Met Rick Wakeman tonight...

[AndreasE]

They now look old ]

They don´t look older NOW than the Rolling Stones did 20 years ago.
And Jon Anderson looks very good for being 59 years old.

[Phaedo]

I once saw a Best of Yes album which contained recordings of:

And You and I
Close to the Edge
Siberian Khatru.

Says it all, really.

On the other hand, Turn of the Century never gets enough "airtime".

[Squids]

On the other hand, Turn of the Century never gets enough "airtime".

They're playing it live on their tour right now. It was great!

I once saw them play Awaken though. Man, that is a great record Going for the One. Looks like a Rush cover though. They should just stick with Roger Dean. It's the optimal Yes artwork.

[Phaedo]

Rats. Turn of the Century is just a cracking song. I had a major project go live when they made it to London, sadly. (

[duncanparsons]

I saw them play Awaken on the Union tour. Rather too many playing for anything to be distinct, bit a nice vibe... o, and the triple neck bass!

CTTE has always been my favourite. Apparently every so often Eddie Offord has an attempt at putting reverb on it all - that would ruin it!!

I heard the 'Definitive Edition Remaster' of 'Selling England by the Pound'. First thing you hear? A swathe of reverb on 'Can you tell me where my country lies?'... It's awful, can't they leave these things alone? o well!!

btw, I seem to recall that Mr. Kaye toured with Spinal Tap at one point, or was I misled?

DSP

[Har]

Tony Kaye used to play with only one hand though.

Oh god ....you just reminded me of when I saw Yes on the "Big Generator" tour with Tony Kaye, and when they got to the nice quiet Wakeman piano part in the middle of "Heart of The Sunrise"....Kaye (shudder) played it...horribly...with one hand. Clumsy, graceless, and with the other hand waving around in the air ala' Mike Score from Flock of Seagulls (mind you, I kinda like Mike Score's stuff, but... ).
And I found myself infuriated, thinking "geez dude, I could play that part properly when I was a teenager...and you're a member of the damn band!! What the hell's your problem?"

[Squids]

Exactly. I saw that too. Pretty much supports our theory that he's not all that great reallly... at least not compared to Rick, Patrick or Geoff... hmm, I wonder if Geoff could do those licks. Anyone see the Drama tour?

[synthetica]

I have also been a long time Yes fan who has seen them 4 times now (saw them the first time back in 76 or 77 if I remember corectly). If you want a good show check out the "Keys to Ascension" DVD from their 96 tour. It is fun to watch. I seem to feel too old to attend concerts these days but if they come to town I may check them out once again.

My favorites

1. Close to the Edge
2. Fragile
3. Yesshow
4. Yessongs
5. Going for the one
6. Tormato (suprisingly)

[AndreasE]

I seem to feel too old to attend concerts these days

You´re never too old to go to concerts. I hope I´ll still do this when I´m 80 ...

[AndreasE]

synthetica wrote:

Confusion will be my epitaph

Early King Crimson fan? I am one.

[synthetica]

synthetica wrote:

Confusion will be my epitaph

Early King Crimson fan? I am one.

Yep, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Lake, etc. etc. They are all up there with Wakeman, Howe, Anderson, White, Squier, and Emerson, and Palmer, and Early Genesis too as far as I'm concerned. Now that was music back then with very talented musicians. Where are the super prog-rock groups of today? I know there are a few good ones around but no real mainstream super groups as these were back in the 70's. I guess peoples tastes change over the years.

[AndreasE]

synthetica wrote:

Confusion will be my epitaph

Early King Crimson fan? I am one.

Yep, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Lake, etc. etc. They are all up there with Wakeman, Howe, Anderson, White, Squier, and Emerson, and Palmer, and Early Genesis too as far as I'm concerned.

My favorites, too. But not to forget early Moody Blues.

[Squids]

synthetica wrote:

Confusion will be my epitaph

Early King Crimson fan? I am one.

Yep, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Lake, etc. etc. They are all up there with Wakeman, Howe, Anderson, White, Squier, and Emerson, and Palmer, and Early Genesis too as far as I'm concerned.

My favorites, too. But not to forget early Moody Blues.

Tony Clarke and Mike Pinder were going to produce a band I was in for their label. I had this guy in LA shopping our demo tape around and we cancelled our deal with him (going nowhere anyway) to do the thing with Tony but then that never panned out (not enough funding for their label I think). Tony had a studio on a boat... where I think he also LIVED! Cool that he was into our stuff back then though (1991-92). (FYI: He was the producer for the Moody Blues classic albums). The band had a sort of Beatles style meets Days of Future Past sort of sound I guess. The singer was from Surrey, England. Ah well...

[pekadan]

Can I ask a strange question? (I'm really only asking it here since I came to think of it while reading through this thread). There's a type of analogue lead synth sound that you hear quite often when listening to rock from the 70s (my favourite music as well, btw). It's a smooth sort of synthetic, flute-like lead, always played with portamento. Typical examples (if I don't remember incorrectly): Styx "Fooling Yourself", Billy Joel "The Entertainer". I believe you hear Rick W use these leads ever so often as well. Know what I'm talking about!? My question: What makes this kind of lead sound so characteristic (except from the portamento effect)? The waveform it's based on? (Which is it, sine/triangle/square?) Other filter effects and/or modulations?

[Squids]

Can I ask a strange question? (I'm really only asking it here since I came to think of it while reading through this thread). There's a type of analogue lead synth sound that you hear quite often when listening to rock from the 70s (my favourite music as well, btw). It's a smooth sort of synthetic, flute-like lead, always played with portamento. Typical examples (if I don't remember incorrectly): Styx "Fooling Yourself", Billy Joel "The Entertainer". I believe you hear Rick W use these leads ever so often as well. Know what I'm talking about!? My question: What makes this kind of lead sound so characteristic (except from the portamento effect)? The waveform it's based on? (Which is it, sine/triangle/square?) Other filter effects and/or modulations?

You're talking about the Minimoog. Part of it is the beefy oscillators it had, part of it is definitely that warm punchy filter it had, sometimes it is the particular way it's legato mode portamento sounds and then the rest is how it's programmed and played.

In terms of Sonik Synth 2, the oscillator part is nailed pretty darn good because it IS recordings of the real thing as opposed to a modeled version that tries to simulate it. The filter part of Sonik Synth 2 is a really organic moog-like filter but to be honest I have not yet heard the exact filter sound as the original in any piece of software (even modeled) but as long as it is warm, liquid with some punch it will get very close to that smooth Minimoog lead sound. The legato portamento in Sonik Synth 2 is great and close but not exact to the Minimoog either. This could be something modeled Minimoog synths have in particular that could make those leads sound more like the real thing... but still the real thing is the real thing.

The original Minimoog just had magic to it and so many things could be a factor. Ironically, I think even the lack of tuning stability actually contributed to a more organic sound than later more stable Moog synths.