No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed - live 1969

[walker]

Here's another gold nugget I found whilst on my YES video binge, one that perhaps some haven't seen. Yes performing NON,NEN live on British television in 1969. This is a particularly smokin' version! The band's energy is over the top, right up there with anything Deep Purple was doing at the time. Squire's on fire, tearing it up on a bass I'm really curious about. It appears to be a Deluxe body with an S fret board. (close ups at 1:18 & 2:19) It's also kind of funny that the then-Yes logo flashes over the band during the whole performance, then at the very end, someone at the projector added a big 'NO!'

[kiramdear]

Wow, thanks, Mark. That's really great. Certainly one of the earliest things I've seen from them. Smokin' indeed!

[seyesbass]

Hi Mark.
The bass is Chris's famous RM in one of its earlier incarnations.
He has often mentioned that he stuck wallpaper on the bass and messed it up and thats what you are seeing there.
The bass was in a bit of a state by the time he had it stripped and re-finished in cream.
I think a Chinese guy in London did the refin.
Note the headstock.
It was broken at one point and thats probably the temporary repair.
Its a wonder that bass made it through the 60s let alone the 70s.

[seyesbass]

I think its the German TV programme "Beat Club" by the way.

[ram]

Would have been fun to see them back then... thanks for posting Mark!

[rickenbrother]

One of the more uptempo, rockin' tunes with Jon Anderson in the band!
Good stuff! Thanks for posting that, Mark!

[just_bassics]

That clip is available on a DVD called "Live at Musikladen" which also has YIND and All Good People with The Yes Album Lineup.

[cheyenne]

Yep, thats the RM.

[johnallg]

I wonder where the fire was??

Great interpretation of a great Richie Havens tune. I sure love the covers early Yes did of so many great songs.

[1boominrick]

Are you sure that is DC127? I don't think an RM1999 came with binding. Notice the sharp edge all along the face of the instrument. RM's, 4001S's and now the c64 have rolled edges as the face blends to the sides along the waist. It certainly sounds like the classic bass, but there are photos of early 70s where Chris has a bass with triangular inlays, so it would indicate that he had others.
BTW, I think it was Yours is No Disgrace that they played on the German TV show. I'd have to verify that, though.
What I like about these early days is their energy. Chris took more chances then. It gave the music a raw edge and a fresh sound.

[Blackstar]

Yes logo flashes over the band during the whole performance, then at the very end, someone at the projector added a big 'NO!'

Probably the same rocket scientist who wrote "No Oppotunity......" at the beginning.

[seyesbass]

Hi Thomas,

The RM has had loads of sticky wallpaper and stuff all over it in that clip.
My older brother remembers Chris tripping over whilst leaping around and damaging the neck of his bass onstage at Manchester University but as to whether that was the RM or not we dont know but the RM did have some signs of headstock damage in early photos.
Chris said that it was a right mess after all the stuff he had stuck to it so he had it re-finished by (I think) Sam Lee or (Li) in London.
(I am going from my memory of interviews Chris did in the Melody Maker in the mid 70s by the way)

Around the time it was re-finished he used the 4001 21 fretter that you see on the inside cover of the Yes album.

As I understand it he said that the cream finish was not what he originally intended and I have always assumed that he might have wanted a similar blonde
finish to his Fender Tele bass.

Maybe this is a cross-thread with "The RM" thread...........anyone got a spanner?

[haw]

I think after following most Squire-related threads here for ten years (has it really been ten years?!) most of the documentary evidence points to Chris using (in the main) 4 Ricks:

1. The RM1999 which has been through the wars but still looks fab.
2. The "21 Fretter" with Hi-Gain on bridge and special binding.
3. The 4008 Potato-head 8 String
4. Donovan's fire-glo RM1999

You can add to this some some 4001CS's and the FOOW bass that he's picked up over the last 20 years but the apart from the RM, the 21 Fretter along with the Customised Telecaster Bass were his main squeezes until about 1971.

Pete - you still haven't answered me pedal question chieftain!

[seyesbass]

Hi,
sorry about that...
I have done a quick video of my pedalboard and I will sort that out soon but for now..
I use a cheap Boss ME50B for the Mutron sound (not as good as the Line 6 pod one I think)plus the reverbs, delays flanger chorus etc. and also some of the blended in Big Muff fuzz for parts of Ritual and Soundchaser .And its got a volume pedal which saves a few bob for now.
For tremelo I have a Dano Tuna melt which again is a cheapo pedal (£15) but its got a great retro sound although being analogue it needs tweaking each gig.
I have a Boss ODB3 Bass Overdrive for extreme fuzzing but a Brassmaster is going in there at some point.There is no bank up and down footswitch on the ME50B so I use a Boss FS6 dual switch to do that.For wah wah I use the white Dunlop Bass Wah and when you get used to the new way of switching on ( by that I mean that when you tip the pedal forward it engages the wah so you dont have the hassle of going all the way into "wah" territory to hit the on switch) the effect its very good.One criticism of the Dunlop pedal is the battery cover which broke first time I used it but I use mains power instead so no harm done.
I have a Rothwell stomp juice power unit for all the pedals and I soldered together my own 9V battery connector for the FS6.
Plan is to replace the ME50B with the Line6 M13 if it does what I need (not had a chance to try one) plus the added cost of a new volume pedal....it would be nice if Line6 could emulate a Brassmaster fuzz to add to the M13.
All that is Velcroed to a flighted case board with line in and out and mains being the only connections I have to do when I set up.

Problem with multi effects like the Boss is when you go from patch to patch whilst playing and you get that drop out if youre not crafty with the timing.
If I bought all the vintage stuff (a mate of mine deals in vintage pedals) it would cost a ridiculous ammount of cash and for now I can just about get away with the pedals I use at the moment.
One thing I do make sure of when setting up the effects on the ME50B is to avoid using the enhancer or extra compression so that its just the Ampeg sound plus effects to keep the warmth of the valve sound and of course the sound of the Rickenbacker.
Sounds a bit involved but its more simple than it is to describe!

Anyway,
Just off to wallpaper the 4001CS..........................

[haw]

The M13 is the business. Our singer got one a couple of months ago. I've only tried it though his guitar but its a pretty astounding piece of kit.

I'm using an old Korg AX1B - I wouldn't trust it for changing effects for the same reason as your Boss - signal gap when you step on it. Still, it has a decent enough tuner and I kind of just use it as a pre-amp really. It does have a nifty pre-set that's straight Tempus Fugit though. Fuzz is a Bass Big Muff which has an extra switch (that rarely gets used) for adding extra bass in the distortion mix. I use a Boss TR2 for Tremelo stuff and it covers most bases although its not quite as versatile in the adjustment as the now-deceased Nobels TR1 it replaced. I also use a Small Stone Nano which is far superior to the pre-sets on the Korg and gives a great sound ala Safe and a Boss DD3.

My mission in life over the last couple of years though was to find something that could do a Mu-tron thing. Tried a Bassballs - no good at all. Pre-set on the Korg didn't cut the mustard, tried a few other pedals, no success, then I won a Digitech Bass Synth for thirty quid off Ebay and unwittingly got myself a FANTASTIC pedal for all sorts of stuff including the tormato-era sound.

Do use Bass Pedals? I'll be pretty green with envy if you have a set of Taurus 1's!