rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (12/02/83)
Q: What sounds like the Police and looks like U2? (Hint: The answer to the above question is the same as the answer to the question "Does a bear sh*t in the woods?") Seriously, I always thought Bono Vox of U2 was Jon Anderson's twin brother, especially the way he pranced around the stage and clapped. With JA's new haircut it's impossible to tell the difference. When I first heard "Owner of a Lonely Heart", I easily mistook it for the Police (the chop-chop guitar and Anderson's singing helped give that mistaken impression). My friend thought Anderson was sounding like Sting, but he was really in much the same vocal style as before. It was Rabin's chop-chop guitar playing that gave the song its Policesque feel. (perhaps Sting really sounds like Anderson???) As I stated in an earlier article, these guys are in a real bind: if they do something original and interesting they won't make any money; if they sell out they'll be boring but they'll make a mint. Which option will they choose? Sorry, kids, it ain't Yes without Howe, Wakeman, and Bruford (if I hear them refer to Alan White as an original member of Yes one more time, I'll blow up the MTV studio!!!!!). And Yes ain't gonna happen again because it ain't 1972 anymore. (And you laugh at your parents for having liked Rudy Vallee???) P.S. Does anyone remember that best-selling pop psych self-help book from the mid-'70s, "Don't Say Yes When You Want to Say Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It changed my life... [If you want to flame at someone who saw Yes six times in seven years (once going 500 miles out of my way to do so), who cried as he watched them shrivel up and die as a musical force, flame away...] -- Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr
nxs@fluke.UUCP (Bruce Golub) (12/09/83)
Come on, Anderson sounds like Sting!? You have got to be kidding. Aside form the obvious differences in diction (you can usually discern the words Jon is singing, with Sting, alias mush-mouth, you get a lot of good material for the "mis-understood lyrics fans") there is an obvious difference in vocal melodic style between Anderson and Sting. Saying that Trevor's chop-chop guitar style is just like Andy Sommers' is like saying 90% of the current pop guitarists sound like the Police's (well maybe you have something there). I don't know what Bono Vox looks like, nor do I care, or care if he looks like Anderson (he surely doesn't sound like him either).
jwr@ccieng5.UUCP (James Walter Reid) (03/31/84)
All right, It's time for me to say my piece (for what It's worth). 1. The new album is very good. One of the years best. As far as individual songs go, It has the best collection since the 'Yes album - Fragile' days. 2. If you think that it is too commercial, turn off your radio. Listen to the songs for what they are, not for how often they are played. 3. Steve Howe is one of the worlds truly great guitarists, but the change in personnel is like a breath of fresh air for Yes. True, Trevor Rabin can never compare to Howe on a one to one basis, but he is far better than he is being made out to be. He is the principal songwriter on '90125', and did sing a good portion of the lead vocals on the album. 4. Chris Squire is the greatist bass player in all of rock. (not that anyone had said otherwise, I just couldn't resist) I have tickets to see Yes on May 10th, and I'm allready getting excited. (I've seen them twice before, in '78 and '80) Well, that's all I wanted to say. I hope that this merits some response. (even negative, I've never submitted before, let alone be 'flamed') JR
cdelliot@uokvax.UUCP (04/05/84)
#R:ccieng5:-33500:uokvax:4000016:000:128 uokvax!cdelliot Apr 5 15:50:00 1984 I saw them in OKC several weeks ago. You'll enjoy it. C. D. Elliott AT&T Technologies !ctvax!uokvax!cdelliot
yes2@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Randy Rzasa) (06/23/85)
>I suspect that the Howe-Anderson-Wakeman-Squire-Bruford combo was the >most popular and, in my opinion, the most creative. They are the one's >who did "Close to the Edge," "Fragile," "The YES Album," and "The Age >of Atlantic" (with their incredible rendition of Paul Simon's America on >it), among others. > Mike Sykora Actually, Wakeman was not on "The YES Album", and I believe that White had replaced Bruford by the time "Close to the Edge" came out. This leaves "Fragile" as the only album with the "best" combo. I have not heard of "The Age of Atlantic", so I guess that it is some import that you picked up somewhere. Favorite verses: Now the verses I've sang don't add much weight To the story in my head, so I'm thinking I should go and write a punch line. But they're so hard to find in my cosmic mind, I think I'll take a look out of the window... From "Going for the One". -- Randy Rzasa ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!yes2
lip@masscomp.UUCP (John Lipinski) (06/24/85)
> ... I believe that White >had replaced Bruford by the time "Close to the Edge" came out. >This leaves "Fragile" as the only album with the "best" combo. I am almost sure that Bruford played on Close to the Edge, which I think is their best album. - John Lipinski {ihnp4,decvax}!masscomp!lip
lbl@druxg.UUCP (LocklearLB) (06/24/85)
>>I suspect that the Howe-Anderson-Wakeman-Squire-Bruford combo was the >>most popular and, in my opinion, the most creative. They are the one's >>who did "Close to the Edge," "Fragile," "The YES Album," and "The Age >>of Atlantic" (with their incredible rendition of Paul Simon's America on >>it), among others. >> Mike Sykora >Actually, Wakeman was not on "The YES Album", and I believe that White >had replaced Bruford by the time "Close to the Edge" came out. >This leaves "Fragile" as the only album with the "best" combo. >I have not heard of "The Age of Atlantic", so I guess that it is some import >that you picked up somewhere. > Randy Rzasa > ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!yes2 While you are correct about Wakeman not being on "The YES Album", Bruford most definitely was on "Close to the Edge". He made some excellent contributions to that album. The album that White first appeared on was "Tales from Topographic Oceans", if I am not mistaken. By the way, "The Age of Atlantic" was a domestic release that has some excellent songs, my favorite being their rendition of "America". It is somewhat difficult to find, and, for all I know, may be out of print by now. Barry Locklear
etan@tellab1.UUCP (Nate Stelton) (06/24/85)
In article <717@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> yes2@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Randy Rzasa) writes: > ... I believe that White >had replaced Bruford by the time "Close to the Edge" came out. WRONG-O! -etan
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (06/25/85)
>>Actually, Wakeman was not on "The YES Album", and I believe that White >>had replaced Bruford by the time "Close to the Edge" came out. >>This leaves "Fragile" as the only album with the "best" combo. >>I have not heard of "The Age of Atlantic", so I guess that it is some import >>that you picked up somewhere. Randy Rzasa > While you are correct about Wakeman not being on "The YES Album", Bruford most > definitely was on "Close to the Edge". He made some excellent contributions > to that album. The album that White first appeared on was "Tales from > Topographic Oceans", if I am not mistaken. By the way, "The Age of Atlantic" > was a domestic release that has some excellent songs, my favorite being their > rendition of "America". It is somewhat difficult to find, and, for all I > know, may be out of print by now. Barry Locklear Technically, Randy is correct in saying that White was in the band by the time Close to the Edge *came* *out*. Bruford is most definitely on the record, but quit to accept Fripp's offer ("I think it's time you joined King Crimson, Bill.") just as the tour had begun (note that Bruford does two tracks on Yessongs, one of which is Perpetual Change in which he does the album's requisite drum solo---does anyone wonder why they didn't give White that opportunity?). Interestingly enough, an ad in Melody Maker circa December 1972 has the back cover of the album on the back page with all the pictures of members of the group in place but Alan White's picture instead of Bruford. "America" was recorded for the "Age of Atlantic" compilation album (which also had Led Zeppelin on it). If you're looking for it, it was also included on Yes' own compilation album "Yesterdays", which contained "America" plus the "best" of their first two albums ("Yes" and "Time and a Word"). I quibble with the use of the word "best" because "Yesterdays" did NOT include one of the best tracks Yes ever recorded ("No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed", a Richie Havens tune) from "Time and a Word". -- Like a vermin (HEY!), shot for the very first time... Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr
jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) (06/26/85)
> Favorite verses: Now the verses I've sang don't add much weight > To the story in my head, so I'm thinking I should > go and write a punch line. > But they're so hard to find in my cosmic mind, > I think I'll take a look out of the window... This would be funny if 'twas true, but it's funny still that you would write it as if it was. "Going For the One" is a song about the ultimate sacrifice required for ultimate success (something Kate Bush fans haven't been told by Kate yet). (Of course, it's also about how young children pursue things with such great intensity compared to adults, eventhough the result doesn't amount to much in quantitative measure). -- Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer US Mail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC; 2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642 "Qbpx! Qbpx! Zl obj jrag bss juvyr V jhm pyrrava' vg!"
jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (06/27/85)
> "America" was recorded for the "Age of Atlantic" compilation album (which > also had Led Zeppelin on it). If you're looking for it, it was also included > on Yes' own compilation album "Yesterdays", which contained "America" plus > the "best" of their first two albums ("Yes" and "Time and a Word"). I > quibble with the use of the word "best" because "Yesterdays" did NOT > include one of the best tracks Yes ever recorded ("No Opportunity Necessary, > No Experience Needed", a Richie Havens tune) from "Time and a Word". > -- > Like a vermin (HEY!), shot for the very first time... > Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr Rich is right. "Yesterdays" is definitely NOT the best of "Yes" and "Time And A Word". I have all three albums and it seems to me that the songs that were selected for "Yesterdays" were the most commercial and pop-oriented songs from their first two albums. They don't really give you a good picture of the type of music Yes was doing in those days. Most of the songs that were left off of "Yesterdays" are better and much more interesting. A couple of them show the familiar Yes style in its early, formative stages, but many of them are very different from anything else Yes ever did. They show a wide variety of influences from the time, most of which will surprise Yes fans that haven't heard "Yes" and "Time And A Word". It's interesting to see how each of the great "progressive rock" groups of the 70's had very different influences, but most people lump them all together under the same banner. -- Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 {linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsri!dciem!jeff {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (06/29/85)
> > Favorite verses: Now the verses I've sang don't add much weight > > To the story in my head, so I'm thinking I should > > go and write a punch line. > > But they're so hard to find in my cosmic mind, > > I think I'll take a look out of the window... > > This would be funny if 'twas true, but it's funny still that you would > write it as if it was. "Going For the One" is a song about the ultimate > sacrifice required for ultimate success (something Kate Bush fans haven't > been told by Kate yet). (Of course, it's also about how young children > pursue things with such great intensity compared to adults, eventhough the > result doesn't amount to much in quantitative measure). > -- > Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos I think the best word to describe that particular verse is "self-parody". And in Jon Anderson's case, it was about time. -- Like a turban (HEY!), worn for the very first time... Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (07/06/85)
> It's interesting to see > how each of the great "progressive rock" groups of the 70's had very different > influences, but most people lump them all together under the same banner. > -- > Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 Do you know what common interest brought Squire and Anderson together to form the band in the first place? They both liked Simon & Garfunkel!!! (hence, the use of "America" as a very early tune in their repertoire, re-done by the Fragile line-up for the compilation album). The legend is that the band name was suggested by Peter Banks after watching "Yellow Submarine", with all the "YES"es and "LOVE"s that popped up on the screen at the end of the film. The original logo of the band (the word YES in a comic-strip style "balloon"), bears this out. -- Like a sturgeon (GLURG!), caught for the very first time... Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr
jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) (07/08/85)
> It's interesting to see how each of the great "progressive rock" groups of > the 70's had very different influences, but most people lump them all > together under the same banner. This is true. Jon Anderson claims that Vanilla Fudge was one of the major influences on Yes during their early development. It certainly is hard to see how this can be (although Vanilla Fudge is a very interesting group; and their version of "Windmills of Your Mind" has a good bit of stylistic similarity to Yes's "America"). Regarding Yesterdays not being the best of the early Yes... who said it was supposed to be? I have always thought it was supposed to be like all those variously-named repackagings of Genesis's "From Genesis to Revelation," i.e., to give some insight into what a soon-to-be-famous rock group sounded like before they attained their heights of success... -- Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer US Mail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC; 2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642 "Gurl zhfg hcjneq fgvyy, naq bajneq, Jub jbhyq xrrc noernfg bs gehgu." -- WEY