Chris Squire on NPR rant

[Tony In Philly]

What's NPR?

New Precision Reissue.

 

[MegaSwing]

I think the original point is a fair one.

Chris Squire was a bedrock practitioner of what we now fondly call 'modern tone'. He was the one who showed the world what the Rickenbacker bass was really best at. Before him, who really knew?

I reiterate that I was never in love with Yes, but it was obvious that something special was going on there with the bass.

In remembrance, it would be a more fitting tribute to feature music that shows what made him such an important figure on his instrument.

 

[Chrisk-K]

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...

Can someone verify this? I always thought the bass tone on "Ritual" was different from his usual Ric tone but had no idea he didn't play a Ric. I assumed that they did some studio tweaking to get that tone.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

NPR is the National Public Radio affiliate stations network.

Bassist Chris Squire, Who Co-Founded Yes, Dies At 67 : NPR

 

[woodyng]

Can someone verify this? I always thought the bass tone on "Ritual" was different from his usual Ric tone but had no idea he didn't play a Ric. I assumed that they did some studio tweaking to get that tone.

Chris almost always tried to play in concert on the same instrument that he used for recording any particular song. (Notice i did say "almost always").
Having said that,every time i've seen Ritual performed live,he used the RM. As for the different tone,it always sounded to me like he was favoring the horseshoe pickup to get that sound.

 

[stacker]

Can someone verify this? I always thought the bass tone on "Ritual" was different from his usual Ric tone but had no idea he didn't play a Ric. I assumed that they did some studio tweaking to get that tone.

I would say that on Ritual on TFTO was the RM played behind the rear pup. If you watch him in the video of Hold out your hand, it's pretty much the same tone and position.

 

[gjohnson441496]

Why can't NPR play "Nous Sommes Du Soleil" to showcase Squire's Ric?

Hell, why didn't they play Tales of the Topographic Ocean in it's entirety?

 

[Altitude]

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.

It is indeed, and presumably it funded Yes to do a lot of what they wanted to do from that point onward in their careers. Before that album, they had never quite broken to the front in the way Rush did, given the similarities otherwise.

This thread isn't about Trevor Horn at all - but given what I've learned about him, he takes heavy ownership of his projects, and musicians probably have to be very secure to work with him productively.

 

[JFOC]

One of my all time favorite interviews. Chris Squire met Jimi Hendrix...

 

[Ritchie_Darling]

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.

I believe that this is correct.

His highly modified Electra MPC bass.

 

[Biggbass]

Don't care about NPR - everything about NPR will always be just Schwetty Balls to me -
but so sad that Chris is gone...I had hoped he would be able to put up
a good fight.

 

[Michael4bass]

Can someone verify this? I always thought the bass tone on "Ritual" was different from his usual Ric tone but had no idea he didn't play a Ric. I assumed that they did some studio tweaking to get that tone.

He used the Jazz bass with the Mutron-III on Ritual. OoaLH was the Electra bass with the octave module.

Bassically, Michael

 

[Ric5]

New Precision Reissue.

I thought No Precision Roubnds

 

[TyBo]

I think the original point is a fair one.

Chris Squire was a bedrock practitioner of what we now fondly call 'modern tone'. He was the one who showed the world what the Rickenbacker bass was really best at. Before him, who really knew?

I reiterate that I was never in love with Yes, but it was obvious that something special was going on there with the bass.

In remembrance, it would be a more fitting tribute to feature music that shows what made him such an important figure on his instrument.

Yeah. I don't mind OOALH, it's a decent pop song, and was certainly a hit for Yes. But ... the Yes song I hear most often on the local "classic rock" station is "Roundabout", by a wide margin. It's definitely the song I most strongly associate with the group, and I know that's true for many others. That song has legs ... still holds up and grabs the ear when it comes over the airwaves today. It may not have been as big a hit as OOALH, but I believe it's a more enduring song, a substantial hit in its own right, and indisputably is much more emblematic of the group's sound, and of Squire's bass playing. So there!

Having said all that, I'm still glad NPR decided to do a feature on Chris. Soooo well deserved!

 

[reddog]

Please help - I never really cared for Chris Squire's work. Rather listen to "Car Talk"... by far.

Could those people who enjoy YES and understand his work, please try an illuminate people like me
who never developed a taste. A new Thread may be in order.

Thanks.

 

[radioface]

That they,NPR, took the time to talk about mister Squire, is good enough for me. I don't care what song they chose or, what bass he recorded that song with.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Please help - I never really cared for Chris Squire's work. Rather listen to "Car Talk"... by far.

Could those people who enjoy YES and understand his work, please try an illuminate people like me
who never developed a taste. A new Thread may be in order.

Thanks.

Ignotus Per Ignotium.

The thing explained is less clear.
If we have to explain,you still won't understand.

 

[Muddslide]

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.

Just on to say I think this happened with a LOT of bands in the 80s--bands, that is, that had been around since the 60s or early 70s.

Not trying to start (or continue) a debate on the relative merits of different periods in the Yes canon...just saying it seems like many bands who had already been around +/- 2 decades by the time the 80s were in full swing stumbled a bit in the 80s...succumbed to fashion, MTV, production techniques ala gated drums and MIDI-interfaced everything...a lot of them resorted to getting their songs from teams instead of writing themselves...

Heart, Jefferson (Airplane) Starship, even the Stones and Springsteen did some work that, IMO, was just NOT them in order to follow on the coattails of new things that were emerging. Success (both artistically and critically) was mixed in a lot of cases.

This isn't a knock against 80s music. I think a lot of bands and artists who kicked off in the 80s were inventive and fresh and I like a lot of music from that era (including some of the 80s work of many of the older bands I mentioned from previous decades) but I always felt like a lot of the Old Guard Rockers were sort of wandering in the desert throughout some of that decade.

 

[reddog]

The thing explained is less unclear.
If we have to explain,you still won't understand.

"Bass" is something that moves me... despite me.
It has a groove and pull me into it... along with it.
I never developed an appreciation for YES. Wish I had.
Maybe it's like eating a cheesesteak in Mississippi .... not good by Philly standards,
but if you call it something else, it's pretty darn good.

-------------------------
hmmm..
The thing explained is less unclear. = Explanation yields more clarity.
If we have to explain,you still won't understand. = Explanation yields nothing.
Which one is it?
Reducio ad adsurdum ?

 

[Jazz Ad]

Roundabout has a brilliant line by any standard. It's supportive and melodic altogether.
If you don't like the band's music or style there isn't much to dig, which is often an issue in dreaded "Jaco is overrated" threads.