Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This is one of my favorite covers that Yes does, and features some of my favorite bass work by Mr. Squire. I've always liked jamming around to it, but when I sat down to actually learn the bass lines more accurately, it proved to be quite a task. There are so many sections in the song where it sound like Chris is just winging it with spontaneous playing, and subsequently there's NOT a lot in the way of repetition, except for about a minute during the long guitar solo.

I elected to to it by ear - not sure if there's tab out there for this one, the whole 10+ minutes version. Plus, I took a few liberties with my note choices here & there, particularly at 8:47 where I did a quick drop-D. (Why not? I was in the neighborhood.)

So here it is; pretty self-explanitory - yes is panned left, I'm panned right. I video'd it as well, but need to work on synching up the audio with the vid since I did a separate direct audio feed from the mixer. I'll eventually get that posted, but will probably have to cut short the beginning or end since Youtube has the 10-min limit. Advantage to this wav file version - the audio on the vid will probably get compressed to something awful once Youtubified. Not a word? It is now.

America cover - 1968 4001

Well I gave it a listen (a couple of times) and well.... Uber Cool! A fine effort and great sound!! I have heard different versions of this live and recorded (all slightly different) and I think you have IT down! I have always seen this tune as a great jam - kind of a montage of sound and imagery (even the S&G orig) - a long bus ride where the riders are entertaining themselves along the way. I think you have the total feel of the piece. Great job Mark! Am looking forward to the video.

Thanks, Tom. It's probably a good thing that I haven't studied other versions since that would probably make it hard to focus on what to play. There are some patches here & there where my timing isn't spot on, I admit, but I wanted to capture it in one take for the sake of the video, so some little glitches pop up here & there, but I can live with it.

As for the video itself, it ain't much for production value - no roaming street scenes or hillside imagery, just me & the bass - for 10 minutes. So, fair warning to the entertainment savy!

As long as there is bass shots in the vid I think I can handle it! As for the timing, yes that may be true, but that is part of the 'live thing'. Rarely is everything exactly there - that gives it a raw sound which I rather like. There is a live version on YES - The World is Live from 1971 which I love..... a great jam and I'd say you do it justice.

Thanks again, Tom! I checked out the content on 'The Word Is Live' - I'll have to pick that up one of these days.

I picked up 'The Word Is Live' this morning. Great versions of these songs! I thought it was particularly cool to hear the beginnings of the 'Disillusion' section of 'Starship Trooper' within the 'For Everyone' track, Chris singing it solo with Anderson coming in with some cool counter lines that never made it to the later version. I'd never heard this song before. There are a few goodies in this collection that are new to me.

It's interesting hearing how Chris' tone changed through the years. My favorite era within this collection seems to be 1971, particularly the London recordings; I always liked his gritty tone. I've noticed that as production techniques and recording technology became more "advanced" over time, some tones that were altered through this "advancement" didn't necessarily become better, just different. Lately I've been trying to bring the older amplification technology into the digital age, where the warm "vintage" sounds can be presented with contemporary clarity and approaches to mixing. This concept is what led to me learning 'America.' It's an exercise for me in trying to capture or reproduce the sound of older amps and guitars, which will be applied to my own tunes as I develop them in the tracking/mixing process. In the same fashion as 'America', I also learned (to the best of my ability) and recorded 'Siberian Khatru', 'Heart Of The Sunrise', and '5 Percent For Nothing' since these are examples of some of my favorite sounding recordings of Chris' bass.

Tone wise I agree completely with what you say. And find it interesting how sound reproduction in lives shows has changed over the years. That London ’71 tone is killer!! I too enjoy the For Everyone track… tune evolution is so neat… like seeing Yours is no Disgrace evolve live. We have the ’71 version and then the YesSongs version which I think was a little later. One tune I think is totally unbelievable is Awaken… man to pull that off live and sound so damned good….. I am impressed!

I think your America has a similar feel to the live jam on The Word… not the note for note stuff but the feel and the sound and participation into the tune. And I applaud your endeavor to capture the old vintage with the modern digital – a lot of the new studio stuff is just too damned clean and sterile… from your latest stuff I’d say the effort is working! Maybe that is one reason I love live recordings of performers doing their thing – the sound is just so much more organic sounding.

I'm not a huge Yes fan...but I love their take on this S&G classic.

Well done Mark...and the '68 sounds great!

Salute!

i am a huge Yes fan,and that was brilliant. great tone,presumably toaster and "real" horseshoe?

opticnerve wrote:I'm not a huge Yes fan...but I love their take on this S&G classic.

Well done Mark...and the '68 sounds great!

Salute!

I'll have to revise my "well done" comment to BRILLIANT!!!

Thanks, guys! Squire deserves all the credit, of course. 'America' is full of "Dang! WishI came up with that riff!" moments. One of my favorite passages is the line he goes into at the 4:28 mark.

The '68 is all stock, except for the refret & refin'd fretboard, and yes - that's toaster and horseshoe together in the mix.

Well done! And wow, LOVE that '68 4001! Gorgeous!

Nice, Mark! Now I can learn the song easier since I can hear the bass line much better.

That sounds pretty special!

Eden.

cjj wrote:Well done! And wow, LOVE that '68 4001! Gorgeous!

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!