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.
In the City of Angels is the fifth solo album by Yes lead singer Jon Anderson, released on this day in 1988.
Unlike most of Anderson's previous solo works, this album contains many additional songwriters. Consequently this is the most straight-ahead commercial pop album in his catalog, and sounds closer to a Toto album than his own earlier works. In fact, Toto performs on several songs. Jon reciprocated the favor by performing on their album The Seventh One (recorded about the same time as In the City of Angels).
A music video for "Hold on to Love" aired on MTV. In the video, the album is titled In The City of Lost Angels. Yes's bass player Chris Squire has a cameo appearance in the video starting at around the 1:28 mark.
On this day in 1977, Yes released their eighth studio album, Going for the One. Produced after each member of the group released a solo record, the album marks the return of keyboardist Rick Wakeman (RW!), who departed in 1974 over musical differences in Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). The band returned to producing shorter songs, unlike Tales and Relayer where the tracks range from nine to almost 22 minutes.
After their extended break, the band regrouped in Switzerland in late 1976. After constructing epic tracks for the last few years, Yes felt inspired to scale things back a bit and recorded some of their most direct and concise material since Fragile. Wakeman also varied his sound by using the new polyphonic synthesizer out from Moog at the time, and using church pipe organ on "Parallels" and the extended track, "Awaken". "Parallels" was originally intended for use on Chris Squire's solo album Fish Out of Water, but left out due to a combination of space constraints and a sense that the song didn't quite fit in.
After many successive album covers with Roger Dean, Yes (who also produced the album entirely by themselves) instead commissioned Hipgnosis (known for designing album covers for Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin) to create the artwork for Going for the One. However, Dean's Yes logo was retained. The album cover features the Century Plaza Towers in Los Angeles, also known locally as the Twin Towers. Personally, I think Yes and Roger Dean go together and this was a bad decision. I have previously covered this album in more depth here: Side One, Side Two.
On this date in 2014, Yes released their 21st studio album entitled Heaven & Earth. It is their first album with singer Jon Davison in the band's line-up, and the final studio album to feature original bassist Chris Squire before his death in 2015.
It was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who first worked with the band on recording sessions in 1979, and mixed by former member Billy Sherwood. Upon its release, Heaven & Earth peaked at number 20 in the UK, the band's highest chart performance since their 1994 album Talk. It also entered the US chart at number 26.
I have previously covered this album in more depth here: Side One, Side Two.
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:
Everyone has their favorite Christmas songs. Some are well known, some are not. Here are my faves that are probably not known to many people. Well, most people may know this one. It's a very young Greg Lake (from Emerson Lake & Palmer) with "I Believe in Father Christmas":
Not to be outdone, here's the lead singer of Yes, Jon Anderson, with one of those videos of recording the song videos. His song is called "Easier Said Than Done". It's from his Three Ships Christmas album.
Now for this last one I'm digging deep. This was also by members of Yes, drummer Alan White and bass player Chris Squire on vocals. It's called "Run With the Fox".
As a follow up to the previous album from a year earlier, Yes released Keys to Ascension 2 on this date in 1997. It also followed the same format as its predecessor having live tracks with new studio tracks. Also, more Roger Dean ya'll:
Like the first seven tracks on the previous album, the first six tracks on Keys to Ascension 2 were recorded live in San Luis Obispo, California in March 1996. The second disc features studio recordings made in November 1996. Rick Wakeman wanted these studio tracks to be released with Jon Anderson's working title Know, with the disc of live tracks thrown in as a bonus. Wakeman's preference was not honored and by the time Keys to Ascension 2 was released, he was no longer in the band (again).
Keys to Ascension is a double album by the British progressive rock group Yes and was released on this date in 1996. The last time Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White had worked together on officially released studio recordings was 1978's Tormato. It is the band's fourth live album and fifteenth studio album. Yes, it's one of those live albums with new studio material that they create to make you spend more money.
Magnification is the nineteenth studio album by progressive rock band Yes, released on this day in 2001 (December 4th in the US). It was the band's first album of the new century, and their second with a full orchestra (the first being Time and a Word from 1970 which I previously covered here and here). It marked the band's last studio album to date with vocalist Jon Anderson.
Before I go on with the history, I just want to point out that this is a fantastic album that should have gotten more attention. Unfortunately the release date of 09/10/01 did a lot of damage to any possible record sales as the world changed on that day.
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!).
This is from the YesYears box set and shows the many incarnations of Yes, and how they connect to other bands such as King Crimson, Asia, The Moody Blues, ELP and Genesis (up to 1991).
So if there was any good news at all coming out of 2016 it was that three of my favorite bands made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not that it matters much anyway, the place is a sham, but to be inducted this year are YES(!), Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and Journey. This week's countdown, and the first for 2017, will be 16 random songs from these bands and no one else. It's the only way to send out the Year of Hell*.
So, the new nominees are out for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and most of it just leaves me scratching my head. Rock & Roll?!? You keep using that phrase but I don't think it means what you think it means. Chic? Janet Jackson? Chaka Khan? Let me say that again. Umm, Chaka Kahn? I feel for you honey. I do, but no. This isn't a music HOF, it's rock & roll! I voted for The Cars, Chicago (yeah I know I give them a hard time but the 70's stuff is legendary), Deep Purple, and of course, the most deserving in the universe and basically how the frack are they not in there already, YES. P.S. Who the Hell are The J.B.'s? And N.W.A.??? Not on my planet. My world is more like this:
It was a sad week in music for me as Chris Squire, bass player extraordinaire for my favorite band YES, passed away suddenly from Leukemia at the age of 67. Since he was the only member who played on every album, this week's randomness will center solely on their music. Even though theTop 10 listfrom last week sent them to Exile Island, I am going to flip that around as the only music to be featured this week. It's my tribute to a great musician.
I was very saddened today when I learned of the passing of YES bass player Chris Squire. Just last month he announced he was fighting a rare form of Leukemia, and today he is gone at age 67. It's no secret to anyone that YES has always been my favorite band, and Squire was the glue that held it together through so many personnel changes and incarnations. With him gone, I just don't see a future for my favorite band. There are no words to explain how gifted a bass player he was. Listen to this isolated bass track from Roundabout:
He also came up with the bass line (while reportedly in a bathroom stall) for their only #1 hit:
The only thing I care about when it comes to the NFL draft is where my Bama boys go. The first round had only one Alabama player taken (Amari Cooper, #4 to the Raiders), but he's a stud. Raider nation, you guys will love him. Hopefully tonight more will have their names called. #RollTide But for now, I am going to see how the Random 10 matches up with the first ten picks in the draft. Before we get started though, how about that Random Ten last week? You can take a quick review by following this link, or trying to figure out the artists from the cool picture below:
As always the rules and whatnot are up there ↑ at the top next to the Home tab.
Talk (1994) is Yes' first release with an independent label after having been distributed the length of their career thus far with Atlantic Records and Arista Records.
In a 1993 interview, Alan White joked that the album would be called Crunching Numbers and another working title was History of the Future. He also mentioned a song called "Scarlet from the Tide", but it is unknown whether this song became part of a track on the album or if it wasn't added at all.
Talk is also the last Yes recording with Tony Kaye on keyboards and Trevor Rabin on guitars, keyboards and vocals. The album cover was done by Peter Max. It sucks.
Following the mammoth tour for Union in 1991, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman left the eight-member band. Only the "A" from ABWH was left. Wakeman was originally going to be part of the lineup, but conflicts with management kept this from happening. Remaining was the 1983-88 line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Tony Kaye and Alan White.
With Rabin taking the lead - even producing the project himself, he introduced Yes to the non linear digital revolution. Talk was the 1st album ever produced on the Digital performer format. As a lot of the technology was very new from being at the frontier of non-linear recording, Talk was a difficult record to make technically. It has always sounded very modern and "electrical" to me.
1) The Calling - This was written by Rabin, Anderson and Squire, with Rabin producing. As with the other tracks on Talk, "The Calling" was recorded and mixed digitally, rather than on tape as was done with previous Yes recordings. The song has been described as featuring a modern sound, with heavy focus on Rabin's guitars, and a three-part vocal harmony featuring Anderson, Rabin and Squire.
According to Anderson, the song's lyrics were inspired by the concept of "local history", the current three-thousand year window of history, outside of which mankind has little visibility or understanding.
4) State of Play - Another almost "political" song with Rabin all over the place. I can see where many just think of this as almost a Trevor solo album.
Magnification is the nineteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released in 2001.
Magnification is Yes' first album of the new century and their second using a live orchestra (the first being Time and a Word from 1970). It marked the band's last studio album to date with vocalist Jon Anderson.
Released between the departure of Igor Khoroshev the previous year and Rick Wakeman's fourth return in 2002, it is the only album in the band's history not to feature any keyboardist, and the only one involving only four Yes members. Following the departures of guitarist Billy Sherwood and keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, and Rick Wakeman's decision not to rejoin the band, remaining members Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Alan White decided to fill the keyboard role with an orchestra, and hired film composer Larry Groupé to compose and conduct original orchestrations and musical bridges.
The album was re-released in 2002 as a limited and numbered 2-CD set with alternate artwork; the second disc contains three live performances and a CD-ROM track with an interview, video of "Don't Go," and a live video of "The Gates of Delirium".
This album also features the song "Can You Imagine", in which the main vocals are sung by Chris Squire with Jon Anderson on backing vocals. This Squire-penned song was originally recorded in 1981 as a demo entitled "Can You See" for his aborted XYZ project.
Apart from the traditional Yes themes of spirituality and relation to nature and divinity, the album also addresses personal issues (Jon Anderson's relation with his daughter Deborah in "Don't Go") and political issues (the war in Bosnia in "We Agree", the plight of drunk-driving youth in "Spirit of Survival")
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