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Chris Squire on NPR rant

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.

If you never got into Chris Squire before because you never really cared for his work, then I don’t see what anyone here can do to help you with that, other than point to the collection of Yes albums and say “have a listen”.
 
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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.

That's too bad you feel that way about NPR man. There is so much cool stuff on there especially in the areas of art, music, science and news coverage. And absolutely no commercials!
 
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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 ?
Both.Less clear=More unclear.....Ahhh!That should be just "clear"
See edit above.

Yes is a group that you either like or you don't.No matter how much you explain to those who don't
The thing explained is less clear.
Sometimes you can't make someone like them.
But those who like them don't need an explanation.
 
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If you never got into Chris Squire before because you never really cared for his work, then I don’t see what anyone here can do to help you with that, other than point to the collection of Yes albums and say “have a listen”.

As a teacher, my job is to bring a new perspectives to kids.
For example - if I were to discuss funk music, I'd talk about the spaces, the pop, the pocket, the rythms, etc.

Today I'm asking those who can put their finger on it, to share their appreciation for Squire's work.


A friend said he "really dug" Squire's Ric tone.

How about you?
What is it that you like best about Squire's work?
 
He used the Jazz bass with the Mutron-III on Ritual.

I could be wrong,:cool:,but,I don't really think it's the j bass,(which i thought only showed up on Going for the One album),and i really don't think he was using (or even had) the mutron before Tormato.....
What info are you basing your statement on...?
I saw Yes in '74,when they did the entire TFTO album with Wakeman,and again in 75/76 when they were still playing Ritual with Patrick Moraz,and the Rickenbacker was used every time.....like i said earlier,Chris usually would switch to whatever instrument was used for the record when playing that somg live.....
 
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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.
It's YES alright, though I've read that it, among others, were all written, recorded and produced before hand as solo Trevor Rabin material. Plus Anderson was almost included as a courtesy, since Trevor sang all the leads himself in the original pre-Yes recordings. - though i may be misinformed. -- But, that aside, it is YES. Kinda.
 
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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.
For me, the Fragile album was fresh when it came out. The music was totally different from anything I heard up to that point and it was obvious to me that Yes was a band of highly professional musicians. The intricate changes that the music goes through keeps the music fresh to this day. As a bass player, the sound that Chris Squire produced from his bass was simply rocking! Chris Squire played rock music in a melodic and intricate way. Paul McCartney was melodic, but Chris Squire was "electric" like lightening. Fragile Yes is just a fantastic and timeless work of art. Close To The Edge and Tales of The Topographic Oceans are also classics, but these works were created during the AOR period, which meant that they were themed. Other groups that I liked at that time were John Mclaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Birds of Fire), ELP (Brain Salad Surgery), Pink Floyd (Meddle, DSOTM).

I can understand you not liking Yes being that the music was far from anything mainstream. Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Jon Anderson and Alan White were unique.

BTW, I'm a big fan of Car Talk too! Saturday morning... 9am cst!
 
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As a teacher, my job is to bring a new perspectives to kids.
For example - if I were to discuss funk music, I'd talk about the spaces, the pop, the pocket, the rythms, etc.

Today I'm asking those who can put their finger on it, to share their appreciation for Squire's work.


A friend said he "really dug" Squire's Ric tone.

How about you?
What is it that you like best about Squire's work?

I didn't learn to appreciate Yes (or funk) by having a teacher talk to me about it. Yes was one of those bands I loved the first time I heard them. My brain just loves prog; it's as simple as that. If you don't like it, fine. There's a lot of music I don't like, and I damn well don't want someone trying to teach me that it isn't the garbage my ears say it is. Of course, the love and hate stuff is is the extremes; I have learned to like music that I initially didn't care for (but didn't outright hate, or found boring) by immersing myself in it.
 
1980; prog is "dead," and I am going into a record store to buy a live album from some Brit metal band that I had not heard of before. Indeed, most of the country did know about Judas Priest, in 1980, but "Livin' After Midnight" served to change that...and I digress.

Walking into Licorice Pizza (remember that chain, back in the day?), I heard this music that sounds like an old Marlboro commercial, coming from the store's sound system. Suddenly, the Marlboro fanfare is jettisoned for some pulsating space-rock, and my musical sensibilities are aroused. By the time the layered vocal harmonies kick in, my curiosity is piqued, and I ask the counter guy what is playing. Anyone with sufficient awareness of Yes (and what inspired them; indeed, the old Marlboro spot WAS the inspiration for the opening seconds of "The Yes Album," per Jon Anderson) can easily figure out that it was "Yours is No Disgrace" that served to change my life.

By 1981, I had moved beyond the 70's hard rock of my early teens, and was into Yes, and Rush ("Moving Pictures" came out, at that time), with ELP and Crimson following suit. By mid-1984, I owned most of the discographies, and had seen 3 of the aforementioned bands live (ELP would have to wait until 1986).

Mind you, I had already been a musician for over 10 years, playing in youth and high school ensembles, as I grew up in the 70's. Chris, and a few of his luminary contemporaries made me pick up the bass, at the age of 18, and I have never looked back.
 
The NPR story in the original post reminds me of a thing I heard on radio a few years ago while I was visiting Australia.... they were telling some long anecdote about Rick Wakeman, and then proceeded to play Owner of a Lonely Heart.

The best part was 20 minutes later when they issued a "correction"... one of the DJs said "somebody called in and told us Rick didn't play on that.... is that correct? Do we have another source on this?"
 
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As a teacher, my job is to bring a new perspectives to kids.
For example - if I were to discuss funk music, I'd talk about the spaces, the pop, the pocket, the rythms, etc.

Today I'm asking those who can put their finger on it, to share their appreciation for Squire's work.


A friend said he "really dug" Squire's Ric tone.

How about you?
What is it that you like best about Squire's work?

Is it the player or the music that you had a problem with?

Yeah, his tone was amazing. It was a big contrast to Howe’s guitar tone, it gave the music a gutsy punch when it was needed. I don’t know about later on, but during the early recordings he used a guitar amp in the studio.

His phrasing, note choice, fills, all immaculate. He had the skill to be flashy pretty much all the time but he wasn’t like that. He served the song, and if that meant playing a simple 4/4 groove, he would do it, and it would be well executed. But, give him the room to stretch out and he would play some really incredible bass lines.

And, I think he was a great singer as well.
 
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As a teacher, my job is to bring a new perspectives to kids.
For example - if I were to discuss funk music, I'd talk about the spaces, the pop, the pocket, the rythms, etc.

Today I'm asking those who can put their finger on it, to share their appreciation for Squire's work.


A friend said he "really dug" Squire's Ric tone.

How about you?
What is it that you like best about Squire's work?

It's hard to explain; it's either you like it or you don't, it moves you or it doesn't...I'd say listen to these three albums: "The Yes Album", "Close to the Edge" and his solo album "Fish out of water". IMO If nothing he plays moves you on all 3 of those albums and/or you don't think his tone is the stuff of legend, then no verbal explanations will do it.
 
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The NPR story in the original post reminds me of a thing I heard on radio a few years ago while I was visiting Australia.... they were telling some long anecdote about Rick Wakeman, and then proceeded to play Owner of a Lonely Heart.

The best part was 20 minutes later when they issued a "correction"... one of the DJs said "somebody called in and told us Rick didn't play on that.... is that correct? Do we have another source on this?"
Yeah, Tony Kaye, their original keyboardist, was on 90215. Tony and Peter Banks, the original guitarist, left Yes after the 2nd album, and formed Flash.
 
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