Rave reviews for new Yes album: _Magnification_

The word is that the new Yes album, in which they employ a 45-piece
orchestra in place of a keyboard player, is by far their best effort
in many years (which isn't saying much, but really, people are
flipping for _Magnification_). The album won't be released in the USA
until December, but it's been out in Europe for some time now . . . I
plan to check it out . . . maybe this will solve the problem of their
cultural irrelevancy, which was due to all their great music having
been produced in a very different time, and then many failed attempts
to recapture that greatness . . . I'm skeptical, but people seem to
be unanimously praising the new album!

Paul,

--- In metatuning@y..., "Paul Erlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> The word is that the new Yes album, in which they employ a 45-piece
> orchestra in place of a keyboard player, is by far their best
> effort in many years (which isn't saying much, but really, people
> are flipping for _Magnification_).

I can't spend a lot of time on this, but since I took part in not
their first concert (which was a shortened 'debut' in Vegas or Reno,
I forget), I had the "pleasure" of rehearsing for two days with Yes
and then performing a show with them.

I, as a youngster in high school, had the first couple of Yes albums,
and used to drive around in my 54 Chevy listening to an 8-track tape
of "Close to the Edge". At the time, I thought they were pretty cool,
and were trying to expand the envelope of rock, which I guess in a
small way they did.

Watching, and hearing, them play again after all these years was a
remarkable experience. Remarkable in that they were one of the lamest
bands I've had the pleasure to be on the stage with. I can't remember
the last time I've seen 3 (well, 4 if you count Jon) play
simultaneously together in this manner -- IOW, playing at the same
time but without any sense of a groove at all. None.

I was shocked. I expected a mini-Stonehenge to come down, it was that
much like "Spinal Tap". What-his-name on bass, parading around like
an overweight, over-the-hill rock star, mugging and preening and
playing the bass like he thought he invented 32-note runs. Shame they
weren't in sync with Alan White.

Lead guitar (damn, I am forgetting 50% of the names!) playing ever-so-
florid lines, constantly noodling, beautiful sounds mostly but,
again, might as well have been in an office cubicle, working on his
spreadsheet at the same time as the other office mates were working
on theirs.

Jon Anderson, Heaven's love him, a wonderful bloke to chat with and
hang, prancing around some percussion setup, making the obligatory
bashes and whacks, straining for the high notes at the mic, still the
elf but ...

Alan White, who I've always read so much about, with all sound and
fury and no firmament in place.

The weird thing is that the band was so mid-to-high frequency driven:
the bass never anchored the sound, the drums mainly played splashy
things and never locked to the Earth, guitar always playing millions
of notes and strums when a few would do... It was so amorphous.

I really looked forward to this one, especially since I knew many of
the people involved (conductors, arrangers, etc.). The orchestral
parts were basically backdrop (this is usually the case, and
especially so in music as densely constructed as the Yes material;
the only times I've had decent orchestral collaborations is when the
groups material has more room to breath - backing up someone like
James Taylor is a dream because it simply enhances and expands, but
neither changes inalterably the songs, or fades into nothing).

There were straight blues-based things that didn't have the groove
that any number of blues/bar bands I can hear in town, and the
difficult and complex pieces had been played by the band for so many
years that they all just wail on their parts in near-synchronicity,
with a huge emphasis on *near*.

But the crowd loved it. It was their youth again. And almost all male.

I won't be buying that CD, and you might want to hear some samples
before plunking down that $17.99 or whatever.

For what it's worth,
Jon

--- In metatuning@y..., "Paul Erlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
<snip>
> I'm skeptical, but people seem to
> be unanimously praising the new album!

I downloaded a couple of cuts, and ..... ugh. Maybe it's just
nostalgia that they are feeling. You were right to be skeptical.

John Starrett

John,

--- In metatuning@y..., "John Starrett" <jstarret@c...> wrote:
> I downloaded a couple of cuts, and ..... ugh. Maybe it's just
> nostalgia that they are feeling. You were right to be skeptical.

Oh, I think that pretty much nails it. I didn't/don't mean to be Yes-
bashing in what I wrote, but one look at the audience and you got the
feeling that is was a remembrance of a wiff of incense, a glimpse of
tie-dye ... an era yearned for.

Jon

--- In metatuning@y..., "John Starrett" <jstarret@c...> wrote:
> --- In metatuning@y..., "Paul Erlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> <snip>
> > I'm skeptical, but people seem to
> > be unanimously praising the new album!
>
> I downloaded a couple of cuts, and ..... ugh. Maybe it's just
> nostalgia that they are feeling. You were right to be skeptical.
>
> John Starrett

I attended the Yes concert in San Diego in which Jon Szanto
played, and I enjoyed everything *except* the two songs they
performed from the new album.

-monz

--- In metatuning@y..., "monz" <joemonz@y...> wrote:
<snip>
> I attended the Yes concert in San Diego in which Jon Szanto
> played, and I enjoyed everything *except* the two songs they
> performed from the new album.
>
>
> -monz

Isn't that always the way? The most well known hits always
misrepresent the artist. Witness Frank Zappa. What's he known for?
Yellow Snow and Valley Girl.

John Starrett

John,

--- In metatuning@y..., "John Starrett" <jstarret@c...> wrote:
> Isn't that always the way? The most well known hits always
> misrepresent the artist. Witness Frank Zappa. What's he known for?
> Yellow Snow and Valley Girl.

No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the public.

--- In metatuning@y..., "Jon Szanto" <JSZANTO@A...> wrote:
> John,
>
> --- In metatuning@y..., "John Starrett" <jstarret@c...> wrote:
> > I downloaded a couple of cuts, and ..... ugh. Maybe it's just
> > nostalgia that they are feeling. You were right to be skeptical.
>
> Oh, I think that pretty much nails it. I didn't/don't mean to be
Yes-
> bashing in what I wrote, but one look at the audience and you got
the
> feeling that is was a remembrance of a wiff of incense, a glimpse
of
> tie-dye ... an era yearned for.

Today's young hippies are grooving to John Scofield! Now there's a
musician who came up in the 70s and whose music is relevant today.

--- In metatuning@y..., "John Starrett" <jstarret@c...> wrote:
> --- In metatuning@y..., "Paul Erlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> <snip>
> > I'm skeptical, but people seem to
> > be unanimously praising the new album!
>
> I downloaded a couple of cuts, and ..... ugh. Maybe it's just
> nostalgia that they are feeling. You were right to be skeptical.

Where did you download from?

--- In metatuning@y..., "Paul Erlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> --- In metatuning@y..., "John Starrett" <jstarret@c...> wrote:
> > --- In metatuning@y..., "Paul Erlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> > <snip>
> > > I'm skeptical, but people seem to
> > > be unanimously praising the new album!
> >
> > I downloaded a couple of cuts, and ..... ugh. Maybe it's just
> > nostalgia that they are feeling. You were right to be skeptical.
>
> Where did you download from?

http://www.audiogalaxy.com
You download a little piece of software called the AG Satellite, and
it allows you to share music like Napster used to. They restrict
downloads when artists have requested their songs not be made
available, but there is a surprising amount of unrestricted material.
If you install the satellite, make sure you do not allow the Gator
software to be installed (just make sure the Gator box is not checked)
since Gator is spyware. I have had no problems with the AG Satellite.

John Starrett