Oregon

Hi Jacky,

I'll never forget the first Oregon record I bought. I was just a kid
and I rode my bike all the way to Caldors in Westboro, which was the
next town over from where I grew up in Northboro Massachusetts--about
an hour's ride one way. Caldors was just a run of the mill department
store, but they had a jazz section, and back then it wasn't unusual to
find Oregon and Coryell and the like at department stores depending on
what label they were on--Oregon and Coryell were on Vanguard then.

The Oregon record I came across was Distant Hills. I'd never heard of
Oregon, but one look at that picture on the back and I knew I had to
hear what *that* combination of instruments sounded like--sitar and
oboe, mercy.

The smell of vinyl, liner notes and album covers... it's amazing how
powerful all that stuff can be... and then there's the music!

take care,

--Dan Stearns

My first Oregon record wasn't a record at all. It was a
CD. I got it at Tower records in 1996. Tower was in
King of Prusia Pennsylvania, an hour's drive from my
house. The record was _Friends_. My friend had played me
a piano piece for four hands from it that I quite liked.
At the time he and his friend, who were together a
performing acoustic guitar duo, were working on a tune
they internally called "Towner". It was great, but they
sadly split up before it saw the light of day.

I was surprised to find McCandless on the Fleck album I
finally got around to buying: Live Art.

Not nearly as romantic as Dan's story... :)

-Carl

--- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:

> Not nearly as romantic as Dan's story... :)

since marc just brought up rick wakeman and steve howe . . . my own
romances have been with radio broadcasts, vinyl records (and cassette
copies thereof) of yes albums (about 20 years later than most people
experienced them) . . . didn't get into my friend's tales from
topographic oceans records at first . . . but then my cassette copies
of them became more and more immense . . . each listen a fully-
fractal-color-animated voyage, flying through scene after scene in
perfect time and mood to the music. now my yes cds just sit untouched
on my rack. . . . every once in a while a little steve howe comes
into my playing or squire into my bass, but usually it's about 20
other guitarists, especially cole wicker . . .

p.s. i was just thinking about how hard relayer was to get into at
the time . . . now i'm trying to get my ears around julie werntz's 72-
equal string quartet . . . whoa.

>p.s. i was just thinking about how hard relayer was to get into
>at the time . . .

Relayer was the first classic Yes I ever heard. The Gates of
Delirium was the track... I was blown away. The other two tracks
wouldn't come until a year later, after Close to the Edge and
Tales were under my belt. That was early 1995, and the Relayer
became my favorite album of all time.

Listened to it for the first time in years the other day. I had
been listening to Rift, which is one helluvan album. I picked up
a little bit of cheesy, overblown 70s stuff in the artistic
perfection I used to hear, and the fidelity after Rift was hard
to get around, but it still holds up. Phish is incredible, but
the orchestrated Yes stuff as heard on Relayer is really another
level.

>now i'm trying to get my ears around julie werntz's 72-equal
>string quartet . . . whoa.

Reference?

-Carl

--- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:

> >now i'm trying to get my ears around julie werntz's 72-equal
> >string quartet . . . whoa.
>
> Reference?

? search the tuning list ?

>>Reference?
>
> ? search the tuning list ?

I mean, where did you get the recording? I didn't
see any mention of a string quartet by her on the
tuning list.

-Carl

--- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:
> >>Reference?
> >
> > ? search the tuning list ?
>
> I mean, where did you get the recording? I didn't
> see any mention of a string quartet by her on the
> tuning list.

really? well, she gave me a cd . . .

>>I mean, where did you get the recording? I didn't
>>see any mention of a string quartet by her on the
>>tuning list.
>
>really? well, she gave me a cd . . .

Do you have her e-mail address? I'd like to hear
it, too.

-Carl

--- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:
> >>I mean, where did you get the recording? I didn't
> >>see any mention of a string quartet by her on the
> >>tuning list.
> >
> >really? well, she gave me a cd . . .
>
> Do you have her e-mail address?

i'll send it to you. and the piece she wrote is actually a string
*trio*.

Carl,

Oh I dunno, they both took an hour, that's got to count for something,
right... and King of Prusia certainly sounds a whole hell of a lot
more romantic than Westboro too... well I don't know about anybody
else, but as a teenager it seems as though I spent most all the money
I had on either contraband or vinyl, not necessarily in that order
either... so I've had lots and lots and lots and lots of records! So
many in fact, that I can honestly say that I was only mildly surprised
to find McCandless and our very own John Starrett on the same record
one day--Kellis Ethridge's "Tomorrow Sky".

take care,

--Dan Stearns

----- Original Message -----
From: "clumma" <carl@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 4:50 PM
Subject: [metatuning] Re: Oregon

> My first Oregon record wasn't a record at all. It was a
> CD. I got it at Tower records in 1996. Tower was in
> King of Prusia Pennsylvania, an hour's drive from my
> house. The record was _Friends_. My friend had played me
> a piano piece for four hands from it that I quite liked.
> At the time he and his friend, who were together a
> performing acoustic guitar duo, were working on a tune
> they internally called "Towner". It was great, but they
> sadly split up before it saw the light of day.
>
> I was surprised to find McCandless on the Fleck album I
> finally got around to buying: Live Art.
>
> Not nearly as romantic as Dan's story... :)
>
> -Carl
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups
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>
>

>I was only mildly surprised to find McCandless and our very
>own John Starrett on the same record one day--Kellis
>Ethridge's "Tomorrow Sky".

Whoa! -C.

<snip>I can honestly say that I was only mildly
surprised
> to find McCandless and our very own John Starrett on the same record
> one day--Kellis Ethridge's "Tomorrow Sky".
>
>
> take care,
>
> --Dan Stearns

I knew *someone* besides me and Kellis had to own that record. Kellis
was a great guy. I'm glad some of him lives on.

John Starrett

----- Original Message -----
From: clumma <carl@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 5:31 PM
Subject: [metatuning] Relayer

> >p.s. i was just thinking about how hard relayer was to get into
> >at the time . . .
>
> Relayer was the first classic Yes I ever heard. The Gates of
> Delirium was the track... I was blown away.

YES!

i'll say it again ...

Y E S !

when i was in college, my roomate kept playing
_Close to the Edge_ and trying to get me into it,
and it just wasn't working.

then one day he said "let's try this one ...
i think you might like this", and it was
_The Gates of Delirium_. and i, too, was blown away!

(i later finally did understand what was so
great about _Close to the Edge_, and to this day
i think it's artistically the greatest musical
achievement of a rock band. but _Gates_ apparently
really delivers the goods in the first round.)

-monz

_________________________________________________________
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>and King of Prusia certainly sounds a whole hell of a lot
>more romantic than Westboro too...

It might be, depending on what you find romantic. I guess
I've decided to potentially ruin it for you: King of Prussia
is know for 1. being close to Philadelphia, 2. having, until
around 1985 or something, the largest indoor shopping mall
in the world.

It could be romantic in an urban warrior sort of way.

My friend and I used to try to get down there after school
and back in time for dinner so our parents wouldn't know we
were spending our lunch money on cds. You might call that
romantic. :)

-Carl

> (i later finally did understand what was so
> great about _Close to the Edge_, and to this day
> i think it's artistically the greatest musical
> achievement of a rock band. but _Gates_ apparently
> really delivers the goods in the first round.)

I love the way they use simple progressions of major
triads, often with 9ths in the melody, Squire's funky
bass line holding down rhythms of 13... White's using
the cymbals like a drum kit to themselves... Howe's
playing country licks on a Telecaster... not being
afraid to use pentatonic melodies in unison... and best
of all, playing a theme on top of itself at different
speeds!

And it's probably the weakest track on the album!

-C.

Say John (or anyone) -- ever heard of a piano man named Art
Lande? I've got an album here with him and McCandless called
Skylight, and I hear he lives in Boulder (?). Looking for an
album he did on the old Arch St. label here in Berkeley -- The
Eccentricities of Earl Dant. I once heard the LP -- Amazing!

-Carl

--- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:
> Say John (or anyone) -- ever heard of a piano man named Art
> Lande? I've got an album here with him and McCandless called
> Skylight, and I hear he lives in Boulder (?). Looking for an
> album he did on the old Arch St. label here in Berkeley -- The
> Eccentricities of Earl Dant. I once heard the LP -- Amazing!
>
> -Carl

Yeah, he used to live in Boulder, but I haven't seen anything about
concerts in the paper recently, so I don't know. He's a great player,
but I haven't heard the album you mention.

John Starret

Got an Earthworks (Bill Bruford band) album with Towner on
it, but beneath the clever veneer there is... nothing. Saw
Oregon at Yoshi's a few months back. They were good, but more
like a canned good than a good good... They were recording
that night, the sound was very, very produced... this may
have injured their ability to interact with the audience in
a 'live' way.

-Carl

--- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:
> Saw Oregon at Yoshi's a few months back.

At least you saw them at a cool place. Can you tell I've liked Yoshi's?

> They were good, but more like a canned good than a good good...

Well, crap. I don't know what "Oregon" is like nowadays, but many people who know their stuff would proffer that the loss of Colin Walcott, in a tragic accident, was a significant loss to the group. I still follow Ralph Towner's body of work, because I think he is a musician of very large stature. In many ways, Oregon as a voice stopped singing quite a few years ago.

Who was in the band at Yoshi's?

Cheers,
Jon

Jon,

Yes, I believe that's true too--Oregon isn't even really Oregon any
more! I think Walcott was at least as strong a voice as Towner, and he
brought so much to the table that really couldn't ever be replaced...
you'd almost have to replace him with two people, and two special
people at that, to make any headway... a big, big loss.

take care,

--Dan Stearns

----- Original Message -----
From: "jonszanto" <JSZANTO@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 7:57 PM
Subject: [metatuning] Re: Oregon

> --- In metatuning@y..., "clumma" <carl@l...> wrote:
> > Saw Oregon at Yoshi's a few months back.
>
> At least you saw them at a cool place. Can you tell I've liked
Yoshi's?
>
> > They were good, but more like a canned good than a good good...
>
> Well, crap. I don't know what "Oregon" is like nowadays, but many
people who know their stuff would proffer that the loss of Colin
Walcott, in a tragic accident, was a significant loss to the group. I
still follow Ralph Towner's body of work, because I think he is a
musician of very large stature. In many ways, Oregon as a voice
stopped singing quite a few years ago.
>
> Who was in the band at Yoshi's?
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups
Sponsor ---------------------~-->
> FREE COLLEGE MONEY
> CLICK HERE to search
> 600,000 scholarships!
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/iZp8OC/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/RrLolB/TM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
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> To unsubscribe, send an email to:
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>
> Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
>
> To post to the list, send to
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>
> You don't have to be a member to post.
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

>At least you saw them at a cool place. Can you tell I've liked
>Yoshi's?

I like it too, though it's a bit posh.

>>They were good, but more like a canned good than a good good...
>
>Well, crap. I don't know what "Oregon" is like nowadays, but many
>people who know their stuff would proffer that the loss of Colin
>Walcott, in a tragic accident, was a significant loss to the group.
>I still follow Ralph Towner's body of work, because I think he is
>a musician of very large stature.

Indeed.

>In many ways, Oregon as a voice stopped singing quite a few years
>ago.

Like many 70's groups, they lost some steam in the 80's.

>Who was in the band at Yoshi's?

Towner, McCandless, Moore, and their new drummer Mark Walker.

-Carl