.::::::. ::::::::. ...::::::... ...:::::::... .::|||::::..::::::::: .::|||||::::::::~.::::||||::::::::. ::|||||::::::::::::::'.::|||||::::::::: .::|||||::::::::::: :::||||:::::::::::::'.::||||::::::'~`:: ::|||||::::::' `~' ::::||||::::::::::: ::|||:::::' `:.`::|||||:::::::.. `::::||||::::::::: ::||::::: .::. ``::||:::|||:::. `::::|||::::::::.`:|::::: ..:~ ..:::'' .. :::|::::|||::: `::::||:::::::: :::::'.:::. ::'' ..::: .::::::::::|||:: ...:::.`:::||:::::::.`:::. ::|::.`:.::::::' ::::::::::|||::: ..::||:::::: ::||:::::::' `::.`::|:::.`:::''.:::::::::::||:::: .:::||::' ``.::||::::::'.:. `` `:||:::.~ ```:::::::::::::'' ::|||::::...::|||:::::'.||:::.. :|||:::. ````'''' `:::::::::::|||:::::'.:::|||:::::...:::|||::::. ```:::::::::''' `::::|||::::::::::::::::::. `:::||||:::::::::::::::::. ::::|||||:::::::::::|::: `::::||||||:::::::||::' `:::::||||||::|||::: `::::::||||||:::' ```:::::::'' N o t e s F r o m T h e E d g e # 108 THE Internet YES Newsletter June 22, 1994 ______________________________________________________________________________ = nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE ============= Talk Tour Reviews And Setlists Close 2 The Hype A Perpetual Reply South Harrow Internet Fees Steve Howe Quotes Yes Vs. Floyd Bruford/Crimson Yes(Not Yes) Followup The 700 Club Masterchef Looking For Tickets Various Thoughts One Across Yes On Letterman Earthstone Review Boxset Almost Free! More Thoughts Wolf Yes/Supertramp Share A Ride? Future Lineups Angelus Ticket Prices From The Editor ______________________________________________________________________________ = nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TALK TOUR REVIEWS AND SETLISTS ============================== From: IN%"ryan@tc3.edu" I saw Yes on the opening night of the tour on June 18 in Binghamton, New York. Had front row seats for the first time in my life. Here is a set list and a collection of thoughts. Keep in mind that I'm a Trooper, not a Generator, but I love TALK and like a lot some of the other stuff this lineup has done. Also, this was the 12th time I've seen Yes. I've seen them every tour since 1977 at least once, and twice per tour through the 80s and 90s. Set List Yes Binghamton, NY 6/18/94 Total Time 2:55 (including 15 minute intermission) Taped Open Perpetual Change (shortened instrumental version) The Calling I Am Waiting Rhythm of Love Hearts Real Love Changes Heart of the Sunrise (intermission) Cinema City of Love Owner of a Lonely Heart (with the usual Make It Easy intro) And You And I Where Will You Be Your Move/All Good People Walls Endless Dream Roundabout (encore) Some thoughts: No solos! A welcome change in my book. This was clearly a Power-Yes concert, as opposed to a Finesse-Yes Obviously, very few surprises in terms of the set list. The classic songs had a couple new twists. For example, on the opening notes of And You And I, which Howe plays on the album with acoustic guitar, Rabin played on keyboards. Sounded nice. For Your Move, it started with Anderson playing guitar. Rabin played the piano parts on Endless Dream. For me, Real Love and Endless Dream were awesome in concert, particularly Endless Dream. I think it ranks close to the classics. Rabin was more restrained than I've ever seen him. He seemed more content to be an integral of a team and less likely to take the spotlight with a guitar blast solo. Rabin, Squire, and Kaye were all spotlighted at points in the concert, but as part of a song, not a solo. Example: Squire took center stage during the opening minutes of Heart of the Sunrise, where the bass is featured. There were no extended solos within songs by anyone. They were pretty tight for opening night. A couple flubs by Anderson. He had two false starts on And You And I, and after the second one said, "Wait, let me start again." He did, and after he got it going on the third try Squire and Rabin bowed to him and we gave him a standing ovation. For the opening of Your Move, he grabbed his guitar and told us he would play the first song he ever wrote on the guitar. He started playing and there was no sound. He said with a big grin, "I think I'll turn it on first." He started playing again, and no sound. With an even bigger grin, he said "On second thought, I think I'll plug it in first." It was a humorous moment that did nothing to disrupt the flow of the concert. Billy Sherwood played guitars and sang backing vocals on Changes, Your Move/ All Good People, and Endless Dream. The lights were as good as I've seen them for a Yes concert, but I wouldn't call it a stage show. Sound was excellent. A couple people near us had headphones to tune into the lower-power FM feed. They both said they couldn't hear through the headphones because the music was too loud. I think Generators will love this show. Open minded Troopers will like it a lot. For those who think Yes is dead, this show will probably reinforce that perception. Finally, I think Yes has just moved through a transition. Three years ago, many of us hoped Union marked the beginning of something. It's now clear to me that it marked the end of an era in Yes, and this new album and tour mark the beginning of a new era. I now sense that this lineup of Yes laid to rest the ghosts of Yes' past after the Union tour. I also sense that this lineup is now more integrated and mature as a unit, and plays as a Yes quintet, not as Trevor Rabin and the Band. At previous Yes show, the old standards were things from the 70s. Now the old standards are things from the 80s, with a handful of classics thrown and modernized to match the styles of this lineup. I TALK is any indication, I feel pretty good about the future of Yes. Oh Yes, one more thing. At one point in the show (first set), Jon said "Here's something from way, way back." They played an instrumental for about two minutes that lead into the opening notes of Hearts. Does anybody know what that was? * * * * * * * * * * From: IN%"jeh@cs.rit.edu" I will /try\ to restrain myself and keep this brief. This is a summary of Concert #2 of the TALK tour, held in Canandaigua, NY on June 19, 1994. 7:40 PM Perpetual Change (instrumental intro) The Calling I Am Waiting Rhythm of Love Hearts Real Love Changes Heart of the Sunrise 8:45 intermission 9:05 Cinema City of Love (Make it Easy intro) Owner of a Lonely Heart And You And I Where Will You Be Your Move/All Good People Walls Endless Dream Roundabout (encore) 10:30 Brief comments: Group was still getting itself organized / working out the logistical bugs, but it was close. No big problems, enjoyable show. (Highlights: huge glitter ball drops too far(?), and plops on to the back of the stage; the mix, although certainly LOUD enough :-), did not emphasize Trevor enough when he had the lead part. Jon /reads\ the lyrics to "Where Will You Be" and "Endless Dream"!) Crowd, though not nearly a sellout, was quite enthusiastic, and the band responded to it by the end of the first set. Billy Sherwood was plainly visible, sometimes up front with the other guitarists, and sometimes in the background. I could not normally pick out his playing. He played keyboards in the back of the stage during Endless Dream (and so did Jon and Trevor, besides Tony -- shame, shame, Tony!). Squire's bass was much more audible than on the CD. Speaking of which, the CD, so well mixed, was a tough standard to live up to in a live concert, and IMHO, they did not do so, but what the hey- it's them live and in person! Trevor had his own keyboard for And You And I and Endless Dream. According to my colleague and fellow Notes subscriber, Pat Igoe, he teased the audience with a bit of Wakeman's Six Wives, but I missed it. Most interesting presentation was Where Will You Be with Trevor, Chris, and Jon, all up front and very close together, sitting down, playing the piece rather gently. Alan was in the background playing the percussion; I cannot recall if Tony was in that one. Chris played his bass guitar upright on a stilt. Oh, yeah, opening music was not classical (earlier background music was) -- it was some instrumental dramatic piece with rock instruments. Then the band came on and laid into Perpetual Change. I cannot say I did not miss the other members of the Union tour, but the YesWest crew did an excellent job. I'm sure you'll all enjoy the show. ============================================================================ Jim Heliotis Computer Science Department Rochester Institute of Technology jeh@CS.RIT.EDU Rochester, NY 14623-5608 ============================================================================ * * * * * * * * * * CLOSE 2 THE HYPE ================ From: IN%"lewis@damops.wes.army.mil" "Lewis Beard" All, I saw some comments in the most recent NFTE that "Close to the Hype" is new, but I've had it about a year now, I believe. Maybe it was just released domestically? Therefore, I don't think CTTHype is about "TALK", though it may fit nonetheless. Lewis * * * * * * * * * * A PERPETUAL REPLY ================= From: IN%"r.rarich@genie.geis.com" IN REPLY TO: From:IN%"mcmahan@cs.unca.edu" The Story Of Perpetual Change: Second Version >This masterpiece was preserved on the live album Yessongs. >The band was so incredibly tight on the track >included on the live album that it is difficult to take in when >listening to the song. Like Bruford, White contributes a drum solo. This was an interesting history, but needs a corection. White did NOT play on "Perpetual Change" on Yessongs. Therefore, the drum solo on this recording is "like Bruford" because it is Bruford! While White was the major Drumming presence on this live album, the album's notes gives Bruford credit for a few pieces, including Perpetual Change. * * * * * * * * * * WAKEMAN IN SOUTH HARROW ======================= From: IN%"JEREMYW@num-alg-grp.co.uk" "JEREMY WALTON" >> WAKEMAN ON 700 CLUB TRANSCRIPTION >> ================================= >> >> From: IN%"replogle@sage.cc.purdue.edu" >> >> This is an interview that appeared on the 700 Club March 9, 1994. >> >> Words or phrases I'm not certain about or put in [] brackets. >> My interjections are put in the <> brackets. Many thanks for this - I thought it was excellent. One tiny point - the place Rick pronounces as [South Hara] (where his Baptist church was), is actually South Harrow, a suburb of West London. It's one of the (many) things he acknowledges on his page in the booklet on the inside of "Fragile". I used to go to school in Harrow, and South Harrow is where I bought all my Yes records (and lots of others as well). >> RW> ... What basically happened >> was at the age of 19 in 1968, I was baptized at my church at [South >> Hara] baptist church ... Cheers, Jeremy * * * * * * * * * * INTERNET FEES ============= From: IN%"lrazo@is.internic.net" "Lee Razo" Hey, This is frazo@sdcc15.ucsd.edu. I am now in the position here of writing up a quick FAQ on the subject of internet fees, and what I want to ask of you is if you might send me a few questions that would be good to research and look into, I really want to find out about all of this stuff myself, but I want to take the time to research it. So if you have the time, it would be great if anyone else who might be interested could send me a few questions to get started. Thanks * * * * * * * * * * STEVE HOWE QUOTES FROM GUITAR SHOP ================================== From: IN%"CptnApathy@aol.com" I happened on this magazine earlier this month: "Guitar Shop," from Summer, '94. It's not a bad magazine, a lot of technical information (which I have little knowledge about) but gives a good deal of interesting info. They also interviewed Alex Lifeson (Rush) and John Petrucci and John Myung (Dream Theater). So, here it is: @Guitar Shop Summer 1994 "New Beginnings"- Steve Howe Talks Straight about His Gear, His Music and his Revitalized Career Without Yes by Pete Prown 20 years ago, Yes created some of the most inventive and radical rock 'n' roll ever, but as time went on, the classic lineup of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe and Squire grew weary, disillusioned, and eventually splintered. Today, one of that original five- Steve Howe- is finding artistic fulfillment away from the fold in recordings like his solo "The Grand Scheme of Things" and "Symphonic Music of Yes," not to mention on the road, where he's just finished up an acclaimed one-man tour. Now at the behest of "Guitar Shop," the legendary picker discusses some of his favorite instruments- including his trademark ES-175- as well as talking openly about what went wrong with Yes. GS: What prompted your recent one man tour? Steve: Last year I produced an album by the brilliant Scottish jazz guitarist, Martin Taylor. After we did the record, I heard him and his manager talking about this 30-date solo tour of England, and then I realized that that was what I wanted to do, too. So after we got Martin's tour out of the way, I was booked for a 12-city tour and when I walked out onstage on the first night in Edinburgh, I thought, "This is what I want to do." It was like an extension of everything I've ever done. Then when I found out that the Symphonic YES tour was dead for the end of '93, I immediately went ahead with a solo tour of the U.S. and Canada and here we are. Now I'm realizing that being solo is the logical step for me right now. I mean, ABWH (sic) had two extra players on the road with us, and on the "Union" tour, YES had three extra musicians over the regular number of five, so I've been in all these groups with too many players and too many people doing nothing- sometimes even me! So the solo tour meant that I could build a new repertoire, which I've never done before. Plus, ever since "Union" and while I was working on "The Grand Scheme of Things," I realized that my singing had changed a lot and wanted to sing more, so I took lessons to find out what I was doing wrong, which by the way, was quite a lot. I was singing without any technical knowledge. So after the lessons and "Grand Scheme," I've realized that I'm a singer now, too, which is like a new part of me. It gives my solo show a real cross-section of material from the last 30 years, >from Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" through YES and Asia to new solo material. GS: How many guitars did you bring onstage? Steve: Just four. There are three acoustics- a six-string, a Spanish [nylon-string] guitar, and a twelve-string- and then a Steinberger electric. I was looking for a guitar that could do a lot of things and that turned out to be the Steinberger. I feel about it the same way I did about the first Martin I bought in 1968- I thought, "Here's a guitar that sets a standard." It's a GM-Series, the one with the shaped body, And I got it around the time of ABWH and used it on "The Grand Scheme," too. It doesn't have any pretensions about being a viontage Strat or a Tele. I mean, I have some very nice ESP Tele copies, but then again, I have a real Tele and a real Strat. The Steinberger says, unashamedly, "I am what I am." It's perfect in its construction, dimensions, the intonation- the whole way the guitar is designed is superb. Then I have a Sharpach, which is a steel-string acoustic sort of like one of Django Reinhardt's Maccaferris with that straight cutaway- not a rounded one. Martin Taylor turned me onto them and they're really exceptional. The maker-Theo Sharpach- also designed his own internal amplification system called Applied Acoustics and boy, does it make my guitars sound great. It has transducer strips and internal mikes that go out to the Applied Acoustics preamp and then a Lexicon reverb. The only other effect I use onstage right now is a Korg A3 multi-effects unit, partially because we developed the Steve Howe card, which has a lot of good sounds on it. I don't tap into more than 10% of what the unit can do, but I picked out a few sounds that were useful to me. With the electric, I'm doing a lot of improvisation and then my acoustic repertoire. I'm trying to jump around a lot and keep moving forward. The only other thing is an FC-6 to control the A3. It's a very minimal rig. GS: Tell me about your famous Gibson ES-175. Steve: Well, it's a 1964 model and I'd been thinking about getting one of them for years. I bought it in a shop called Selmer's on Charing Cross Road in London. I'd been playing a Guyatone, but sometime in '64, I went into the store and asked for a 175, which they had to custom order, because not many people were buying them and guitarists were starting to get in touch with Les Pauls. So the guitar arrived a few months later and it cost about 200 guineas [roughly $600], which was not a cheap price at the time. After that, I basically sat in my room and looked at it for two years! I was simply mesmerized by that guitar. It was like a romance. I've hardly done any modifications, either, other than original '50s speed-knobs- we used to call them "high hats" because they're the big knobs. And a new ebony bridge base and the rear pickup was wound the wrong way for about five years from my band Tomorrow through "The YES Album," mostly because I didn't want to sound trebly. So I played it for about seven years solid until the "Fragile" album, which I did completely on the Gibson Switchmaster, except for "Heart of the Sunrise," which is the 175. Then on "Close To The Edge," I used an ES-345 Stereo, with the 175 on the closing solo to "Siberian Khatru." So the 175 has always been there, if only on the periphery. GS: What kind of amps did you use on "The Grand Scheme of Things?" Steve: I always favor my Twin Reverbs and I have one called a Twin Reverb II that I think is best. Other amps I use include Marshalls, Lab Series, an old Gibson Explorer valve amp, and a few others- these are the backbone of getting a good electric sound. I usually plug into a four-way box where three go off to processors and the other goes off to one or two amps. That way, I can say "Give me the Marshall" or "Give me the Fender." Or the Rockman, which hAs a sound all its own. People may say that the Rockman is dead and buried, but that doesn't date with me. It was a great piece of ingenuity- hats off to Tom Scholz. GS: The album really shows off your vast guitar vocabulary- there are so many different sounds and textures on there. Steve: I thought I did that on "The Steve Howe Album," but in hindsight, it was too diverse, going from an orchestra to "Cactus Boogie" and so on. "Turbulence," on the other hand, was very honed-in on one particular style. "The Grand Scheme" was supposed to be the same thing: Six instrumentals and six vocal tunes that fit into the same mold. But gradually, I started to think, "Well this would be nice to do and this, too," so it eventually began to include all the current ideas I was having right now. The title allowed me to get broader, too. The music on there is very much about my past, and I wanted to draw a line that showed my past playing styles and all the guitar roles I've done, so I could say, "There, I've done it," and get on with something else. It's like a closing chapter in my musical life. From now I'm going to be quite changeable. People won't be able to say, "Oh, he's back with Asia or YES." I'd rather play with [classical violinist] Yehudi Menuhin right now than YES, to be honest. I don't want to go back to tarnished, commercial, corporate problems- I want to go my own way right now and do big musical things on my own, even if they're not commercial. GS: What guitars did you use on "Symphonic YES?" Steve: Wherever I could, I used the same guitar that was on the original recording. So, for example, on "Close To The Edge," I had the ES-345 Stereo, but there are exceptions, like on "Survival," which I never played, so that left it wide open and "Starship Trooper," where I used Steinberger twelve-string and then the ES-175 for the solo. I wanted some realism in the guitar sound, but not (sic) so much that it imitated the old versions. GS: What is your take on the "Union" and "Yesyears" albums? Steve: I don't think "Union" was a success. I think my track "Masquerade" was because it cost nothing to make- I did it at my home away from all the arguments and politics- and it got a Grammy nomination, which was pure justice to me. People send $2 million making music that no one took notice of and I cut "Masquerade" in fifteen minutes at home on a two-channel Revox deck and lots of people liked it. And looking back, I think we should have carried on with ABWH and not gotten back together with YES. In the ned, we had neither YES nor ABWH and that's a tragedy to a lot of people. I was very involved on the "Yesyears" album, but there are things on there that I was very upset with and ones that I had no idea were on there. First, I think I'll cry if I hear "The Fish" on another compilation. Then "Soon" starts without my steel guitar solo, which I think is pathetic- Jon just starts singing like he walked in the door. Then they stupidly used the edited-take of "America," which also angered many fans. And the worst thing is that they put in "And You And I" by the 90125 version of YES and not the original, which I think is the travesty of the album. Then again, I saw a picture the other day that almost made me cry. It was a photo of Jon, Chris, and I singing onstage around 1971-72 and you can see that we were tight, harmonizing, and creating together. We were the artistic nucleus of YES, no matter whether we had Bill and Tony or Rick and Alan or Patrick. But I was upset because it reminded me of a time when we were all leaders in YES. Then, when you get people saying, "I'm YES," or "My song has got to be on the album," it all goes wrong. This pushing to be out in front and on top has nothing to do with what YES was once about. YES was all about that photo, with the three of us working together. And on top of that, we had the best keyboard player and the best drummer in the world. What we didn't need was the egotism where one member becomes more important than another. GS: How does that attitude affect your present plans? Steve: Well, I think I've had blinders on for a long time, perhaps because of what I've accomplished with YES. Lately, I've been jamming with my son Dylan on drums and bassist Nick Beggs and people who have heard us say, "Wow, I've never heard anything like that before." Musically, I think we realte more to Tomorrow [Howe's '60s band] because if we had been in the States back then, we would have torn up this country one side to the other. That was one of the most energetic groups I've ever been in and that's primarily because the latter incarnation was a guitar trio. When I'm in a bigger band, I'm very conservative, make room for the keyboards, and listen to everybody else. But in a trio, I get to take off into something more adventurous. So my current music is more about me, than about integrating with a band. There isn't a Trevor Rabin or Steve Hackett trying to get into the spotlight with me. People have invited me to do things in the past year, but I'm trying to do something for myself right now. For example, I've just co-written a book with Tony Bacon about my guitar collection and also completed an instructionAl guitar video called "The Turbulent Plan." Next year, I want to do the trio with Dylan and Nick. I could easily fill that line-up with keyboards or harmony vocals and play gigs that are note-for-note reproductions of my solo records, but I'm prepared not to do that and put myself in the hot seat. It's much more exciting that way. Improvisation is the most important thing I do right now. GS: What's currently going on in the YES and Asia camps? Well, Asia has asked me to play on their next record and I might, provided there's not too much middle-of-the-road rock on there. I also don't do a cameo and then see my name splashed all over the place- I want proper representation for what I do. As for YES, Rick Wakeman, Bill Bruford and myself are not in the band right now, which saddens a lot of people. I circulated an idea around to YES management that would have kept us all going, but they declined, so I gracefully bowed out. But we might come back as Bruford, Wakeman and Howe- there's no reason why we shouldn't, although we have not made that decision yet. Next up, however, will be a surprise: It might be a live set from the solo "Not Necessarily Acoustic" tour or else "Steve Howe, the Mad Rock Guitarist." Who knows? But I can tell you that it will be something very different. ------ In the same issue, they review "Symphonic Music Of Yes," and give it 2 and 1/2 "stars" out of five. I won't give the whole review, but they did say this: "If Howe and Palmer decide to do another volume in the future, they should pay closer attention to song selection and choose Yes material that is truly conducive to orchestration- really, there's no way to add brass or strings to rockers like "Roundabout" or "All Good People" without making a symphony sound like a football marching band during halftime. Perhaps Symphonic Yes should have punted when they had the chance." Later, --Jeremy * * * * * * * * * * YES VS. FLOYD DEBATE ==================== From: IN%"ALAFOSSE@macalstr.edu" >From: IN%"J_SANTIAGO@UPR1.UPR.CLU.EDU" "Javier Santiago Lucerna" > >The question may be, why Rabin's solo album (under a big name) has not been as >succesfull as Gilmour's effort? How about the fact that for Yes, the cover >has already been blown. Everybody may know that every other member of Yes is >not closed to what he used to be (Hey Chris?), while for the Floyd people >may have forgotten the fact that once they used to be a band(remember Meddle?), >long before the dictatorship of Waters, and the enterprenuership of Gilmour. No. The reason that Pink Floyd is outselling Yes is the fact that Pink Floyd has always been an eminently more marketable name than Yes, and is particularly so today. It really doesn't matter who is on a Yes album or a Pink Floyd album; the Floyd album will automatically sell well, and the Yes album will automatically have its work cut out for it. You assertion that Yes is a "big name" simply isn't true in this day and age. Furthermore, your hypothesis that "the cover has been blown" is flawed, because the Roger Waters vs. David Gilmour/Nick Mason/Richard Wright issue, with all of the accompanying questions as to "Is it really Pink Floyd," was one of the single biggest stories in the rock press in 1987, and was afforded far more coverage than any change in Yes personnel ever has been. It's fair to assume that many if not most of the record buyers have heard at least something about the issues involved with Floyd's lineup, and the accusations of invalidity which have accompanied it. Incidentally, your suggestion that Pink Floyd fans "may have forgotten" what's going on twith the band is one of the flimsier excuses I've heard for anything in quite a while. The fact of the matter, though, is that most listeners don't care who's making the music; they care about whether or not they like it, and whether it moves them in some way. And in this case, they probably dug "Keep Talking," which certainly sounds a lot less silly in today's musical climate than "The Calling" or, in particular, "Walls." Likewise, _90125_ didn't sell so well because it was a Yes album; it sold well thanks to the success of "Owner Of A Lonely Heart." People, left to their own devices, will generally listen to music that they enjoy, and it's as simple as people not liking Yes' ethereal spirituality and positivism (which to my ears has long since ceased to be exploratory and is now merely hackneyed) as much as Pink Floyd's brooding meditations on basic human conditions. And who can blame them? Which band's output, particularly with regards to their lyrical themes, has more meaning to your typical person trying to get through life in the modern world? Is it coincidental to the success of each band? I think not... Finally, I have to make a point that you may not appreciate until you've actually heard _Talk_ (and frankly, I don't think you should be making this sort of comparison judgement until you've heard whereof you speak). In any event, _The Division Bell_ is a lot closer in sound and spirit to the "classic" body of work amassed by Pink Floyd (_Dark Side Of The Moon_, _Wish You Were Here_, _Animals_, _The Wall_) than _Talk_ is to Yes' best moments (_Fragile_, _Close To The Edge_, or even _90125_). I've gone through phases of being heavily into both Yes and Pink Floyd, at more or less the same time, and I can tell you that _TDB_ has come as a rather pleasant surprise, while _Talk_ is a disappointment. You obviously disagree, as do many people, but to my ears, _The Division Bell_ sounds like Pink Floyd, whereas _Talk_ sounds like Trevor Rabin, with special guests: Mark Of The Unicorn's Yes Sound File series. --Andre LaFosse * * * * * * * * * * BRUFORD/CRIMSON =============== From: IN%"JDLISS@amherst.edu" "MOONLIT KNIGHT" For those still interested in Bill Bruford, he is indeed back in the new King Crimson. When someone mentioned on this list that he might be, it was still generally understood that this was probably out of the question. But soemhow or another, Fripp and he patched things up, and their 7-track EP called "Vrooom" or some such should be out in October. He replaced Gabriel alum Jerry Marotta while another drummer Pat Maselotto (sic)w was added, so that the lineup is the same as the early eighties with Fripp, Bruford, Tony Levin and Adrian Belew, plus the extra drummer and stick player Trey Gunn. It amkes me happy because I don't think Bill was really at hom e in Yes. But to stick up for him: he did do the dumr solo in Perpetual Change on Yessongs. hWite plays every tune except that and Long Distance/The Fish. * * * * * * * * * * YES(NOT YES) FOLLOW UP ====================== From: IN%"r.derousse2@genie.geis.com" Richard Fox wrote me with comments and questions about my Yes (Not Yes) compilation described in a previous issue. I had planned to address some of those topics in another letter to this list anyway, so, with his permission, I'll post an excerpt from our correspondence: >First, you didn't include Flash, who have songs that sound a lot like >Yes (being a Yes spinoff band might have something to do with it!) Yes, you are correct. I really wanted to put Flash on the tape, but I decided early on that I wouldn't include any music that any Yes musician had anything to do with directly. >and Now who to me, also sound somewhat Yes-like, especially their I've heard similar comments about Now from other people. Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything by them yet. :( I'm sure that there are many other bands that could have been included that I haven't heard either. >vocal harmonies. You also didn't need to limit yourself to 1 >Starcastle song. They sound so much like Yes, its scary! I also decided early on to limit myself to one song per group. You should have seen all of the bands that I had to cut in order to stay within the two tape limit! >Also, Renaissance is very similar to some Yes especially in that >the bassist is always trying to be a Squire clone, but also there >are similarities in the vocals too. I "auditioned" Renaissance for the tape (not too much of a chore since they are one of my favorite bands!) but really can't hear any similarities EXCEPT for the bass - and I think that Jon Camp did put his own stamp on his playing, being more fluid and melodic than Squire's. >But I really question your inclusion of IQ on the list. I don't >think there has been any single IQ song that sounds like Yes, and >especially Out of Nowhere. I would say that the keyboard solo Great! I'm glad that you asked about IQ. I figured that would stir up some controversy! ;) You are right, of course - IQ is much closer to the Genesis school than to Yes. The first and last minute or so of "Out of Nowhere" sounded a bit Bruford/Yesish to me. An ulterior motive of compiling this tape was to introduce people to some music that I thought they might like, so I included OON. To be honest, I was going to pull it at the last minute, but I already had everything perfectly sequenced and didn't want to re-think everything at that point. It probably won't appear on future editions of the tape. Similar comments could apply to my choice of "Jordrok" by Anglagard. They really sound NOTHING like Yes overall, but listen to about the first 3 minutes of that song again... BTW, some people didn't catch the play on words in my tape titles. "Yes (Not Yes)" is a take-off on the group Was (Not Was) which was popular in the '80s. "Q: Are We Not Yes? A: No, We Just Sound Like Them" was taken from Devo's album _Q: Are We Not Men? A: No, We Are Devo!_ --Roy * * * * * * * * * * RICK AND THE 700 CLUB ===================== From: IN%"jneumann@mcs.kent.edu" Does anyone else here feel a bit disturbed or disappointed that Rick Wakeman is appearing on a TV show (700 Club) whose main reason for existence is to raise money for the following causes: (1) To deny women WORLDWIDE their reproductive rights; (2) to deny homosexuals their human and civil rights; (3) to establish Christianity as the official religion in the government and schools (Creationism, school prayer, etc.); and (4) to encourage censorship (e.g. a segment I saw which encouraged the public burning of "satanic" rock albums)? Somehow I don't think that Rick shares all these beliefs. It would also be interesting to know what Jon Anderson would think, seeing as Pat Robertson (the host of 700 Club and a major figure of the extreme religious right in the US) calls new-age beliefs a "false religion". John Neumann * * * * * * * * * * WAKEMAN ON MASTERCHEF ===================== From: IN%"map7@ukc.ac.uk" I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but Rick Wakeman was the guest judge on MasterChef (that's on the BBC, folks) a few weeks ago. He ate with gusto, and told an anecdote about marinating some meat for hours and hours thinking it was lamb, and then it turned out to be stuff his girlfriend had bought for the dog... it was funnier on TV, trust me. * * * * * * * * * * LOOKING FOR GREAT WOODS TICKETS =============================== From: IN%"david@pharlap.CI.COM" Anyone have two extra tickets for the August 29 show at Great Woods, MA in section 2, or towards the center in sections 1 or 3? * * * * * * * * * * VARIOUS THOUGHTS ================ From: IN%"StmpyJCat@aol.com" I have a few thoughts on certain thing some NTFE'ers have written. For instance: Javier Santiago Lucerna wrote: "The question may be, why Rabin's solo album (under a big name) has not been as succesfull as Gilmour's effort? How about the fact that for Yes, the cover has already been blown. Everybody may know that every other member of Yes is not closed to what he used to be (Hey Chris?), while for the Floyd people may have forgotten the fact that once they used to be a band(remember Meddle?), long before the dictatorship of Waters, and the enterprenuership of Gilmour." First off, even if one must call 'group' efforts 'solo albums' how many albums did Gilmour sell as a solo act? Do that many people really remember "Blue LIght"? Also, Pink Floyd has always sold better than Yes in recordings and performance. A Floyd tour is always heavily anticipated and (unfortunately, IMHO) much more so than a Yes tour. I don't want to get in a flame war about the merits of each group's current release but to say that Yes' 'cover has been blown'? Do you really think that is why they are not as popular as Floyd? How many record buyers know or care that Rabin produced the latest album? Or that Roger Waters is no longer in the PF camp? Pink Floyd has always been more popular than Yes and will most probably always be. That's the fact. It has nothing to do with Trevor be ing such a strong influence in the band or that Pink has pulled the wool over the public's eyes unlike that evil, no-talent band Yes. Which brings me to my main point. After reading the mostly negative reviews here I was prepared to hate Talk. I finally got a copy. This is NOT a bad album! There is some really good stuff here. You may have to be completely deaf to not at least admit that Trevor is an extremely good producer. What he has done on a Mac is probably the warmest sounding digital re- cording I've heard. Overall, the songwriting is strong and well-crafted. With the collaboration on Jon and Trevor the lyrics are more 'familiar' to fans of older Yes but Trevor brings his penchant for more modern, AOR styles. So, what if Chris' playing is not so prominent? If he didn't want Trevor to produce or if he didn't want to play what Trevor wanted to hear why would Chris involve himself in this project at all? Playing in an understated way does not make him "not close to what he used to be." Why should he make everything he plays now sound like The Fish or Amazing Grace? I was REALLY prepared to hate Walls. Hey, this is a pretty good tune. So, it doesn't 'sound' like a 'real' Yes song. So, what? I wish them well with it as a single. In conclusion, take Talk for what it is, on its own merits. Yes will never again make a CTTE or GFTO. Get over it. Which of your favorite 'old' prog bands has come out with a really fantastic album lately? It's really useless to compare a new album to a 'classic' one. This is not to say that one should be satisfied with something they deem mediocre. There are a lot of newer bands that excite me in ways similar to the way Yes did when I was younger. My point is that Yes is STILL producing music that is very listenable and viable even if it doesn't come up to the levels they may have previously set. Also, David Markfield wrote concerning Chris Squire's comment on not playing something like Soundchaser: "In response to that Chris stated that it was not too realistic as that would entail asking Trevor and Tony to perform parts that they had not been involved in, parts that were originally Steve and Pat's. This strikes me as an incredibly feeble arguement." and " This of course begs the question of how Tony and Trevor ever learned or consented to play Rounabout, And You and I, Heart of the Sunrise, or even Parallels which I believe Yes performed at the beginning of the 90125 tour." With the exception of Parallels those tunes, as we all know, are mainstays of the Yes live show. I bet that if you asked all the fans at a Yes show if they knew about Soundchaser most would say no (which of course is a shame). Any member of Yes who would join the band would be expected to perform those songs. Something more esoteric like Soundchaser might be something the band would (unfortunately) leave out of the set list. David goes on: "I can only hope that when Chris and the band read the comments and suggestions that the Notes readership have submitted that they will change their minds. In the 19 years that I have followed Yes I have always felt them to be a d that band that cared about their fans....it seems as if it is once again time for them to prove it." When has Yes had to rely on the wishes of fans for their set list in order to give a satisfying show? Don't get me wrong: I think it's extremely cool that Chris would ask for suggestions for the coming tour. My feeling is that in the years that I've seen them they've always pulled out a surprise or two and have always crafted a great set list. Besides, over the years, Yes HAVE showed that they've cared about their fans by playing the tunes most want to hear i.e. Roundabout, etc. AND throwing in a lesser known tune from the past. In the immortal words of SQUILLACIOTI@vaxvmsx.babson.edu: "The guys know what they are doing. Have some faith in them." 'Nuff said! Thanks for the bandwidth. * * * * * * * * * * 1 ACROSS ======== From: IN%"brianb@ims.com" "Brian e. Batson" Here is a litte amusement from the 1977 (Going For The One) tourbook. Rick's Crossword +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |1 | | |2 | |3 | |4 | |XXX|XXX|5 |XXX|6 |XXX|7 |XXX|8 |XXX|9 | | | | | | | | | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|10 | | | | | | | | |11 | | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |12 | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|13 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|14 | | | | | | | | | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX|15 |XXX|16 | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX| | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |17 | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|18 |19 | |XXX| | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | |XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|20 | | |XXX|21 | | | | | |XXX| | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX| | | |XXX| | | | | | |XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |22 | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX|23 |XXX|XXX|XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX|XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|24 | |25 | | | | |26 |XXX|27 | | | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX| | | | | | | | |XXX| | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |XXX|28 |29 | |30 | | | | | | | |XXX|XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | |XXX| | | | | | | | | | | |XXX|XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |31 |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX|XXX|32 | | | | |33 | | |34 | | |XX| | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX|XXX| | | | | | | | | | | |XX| +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |35 | | |XXX|36 | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX|37| | | | |XXX| | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|XXX|38 |XXX|XXX|XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX|39 | | | | | | | | | |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX|XXX|XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|40 | |41 | |42 | |XXX|43 | | |XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | | |XXX| | | | | | |XXX| | | |XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX|44 | | |XXX| |XXX|45 |XXX| |XXX|46 | | | | | | | | | |XXX| | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|47 | | | |XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | |XXX| |XXX|XXX| |XXX|XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |48 |49 | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX|50 |XXX|51 |XXX| |XXX|XXX| | | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |52 | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|53 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ |54 | | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX| | | | | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX| | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX|55 | | | | | | | | | | |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX| |XXX|XXX| | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+ ACROSS DOWN 1. The area of sky Yes prefer 1. Has a mood for the day 10. Vocally bearing no relation to his 2. An unhappy part of Alan White's instrument drum kit 12. What a roadie can manufacture on 3. A good one is imperative for an needing a day off outdoor concert 13. Roadies don't do this very often 4. Definitely not a Yes tour 14. Unheard of in Yes music 5. Rick plays with his 16. What Sun Artistes office resembles 6. What Yes try to do at each concert 17. What Yes give their management and 7. Yes have crossed this a few times vice versa 8. They used to play music from boats 18. Yes have been going for this 9. Hopefully Yes music is not limited 20. Some Yes songs could end up as to theirs these sort of works 10. Everyone musician dreams of having 21. Soared (anagram) one 22. An early group of Jon Anderson 11. Some musicians like to play on one renowned for fighting 15. Hopefully Yes do not overdo this 24. The feeling Yes' manager gives 19. You could say going for the one is Atlantic Records this 27. The mental age of the manager of 23. What a truck driver does anywhere Yes 24. The choir needed these on Awaken 28. An inbuilt sense in each roadie 25. Something a Road Crew will never do 32. At its best when 70 percent proof 26. Some musicians like one before 35. Rick tried to do this in going on stage Lisztomania 27. Sometimes goes for 27 across 36. Sure test (anagram) 29. Yes used to do this without meat 39. How Brian Lane regards himself 30. Harder working than the manager of 40. How you would describe some roadie Yes perhaps exploits with women 31. One of the ten instruments not 43. & 46. Fond of stanley until he owned by Yes folded 33. Often find one in Yes food 44. A large bird controlled by 34. What some people would like to Australian arm hear from Yes 47. A possible name for a biblical 37. Definitely not a ramshackled man group 38. Never found in Steve Howe's food 48. To conduct with this could be a 40. What Brian Lane has managed to do hoot to the Yes bank account 52. Yes management tell at least one 41. Won't erase musical errors a day 42. Not easy to choose the roadie who 53. All the sailors playing together is this 54. Hopefully what all Yes songs are 45. A roadie odour 55. Another way of saying God 49. If there was a competition our road crew would do this 50. When a tour is this its quite sad 51. A roadies pet Answers in a latter edition of NFTE. * * * * * * * * * * YES ON LETTERMAN ================ From: IN%"r.derousse2@genie.geis.com" Was anyone else as embarassed about the Letterman show as I was? There was Yes - my favorite band - playing a song that just about ANY band could play... strictly MOR. If any older Yes fan who didn't already have Talk saw that, I'm sure he was thinking "Why bother?" Of course, I recognize the need for a single, and maybe there are thousands of people who don't know Yes from Nirvana going "Wow!" Of course, THEY will probably be very disappointed with the rest of the album since it sounds nothing like Walls. I almost hope that Walls ISN'T successful. Look what happened to bands like REO Speedwagon. There first couple of albums were fairly interesting hard rockers. Then, one of their songs was released as a ballad and went to number 1 (or so). From that time on, they were a "ballad band" as far as the mass public was concerned. All future singles had to be ballads. The public wouldn't accept anything else. (I'm certainly not a big REO expert, so some of the details here may be slightly wrong, but hopefully you get the idea...) Strangely enough, I enjoy Walls for what it is, and I think that it will be a nice change of pace in concert, but taken out of context like this... I just think that it gives people the wrong idea of what this band is about. --Roy * * * * * * * * * * EARTHSTONE REVIEW ================= From: IN%"gregory.teaching@physics.oxford.ac.uk" "Matthew C Gregory" I managed to get hold of the first CD from Earthstone, its out on Kinesis, you may remember it being mentioned by Larry Kalota a few issues ago on IQ. Its an totally incredible album, original, inspiring, ground breaking. Yes fans of 70's Yes will love this, it really hits that 'Close to the Edge' feeling. It is an hour long, nine tracks, most of which around 7 minutes and one at 10 minutes. A very nice booklet with moody black+white photographs of twisted trees and strange twisted steel girders on a beach, on the back a collage of band members being silly, several intriguing effects photos, landscapes of English ancient sites, trees and a swirled pattern in a corn crop. The CD comes with a printed scattering of rather Aboriginal ancient rock carving style glyphs on it. Overall a really beautiful piece of packaging. So what is it like? I would say a natural extension of English Prog-rock with high music technology. The synthesiser sounds are what hit you first, they are all incredibly new, i would say carefully programmed, none of those usually dull rather empty presets here. Pulsing bass synths double with bass guitar in fast sequences. The lead synth sounds are stunning, digital yet thick, cutting and fluid, they seem to be a natural extension of the classic sounds like Hammond, Mellotron and Monosynths from mid 70's Yes. They don't try to mimic these old keyboards but take the essence of the indescribable feel of what they hinted at in the 70's and develop the imaginary thought form into a brain twistingly present, spatially fluid sound. For example the 'Hammond' sound doesn't sound like a Hammond, or sound like a mimicked Hammond, but ripples with a phenomianal sound of subtle fluxing movement as if it had got closer to something that the Hammond hinted at. This album is multitracked with bass and six string guitars, voice,synths, programmed rock drums and occasional samples. Parts really hit you with that early 70's Yes feeling, that incredible complexity and blissful psychedelic flow. With this there is a real edge heard in King Crimson's 'RED' era, atmospherics that Ozric fans would like. Increasingly i hear Reichian polyrhytms and complex overlaid time signatures and '21st century schizoid man' style precise doubling of sequences by synth and guitar pulsing with the drums. The tracks usually have several sections within them, changing tempo and timbre each time, a vocal section is usually sandwiched between instrumental sections. I strongly recommend this album, it is fresh and innovative and complex, two years in the making, for those who were deeply touched by what Yes did on 'Close to the edge' I cannot recommend it enough. Here is a few track descriptions i wrote listening to some of them. E.L.F This has a driving exhilaration to it. Synth and guitar double on the unfolding melody/solo. Key changes, then a pause, then it launches back in with smooth atmospheric chords and a liquid synth solo rippling over the top, again it stops, and starts again into the vocal section. Guitar soaring scatty phrases punctuate a pulsing synth coda, doubled voice subtly feed the vivid lyrics. The drums build toward a key change, guitar now slicing colour strokes of sound, momentum building into another soul twisting sequence of chords with that incredible sizzling synth sound, like electric liquid mercury. The track falls away into a wash of synth with distant voices echoing semi-heard like in some half-awake state of mind. The Hand of Glory My absolute highlight at the moment, completely catches every essence of that 70's summery psychedelic lying in tall grasses under the sun stoned feeling that i get listening to 'Close to the Edge', a rolling, incredibly bright, blissful start, bass guitar looping a simple double note based riff with slide, synth organ rippling up and down the scale, a huge shifting string sound chording. And the synth soloing! twisting and slicing through a solo with an incerdible warm buzzing tone that moves through wavesequences of intensified harmonics on each held note. I really have not heard this type of sound anywhere else, it is one of the most incredible i have heard in collecting timbrally complex music. Now a breathy flute sound pulses into a quieter phase, the drums halt, marimbas start pulsing with the flute running about 3 counter time signatures at once, the marimba sound being changed every four bars or so, complex and hypnotic. Then the bass comes in playing an octave up and then swoops back down to its original looping phrase and the other instruments launch into a 4/4 4/4 2/4, 4/4 4/4 2/4, 4/4 4/4 2/4 2/4 sequence the flute and marimba hypnotically pulsing still and joined by a strummed guitar quietly rolling dreamlike in the background. The lead synth returns, simple, full, shifting, bright, buzzing, harmonically rich swooping its way to a slow fadeout. Llid The God A real change here, a really atmospheric instrumental, no beat but a huge orchestral synth ensemble rolling and pulsing, intermittantly a sample of chains falling on the ground, put through huge reverb and stereo field effect enough to send tingles down my spine every time i here it. A bass synth producing eerie chords joins a volume pedalled guitar, bell tones ring, the pulse slows and the whole track just melts into one hovering wash then... A spine tingling phrase repeats joined by really subtle distant 'screaming?' noises, like some dream atmosphere. A guitar solos angularly, it seems screaming from a hilltop over a vast flat landscape, this is incredibly visually intense stuff, the guitar has a really tight, coursing raw-and-processed sound. Emotionally devastating. The Winter of the Night This track really comes together, built upon a hammond bass phrase the lyrics are frighteningly hinting at some incredible feeling and emotion as if the thoughts were too powerful to totally express. This track hits me as hard as 'Starless' by King Crimson, it really hits that spot in the lyrics, the monster complexity of an instrumental central section. This literally almost makes me cry, the lyrics are absolutely exquisite. Another original lead synth sound and a vast mellotronesque sound chording. The synth ripples up and down a phrase with a strummed guitar through a bright light flanging effect. Intense emotional key changes mark this vocal section and now the instrumental section starts. First upbeat, the bass becomes really prominent, several overlaid time signatures i (wonderfully) cannot begin to explain, a Reichian pattern of sound, all instruments pulsing their own time. Synth soloing over the top. It stops, and starts again with a pattern: _ ^^_^ ^^_ _ _^^ in 21/4 time i think! The guitar soloing a growling the pattern in unison with the bass guitar and drums, stunning to listen to, like '21st Century Schizoid Man' by Crimson. WOW the beat slows and flows into a return to the first section but now instrumental and twice as cutting, the guitar agonises a torn screaming solo, racking the emotions and bringing you close to tears, this is what brings 'Starless' to mind. Then finally near the end of the tracks' ten minutes muted, deep slow synth chords finish the song and the album ends. What can i say GET IT! it is just incredible, it moves me like the greatest moments on Crimsons 'RED' and Yes' 'Close To The Edge', totally stunning album, a complete classic, i cannot find words. I spoke to the band as i live here in the UK and they say watch out for their track on the Prog-Rock Directory, apparently its quite a special and unique piece of quite a different character to their album, dark, driving, not amiss in the film 'Bladerunner', heavy industrial use of synths, angular, ahead of it's time, loads of electronic effects and nine minutes long. Hopefully it may be like the darker side of Crimson of 'RED' era. I can't wait to here it, anyone out their heard it yet? Mazza * * * * * * * * * * BOXSET ALMOST FREE! =================== From: IN%"terrfer@rosevax.rosemount.com" Well, after much waiting for the Yes boxset to come down to a price my student budget could handle, it finally happened. While reading the sunday paper I saw an add from Best Buy Co. that said thay had made a special purchase of this boxset. It was being sold for only $19.99. I could hardly believe it! I've never seen it below $56 here in Minnesota. So I rushed out to pick up a set. I got there late in the day, somewhat worried that they might have sold them all by that time. But when I found them, I saw that they had several sets and was much relieved. I played the whole set while I read through that excellent Yes history booket included in the set. I've only found one typo so far, it's the part in the booklet where they talk about the release date and album each song is from. They listed Hold On as being from the Big Generator album and released in Sept. 87. The very next song has the exact same listing, so its apparent somethings not right. If memory serves me, I may have read this in Notes, in an earlier issue. If anyone out there is still looking for the boxset, theres no reason to wait any longer. At $5 per disk, its the cheapest greatest hits package I've ever seen. I hope everyone that wants one can now get one. By the way. I caught Yes on Letterman last night. They sang Walls. I enjoyed it but I wished he had spent some time and talked with them. I was told by a friend that he almost never does this. Question, was that Billy Sherwood standing way to the left playing guitar just in front of Paul Shaffer (sp). Hope to see all my Yes friends for the July 3rd concert, at the Target Center here in Mpls. Maybe we can get together before or after the show? Keep up the great job NFTE staff. I look forword to every new Newsletter! [Ed. - Thanks!] * * * * * * * * * * THOUGHTS ======== From: IN%"rpeck@pure.com" First of all, *super* new logo! > An experimental broadcast of the show's live audio program. >7. What can I expect? Very high quality bootlegs of every show on the tour. * * * * * * * * * * WOLF ==== From: IN%"koelman@stc.nato.int" Has Trevor Rabin's 'Wolf' been released on CD? * * * * * * * * * * YES/SUPERTRAMP ============== From: IN%"100347.1267@CompuServe.COM" "John G. Williamson" 14-JUN-1994 17:13:54.87 YES/SUPERTRAMP - READING FESTIVAL 1975 Just a quick note (from the world of CompuServe) to say thanks to Mike, Jeff et al on enabling me to re-kindle my enthusiasm for my all time favourite band. (I mean I didn't even know Yes had a new album out until I got my first issue of NFTE (99)....a sorry state of affairs!). The reviews of _Talk_ have been very interesting, and I can't really add to what has already been said... other than I am enjoying it a lot (different from the old stuff... but still good). I would like to differ from mainstream opinion however and speak up for the _Walls_ track, which is a lot better than I was expecting given the general slating in the reviews. I guess I don't have as big a problem as some other NFTErs with ex-members of Supertramp contributing to a _Yes_ album, having experienced one of the all-time musical events of a life-time at the Reading Rock Festival (UK) in August 1975 where 40000 individuals had no sooner got over a superb 'Crime of the Century' set by _you-know-who_ to be completed finished off by a brilliant TFTO/Relayer set by Anderson, Howe, Squire, White and Moraz.....anyway I digress, but it leads me nicely to my little request.... Does anyone out there know of any recordings (of Yes/Supertramp/Stella (1975 joke)) from the aforementioned festival as I would be very interested in obtaining a copy? One small point on the _Yes-East, Yes-West...Who's Best?_ subject....I have my preference but IMHO _both_ are still worth a listen...and I would far rather be a 70's Yes fan in the 90's than a 70's Genesis fan in the 90's (Selling England/Foxtrot/Lamb....etc compared to what????) Time I shut up..... Keep up the good work...... Cheers John Williamson, Aberdeen, Scotland. * * * * * * * * * * SHARE A RIDE IN CONCORD? ======================== From: IN%"r.derousse2@genie.geis.com" Mike Ohman asked me to forward this note to NFTE: Hello all-- Is anyone else going to the Concord Pavilion show? I'd appreciate if you got in touch with me, perhaps we could carpool or something. (Roy, if you could post this note on *P and NFTE, I'd be most appreciative. Is there someone who could post it on AOL as well?) [If so, please contact Mike at e.ohman@genie.geis.com] * * * * * * * * * * FUTURE LINEUP ============= From: IN%"mcytera@Madge.MHS.CompuServe.COM" "Mark Cytera P&T:KB" For NFTE: I was interested to hear Chris Squire talk about change in the interview. It sounded as if he didn't rule out line-up changes in the future. Well, these are my thoughts... I think whether you are pro or anti-Rabin (it seems that we are split down the middle on this), I think the band needs to re-orientate its centre of gravity. With the greatest respect to messrs Anderson, Squire and White, they are probably past the most creative parts of their careers, though they will continue as the core of the band. I've therefore come to the conclusion that the band needs a creative new keyboard player: someone who writes a lot of material to counter-balance Rabin. I think the greatest part of the Talk album starts about 50 seconds into Silent Spring and lasts about a minute. This is where the heavy guitar interacts with the Hammond Organ. Okay, Rabin wrote this on his own, but we need more of this in order to have a good "band feel" to the whole thing, and I believe in order for us to have this, we need a new keyboard player/writer. I'm not going to slag off Tony Kaye: he's good at what he does, I just think the band could do with someone else. I also don't think there's much point in saying "bring back Rick" or "bring back Patrick" because that's not going to happen, and Chris and the others are grown-up men that don't need to be told who they should be working with. While I'm on the subject, we could also do with Jon writing on his own now and again as in Holy Lamb on Big Generator. This would help restore the balance. What would also help is a producer who is not a member of the band. I believe ELP had a lot of problems in the 70s because it was basically Lake who called the shots. They solved this by having a "neutral", Mark Mancina as the producer for the come-back album. Okay, it doesn't seem as if Yes had this kind of political problem on Talk, but I believe that the band would benefit from the extra perspective. I think Trevor Horn on 90125 is a great example of this. Chris: if you're reading this, it's just my 2 pence worth. I wish the band all the best for the future. * * * * * * * * * * ANGELUS ======= From: IN%"Roxanne_Cook@citynet.org" NASCIMENTO "ANGELUS" This CD is available at all music stores I've been to! You can find it under the ethnic music section, or sometimes under jazz. The music is outstanding, and the song that Jon contributed vocal harmonies to (Estrelada) is quite lovely. Right now Milton Nascimento is touring the U.S. (he's in the Bay Area this week, I think). He's from Brazil. He's also contributed music and vocals to Jon's Deseo CD (July 19 release in the U.S.) OLIAS ARTWORK The artist who did the cover and story paintings is Dave Roe. Roger Dean got a credit "for planting the seed." I think Roger was miffed that Jon went to someone else to do the artwork. The next Yes album was by Hipgnosis (GFTO) and not Roger Dean; it may have had something to do with Roger's not being asked to do the Olias album. NEW RELEASES Close to the Hype: Are you certain that Rick played on this rap song? I was under the impression that it was Adam Wakeman, not Rick. ANDERSON QUESTION The Sky and His Shadow: Jon gave me a copy of this tape in 1982. He told me that in 1977, he recorded this music as background sound for an art show for his friend Andre Verdet, a French sculptor. Verdet, according to JA, was adept at making incredible rocks from paper mache! The music was played on a continuous reel for 16 hours. REVISED YES TOUR DATES Are you sure about Fresno on July 19 and Santa Barbara on July 24? Neither venue knows anything about it, at this point, and these dates are only a little more than a month away. [Ed. - The dates we have are what mgmt gives us. All are subject to change.] * * * * * * * * * * TICKET PRICES ============= From: IN%"gchance@ecst.csuchico.edu" "Dr. Demento" Ok, here's an interesting question for all ye NFTE'ers... Is it me, or are the Yes ticket prices a bit high this tour? Now, granted, it was 3 years ago, but when I saw Yes on the Yesshows '91 tour, tickets were $22.50. Not only was it a great price, but you had 8 members of Yes playing IN THE ROUND, a perfect show... THIS time around, you have Yes-West, 90125-band, The Trevor Revue, Cinema, or *whatever* the hell you wanna call them, for $29.50!!! That seems *very* high, in my opinion. Are they not expecting to sell many tickets, and are therefore raising prices? Maybe they are taking Pink Floyd's lead. When I saw Pink Floyd on April 22, tickets were $32.50 apiece, and that was for sub-par seats. Yes West can, by no means, be compared with Pink Floyd or, for that matter, the 8-member Union band. *sigh* maybe they know that we'll pay for tickets no matter what, who knows. * * * * * * * * * * FROM THE EDITOR =============== Glad to see the first reviews come in. I hope to see more. I really hope they'll mix up the set list some. The Notes shirt isn't dead...it just been sleeping...while Roger Dean looked over the logo for approval. He has and we're making a few small changes at his request. We hope to have the first order ready soon. I'll let all of you know as soon as I know! I got my tickets to the Aug 14 show at Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC and hope to see some of you there! (Hi Ingrid!) I'll try and work out a meeting before the show. Unfortunately I have to drive back to Wilmington that night so an after show meet won't work for me. Just a friendly reminder...please don't send anything to the notes_edge@sol address. It will bounce to everyone. Send all submissions, subscription requests and mail to hunnicutt@vxc.uncwil.edu or nfte@sol.cms.uncwil.edu. --jeff ______________________________________________________________________________ = nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THOSE ALL-IMPORTANT ADDRESSES: ============================== New subscribers, contributions, questions/comments/criticism: Jeff Hunnicutt (Editor) hunnicutt@vxc.ocis.uncwil.edu nfte@sol.cms.uncwil.edu Reviews, Surveys, Etc. Mike Tiano (Associate Editor) miketi@microsoft.com Notes From The Edge PO Box 13 Issaquah, WA 98027-0013 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 WWW/Mosaic Server: http://www.meiko.com:8080/yes-archive/welcome.html NFTE Server/WWW Server problems, additions/corrections to the lyrics & GIFs, and additions/corrections to the rarities list: Mike Stok mike@meiko.com NFTE backissues, lyrics, etc, via anonymous FTP: cs.uwp.edu Directory: /pub/music/lists/yes Contact for helping out with transcriptions: Greg Utas utas@bnr.ca ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |The views expressed within Notes From The Edge are the opinions of individual| |contributors and in no way reflect the views of the editorial staff unless | |otherwise stated. - The Editor. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________________________________ = nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ END OF NOTES FROM THE EDGE # 108 ______________________________________________________________________________ = nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte nfte = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------