* NOTHING! Let's just not talk about today. Ok? (I hate 'the world'; it's ugly.)
* Let's talk about something beautiful instead.
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Germany
(This one's for you, John and Werner.)
My oldest and youngest sons are currently taking time off to visit their half-sister in Waldenbuch, Germany, just 20 miles south of Stuttgart, and 10 miles south of where I used to live.
This is a sort-of birthday present to both Jessica (08/16) and Marcus jr. (08/05).
I've already got pictures of them all enjoying Spaghettieis (Pronounced: Shpaghetti Ice).
I'm also told that, just as happened to me so long ago, as soon as they arrived, they felt the odd sensation of finally being at home.
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From my playlist
Having mentioned them yesterday, it only seemed appropriate to bless you with my favorite pieces from Yes today.
Again, you're going to want to have some time to spare, and the best speakers you can find. Yes will tax them both.
I first heard Yes in Maryland in about 1972. There was a radio station that had a late night program where they played the music, or the parts of songs (like the epilogue to Neil Diamond's Walk on Water), that the daytime shows would never play, usually because of their length, but also, I suspect, because they were just too far outside the bubble-gum pop category that most people (spelled: teenage girls) wanted to hear. One night, they played I've Seen All Good People, by Yes, and I was instantly entranced by Jon Anderson's amazing vocals.
I've Seen All Good People
(Remember, if it's too slow, or buffering, just click on the title to play them from youtube.)
I understand full well that that's not everyone's cup of tea, but you know me; at twelve, I was already playing certain passages of certain songs, over and over again, relishing the complex harmonies, the interplay between the singers' parts, and the instruments, seeing if I could discern which voice was singing what part, marveling at the various techniques employed by bands to take what were essentially single note parts (most guitarists play only single notes instead of chords) (it's the keyboardists who play full chords), and combine them into rich fabrics of aural ecstasy.
And that's just the kind of ear that can appreciate the sort of music I've shared with you before, and especially the sort of fare provided by Yes. This isn't Black Sabbath, or even Motley Crue. And it sure ain't the Beach Boys. This ... is something else altogether. And it was meant for me. (and all those like me)
Yes is music by spergs for spergs.
The succeeding years would see me keeping a list of all the music I planned to buy one day (yes, I'm one of those) (is it any wonder I became a database programmer?), and Yes topped my list. Everything from Yes. And I eventually got it all, too. I had to. The radio just never played any of their stuff. Which is all the more remarkable considering that their concerts sell out entire stadiums STILL TODAY! So, most of what I share with you here today, I discovered only after finally finding their albums, usually tucked away in some remote corner of one of those obscure audiophile boutiques that once existed in the obscure corners of larger cities. (pre-internet days, you know) And, just as I would always play the 'side b' songs, just to see if, by some chance, I'd struck gold, I also bought full albums whenever possible, and listened to every track at least three times, just to be sure I wasn't missing anything special. And, I always found something on a Yes album that would satisfy my musical muse until the next one came along.
Now, that's not to say that they don't have anything in their portfolio that's good for, or even meant for radio; they have several, like this:
It can happen.
It really takes off at 3:28, the point most radio stations have moved on to the next song.
And, given much of the uninspiring music that did find far too much play-time on the airwaves of the nation, one has to ask one's self why songs like that didn't receive their fair share of promotion.
But, as I said, it didn't seem to hurt concert ticket sales any.
And, fortunately for me, appeasing the primitive radio gods sure didn't hurt their music any either. They still continued to make spine-chilling pieces like ...
Close to the Edge
Give it a chance. Trust me.
Can you make any sense of the lyrics? That's what's called stream-of-consciousness. It isn't meant to actually convey a specific message so much as a general mood, and it really only employs the human voice as an instrument in the band. Even the words themselves are chosen more for their sounds than anything else.
Hear that organ? Hear that synthesizer? That's what the übermenschlicher talent of Rick Wakeman brought to a group that was just middling along before they found him. Just as Fleetwood Mac was really nothing before (and after) Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham came (and went), Yes was just another group before and after Rick Wakeman. And, just as with Fleetwood Mac, there was friction, mostly (I suspect) borne of envy and competitiveness. But, in Yes, it was almost understandable. After all, every one of them is a virtuoso on their instrument or voice, and every one of them has (or had) a lot going on outside the band, and yet still found time for the band.
I'll be sure to cover the immense talents of Steve Howe, Jon Anderson, and Rick Wakeman, too, separately, because they deserve it, and because they reach into many other bands you've probably heard of, but never knew were related to Yes.
Even the album art from Roger Dean, another one of my favorite artists, was just the perfect topping for their brain salad, making Yes a comprehensive artistic tour de force.
Wonderous Stories
Yet another very radio-playable tune that just never really got any air-time.
Leave it!
There's nothing wrong with your screen; they filmed it upside-down on purpose.
But now back to their more orchestral/'progressive' works, the sort they're really known for.
Awaken
Quite possibly their best work ever
And You and I
Well, maybe just as good. What do you think?
Curiously, one of their most radio-friendly bits was also one of their earliest.
Named after the (then still) popular (in certain circles, anyway) Robert Heinlein novel (which was unjustifiably recast as Nazi apologia in the 1997 movie), this one became a staple of early computerists like me who spent many a night geeking out to this tune while probing the inner workings of some chip or program.
Starship Trooper
(By the way, that book was also the real inspiration behind the smash blockbuster, Alien, which appeared TWENTY years later.) (than the book)
Finally, there is this, possibly their simplest, most soothing piece, and the only one to be covered by other artists, several other artists, including some of the band's own members. And that may be because it has lyrics that actually tell a story, a tale of a lonely sculptor desperately striving, through his art, to resurrect the great love of his life, long lost to the grave, when, at the end, it becomes clear: He has not brought her back to him; working himself to death, he has finally caught up to her.
Turn of the Century
(Told you I was the romantic in my family.)
Classic guitar is always a winner in my book, but Jon Anderson's vocals (holding up surprisingly better than Meatloaf's) were revelatory to me. I'd never heard anything like it before. And, when they added Rick Wakeman to the band, they became, in my opinion, practically celestial. Throughout the late 1970s, if I was listening to music, it was most often Yes. No matter how much I loved anything else, Journey, Boston, Styx, Queen, I just kept coming back to Yes.
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