Showing posts with label Chris Squire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Squire. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Chris Squire Tribute "A Life in Yes": Todd Rundgren + others "Roundabout"

This is from an upcoming Chris Squire tribute album A Life in Yes, being released on November 9th,

The Steve Hogarth and Annie Haslam contributions probably have me the most curious.

But here's Todd Rundgren with John Wesley and Tony Kaye (oddly) doing "Roundabout"




Amazon

Image may contain: one or more people and text

1. Jon Davison and Patrick Moraz - on the Silent Wings of Freedom
2. Steve Hogarth and Larry Fast - Hold Out Your Hand
3. Annie Haslam - Onward
4. David Sancious and Steve Stevens - South Side of the Sky
5. Sonja Kristina - the Fish
6. Steve Porcaro and Steve Hackett - the More We Live - Let Go
7. Jon Davison and Tony Kaye - Parallels
8. Nikki Squire and Dweezil Zappa - Owner of a Lonely Heart
9. Todd Rundgren, John Wesley and Tony Kaye - Roundabout
10. Candice Night and Brian Auger - Don't Kill the Whale
11. The Prog Collective - the Technical Divide - Bonus Track
12. Chris Squire - Comfortably Numb - Bonus Track

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Rest in Peace John Wetton

Teamrock.com
Image result for john wetton

The progressive rock and classic rock have a lot of aging musicians unfortunately, although with John Wetton, his medical battles have been well chronicled for many years. On more than 1 occasion I know he had to bow out of gigs with Asia in the last 10 years.

I guess beyond the Cancer he just succumbed to, Alcoholism and Heart Disease.

Because he has been such a beloved talent spanning talents with King Crimson, U.K., Asia and I was unaware, Uriah Heap and Roxy Music among others.

He had a big, deep voice, that you always knew was him. His bass playing also came among his talents, just within the Crimson work he did.

I sadly never got to see him, but I may have to pursue more of the Crimson and U.K. live work.

Greg Lake, Keith Emerson and now John...and Chris Squire. 3 of the most recognizable bassists in progressive rock have left us in less than 2 years.

And all to Cancer no less.

And for that matter, 2 of the vocalists from King Crimson. I hope Adrian Belew is okay.

I would like to make a list of living musicians and/or celebrities with Cancer and try and celebrate them now, while they are still alive. Peter Tork for example.

I wonder with Lake and Wetton passing, might that push some ability to have King Crimson get on the Rock Hall ballot next Fall? or ELP of course as well (Keith Emerson's loss adding to that as well). it shouldn't take something like this, but it might at least give some kind of consolation.

Rest in Peace John Wetton. I'll sadly never get to see U.K. live either, =\.





Sunday, August 14, 2016

Random Artist Feature: Yes

8/14/16 2:30AM

24 minute video which again, longer than I'd prefer, but would almost rather do 1 longer than 2 shorter I suppose. Lot of ground to cover, etc.



6/28/16 6:24PM




Yes
Time and a Word
The Yes Album
Fragile
Close to the Edge
Tales from Topographic Oceans
Relayer

Thursday, December 17, 2015

2016 Rock Hall Class includes Deep Purple and should have had YES

Deep Purple
Chicago
Steve Miller (and not The Steve Miller Band?)
Cheap Trick
N.W.A.

Eddie Trunk's Twitter post

Hearing the RandR HOF inductees for 2016 are Chicago, , Deep Purple, NWA, Steve Miller. Officially announced tonight/tomorrow

this is not official of course, but Future Rock Legends just included

http://www.futurerocklegends.com/2016_Inductees.php

Additional Inductees still to come...

but that more than likely is referring to stuff like "Early Influence" and "Musical Excellence" instead of the "Performer" category which the 5 listed are included for (and voted on).


Yes did not make it, as I actually predicted back in back in October
although I did not guess the Chicago interest, especially ahead of Yes.

I am quite happy to see Deep Purple finally get in, as I am a fan, and I've seen them live twice. And they have been LONG OVERDUE, but that speaks as much about the Rock Hall process, as much as whether they would merit being inducted (Metallica even mentioned them not being in, in their induction speech in 2009).

See 55 seconds-in


Now who they induct from Deep Purple (and Chicago as well), is a whole other can of worms and could turn into a huge drama-fest. Steve Morse is unlikely, so might be Joe Lynn Turner, David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes and Tommy Bolin possibly as well.

This new interview with drummer Ian Paice kind of dramatizes it up somewhat, but may at least still raise some valid concerns. The Kiss thing from a couple of years ago might seem tame. DP may not agree, like Kiss, to actually perform, which would suck, but we'll see in April.

But at least Deep Purple now are finally in thank freaking gawd. But Yes? I'd be lying if them getting in wouldn't mean a ton more to me, than even Deep Purple. And as evidenced below, they finished 2nd in the Fans vote (narrowly ahead of 3rd-5th) , which while the top vote-getter since the Fans Vote began has I guess always got in, usually most of the top 5 get in, but both Yes and The Cars didn't get in. Deep Purple and Steve Miller did though,

Chris Squire's death, like Jon Lord's for Purple a few years back, didn't mean enough to the voters I guess to vote for Yes ahead of some like Cheap Trick, Steve Miller, Chicago, and N.W.A.

And N.W.A. of course finished way down on that poll, but must have done considerably better with the 800+ other individual voters. Which I think their induction seems almost entirely based on that Biopic that just came out earlier this year.

And I'll confess, N.W.A. I did like back in the day when I was a youth. But they have no business getting in ahead of many of the names on the ballot this year, including Yes.

But whatevah..I'll be curious to see what some of the press releases say tomorrow and I suppose those "Musical Excellence" and "Early Influence" inductees happen to be.

But as I said in that entry I wrote back in October, their whole voting and nomination process and system really needs to change. 30 nominees, 15 inductees + a veterans committee; and the fans get 1/3 of the vote and 1/3 or more of a say on who gets nominated.

Otherwise the likes of Yes, Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, ELP, Kansas, and King Crimson will never end up getting in (among many other 70's bands alone...I'd add Iron Maiden and Judas Priest as well), for what it actually is worth (which it shouldn't be much, but the ranting itself I suppose is worth something I suppose, lol).


http://rockhall.com/voting/2016-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-nominees-vote/?flavour=mobile

Chicago 23.41%
Yes 16.20%
The Cars 16.14%
Deep Purple 15.87%
Steve Miller 15.85%
Janet Jackson 5.88%
Cheap Trick 1.45%
The Spinners 1.28%
Chaka Khan 1.16%
Chic 0.84%
The J.B.'s 0.59%
N.W.A. 0.42%
Nine Inch Nails 0.35%
The Smiths 0.30%
Los Lobos 0.25%

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Cruise to the Edge 2015: Chris Squire Tribute (w/ Portnoy, Marillion, Neal Morse)

The 2015 Cruise the Edge was held the last few days and of course right after he died, it was planned for a tribute to Chris Squire to take place. And Mike Portnoy was goinjg to be involved, as he was already going to playing on the Cruise as part of the Neal Morse band,

Well here's the set list, which includes all of Side 1 of Fish out of Water

Some videos below too.

I haven't seeked out a video of it, but I guess Ted Leonard joined for Changes, which of course Enchant did a cover of Changes on the Yes Tribute cd back in the mid 90's.

Also the fact the Marillion guys (Steve Hogarth, Pete Trawavas) were involved probably makes me the most envious, but too many reasons I can list are why I didn't go to this (largely due to $). Maybe it'll get released in some official capacity, but if not, at least the footage is on YouTube.

(Intro Tape - Amazing Grace)
Every Little Thing
No Opportunity Necessary No Experience Needed
Hold Out Your Hand / You By My Side
Silently Falling
Cinema / Make It Easy
City Of Love
The Fish Medley
Changes
Does It Really Happen (Reprise)








Sunday, June 28, 2015

Chris Squire - Rest in Peace 1948-2015

6/28/15 10:18AM-3:05PM
http://jonanderson.com/news.html#chris

Jon Anderson chimed in. Really sad the 2 of them never fully reconciled exactly, at least from what has been provided publicly. But he does say they reconnected recently. Someone on Yesfans.com mentioned an article in PROG that Jon said he emailed Chris when he heard about his Leukemia.


also another of the many comments on Social Media that are coming out, Geddy Lee mentioned something about admiring Chris but never actually meeting him, which is sad I suppose.

http://www.rush.com/chris-squire-1948-2015/


http://www.udiscovermusic.com/chris-squire-r-i-p

I just posted this on Facebook:
Chris Squire Rest in Peace. The news about his leukemia came out a few months ago was a concern, but this still does come suddenly. Chris being the only founding member of Yes (official) to be in the band throughout it's entire history. And hugely influential in progressive rock circles.
This just sucks, frown emoticon




This is pretty devastating, although he obviously was not young and may have been living with the Leukemia (and maybe not even known?) for awhile, who knows.

I have like a million things I could say about Chris and his role both in Yes and the influence he had on progressive rock and my taste in music, but I probably don't have the time to do so at this time. I just wonder who all will come out of the woodwork, namely among music media, who who may have overlooked Yes, at least come out and say something. I guess we'll see.

He will be dearly missed for sure.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

What the Hell: Yes-My Album Rankings (+link to Stereogum's List)



Stereogum Article by Phil Freeman

I'm not sure if this list and article was inspired by the sad news about Chris Squire's Leukemia diagnosis the other day, but if so, I can follow why.

The list this guy ranked and wrote about there is of course another 1 of these *lists* and has some baffling things about it like The Ladder, Tormato and especially Drama being as low as they are while Talk and Big Generator (and the highly overrated 90125 in my minority opinion) being as high as they are.

But I'll credit it for at least ranking Relayer as high as it did and also I can't disagree with putting Yessongs on top.

So I'm deciding to do a ranking of my own, but I'm not including the live albums; but I can just say I find Yessongs one of the best albums Yes ever released and best live albums ever. And Yesshows to be an album I do like, maybe because it has both "The Gates of Delirium" and "Ritual" on it.

However I am including Keys to Ascension 2 namely since it includes a studio recording of one of my favorite Yes tracks in the epic "Mind Drive."

Some of the others like Keys to Ascension,  the BBC Sessions and a few others like the Remixes, etc I either have not heard, nor even if they include music that was not released on 1 of the proper studio records, and/or live. Or it just has not been in my listening experience all that much at this point.


21. Open Your Eyes
20. Heaven and Earth
19. Union
18. Big Generator
17. 90125
16. Fly From Here
15. Magnification
14. Talk
13. ABWH

----------------------------------------------------
12. Yes
11. The Ladder
10. Tormato
9. Time and a Word
8. Keys to Ascension 2
7. Going for the One
6. The Yes Album
5. Close to the Edge
4. Tales from Topographic Oceans
3. Fragile
2. Drama
1. Relayer

Solo Records (short list)

These are probably my 4 favorite solo albums from members of Yes. I own many others, but like Phil Freeman's comment about so many of them, I'm not going to rank the rest as it gets too scattered then. I don't even own any Flash or Strawbs or you name it if you want to take more than 1-degree of separation (like UK..who I am a fan of though, or Asia who I'm not really into anything by..or Patrick Moraaz solo and other collaborations, which include work with The Moody Blues, etc).

4. Bruford - One of a Kind
3. Steve Howe - Beginnings
2. Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow
1. Chris Squire - Fish Out of Water

I do not own, nor have heard any of Rick Wakeman's solo records sans for the White Rock record. Although  by many accounts the Six Wives LP is his best, also maybe not coincidentally like Squire, Anderson and Howe (or even Steve Hackett for that matter), his 1st solo record.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Get Well Chris Squire!



USA Today story

He has been diagnosed with Leukemia, which for what it is worth, seems to be a form of cancer that I notice can be beaten (more than others), but ANY cancer of course is unfortunate and a concern.

He has played every single Yes concert since their inception in 1968  I guess, and the tour dates they have scheduled, assuming they still go on, will likely have a replacement.

That story says Billy Sherwood will fill-in for their Summer tour dates with Toto.

I don't imagine I will be attending any of the shows this Summer nor Cruise to the Edge anyway, but for those who do, they will have to keep this and Chris's health in mind.

All the rock and (prog) stars of my time and before are not so young, this stuff is bound to come up with some of them. It's a bit scary to think all those musician heroes of mine one day will not be around. And the members of Yes certainly are in there, even with Peter Banks passing a few years ago of course.

But for now, I do hope Chris is able to do well with treatment and can beat this of course. And who knows, maybe him and Jon Anderson can let by-gones be by-gones when something like this comes up.


Thursday, April 4, 2013

Yes - Summer 2013 Tour includes a date at Mystic Lake!


They're playing 3 complete albums on their Summer tour as they have been doing this Spring tour.

The Yes Album
Close to the Edge
Going For the One
.
It's been quite awhile since Yes actually played in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities Metro Area. I think the last show was the 2004 Target Center show with Dream Theater.

Mystic Lake's website link
Now in order to get any special "presale" opportunities, you have to signup for the "Mystic Email Club" newsletter, which I did, begrudgingly. Although I am wondering/hoping my mom, who frequents Mystic, and at times gets deals/discounts on concerts there, will be able to allow me to save on tickets for this show. We'll see, but it will be nice to finally see them again, on Friday August 9th.





07/06 Paso Robles, CA Vina Robles Amphitheatre
07/07 Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery
07/09 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
07/10 Anaheim, CA City National Grove of Anaheim
07/12 Las Vegas, NV Pearl Concert Theater @ the Palms
07/13 Jackson, CA Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort
07/14 San Diego, CA Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
07/18 Jackson, MS Thalia Mara Hall
07/19 Birmingham, AL BJCC Concert Hall
07/20 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Concert Hall
07/21 Atlanta, GA Symphony Hall
07/23 Charlottesville, VA nTelos Wireless Pavilion
07/24 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
07/25 Morristown, NJ Mayo Performing Arts Center
07/27 Holyoke, MA Mountain Park
07/28 Port Chester, NY Capitol Theatre
07/30 Montreal, QC Place des Arts
07/31 Westbury, NY Theatre at Westbury
08/04 Munhall, PA Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead
08/07 Cleveland Heights, OH Cain Park
08/08 West Allis, WI Wisconsin State Fair - Main Stage
08/09 Prior Lake, MN Mystic Lake Casino
08/10 Mt Pleasant, MI Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
08/12 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre @ Old National Centre

Monday, June 13, 2011

Yes - Fly From Here (2011) (1.0)

6/13/11 3:50PM
Single "We Can Fly"



not bad, but since it's 4 minutes and the whole song/suite is like 24 minutes, it's hard to tell how good this will be. I will say, Benoit David doesn't sound bad, almost like a slightly lower version of Trevor Horn.

6/3/11 12:08PM



2:54 Sample of "Fly From Here." I haven't heard it since I'm at work. L8ter.


5/24/11 1:21AM

Yesfans.com topic
Wikipedia page
Japanese Listing June 22nd Release (although July 12th is the Frontiers Records release Date)



1. Fly from Here - Overture
2. Fly from Here - Pt I - We Can Fly
3. Fly from Here - Pt II - Sad Night at the Airfield
4. Fly from Here - Pt III - Madman at the Screens
5. Fly from Here - Pt IV - Bumpy Ride
6. Fly from Here - Pt V - We Can Fly (reprise)
7. The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be
8. Life on a Film Set
9. Hour of Need
10. Solitaire
11. Into the Storm

3/15/11 3:19AM



This is the title of apparently their upcoming full-length, that is projected to be released in July.

"“At the moment, we just finished recording our first studio album since 2001,” Chris Squire said during a phone interview last week.


[...] [Which] would be called “Fly From Here.”


“It’s the title of the main song,” he said.


Squire also confirmed [...] Trevor Horn produced the album. The players, Squire continued, would be the same one attendees will see on stage when the band performs Friday [...]:


Guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Oliver Wakeman, lead singer Benoit David and Squire.


Except for one change.


At Horn’s insistence, “Fly from Here” will feature [...] Geoffrey Downes on keyboards, as opposed to Wakeman, Squire said.


“We have no exact date and the album is not even mastered yet,” Yes’ publicist responded via e-mail. “So unfortunately we have no information yet but was told it would be out sometime in July.”




Guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Oliver Wakeman, lead singer Benoit David and Squire."


"At Horn’s insistence, “Fly from Here” will feature [...] Geoffrey Downes on keyboards, as opposed to Wakeman, Squire said."

Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Benoit David along with Oliver Wakeman and Geoff Downes as a guest. Trevor Horn produced it.

I'm going with this Wikipedia link, honestly, because a lot of the press and forum posts are frankly, too unclear and too long to weed through.

The "sequel to Drama" part of this has me curious, since Drama is my 2nd favorite Yes album, and with Downes and Trevor Horn involved, this may be the closest thing the band ever makes to that record.

Benoit David, the jury is out on, despite how well he can sing the Yes catalog live. If Trevor Horn actually does some singing on this album, I will be happy. The song "We Can Fly From Here" I guess is a song from the Drama-period that never was finished, nor was it included on the Drama remaster. But you can check it out here:



I guess it was included on the In A Word boxed set, one that I'm sure most Yes-aholics like a friend of mine, are very familiar with. But being a huge fan of Drama, it is rather cool to hear for the 1st time, despite the obviously lower production quality.

The fact they are re-recording it, and it's going to be an epic, of maybe 11 minutes? I can't deny my curiosity is raised.

Yes are a band who I love a good chunk of their studio work, but most of that, not being post-Drama.. The Ladder, some of the ABWH, and Keys 2 Ascension music ("Mind Drive" namely).

Their last album, 2001's Magnification while wasn't bad, I never got too into. Although it was better than most of their 80's and 90's albums I guess.

But without Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, I must admit, I was kind of skeptical about how good this might be. Even with my love of Drama. But now reading some things, and the inclusion of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, I must admit, I'm a little more optimistic here.

But I must add, all the *drama* with Yes and their lineup changes, along with even just trying to find some simple, concrete information with this, is frankly, a huge pain in the ass. C'mon guys! it shouldn't be this hard to find specific details about the band and this album.. All the fans on Yesfans.com along with progressiveears.com and some other places keep bickering and speculating things. Trevor Rabin is back? how many songs Downes may play on. Benoit David's role. Blah Blah Blah.

Throw me a fricking bone here I can report! lol. In most cases, it's not all that hard to find this stuff. But in Yes's case, there's way too many reports and opinions that conflict. Why do they always have to be the band with the Soap Opera and fans who all claim to know everything? lol.

I just roll-my-eyes from afar, and wait for the music, rather than get as bent out of shape as so many of their fans seem to do. Thank god.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Yes (the progressive rock band) in 3D?



link

this could be rather interesting (even without Jon and Rick). I wonder if more bands I am into would ever be able to do this. And whether it'll be a movie theater/imax deal, or possibly a web or dvd thing.