* * * * * * * * * * ______ ______ ____________ _________ / \ | \ __/ \ __/ \__ _________ | \| \ / |/ _ \ _________ / | // _____ || / \_/ \ |NOTES \ // / \ \\_ \_ | |FROM \ || _____ ___\ \ \_ \_ | |THE \ || / ---/______| \ \_ | |EDGE ___\ || | | /______ __/ \ | |#48 ___/ \ \\ \_ \_ // | | \_____ / ___\ _/ \_ \ \_ _// | ______/ \__ \__/ ___/ \_ \____ | \_/ \__ ___/ \___ _/ \__ \__/ \ \_________/ \_____/ \_ \_____/ \ \_ | \_ | \__ __/ \_____________/ Notes From the Edge #48 September 5, 1992 * * * * * * * * * * IN THIS ISSUE... ================ Editorial Notes - Appypollylogies Deja Vu - A voice from the past Why Tales - Thoughts and comments What I Did Over the Summer... - Stories from the recently returned A Yesstory Story - A little disappointed Rarities - Some suggestions The State of Progressive Music - How far we've come... The Chris Squire Experiment - Two differing opinions * * * * * * * * * * EDITORIAL NOTES: ================ First off, I have to apologize for the long delay between issues. My PC died, taking with it my net access. However, several hundred dollars later, my new system is purring along fine and here we are. Also I've been pretty slow in getting back to new subscribers, mainly because its so much easier for me to do all the adding/deleting at once. Not to mention my losing a dozen or so due to using the "vi" editor over a modem (don't try this at home!) In any case, this is such an exciting time to be involved with the newsletter, especially since we have contact with three other Yes publications and Wakeman's management being so nice to us, not to mention Chris, Alan, Jon and Rick on the road. Unfortunately, I will have to resign as editor very soon. I knew this would happen sooner or later and I've mentioned it before, but this time its for real - NFTE #50 will be my last. Its not that I don't like the editing - its been fun! But too much is going on in my life right now for me to give Notes enough time. And with my new research starting in two weeks and qualifying exams this fall, its best if I gave it up soon. I've never been able to put the time into the newsletter that it deserves and in a few weeks I'll have even less time. I've had a couple of people volunteer to take over but I would still like to keep this offer open to anyone who is interested. Please get back to me by the next issue if *you* would like to be editor of Notes. Enjoy. -Mike Borella Editor of Notes From the Edge borella@cs.ucdavis.edu * * * * * * * * * * DEJA VU: ======== Well I guess a 'hello again' is in order to everyone who knows me, see I *am* still alive :-) (but still without net access :-() Since I have this opportunity I thought I'd mention a few things I've been hearing lately...I just got a little notice from Wonderous Stories Magazine, and was mildly disappointed to read that the official lineup of Yes no longer includes Steve Howe or Bill Bruford. In other words, we're back to 90125 Yes + Rick. But who knows if this will last either. Also mentioned was the Chris Squire Experiment that was scheduled for a few club dates out here on the West Coast. If the shows in my area hadn't been during the week, and on the first 2 days of classes no less, I would have considered it, but I guess the reason I'm at Berkeley in the first place *is* for school, so...Anyone who did go to any of the shows, please write us with a little blurb about whether the Experiment worked or not...:-) Also, from Tiz Hay of the Yes Music Circle I read that Jon Anderson will be performing with Kitaro for a few dates in October. I haven't heard any of the songs Jon sings on, but since one of these dates is at the Greek Theater on campus here in Berkeley, I'm hoping to make it to the show. Here are the dates, but bear in mind these are second hand info (supposedly confirmed dates): October 12 (Mon) SEATTLE Paramount October 13 (Tue) VANCOUVER Orpheum October 16 (Fri) LOS ANGELES Universal Amphitheater October 17 (Sat) BERKELEY Greek Theater October 21 (Wed) NEW YORK Radio City Music Hall Anyone seriously interested in going to the Berkeley show, please get in touch with me, since I currently know of no one else also interested in seeing it and willing to go with me :-) (phone: 510-845-3059) I'll call the Greek and find out ticket prices, etc, assuming tickets haven't gone on sale yet... For everyone's info, it looks like Wonderous Stories has a new address, it's taken me a while to learn this since I don't subscribe at the moment, so who knows how long they've been at this new address. But if you've been trying to contact them and haven't had any luck, try this: WONDEROUS STORIES P.O. BOX 2308 STAMFORD, CT 06906 Well, that looks like it from my end! I'm stumbling into my second week of grad school now, and it's looking great!! One of these days I'll get my hands on a computer account...so again, 'hi' to everyone I've neglected (and that means everyone :-), hopefully you'll see me around the net again soon. Cathy Leak [ In related news, Tiz Hay of the Yes Music Circle wrote and is looking for a UK contact for copies of backissues. The address for his fanzine is: The Yes Music Circle 44 Oswald Close Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 9UG England A subscription is $22 in US currency (not sure how much for other monies). - Mike ] * * * * * * * * * * WHY TALES? ========== Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 14:32:08 EDT From: Rob Petrone A lot of people have been stating that Tales is their favorite album. I've noticed the album title being evoked several times in the past few issues. For some reason, Tales is one of the few Yes albums I never purchased. Don't ask me why. My question is *why* is Tales such a fantastic album? Am I really missing something here by not having it? Is it the compositions, the lyrics, what? Is this, like, the height of their progressive form? Regards from the City of (Brotherly) Love, Rob Petrone [ Beats me but I put on Tales as an afterthought not too long ago and I liked it much more than I ever have before. Perhaps it just has an overly long gestation period. For me, complicated music tends to take longer to get used to but keeps my interest in the end. - Mike ] * * * * * * * * * * WHAT I DID OVER THE SUMMER... ============================= Date: 28 Aug 1992 19:47:16 -0500 From: talbert@athena.cas.vanderbilt.edu (Robert Talbert) Hi folks... Boy, you spend one summer without net access and look at what all happens! Anyway, I didn't realize how much I missed Notes from the Edge until I managed to dig up Mike's net address last week and start reading the back issues since May. Looks like a lot of cool stuff has been going on... it's hard trying to keep up! (Yes, I'm the b*stard who's been running the archiver ragged... =) ) Anyway, in one of my numerous fits of boredom this summer, I decided to make some YES compilation tapes for my car. These are just your basic best-of tapes, partitioned into the periods 1969-1971 (_Yes_ through _The Yes Album_), 1971- 1973 (_Fragile_ through _Tales..._), 1974-1981 (_Relayer_ through _Drama_), and 1983-1991 (_90125_ through _Union_). If you'd like to get a copy of the playlists, I have them on file here. I have them formatted with individual play times. I arranged the track order with (I hope) some semblance of continuity and contrast, to make it sound as professional as a novice can get. =) Also, I have the tracks stuck together so that they all fit nicely onto a 100-minute cassette (one cassette per period, of course). If you'd like a copy, just give me a write at talbert@athena.cas.vanderbilt.edu and say so. They all sound really good, I think, the way I've arranged them. The file contains the playlists with side, individual, and total playing times, what disc to record from, and some suggested substitutions if you don't agree with the track selections. =) Enjoy! Robert Talbert +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ From: Timothy C Webb Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 19:54:24 EDT Hey, I just got back from summer vacation and checked out some of the issues of NFTE I missed, and it looks like I missed a lot! First, I have to ask...any more info about the "Chris Squire Experience"? Are they playing anywhere besides California? How did this happen? What's going on? Ahhh!!!! Does this have something to do with Chris' new solo album? When is that coming out?... Ok, ok, I have to stop myself. [ Yes, this was a west coast only thing and Chris did it to interest the record labels. No news on a release date. - Mike ] It was an eventful summer for me as I had the good fortune of running into Bill Bruford in Montreal! I saw the Earthworks show at the Montreal Jazz Fest, which was incredible, and discovered later that night that Bill was staying in the same hotel as me. I waited around in the lobby for him for a couple of hours, and when he finally showed his face I had the chance to ask him a few questions (which wasn't easy in the nervous state I was in). He told me about the live Earthworks album coming out early next year, and I managed to sneak in a question about Yes. When I asked him if he'd be on the next Yes album, he said he doubted very much that there would be another album, but if there was he'd be there. He emphasized the problems that exist now because of the size of the band, and the difficulties in getting it together. One more thing before I stop annoying everyone-- there was a rumour going around that the Yesshows concert (filmed at the Philadelphia Spectrum in '78) is available on laserdisc. Can anyone verify this? I just got a laserdisc player and would definitely get this disc if it is available. Tim Webb tcw@kepler.unh.edu * * * * * * * * * * A YESSTORY STORY: ================= Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 21:59:07 EDT From: Mike Okay, here's the deal (get the tissues out, cuz this is a tear-jerker) I was in my friendly neighborhood record store last night, and I looked up on the 'New Release Board' and what did I see (among others): Sept 15..........Yes, Asia, blah blah blah I did a double take; no, i did a TRIPLE take... New Yes? New Asia? My enquiring mind immediately sought out the nearest drone worker, and when I found her, I demanded: "What is this new Yes album that's on the board?!?!" (I assumed, correctly, that the Asia is Aqua) "Umm, let me ask my boss..." Several minutes later, the manager came out of the back office, holding various brochures, flyers, press releases, etc. Flipping through the new releases guide, he franticly scanned for the Yes release... As he was doing this, my mind was racing furiously... "Is this the live album?" "Is this the new album?" "Is this a joke?" Well, it turns out that it is the new Yes release is _Yesstory_, the 2-CD abbreviation of _Yesyears_, which looks like a waste within itself... I mean, who is going to buy this? Atlantic got the public to scrape up $35 for the Led Zeppelin _Remasters_ thingie this year, only because of the 'exclusive interview disc' that the 4-CD box set didn't have; but this _Yesstory_ is going to be useless for Yes-heads like myself, who plunked down the $65 for all four CD's... Well, at least _Aqua_ is coming out in America... Mike Weintraub * * * * * * * * * * RARITIES: ========= Date: 29 Aug 1992 23:37:49 -0500 From: talbert@athena.cas.vanderbilt.edu (Robert Talbert) The idea of a rarities tape is cool. Especially for people like me who have no rarities to begin with... (My rarest item is the edit single of "Into The Lens"... yahoo.......) I thought about making a tape of obscure YES tunes once and calling it YESOTERIC... [ Well, it would be nice for someone to volunteer to make one... :) - Mike ] Somebody a few issues back was wondering about King's X' cover of "Roundabout". I had the rare and cool opportunity to meet King's X this summer, and I men- tioned that I thought it was extremely neat that they covered a YES tune, especially one as ball-busting as "Roundabout" (with only three people, no no less!). This apparently was done as a live tune ONLY, back in the early days of King's X as well, so the chances of there being a recording of any redeemable value is pretty much nil. Although maybe if we wrote the band and asked real nicely...? Also, would the guy that mentioned the trade of a recording of this tune for a recording of a King's X acoustic set please write me? I don't have the recording, but I sure would like to get a copy of that live acoustic recording you have.......! And one more thing about rarities. I remember talk of a CD-5 with a bunch of remixes of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" on it done by 808 State, or Front 242, or one of those number-bands... Does this thing exist? I'd love to get a hold of it. Also, is the 12" of "Love Will Find A Way" out of print? Does anybody here have a copy or dub of this? -- Robert talbert@athena.cas.vanderbilt.edu * * * * * * * * * * THE STATE OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC: =============================== Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 15:58:43 PDT From: Mark.McCarron-Fraser@Corp.Sun.COM (Mark McCarron-Fraser) I've been watching, and responding to, much of the music discussions here and on the ELP Digest. Some of you have expressed disapointment with the new Yes and new ELP music, and new anything else. I've been defending our long-time heros. Let me make my position clear and see where we go with this. When Progressive music started - The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows", & "She Said, She Said", Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues - there was an atmosphere conducive to experimentation. So getting started down the road to Progressiveness was not too hard. In the seventies we got to a destination - or at least part of the way there - with "Tales From Topographic Oceans", "Brain Salad Surgery", "Relayer", "Tarkus", "Starless & Bible Black", "The Lamb" and so on. Then came disco (everyone say PUKE!). And punk (say PUKE again.) These regressive musical forces set back both the progressive movement and the fusion movement. Today, albums like "Union" and "Black Moon" - while admittedly not "Tales" or "BSS" - are laying the ground work for a new round of progressive creativity. We need to get back to the launch pad before we can reach for the stars. I really don't think it is possible to produce an album like "Relayer", or "Pictures At An Exhibition" today. The record companies wouldn't go for it. (Mike Oldfield can do whatever he wants, given that he owns a huge slice of Virgin Records. So while "Amarock" is every bit as good as "Tales", or "Nude", or "BSS", Mikey is an exception.) The real question for us now is whither progressive rock? It isn't 1973. It seems to me that the twenty minute opus has been done as much as is reasonable. (Again Mikey is the big exception here. If you haven't listened to "Amarock" go buy it!!) Given the current context, it's hard to imagine ELP or anyone really stretching the boundaries of rock music. I look to the next ELP and YES albums for that. (If you don't like "Black Moon" try listening to anything by "Metallica".) This is as good as it's going to get folks. (At least for now.) {Interestingly I recently talked to Andy Latimer of Camel about the pressure of record labels. He said that record companies always put enormous pressure on artists to produce singles, and develop an image, and do all that marketing shit. Andy has gone independent and says he loves it. Of course it does reduce his income.} Is it possible folks that our heros have moved on? That they've done what they originally set out to do, and now want to do something else, but need the bucks? (Or pounds?) {This is your cue Anil!} Is it possible that if they recorded - and published - what they thought was really happening music that it would be too weird even for us?? I'll be going to see "Chris Squire Experiment" at the Caberet in San Jose on August 25. I'll report on what transpires. Comments, replies, & death threats all welcome, - Mark mark.mccarron-fraser@Corp.sun.COM * * * * * * * * * * THE CHRIS SQUIRE EXPERIMENT: ============================ From: scravatt@sedona.intel.com (Sam Cravatta) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 08:09:45 MST On Wednesday August 20, 1992 I was sitting in my office when the bass player from our band came in and said, "Hey, do you want to go see Chris Squire and Alan White tonight?" I said, "Yeah, right..and later monkey's will fly out of my butt." But as it turned out "The Chris Squire Experiment" was playing in downtown Phoenix, AZ at a hole in the wall bar called "The Mason Jar". Yeah, they advertized it as "Experiment" not "Experience". It was not advertized much at all except in a newspaper and a little on the radio. Tickets were $14 ($17 day of show). I gathered up some friends and we went to the show. There were two shows 7pm & 11pm. We got there at 6pm the band didn't start until 8:15pm. Only 50+ people showed up...small crowd. An opening act played several song. It turned out that Billy Sherwood was the singer/bass player for the warm up band. He is actually a very good singer. I really enjoyed his bass playing, singing, and songs. Chris and Alan came on stage next. Billy played rythmn guitar while the guitar player from Billy's band played lead. The keyboard player was from Toto but he wasn't very impressive. The band did 7 songs which sounded nothing like YES. It was a nice change. For the encore the replayed the first song they did because Chris said that there only together 5 weeks and don't know anything else. I didn't catch the names of all the songs, but there was a song called "No Reason" and "The Wake". I think Billy wrote a lot of the songs. Chris's bass playing was excellent. He played a variety of basses but his classic "Rick" was the best. He has a very unique sound...a lot of punch in his bass so it really stands out. Billy and Chris shared the vocals equally and blended well together. They seemed to be really good friends from the way they played and hung out together before the show. Chris has been putting on some weight. He's got a real distinguishable belly, but that's his business. He can still kicks ass on bass. It's really amazing how he can sing while playing some really complicated stuff. Alan White was not very pronounced. He just played his part and that was it. He is a very "heavy" drummer: i.e. he really pounds the drums. He had a nice size Ludwig set complete with some bells and whistles. Chris introduced him in the middle of the show. I thought Alan might do a drum solo but he didn't (bummer). Also, his drums were very deep sounding, probably in part because his tom-toms were very large/long compared to most and it seemed he had them tuned lower than normal. (but what's normal) All in all it was an enjoyable experience. Go see them if you can. Sam Cravatta +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 09:23:14 PDT From: Mark.McCarron-Fraser@Corp.Sun.COM (Mark McCarron-Fraser) I saw the "Chris Squire Experiment" show at the Cabaret in San Jose on August 25. At this performance Robert Berry (x of 3) opened, which was lucky because that provided less time for Billy Sherwood. Some concert goers have reported that they had to suffer through a full hour of Sherwood. This is Billy Sherwood who helped Chris write "The More We Live". Sherwood's band was a three-piece: guitar, bass, and drums. To say that they were awful is a gross understatement. They were unbelievably LOUD. (I'm an ELP fan, so mere volume isn't a problem for me.) The guitarist - whose name escapes me - played loud screechy guitar solos. He had two basic tones: distorted, and very distorted. He was at his best when imitating other guitarists. He also had no clue about how to finish a solo, so he just drifted off into meaningless- ness. Sherwood's voice and bass playing were acceptable, but nothing to get excited about. The drummer (Mark something) beat his drums like he was trying to kill them. No finesse at all, just heavy pounding, one or two decent chops. Mercifully, Sherwood's set was only four songs (three of which were bad enough to warrant forced labor in a music school). When Chris came out - slightly over-weight, but stone-cold sober and enthusiastic - we hoped for a big improvement. We were wrong. Chris's "band" included all of Sherwood's trolls, with Sherwood frequently playing guitar, and the drummer singing backing vocals and hitting a synth-drum pad. We were also treated to Alan White and Steve Pacorro(sp?) (on keyboards). It was difficult to hear Pacorro over the noise, so it was almost as though he wasn't there, except for a short solo and some intros and finishes. Alan was reduced to the role of human metronome. I couldn't figure this out at first, but then realized that Sherwood and pals have trouble keeping 4/4 time - hence their own over-loud drummer and Alan's excessively tedious time keeping. Chris was in fine voice. The lyrics seemed to be good, but it was hard to pick out more than a line here or there, and they were rather repetive. Oh yes, I almost forgot. They played all new material. The only exception was the encore which started with "The Fish". Some of the tunes might be good, if played at something less than bone-shattering volume, and properly mixed, and with a different guitarist, and better backing vocals, and . . . Well, Chris was good. And he did do some new and different things, but nothing too adventurous. On the whole it sucked really badly. In the event that they release an album I STRONGLY suggest that you listen to it before buying it. Sadly, all of this begs the question of why Chris and Alan would team up with such losers. I've seen scores of club bands, and these guys would have been booed off the stage under any other circumstances. disappointed, Mark * * * * * * * * * * DATES: ====== Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 10:59:19 -0400 From: Jeremy Weissenburger <07822@brahms.udel.edu> Well, it's that time of year: One's thoughts turn to school, books, and... BIRTHDAYS!! September --------- 13: The 20th anniversary of Close To The Edge's release! 17: The 5th anniversary of Big Generator's release! 20: The 14th anniversary of Tormato's release! Just thought you all wanted to know... --Jeremy * * * * * * * * * * THOSE ALL-IMPORTANT ADDRESSES: ============================== New subscribers, contributions, questions/comments/criticism, and additions/corrections to the discography: Mike Borella (Editor) borella@snowball.cs.ucdavis.edu NFTE Server (lyrics, backissues, discography, rarities, surveys, GIFs): Automated. For help send mail with subject line yes-archive@meiko.com "send main help" to NFTE Server problems, additions/corrections to the lyrics & GIFs, and additions/corrections to the rarities list: Mike Stok mike@meiko.com NFTE backissues and lyrics via anonymous FTP from cs.uwp.edu (131.210.1.4): Directory: /pub/music/lists/yes Contact for helping out with transcriptions: Greg Utas utas@bnr.ca For Import CD's (last resort): Joe Pizzirusso joep@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com ******************************************************************************** --< END OF NOTES FROM THE EDGE #48 >-- ********************************************************************************