Chris Squire on Yes Classic Album Tour, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
 

Chris Squire on Yes Classic Album Tour, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...ign=newsletter

Great interview - thanks for posting!

No Jon Anderson = No Yes, imo.

Although Jon is one of my all time favorite vocalists, I don't buy "No Jon Anderson = No Yes" because Squire = Yes. "Drama" sounds like a classic Yes album. "Fish Out of Water" sounds like a classic Yes album. AWBH sounds nothing like Yes. But one thing is clear: when Jon & Chris play together, there's magic.

+1

...or maybe +0.95

To be honest, I'm not sure I'd say Fish Out Of Water "sounds like a classic Yes album" so much as it sounds the most like a classic Yes album of all the circa-1975 solo records those guys released. But with its almost complete lack of guitar, fairly understated keyboards, no synthesizers, and massive use of orchestra, it doesn't really resemble the timbral fabric of a classic Yes album. And the compositions are far less compartmentalized than CTTE, TFTO, Fragile, Relayer, etc. Awesome album indeed, but distinctly not Yes almost as much as it is Yes.

Fish and chicks tour?

I have been a die hard YES fan since 1971. I have seen them in concert numerous times over the decades, I played bass in a YES tribute band for a few years in the early 2000's, and I got to meet YES backstage in 2001 and chat with each of them individually. Jon Anderson is very short, and Chris Squire is huge! And when I shook Steve's hand, I was afraid to squeeze it very hard because it felt so....fragile! (no pun intended). They are all very nice guys, btw.

Anyway, as much as I love their music, I just don't have any interest in seeing them in concert without Jon Anderson as the lead singer. When I would listen to Benoit singing in YES on YouTube vids, I would cringe with all of the sour notes he would hit. Thank goodness they finally dumped him! And as for this new guy Jon D, well, based on what I've seen on YT with him singing with YES, he sure sings alot better than Benoit, but JD is still no JA. It's still just not quite "there". There is only one Jon Anderson and that great voice of his.

So, I won't say "no JA = no YES" because YES will continue regardless. But what I will say is "no JA = no concert attendance by me".

I wish YES all the best.

Seems like every Yes discussion these days revolves around Anderson. The thing that struck me was something Squire said late in the interview - could there still be a band called Yes 100 years from now? He pointed out that a symphony orchestra's existence doesn't depend on the presence of any particular member or set of members, old members retire and new ones come in. Can a rock band do the same thing?

It probably wouldn't work for U2 or Rush, that have been the same three or four guys for virtually their entire careers and are so tightly identified with those personalities. But Yes has always had such a revolving door that one wonders if it could keep going long after the founding generation has passed on. It was interesting that Squire is the ONLY guy to play in every incarnation of Yes, but he was the guy that suggested the band is more than the individuals in it - Yes is not "his" band.

I saw YES without Jon A. It was still YES to me.
IMHO I thought Benoit did really well. That night
Anderson was doing a solo show about 50 miles away from the YES show.
From what I've read Anderson takes leave of the band a lot for his solo work.
Still a big YES fan.

+1.
I feel pretty much the same SactoBass.

Been a huge fan since '71. I first saw Yes, of all places, at the New Jersey seashore - Wildwood Convention Hall in '71. They had just opened the convention hall - on the Boardwalk there - and they were bringing in a LOT of great bands. Yes opened for Jethro Tull - how's that for a concert! It was really easy to get tickets, especially if you were spending the summer there. Two weeks later I saw Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Tickets were $4 or something like that as I recall.

Sorry, now I'm sounding like an old guy - which I am!

Mmm. Saw them in, I think it was 71 or 72, in Boston. They played, IIRC all of CTTE, and Fragile, and maybe some of The Yes Album. The opener was the Eagles! THAT double bill was quite a show! The Eagles were pretty good. Then Yes came on and absolutely blew the place away. Fantastic!

I've seen them several more times over the years, but always with Anderson. Truthfully, he's had a tougher time hitting those high notes as he ages - and who wouldn't? For me, he's the voice of the band. A franchise might work, but it still wouldn't be the original....

Man, that Ric looks tiny in his hands!

+1

"Drama" is one of my favorite Yes albums, with a hard rock edge (note Steve's snarling guitar sound in "Machine Messiah") not found on other Yes albums. I'm a HUGE Yes fan, have been since the mid 70s, and (unlike some bands, - the Stones, Rush) Yes does not stand or fall on the inclusion or exclusion of any one (or two) musicians.

Chris Squire is a very large man. 6'4 or 6'5 I'd guess in height, and massive hands.

He's a good 6'5" I reckon. I had the privilege of meeting him a number of years ago, and standing right next to him, he's noticeably taller than me - and I'm 6'2".

MM

If Anderson were still with Yes, I'd be going to mutiple shows for this upcoming tour.
I understand that the rest of the band wanted to keep going but at the same time I think Anderson got the shaft.
It's bad enough that the band seems to have cut the tempos down to a crawl lately but without Anderson it is at a total standstill for me.
And I've seen Yes 29 times from 1984-2004.

"Yes" is nothing more than a Yes cover-group now, with a Yes cover-group singer. Going on tour perpetually until they keel over and die, apparently. A graceful retirement is too much to ask for, I guess.

Based on what criteria? With their prior "cover band singer" they went and put out a new album. It may not have been everyone's favorite Yes album of all time, but that's a pretty high bar to hit. They're talking about doing another one with the new guy.

As far as I can see they're deliberately NOT being the Rolling Stones or whatever, and just repeating their greatest hits ad nauseam - even this tour, when they're playing through 70s albums, that's going to mean a lot of songs that are not the usual faves everybody expects to hear. I say more power to them for continuing to create and not just turning into tired old farts who can't get out of their rocking chairs to play for audiences.

Why would you expect that of any commercial rock/pop act? It's not like there's any precedent.

(Well... Perhaps coincidentally, the only rock (sic) musician I've ever heard of who retired gracefully is Bill Bruford.)

You obviously haven't listened to their latest album, Fly From Here. Like rtrav, Drama is one of my favorite Yes albums because of the production and songwriting of Trevor Horn. Fly From Here is the best album they've come out with since 90125 (and yes, I like the Rabin-era stuff as well).

Yes has had so many different members with Squire being the lone remnant of all incarnations. To say that Yes isn't the same band without Anderson is understandable, but they're still Yes and make incredible (new) music still.