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Chris Squire on NPR rant

S

Slevage

Supporting Member
Jan 15, 2006
7,818
7,376
#1
Though I already learned of Chris's passing, there was a report on NPR this morning.

The report was well done, and even mentioned Chris's Ric, but---------

the music played within the report---- Owner of the Lonely Heart. There's a Ric in that mix?

IMHO, Roundabout would have been a much better choice for the general public to remember Chris's signature sound.
 
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#2
Owner of A Lonely Heart. I'm not sure which bass Chris recorded that with, it may have been the green Mouridian. I know in the 9012Live video in the 80s that's what he played it on. His Ric is iconic to bassists, not really to anyone else, and Owner is the single biggest hit he played on that everyone would know. No surprise they chose it.
 
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#3
hrodbert696 said:
Owner of A Lonely Heart. I'm not sure which bass Chris recorded that with, it may have been the green Mouridian. I know in the 9012Live video in the 80s that's what he played it on. His Ric is iconic to bassists, not really to anyone else, and Owner is the single biggest hit he played on that everyone would know. No surprise they chose it.
Click to expand...

The old folks that listen to NPR would say "Yes?, never heard of them." The Boomers would recognize the opening harmonics to Roundabout and
the segment talked about his Ric.

Thanks for the correction on Owner-- my old memories go back to Fragile.......

End of my rant.
 
#4
Slevage said:
The old folks that listen to NPR would say "Yes?, never heard of them." The Boomers would recognize the opening harmonics to Roundabout and
the segment talked about his Ric.

Thanks for the correction on Owner-- my old memories go back to Fragile.......

End of my rant.
Click to expand...

I'm 44 and listen to NPR from time to time. Owner of a Lonely Heart came out when I was a teenager. Boomers who would recognize Roundabout from when it first came out are in their 60s now (I recognize it too, but because after getting into 90125 went down to the record store and explored Yes' classic albums, as did many people my age). What "old folks who listen to NPR" are you talking about? We ARE those old folks.
 
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#5
I hear you - I'd love to hear them use, say, the rideout on "Does it Really Happen?". But I think the point of pieces like this is to make the most people care. For the vast majority of listeners, the question will be, "why should I care? What does this matter to me?" Using their biggest hit ever, with far and away the most crossover and chart impact, will make the most people think, "Oh, THAT's who this is".

In some small way, it will make it matter to more people. And maybe that's the best gesture they could make in honor of Squire.
 
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#6
Slevage said:
The old folks that listen to NPR would say "Yes?, never heard of them." The Boomers would recognize the opening harmonics to Roundabout and
the segment talked about his Ric.

Thanks for the correction on Owner-- my old memories go back to Fragile.......

End of my rant.
Click to expand...

Um...the boomers ARE the old people that listen to NPR.
 
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#11
That's funny, because it reminds me of a recurring conversation I have with my wife, who is a few years younger than I am. She had no exposure to Yes before 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' became a big hit. When we met it was necessary to point out that that song was an aberration for a band that was well past its prime and that most people who love Yes don't really recognize it as a 'true' Yes song, despite that it was a huge-selling single, something the band never had before or since.

I am an ambivalent Yes fan at best, and even I had a tough time getting that song, but it was obviously right for its time.
 
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#13
hrodbert696 said:
Owner of A Lonely Heart. I'm not sure which bass Chris recorded that with, it may have been the green Mouridian. I know in the 9012Live video in the 80s that's what he played it on. His Ric is iconic to bassists, not really to anyone else, and Owner is the single biggest hit he played on that everyone would know. No surprise they chose it.
Click to expand...

I believe it was that white bass with the built in flanger. He also used it in Tempus Fugit. It's name escapes me but I think was made by a company known as St. Louis Music.
 
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#16
MegaSwing said:
That's funny, because it reminds me of a recurring conversation I have with my wife, who is a few years younger than I am. She had no exposure to Yes before 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' became a big hit. When we met it was necessary to point out that that song was an aberration for a band that was well past its prime and that most people who love Yes don't really recognize it as 'true' Yes song, despite that it was a huge-selling single, something the band never had before or since.

I am an ambivalent Yes fan at best, and even I had a tough time getting that song, but it was obviously right for its time.
Click to expand...

There are two crowds of Yes fans, the "Troopers" and the "Generators," depending on whether they're 70s-era or 80s-era fans. Personally, I like both periods, though their creativity lasted longer in the early phase. The Rabin-era band, at least according to some of them, was supposed to be an all-new project called Cinema, with Squire and White as a rhythm section and Trevor Rabin on guitar and vocals, then they got Tony Kaye on keys and finally invited Jon Anderson to sing too and next thing you know it was Yes mark II.

Owner of A Lonely Heart wasn't supposed to be a Yes song, Rabin was noodling on it and Trevor Horn overheard him and asked about it. Rabin said, "No, that's not a Yes song" (meaning it was too simple and pop, I'm sure), but Horn said "That's going on the album." I never saw them live until six years ago, when Benoit David was singing. Steve Howe introduced it by saying, "Well, I thought we were going to have an evening of Yes music, but now I guess we're going to play this..." I don't care, I don't mind pop songs, and it's a very good pop song.

Tony In Philly said:
I believe it was that white bass with the built in flanger. He also used it in Tempus Fugit. It's name escapes me but I think was made by a company known as St. Louis Music.
Click to expand...

Possibly, I'm not sure, I just thought it was the green one. I've seen that white one, can't find a reference to the maker. EDIT: Now I did. It's an MPC Electra. I remember in a Star Licks DVD he did, he explained that it actually has a bunch of effects modules that you can change out from the back of the body, not just a flanger. I believe it takes two at a time. I think it was a prototype that never went to production, though. His website says he plays Owner on it live but I don't know if that means he recorded it on that originally. Invalid Link Removed
 
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#17
PokeyPrasch said:
Meh, I'm 32 and I listen to NPR and have since my late 20's. It all started when I had to commute in Seattle traffic.
Click to expand...

Tangent - this idea that only old folks listen to NPR is silly. As the rest of the news is hopelessly polluted by commercial / political bias, NPR is about the only place you can get straight information. Sure, it's dull sometimes - that's what the stations buttons are for on your car stereo, right?
 
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#18
Chrisk-K said:
Why can't NPR play "Nous Sommes Du Soleil" to showcase Squire's Ric?
Click to expand...

I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure "Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)" is one of those aberrations in Squire's repertoire where he didn't play the Rickenbacker.
Now I can't remember where I heard this -- possibly an older TB thread where a lot of his non-Ric tunes were cited -- but my knee-jerk response is that he played a Fender Jazz Bass on that cut, same instrument he used on "Parallels" and "To Be Over".

Now I'm gonna have to go look it up...

[edit: I must've been confabulating, couldn't find anything to support this. Disregard.]
 
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