Me and my journey through life, from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows and all wacky, funny, deep, depressing and interesting points in between. My interests are varied from one end of the spectrum to another. Basically, the disappointing side of mediocre.
Released on this day in 1973, Tres Hombres (their 3rd album) became the commercial breakthrough album for ZZ Top.
The album peaked at #8 on the Billboard pop albums chart. The only single released from the album was "La Grange" which peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. But on album rock stations "Waitin' for the Bus" (have mercy!) and "Jesus Just Left Chicago" are very popular and played as much as "La Grange", and since those two songs segue into each other, they are usually played together.
Also released on this day (in 1983) is the follow up to Asia's huge debut album. This one was called Alpha and had yet another Roger Dean cover.
Alpha focused more on mainstream Pop/Rock sounds, and is less characterized by progressive rock elements than its predecessor. The album did go platinum however and reached #6 on the Billboard album chart. It had two singles reach the Billboard Hot 100: "Don't Cry" (#10), and "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" (#34).
When YES was on hiatus in 1975-76 each member of the band (Howe, Squire, White, Moraz) released a solo album. All would fail in comparison to Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow, released on this day in 1976. Actually, in my opinion, this is the best of all of Anderson's solo albums to this day.
Olias of Sunhillow is a progressive rock concept album which tells the story of an alien race and their journey to a new world (the story printed in the LP jacket calls it "the earth", lowercase 'e') due to a volcanic catastrophe. Olias, the title character, is the chosen architect of the glider Moorglade Mover, which will be used to fly his people to their new home. Ranyart is the navigator for the glider, and Qoquaq (pronounced 'ko-quake') is the leader who unites the four tribes of Sunhillow to partake in the exodus.
The album's concept was inspired by the cover art by Roger Dean (!) for the 1971 Yes album Fragile, which depicts a tiny planet breaking apart and a glider escaping into space. Another link to Fragile lies in the fact that both albums have pieces (Fragile's "We Have Heaven") consisting of multiple vocal parts, with Anderson singing all of them. Anderson has stated that works by J.R.R. Tolkien and Vera Stanley Alder were also an influence, underlying the epic scope of the narrative compressed into the album. The album represented 8 months of physical work, but it took two years from conception to release. Anderson used more than a hundred tracks in putting the album together, overdubbing strings, organ, harp and percussion.
Since Anderson produced Olias soon after Vangelis had auditioned to be a part of Yes, there has been widespread speculation that Vangelis contributed to the album, with some fans going so far as to say that Olias represents the kind of sound that Yes would have created if Vangelis had in fact joined the band. However, both Vangelis and Anderson have denied that they collaborated on the album.
Well now we have reached the point where Yes is well established and start to expand their horizons. They have progressed to the point where some of their songs have gotten longer and longer (Heart of the Sunrise was over 10 minutes). This time, they created a piece of music that took up the entire length of side one. But first, the album cover:
So now it's time to head on to Side 2 of Fragile. The back side of the album has even more artwork from Roger Dean, where the fragile planet is breaking apart and a ship (space ark?) is orbiting above it. This will come in to play on future album covers. The painting looks like this:
OMG! Fragile! I've been waiting to get to this one. This is one of my desert island albums. To me, this is when YES became YES. After upgrading guitar by Steve Howe on their last album, they upgraded keyboards a million times over with Rick Wakeman. Fragile is an album with four group efforts along with solo pieces from every member of the band. This is also the first time they used graphic artist Roger Dean to do their covers. I mean, look at it! (oh, that's what's on that t-shirt you wear all the time...) All the album covers from here on out tell a continuing story, beginning with the fragile planet here cracking up and exploding.
He also did illustrations inside the album covers as well.
Now, on to Side 1 of the music. I was cruising some old country back roads in my old Plymouth Valiant, just enjoying some quiet weekend time when this first song came on the radio. I was captivated and had to find out who it was. This started my fascination with Yes.
Released on this day in 1980, Drama is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock band Yes. It is also the first Yes album without vocalist Jon Anderson (gasp!).
Back in July of this past year I was so excited that Yes was going to release a new album. It was the first brand new release I would be able to cover with my blog here. I had read that Benoit David was out as lead singer and the new singer was going to be Jon Anderson Davison, from the band Glass Hammer. The rest of the band (Squier, Howe, White, Downes) was the same. That album was Heaven & Earth.
Released in 1996, Keys to Ascension was one of those live albums with "bonus" new material. I have included it here because the new songs weren't just some random songs stuck on to get you to buy the CD (okay in my case it did).
Also, someone has the common sense to have Roger Dean do the cover:
The first seven of the album’s nine tracks were recorded live in San Luis Obispo, California’s Fremont Theater during three nights in March 1996. The purpose of these concerts was to capture the spontaneity of a live performance under controlled conditions, similar to that of a studio. These performances were also filmed and released as a live video under the same title.
The last two tracks "Be the One" and "That, That Is" are studio recordings of new songs made in November 1995 (with post-production lasting into 1996).
To me, these are the best sounding songs that Yes had done in years since the days of ABWH and Drama. Part of the reason for this I think is that it is the first album with the line-up consisting of Anderson, Squire, White, Howe and Wakeman since 1978's Tormato.
1) Be the One - This song is divided in three parts:
a) The One (0:00 - 4:11) - Never let the fools destroy your dreams.
b) Humankind (4:11 - 7:20) - This section is the best thing on the whole album. Jon sings forcefully and with passion. Every time it plays I'm like "preach it Jon!". I wish more of their music was like this, direct and to the point instead of being flighty and all over the place.
c) Skates (7:20 - 9:50) - Basically Steve Howe takes over until the end of the song.
2) That, That Is - Did I mention being all over the place? This another multi-piece song that has seven (!) sections. Now the music is absolutely great with an intro by Howe on acoustic guitar which is repeated a few times throughout. Wakeman, however seems nowhere to be found. I have always thought that the "All in All" part should have been edited and released as a single.
I can't tell you how long I have been waiting to get to this one. When I last covered the Yes discography, they had just released Big Generator. Jon Anderson left after that tour to pursue other projects. This is that project.
Anderson got in touch with three other former members of Yes to form a band: drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist extraordinaire Rick Wakeman (RW!), and guitarist Steve Howe.
Well we are back for another week of randomness and after last week's literary crapdom (The Catcher in the Rye...ugh), I'm glad to say that the next book I read was much better. So much better in fact that I read it all in one day. It was called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and it was a fascinating read (review coming soon). So that has me in a better state of mind for whatever music comes our way today.
Another week gone by, another week closer to those dreaded holidays. Ugh. The only shining light in the distance is the fact that we are only about 8 days away from Doctor Who returning. Now that is something to get excited about. You know what else is exciting? Randomness! Well, except for last week. That was kind of a dud. No one got banned which is unfortunate because it was basically 70% suck.
Anyway, thinking positive this time around. Making a dream board, listening to The Secret, changing my fate a la Brave, etc.This week can't be worse right? As usual, the rules and whatnot are over there → to the right.
College football has finally started! Last night was battle of the Carolinas (with a long weather 101), followed by a great back and forth SEC game between Vandy and Ole Miss. But that's all just the appetizer. The Main course starts tomorrow as Bama takes on Va Tech. I am so pumped! And nothing better to help me get more pumped up than a Random 10! Looking back at last week, I see that no one was banned. Cool. As usual, the rules and whatnot are over there → to the right.
This week, before I even start the randomness, I'm going to give a shout out to a song. You see, I open up media player on my computer and click "music" so it lists every song by artist alphabetically. Then when I right click to "play all" with the shuffle on I start with the same song at the top of the list every week. This means that this song will never show up in the Random 10. So here's to you Abba/Dancing Queen for getting us started, and for leading the way to...
1) Michael Jackson/State of Shock - Featuring Mick Jagger. Not a bad song, but kind of funny to hear them bantering back and forth.
2) Yes/Turn of the Century - One of the most beautiful and romantic songs they have even done. Album cover winner here, and it's not Roger Dean but Storm Thorgerson, who passed away this week so it's only fitting.
3) The Beatles/Please Please Me - Sounds like somebody was in a one sided relationship.
4) Jethro Tull/Up To Me - from the Aqualung album and a first time for them. So they get a "Welcome to the party pal!" award.
5) The Moody Blues/Foolish Love - Never heard this one but it sounds like from when they were popular again slightly in the late 80's/early 90's.
6) Pink Floyd/A Great Day for Freedom - You know of my not so love for PF. This song does nothing to improve my opinion of them.
7) Billy Joel/Leningrad - Is there anything he does that isn't great?
8) Kansas/Mysteries and Mayhem - Now this is some classic stuff probably no one has heard of unless you're really into Kansas. Great older stuff.
9) Aerosmith/Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees) - Live version of the good Aerosmith before everything was a long whiny song that all sounded the same.
10) Pink Floyd/Sheep - Again? Ugh. As musicians I can appreciate their sound though.
Well there we go again, another week in the books. I noticed nothing has shown up yet from all the new stuff I added recently. Oh well, the STCS for this week is The Beatles/Here Comes The Sun. Nice.
Side 1 of CTTE was the title track that took up the entire side of the album. You can listen to that here, and also check out the lyrics over there to the right. Side 2 only contains two songs in itself. If you think only three songs on an entire album is weird, wait until next time when there's only four songs on a DOUBLE album, one on each side. But I digress...
When you unfold the outward cover of the album, this is what you find inside. More beautiful artwork from Roger Dean. I've read where this depicts a part of the planet from the Fragile cover as it's breaking apart. Another fantastic image.
Now onto the music:
1) And You and I - Another song with multiple parts. It describes Martin Luther (sad preacher nailed upon the colored door of time) and what I believe is a reference to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series (as a foundation left to create the spiral aim). Also, TV producer and writer Joss Whedon allegedly named his production company Mutant Enemy Productions after the line in this song (they'll be no mutant enemy that we shall certify).
I. Cord of Life
The song opens with Steve Howe tuning his guitar, and his voice can be heard at the beginning of the track, then playing mostly natural harmonics, played around what will become the central melody, using a 12-string acoustic guitar which quickly forms into a simple chord progression over distant organ chords. Then, the Moog enters for a simple solo, presenting a subsequent phrase, albeit differently arranged. The vocals begin at about 1:40. The line "All Complete in the sight of seeds of life with you" is sung, which is repeated throughout the song. At about 2:50, there's an distinct change: Anderson sings a sharper melody, accompanied by a second vocal track by Anderson harmonizing with himself, plus Chris Squire and Steve Howe providing a counter-melody and alternate lyrics.
II. Eclipse (Beginning at 3:47)
"Eclipse" is the slowest part of the song based on a measured and deliberate melody reminiscent of Sibelius. It is led by Rick Wakeman's epic Mellotron and Minimoog synthesizer. The lyrics are all from the first stanza of "The Cord of Life", but are sung in a different melody, which is also epic and slightly sad. Finally ending with the 12-string acoustic guitar leading into "The Preacher, The Teacher".
III. The Preacher, The Teacher (Beginning at 6:16)
The melody and lyrical structure is very similar (for the most part) to that of "The Cord of Life", with some variations. The exception is that "The Preacher, The Teacher" has a fast synthesizer solo by Rick Wakeman at one point during the song. The last stanza again consists of lines from "The Cord of Life", now sung in a different order and a completely different mood. At 8:34 there is a reprise of the previous section "Eclipse", which lasts until 9:12. The section ends with a cadenza-like orchestral statement, on Mellotron and Moog, reminiscent of neo-Wagnerian compositions from Strauss or Bruckner.
IV. Apocalypse (Beginning at 9:26)
"Apocalypse" is the shortest piece of the song, only about 40 seconds long, it consists only of four lines, accompanied only by Howe's guitars. The lyrics are taken from "Cord of Life", but are sung in the key of B, making them more upbeat:
And you and I climb, crossing the shapes of the morning.
And you and I reach over the sun for the river.
And you and I climb, clearer, towards the movement.
And you and I called over valleys of endless seas.
2) Siberian Khatru - Shortest song on the album at 8:55. Pretty straightforward with the usual cosmic lyrics. Even to this day I don't know what a khatru is.
And that's it for Close to the Edge. Three cosmic songs that you have to really listen to over and over, especially because two of them contain multiple parts. To many, this was Yes at their peak and this album is considered their crowning achievement. I would put it behind the album that is coming next week. Until then...
OMG! Fragile! I've been waiting to get to this one. This is one of my desert island albums. To me, this is when YES became YES. After upgrading guitar by Steve Howe on their last album, they upgraded keyboards a million times over with Rick Wakeman. Fragile is an album with four group efforts along with solo pieces from every member of the band. This is also the first time they used graphic artist Roger Dean to do their covers. I mean, look at it! (oh, that's what's on that t-shirt you wear all the time...) All the album covers from here on out tell a continuing story, beginning with the fragile planet here cracking up and exploding.
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