Tried listening to Yes today.....

[Stub Mandrel]

8 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

Sound Chaser would be somewhere toward the bottom of my suggestions for someone trying to get into Yes 😄

 

The guy who got me into bass used to play the main riff from Sound Chaser and get frustrated with my complete inability to play it.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Stub Mandrel

[BassTractor]

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

 

Sound Chaser would be somewhere toward the bottom of my suggestions for someone trying to get into Yes 😄

😄
Yeah, normally it's a strange suggestion, but happily @meterman already likes Roundabout. 
Sound Chaser ain't no Owner of a Lonely Heart (a song I lurve, so it's not about that), and I thought it spawns some of the same drive and intensity as Roundabout does.

Edited August 1, 2022 by BassTractor

[Russ]

I always saw Yes as basically complicated folk music, with more in common with Greensleeves and medieval madrigals than with rock, other than the instrumentation. 

 

Am I a big fan? No. Casual at best. But am I glad they exist? Definitely. 

 

And everyone likes Roundabout and Owner Of A Lonely Heart. 

[Barking Spiders]

22 hours ago, Russ said:

 

And everyone likes Roundabout and Owner Of A Lonely Heart. 

 

?? errm I don't like Roundabout at all but do really like Owner and for that matter most of 90125.

[meterman]

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

 

?? errm I don't like Roundabout at all but do really like Owner and for that matter most of 90125.

If Yes had recorded “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” in a Sound Dimension-esque ska style I’d have been all over it like hair on a gorilla.

 

Well, a sweaty gorilla. In Asda pyjamas.
 

Might have to power up the 4-track and do it myself.  

[ezbass]

3 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

 

?? errm I don't like Roundabout at all but do really like Owner and for that matter most of 90125.

You’ll probably like Big Generator too.

[ezbass]

57 minutes ago, meterman said:

If Yes had recorded “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” in a Sound Dimension-esque ska style I’d have been all over it like hair on a gorilla.

 

Well, a sweaty gorilla. In Asda pyjamas.
 

Might have to power up the 4-track and do it myself.  

I’d listen to that, make it so!

[meterman]

37 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I’d listen to that, make it so!

Ha, challenge accepted!

 

When I get time to do it I’ll post it up in the recording forum. I already recorded a ska version of “Behind My Camel” by The Police, and a King Tubby / Augustus Pablo inspired take on “Fools Gold” by the Stone Roses. 
 

Daft instrumental ska versions of unlikely hit records is my bag, baby 😂

[toneknob]

Now playing: Rites of Dawn by Wobbler

 

if you like 70s Yes you'll like this. https://wobbler.bandcamp.com/

[Misdee]

Something I gleaned recently is that while Yes were creating Close To The Edge, Steve Howe was very much in the thrall of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. That influence had never really occurred to me despite having heard that album hundreds of times, but now it makes perfect sense. It's also a reminder of the astonishing brilliance of John McLaughlin as a guitarist.

 

 By the time they wrote Sound Chaser the band were absorbing some of the influence of Return To Forever and Weather Report.

 

To me this is an interesting perspective because Yes get categorised by a lot of folks as coming from a predominantly European symphonic tradition in terms of their musical influences. This is not true, and Steve Howe  in particular has always been a lexicon of guitar styles from a variety of genres and eras. The rest of the band were as hip as anyone at the time, too. Yes had plenty (maybe a few too many) of twiddly bits, that is undeniable, but even the twiddly bits were quite diverse.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Misdee

[mikel]

50 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Something I gleaned recently is that while Yes were creating Close To The Edge, Steve Howe was very much in the thrall of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. That influence had never really occurred to me despite having heard that album hundreds of times, but now it makes perfect sense. It's also a reminder of the astonishing brilliance of John McLaughlin as a guitarist.

 

 By the time they wrote Sound Chaser the band were absorbing some of the influence of Return To Forever and Weather Report.

 

To me this is an interesting perspective because Yes get categorised by a lot of folks as coming from a predominantly European symphonic tradition in terms of their musical influences. This is not true, and Steve Howe  in particular has always been a lexicon of guitar styles from a variety of styles and eras. The rest of the band were as hip as anyone at the time, too. Yes had plenty (maybe a few too many) of twiddly bits, that is undeniable, but even the twiddly bits were quite diverse.

I think it's mainly the Wakeman guiding hand on song arrangements that gave the impression of symphonic influence. I was heavily influenced by Yes, the Yes Album was like a bolt from the blue for me when it was released. Close to the Edge is my all time favorite piece of music, to date. 

[Stub Mandrel]

LOL, re-lkistening to teh first five seconds of Sound Chaser I finally got the Weather Report vibe!

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

LOL, re-lkistening to teh first five seconds of Sound Chaser I finally got the Weather Report vibe!

And an attack of fat thumbitis.

[Daz39]

On 03/08/2022 at 09:51, Misdee said:

Something I gleaned recently is that while Yes were creating Close To The Edge, Steve Howe was very much in the thrall of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. That influence had never really occurred to me despite having heard that album hundreds of times, but now it makes perfect sense. It's also a reminder of the astonishing brilliance of John McLaughlin as a guitarist.

 

 By the time they wrote Sound Chaser the band were absorbing some of the influence of Return To Forever and Weather Report.

 

To me this is an interesting perspective because Yes get categorised by a lot of folks as coming from a predominantly European symphonic tradition in terms of their musical influences. This is not true, and Steve Howe  in particular has always been a lexicon of guitar styles from a variety of genres and eras. The rest of the band were as hip as anyone at the time, too. Yes had plenty (maybe a few too many) of twiddly bits, that is undeniable, but even the twiddly bits were quite diverse.

Tales from Topographic Oceans, as well as plenty of Steve Howe's solo output from that time is chock full of eastern scales and esoteric widdling - his contribution to Yes is that they would have sounded far less exciting and inventive if he were a more regular guitar noodler. His playing on their version of America is brilliant.

If you can find it (coz it's not on Spotify) - get Keys to Ascension I and II (both are double discs) - it's mostly a live concert (2 or 3 nights) from a hall in San Luis Obispo, plus about an album's worth of new material. The live material is fabulous: Siberian Khatru, Close to the Edge and Awaken are pretty transcendent - their best versions in my opinion.

[ezbass]

6 minutes ago, Daz39 said:

Tales from Topographic Oceans, as well as plenty of Steve Howe's solo output from that time is chock full of eastern scales and esoteric widdling - his contribution to Yes is that they would have sounded far less exciting and inventive if he were a more regular guitar noodler. His playing on their version of America is brilliant.

If you can find it (coz it's not on Spotify) - get Keys to Ascension I and II (both are double discs) - it's mostly a live concert (2 or 3 nights) from a hall in San Luis Obispo, plus about an album's worth of new material. The live material is fabulous: Siberian Khatru, Close to the Edge and Awaken are pretty transcendent - their best versions in my opinion.

 

[wateroftyne]

Steve Howe has quite a country twang, and the band is all the better for it.

[Beedster]

Crikey, this thread feels like a million years ago now, I should try listening again sometime 👍

[wateroftyne]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Crikey, this thread feels like a million years ago now, I should try listening again sometime 👍

 

Maybe give Gentle Giant a shot if you haven't already, too. Start with Free Hand or Octopus.

[Beedster]

3 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

 

Maybe give Gentle Giant a shot if you haven't already, too. Start with Free Hand or Octopus.

Thanks mate, had a Genesis moment today also, so perhaps my brain is slowly coming around to this stuff 

[Dad3353]

I tried listening to Yesterday. It didn't need re-mastering; the original was already darned good. 

[mikel]

4 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

Steve Howe has quite a country twang, and the band is all the better for it.

I always felt he was more jazz and Americana, or Chet Atkins type style. But he was certainly not rock or blues, and all the better for that. 

[ambient]

There’s an hour or so you won’t get back.

[Skinny]

Just one note played by Chris Squire is better than anything I have managed to cobble together. 

[Oopsdabassist]

Mmmmm Yes music, my favourite way to while away an hour or three 😎

[Franticsmurf]

6 minutes ago, Oopsdabassist said:

Mmmmm Yes music, my favourite way to while away an hour or three

Just an hour? Oh wait, radio edit. 😀