Yes Years DVD

ram · Post by **ram** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:31 pm

When it comes to Yes albums or CDs, there isn't one I don't like. I do like some better than others but the innovation in each is just so darn cool! As far as Chris goes - there are many great bass players out there but there is a special place for him in my mind!

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:29 pm

Thanks for the forbidden clarification guys. Never realized that. There are a lot of great melodic movements going on in Drama songs - I agree that they easily beat most of Tormato. I'd have liked Man in a White Car to be developed further, Yes style. Off Tormato, DKTW is a Chris song that Jon changed the words to, and it would have been interesting to know where Chris would have taken it if he had the lyrics...

Jacob - when learning Chris licks/songs, slow it down and get the pacing/timing/feel down, then pick up the speed. Makes it easier to nail his parts. Once you get the feel right, then add back the speed. One consolation for me (being 54 and not as fast as I used to be) is Chris has slowed down a bit with age also!

Hell, all the old rockers have!

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:06 pm

Another GREAT Yes DVD is "Live at QPR". It's a double live DVD recorded in 1975 in London at Queens Park Ranger stadium, it has some really great footage. Although the sound is a bit iffy in parts, I think the video is way better than YesSongs. Squire can be seen playing a RIC acoustic, a fretless Fender and even the his white 4008 potatohead on Roundabout along with his 1964 RM1999. The band even gets into a funk jam at the beginning of one song.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:31 pm

Slowed down with age ... Gee I play a lot faster and cleaner than I did when I was young ... Entwistle got better with age too ...

bobcat · Post by **bobcat** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:05 pm

"White Car" is actually one of my favorite songs of all time, as it is, even though it is largely a Downes/Horn song, rather than a proper Yes song. I think it is perfect in pretty much every regard, so perfect in fact that I used it as inspiration for a short story of mine, which I think is my best written work.

I just think "Drama" is absolutely amazing. "Tormato", like I've said before, is a mediocre album that could've been amazing. "Don't Kill The Whale" should've had different lyrics, "Arriving UFO" should've been thicker-sounding. "Release, Release" is good, but not great. "Future Times/Rejoice" is the same. "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" needed thicker production as well. And "Circus of Heaven" is possibly the worst Yes song ever recorded, and should not exist. "Onward" is the only thing on the album that really can't be made better, I feel.

Jacob, I also like "Big Generator". I feel like it was Yes being wildly successful at making pop-rock, and while I prefer they make stuff like "The Yes Album" and "Close to the Edge", it is a solid and catchy album. There is definitely worse in their catalogue.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:42 pm

Drama also has "Run Through The Light", which I see as Yes' version of "Its Only A Northern Song" - they both have the same feel to them.

just_bassics · Post by **just_bassics** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:25 am

I liked Big Generator when it came out because it was more of a Yes album and less Trevor Rabin. Trevor writes great tunes, but Yes were always about collaboration and experimentation. No one guy should be calling the songwriting shots, but one guy should be producer... if Eddie Offord had been at the board for Tormato, it would have been much better, more focused, IMO.

When I first heard "Circus of Heaven' I thought "Jon Anderson is saying goodbye. He's had enough". That was largely true as he departed after the tour, during the failed Paris sessions that preceded Drama.

On the Rhino release of Drama, White car is present in its complete version, with an extra verse that tells another story. John, I also like Run through the light, even the primitive demo called Dancing through light that is on Rhino's Tormato. BTW, "Run through the light" differs from EVERY other Yes song in one way. Anybody?

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:34 am

Magnifacation is a good Album.And the title track,Magnifacation is a Squire classic.

just_bassics · Post by **just_bassics** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:40 am

I agree, as well as The Ladder, which I still listen to a lot. Open your eyes was also Chris Squire, I believe it started out as a Conspiracy CD and then became a Yes work later on.

Hope they come back with guns blazing!

lucky · Post by **lucky** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:58 am

I think one of the best compliments about Yes would be,that you could put any one of them into another group and that group would benifit 100%.When The Who reformed and toured after John's death,IMO Chris Squire would have been a better choice to replace Entwhistle rather than Pino Palladino.

pekka · Post by **pekka** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:11 am

Dane Wilder (Aceonbass): "Squire can be seen playing a RIC acoustic, a fretless Fender and even the his white 4008 potatohead on Roundabout along with his 1964 RM1999"

It's not a fretless Fender, just a normal seventies Jazz with maple fretboard w/ black blocks. He uses it on "To Be Over", "Sweet Dreams" and half of "Yours Is No Disgrace" IIRC.

Squire played a fretless Guild JSII on the "TFTO" tour, it was mounted on a stand.

BTW, does anybody know if he played his non-reverse Thunderbird IV on "Our Song" off "90125"? It sounds like it. T-Bird was used on "Release, Release" and "Does It Really Happen?".

just_bassics · Post by **just_bassics** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:24 am

Pekka, I read that somewhere, a long time ago, that Our song was the T-bird, but I can't remember where. I have an old copy of a Guitar World that featured Squire and Rabin in 1987. Maybe it was there, as Chris talked a lot about his bass choices in that interview. I'll have to dig it up but it's here somewhere...

I saw that TFTO tour in 1974, there where guitars mounted everywhere! Chris talks about his fretless Guild in several interviews and is proud of his part on side two of TFTO, recorded with the Guild.

seyesbass · Post by **seyesbass** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:34 am

Just to clarify,I have a cassette of a Yes concert in October 71 that my brother and I recorded at Manchester Free Trade Hall over a month before Fragile was released.Theres a long explanation by Chris Squire before Long Distance/Fish about how he recorded 16 tracks but couldnt do that live much to the disappointment of the audience. This "original" incarnation of the Fish is closer to the album version than Yessongs in that it has a similar buildup to the end vocal section with Wakeman on Mellotron and Howe on 175D providing the backing.This was Wakemans first outing on the road with Yes and as far as I can tell its about his fifth gig!Theres a great bit on Perpetual Change where he carrys on playing the intro stabs by mistake over "and there you are.." We had two tapes but lost the other that had Heart of the Sunrise on it. Jon explains how its about going to the big city all alone and Chris bass at the begining is describing the sound of the train on the tracks taking you there..so now you know how that riff came about.Long Distance had no official title and they called it "warmth of the Sun" I have mentioned before that I recorded the show made for Belgian or Dutch TV with Astral Traveller on it. I will get it transfered to DVD at some point.There are some good shots of the 4001 MG and his Telecaster bass with the extra pickup. Wakeman wont play any Moraz stuff so you wont hear Yes play any Relayer stuff for the forseeable future. I spoke to Alan White about Sound Chaser which I play part of in my version of the Fish as well as Tempus Fugit, Silent Wings and a section of the bass from Ritual. He said that both he and Squire "struggle with that one" which made me feel much better I can tell you! I am trying to persuade our drummer to agree to play all of Sound Chaser so maybe next year eh?. We will be playing all of Gates of Delirium in the next couple of months. I think all Relayer is is valid classic Yes and its because Yes dont do this stuff anymore that I felt I had to put a Yes tribute band together.Somewhere there has to be some decent footage of the 78 tour and that will have the Fish on it.Oh and theres a youtube of us with Alan White at the Cavern doing an unrehearsed Roundabout. Its not perfect but its worth a look just to prove that the CS is a gigging bass!. Just type Alan White and it should be in there.Any other Yes related stuff just fire away!

just_bassics · Post by **just_bassics** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:51 am

Pete, thanks for chiming in - Great stuff! I believe I hit your web site at on e time or another.

I wish there was more film and audio documentation of pre CTTE Yes. Everything after that point is clear, but the Fragile period fascinates me. I'd love to see concert footage from that era if any exists.

"Gates" is quite an undertaking. I'll be in England next summer, maybe I can catch Seyes gigging somewhere.

Thanks also for the bit about Squire's bass being the train... I sometimes describe his sound as "The frieght train Bass' because his 4001 sounds like a train barreling down the tracks at times! (every little thing intro).

seyesbass · Post by **seyesbass** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:19 am

Thanks Jim,
There was only the Beat Club B/W footage from the first album with Pete Banks. Then that programme with the Time and a Word stuff (mimed) with new member Steve Howe playing along to Banks recorded stuff that I have on tape. There is the BBC Sounding Out programme on the road with Fragile era Yes but thats only surfaced as grainy youtube footage.I have a friend at Granada TV that will have a look for Sounding Out in the archive. He can transfer the other stuff to DVD for me too.I am going to try and get in touch with whoever did the Hotlicks videos to see if its possible for an official DVD release of the Chris Squire one,otherwise its yet another one to transfer to disc. We have done most of Gates already and believe it or not its the simple intro section thats the hardest bit! The guitar is very tough to get to the stage where its comfortable to play live too.I went back to the old tapes because I am thinking of doing that version of the Fish next year...my wife thinks the Yessongs one is awful so thats out but I like it.We play the Robin 2 in Wolverhampton on May 31st so let me know if you are around and we can meet up.