really fly.  This isn’t really a solo song since the rest of the band plays along.   The final solo piece is Howe’s flamenco guitar piece “Mood for a Day” which is lovely.

And then comes “Heart of the Sunrise” one of my favorite Yes songs.  It has one of the most amazing  introductions to a song.  It’s incredibly fast and intense riffage followed by a very slow section that has complex drumming an interesting bassline and keyboards.  It’s great how Squire and Bruford keep the steady beat amidst all the flourish.  The chaos goes on for nearly 3 and a half minutes before it totally mellows out to a delicate section sung by Anderson.  Then as you settle into this more mellow (and very pretty) section, around 7 minutes in we get a wholly new section of some wild keyboard.  And then some interspersing of weird keyboard and that awesome opening riff.  And although it sounds like it’s going to fade out, there’s more to come—another delicate section with repeats of the great guitar riff (not the opening heavy riff, the other one).  The song slowly builds to a climactic section that then switches back to the wild riff for a quick end.  It’s exhilarating  But that’s not exactly the end.

The disc ends with the door opening again and “We Have Heaven” reprising for a few seconds before fading out.

It’s outstanding and is unquestionably a classic.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.  Our second change occurs with this their fourth album:

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Bill Bruford-drums
Rick Wakeman (#2 replaced Tony Kaye)-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2)-guitar

[READ: January 15, 2015] Static Shock: Trial by Fire

In the old DC vs Marvel war I have clearly become a Marvel guy.  In fact, when asked to name some DC guys, after Superman and Batman I fall flat.  And, unlike the Marvel Universe, Superman and Batman are never really seen together.  Let’s say that Marvel has done an awesome job at marketing.

So here’s a DC book, and I was pleased to give it a try. I was also pleased to see that the superhero is black–an all too rare experience in graphic novels.

The back of the book says that Static Shock is the “hot new animated series on the Kids WB!”  I wasn’t sure if Kids WB was still on, but that’s irrelevant because this book was published in 2000 (! why are we getting it now?).  The book was printed in 1993, so nothing in the introduction (which talks about the Kids WB ) is at all relevant.

Not to mention that the TV show was clearly adapted from the comic to make a much more kid friendly show.  I didn’t realize that when my son grabbed this and started reading it.  He put it down after a few pages.  I don’t know if he got to the point where the boys in high school call each other fag and queer or the black kids are called monkey, or what.  I had to apologize to him and he declared it “weird” so I don’t know what he actually thought.

Suffice it to say that this book is not for kids.  It is a harsh look at racism in high school and the opportunity for a black nerd (who is into comics) to actually fight back against he white playas (who are way too into the hip hop scene). (more…)

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G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona–Ms. Marvel: No Normal (2015)

Posted in Adrian Alphona, Feminism, G. Willow Wilson, Graphic Novel, Religion, Superheroes, Unfinished series, Yes on July 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

marvel SOUNDTRACK: YES-The Yes Album (1971).

The_Yes_AlbumAnd then came The Yes Album and everything changed.  Whether it was the addition of Steve Howe on guitar or just more confidence in their songwriting, I don’t know, but The Yes Album is leaps and bounds above Time and a Word.

The opening staccato notes of “Yours is No Disgrace” are tight and loud—what is now considered classic Yes sound—Squire’s bass is low and rumbly but ever so precise.  There’s the true Yes keyboard sound and some amazing guitar work.  It’s got a great introduction followed by some excellent harmony vocals (that’s don’t sound psychedelic any longer).  Then comes the great slow jazzy section with the awesome bass meandering through.  The song has so many great parts and they all fit together perfectly.  This is how you make an awesome 10 minute song.  Even the ending which isn’t exactly different adds more drama.

The next song is a live version of “Clap” (apparently not called “The Clap” as our discs say).  It’s a fun romp from then new guitarist Steve Howe.  It’s a delightful masterpiece, although it’s kind of oddly placed (and the fact that it’s live also makes the flow seem odd).  This is all my way of leading up to saying that Fragile is a slightly more cohesive album than The Yes Album even if they are equally excellent.

“Starship Troopers” is another classic with some more great basslines and some really crisp drums. It also has a middle section (acoustic guitar with great vocal harmonies) that really holds the song together very well.  They do a great job at making instrumental sections interesting.

“I’ve Seen All Good People” has a great opening with harmony vocals and acoustic guitar and then a full chorus.  When Squire’s bass comes in at around 3 minutes, it’s like the heaviest thing on earth.  I happened to be listening in only one ear while writing this (never do that with Yes) and for the first time I hear the choral voices sing “Give Peace a Chance” before it switches over to the rocking second half of the song.  “A Venture” is like a truncated version of a Yes song.  It may be the least interesting song on the disc, but that’s just because of the company around it.

“Perpetual Change,” the third 9 minute song opens with some great loud guitars and then some quiet sections where Anderson’s voice really shines.  And just when you think that the song is going to be nine minutes of more or less the same sweet music, at 5 minutes it shifts gears entirely into a crazy staccato section of fast notes and drumming.  It’s such a strange riff (and when the bass starts following a slightly different riff and the guitar solos over the top, it’s beautifully controlled chaos.  And after a minute and a half of that, it switches back to the delicate harmonies of yore.

There’s not a bad song on this disc and depending on your proclivities it is either a little better or a little worse than the next masterpiece, Fragile.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.  Our first change occurs with this their third album:

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Bill Bruford-drums
Tony Kaye-keyboards
Steve Howe (#2 replaced Peter Banks)-guitar

[READ: March 15, 2015] Ms Marvel: No Normal

This collection collects books 1-5 of the Ms. Marvel series (Adrian Alphona is the artist for all of the books).  When I saw it at work, I assumed it was related to the new Captain Marvel series that I had just read.  But it turned out to be a different story altogether.  And I loved the new character that the Marvel universe has added to its fold.

For this story is about Kamala Khan an ordinary girl from Jersey City.  She is a Turkish Muslim with very strict parents.  Her brother doesn’t work but spends all his time praying (much to her father’s dismay).  Her best friend Kiki (call her Nakia now, thank you) has recently found her religion and begun wearing head scarves.  And her other best friend, Bruno, is busy working all the time.

As the story opens, we see these three in the Circle Q where Bruno works (there’s funny joke about “Chatty” Bob, which I liked). In walks a spoiled white girl Zoe who seems nice but really probably isn’t.  Kamala seems to like her but Nakia does not (and Zoe’s insensitivity to Nakia is part of the reason).

Zoe invites them to a party (knowing they won’t go), but Kamala sneaks out and heads to the party anyway.  She immediately doesn’t fit in, and as she wanders away from the festivities a mist covers the ground and she is visited by Captain America, Iron Man and Captain Marvel (in her new female form), and, better yet, she can speak Urdu. (more…)

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Thien Pham–Sumo (2012)

Posted in Buffalo Springfield, Chris Squire, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Japan, Richie Havens, Sumo Wrestling, The Big Country, Thien Pham, Yes on July 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sumoSOUNDTRACK: YES-Time and a Word (1970).

yes timeThe second Yes album feels like a step towards what we know of the prog masters, but it’s more of set sideways as they have added an orchestra to the mix. Chris Squire’s bass sounds a lot more like the Yes we know, but those strings kind of mess with the synergy.

Opening track “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed” is a cover of a Richie Havens song (it’s hard to imagine such an original band doing so many covers). In this one, Chris Squire shows the kind of bass he’s capable of—big deep bass notes, high fast riffs and far more complex rhythms. It’s just odd that the song opens with a string version of title music from the movie The Big Country. There’s some cool bass sounds and drum fills. It’s a great opening song. The strings are a weird addition but I think they work here (mostly).

“Then” opens with some interesting descending keyboard chords. There’s some wonderfully dramatic moments in the verses and the chorus gets nice and big and catchy.  The middle section has some good rumbling bass (with a strange addition of horns that give this a kind of soundtrack quality) and lot of keyboards. The lyrics are still pretty hippy “Love is the only answer hate is the root of cancer, then.”

“Everydays,” is another cover (Buffalo Springfield) is a kind of jazzy song with 70s keyboards and quiet jazzy drums. But after two minutes it turns into a heavy staccato riff that’s all bass and keyboards (and very cool).  This is followed by a big jam with wild drums, keys and bass. It then jumps back to a mellow section of mostly vocals. It’s a pretty wild song.

“Sweet Dreams” opens with some very distinctive Chris Squire bass.  The keyboards are big again.  “Prophet” opens with some ponderous keyboards and then the string section playing.  Then there’s some great loud bass playing.  The main body of the song is nearly all strings, which is an unusual sound for Yes.  But it’s just waiting for the bass to rumble in (opposite horns again). “Clear Days” is a 2 minute song which is all strings and Anderson’s voice.  It’s an unexpected track on this album for sure.

But the final two songs are once again real highlights.

I love “Astral Traveller” or (as-ter-al trav’lr as it is sung).  The opening chords are sharp and unusual. There’s some great rumbling bass and the chorus has some really interesting dissonance–really the first for the band who is usually pretty sweet up til now. There’s a keyboard section which feels a little displaced from the rest (later albums would make this kind of segmentation a bit more seamless) although Squire’s super high bass riffs are a fun addition. There’s also a great bass riff as the song heads to the final chorus.

And “Time and a Word” ends the album quite nicely.  Although this song is more delicate than others, it has some great elements—guitar harmonics, some cool bass and a very catchy chorus.  This record is pretty well overlooked (and is deservedly in the shadow of its successors, but there is some real quality stuff here).

Yes_-_Time_and_a_Word_-_UK_front_coverI also just leaned that the original album cover was quite different from the one that Americans are familiar with.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here.  Interestingly, it was the same lineup for these two records, but Peter Banks left right at the end of recording to be replaced by Steve How on the next album:

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Bill Bruford-drums
Tony Kaye-keyboards
Peter Banks-guitar

[READ: January 15, 2015] Sumo

I loved this book.  I loved the illustration style (which was so very cool) and I loved the story which was simple but poetic.

The simple story is this: Scott is a football player with potential.  But when things don’t pan out (and his girlfriend dumps him) he decides to try a different route.  What if he becomes a sumo wrestler?

Scott is a blond haired American, but evidently this is not an unheard of transition, and so Scott decides to fly to Japan to try it out.  Scott is blond with a big square head.  Actually Pham’s drawing style is very blocky, which give it  an especially memorable and interesting look

The book si told in 4 sections (and the pages are designated by the color/symbol of that section.  The first is a circle in a square, which is primarily where we see Scott, in Japan, working out with the sumo.

The section (set off by a water tower) shows Scott on his last night at home–getting drunk with his friends.  They are sad to see him go, but wish him well. Until his ex girlfriend comes in and wants to talk to him. (more…)

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Bannister & Nykko–The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Six: The Tower of Shadows (2012) [translated 2013]

Posted in Bannister, Boredom, Carol Klio Burrell, Children's Books, Chris Squire, Fantasy, Fears, Nykko, Short Books, Supernatural, The Beatles, The Byrds, Yes on June 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

6SOUNDTRACK: YES-Yes (1969).

yesThis past weekend bassist and founding member of Yes died.  Up until about six weeks ago he was supposed to tour with Yes this summer.

It was surprising and sad news.  I was a huge Yes fan in college, and of course I love all things prog. But I started to lose patience with Yes since they had such a revolving door policy it wasn’t even clear is the people in the band even were part of the band (although Squire has played on every Yes album).  I hadn’t listened to anything new from them since the 1990s, and I was genuinely shocked to see how much new material they had released since then (about ten).

So here’s a bunch of their albums that I own.  I’m not going to pretend I don’t know their peak period stuff, so I’m looking at their first two albums with the hindsight of the 70s masterpieces.

Their debut album (look how 1969 that cover is) opens with a Chris Squire penned song called “Beyond and Before.”  Loud (and high) bass notes announce that this might just be a Yes album, even the vocal harmonies suggest Yes, and yet once the verse begins, it is a much more psychedelic version of Yes. The music feels very Summer of Love. And while Squire’s bass does come out from time to time, after that initial flurry it kind of settles down a bit. The song itself is quite good, as long as you’re not expecting classic Yes.

I feel the biggest sound difference is Anderson’s vocals which, while still powerful have a more gentle/sensitive feel (not too far off from his more famous style later on, but slightly mellower perhaps).

Next come s very jazzy cover of The Byrds’ “I See You” (a song I don’t really know, but the lyric “the cave of your hair” is pretty awesome.   This version is 7 minutes long with an extended jazzy solo from Peter Banks and suitable jazzy percussion from Bill Bruford. Tony Kaye on keyboards also features prominently.  The end is quite loud for such a hippie offering.

“Yesterday and Today” is a piano & vocal performance. It’s very delicate.  “Looking Around” has very heavy keyboard opening. The bass sounds like Squire but this is a very keyboard heavy song.  “Harold Land” opens with a kind of church organ and singing, but then the Yes sound comes in (you can almost hear the band forming). It feels, again very synthy, but certainly heading in the direction of Yes.

“Every Little Thing is a Beatles cover (! two covers on the debut album).  It begins with much chaos—noisy drumming, bass rumblings and keyboard noodling. The song is 5 minutes and the intro is almost 2 minutes. The big bass and drum really makes the song rock and the keyboards build some real drama into the track.

“Sweetness” is indeed a sweet slow track with a lot of acoustic guitars and soft keyboards.  It has a great descending chorus vocal line. If this were rerecorded and made a bit more modern sounding I think it could be a hit (well, maybe update the lyrics a bit too).

“Survival” is probably the most enduring track on the record. It opens with some great fuzzy bass and some actual catchy riffs. The opening vocals sound more like what latter-day Yes would sound like (subtle distinction, yes but it’s there). The chorus is very catchy and it’s a fun romp right until the end.  It’s a good send off, with a promise of better things.

Since almost every Yes album had different personnel, I’m going to keep a running tally here:

Chris Squire-bass
John Anderson-vocals
Bill Bruford-drums
Tony Kaye-keyboards
Peter Banks-guitar

[READ: February 16, 2014] The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Six

I ended my review of the last book by saying “now I’m hooked.”  But in the year since I read the last book I lost all the momentum of the series (since I’d read the first five in quick succession).  Which is a shame since the book was every bit as exciting as the rest, but I wasn’t quite as into it as I wanted to be.

Since Ilvanna died in the last book I should have been more upset about it and been more excited at the prospect of her return in this one, but I’d forgotten about it all.

As for the rest of the story, Theo, Max and Rebecca meet up with an old man who seems to know the secrets of the Other World.  He convinces Theo and Max to capture a creature who can take them to the Other World.

Meanwhile, in the Other World we see that the spirit of Rebecca is held be a mean looking guy known as the Master of Shadows.

At last the Master of Shadows meets the old man and Rebecca meets her double–a creature which he has created from a photo of Rebecca–he just needs her soul to complete the creation.  The final battle is pretty epic with swirling shadows all over the place and Rebecca’s grandfather pleading with her to destroy her doppelganger.

Meanwhile Theo and Max find Ilvanna who may or may not be dangerous, but she seems to want to help them.

This was the final book of series two of the series.  And the cliffhanger shows that the boys have found Dolean and the two Rebeccas have emerged–to what end?

The story was certainly exciting, but I recommend reading the whole second series together to really maximize the impact.

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