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thehallway View Drop Down

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Joined: April 13 2010
Location: Dorset, England
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Posted: August 01 2011 at 13:05

lazland wrote:

^ There are some valid points from both in this segment of the thread, but, as one of the "ranters", I'll make a couple of comments:

1. Of course they have the right to call themselves Yes. I just think it might have been better if they had not. Incidentally, I am of this opinion with my favourite band, Marillion. After Fish left, I think they should have changed the name - so, BTW, does Steve Hogarth.

2. What none of this debate takes away is how Anderson was treated. He is a founding member of the band, and, like it or not, the instantly recognisable face/voice of the band. For Squire or Howe to not even contact him when he was on death's door is nothing short of appalling. You'd get better treatment with 99% of employers, let alone your so-called friends and colleagues. That is not a "rant" - it is simple human dignity and the truth.

3. The tour is nothing more than a cash cow. Good luck to them, I suppose, but to describe it as anything else is a travesty of the truth. I also think they have been "found out". I don't take any pleasure in that fact, either.

Re no. 2

Although I would pretty much agree with you, I don't really understand why you feel so strongly about these guys' social lives and dealings with each other. I mean, it's none of our business, and we only know about it because they are public figures. Anderson's treatment, as we have heard about it (and if what we have heard is even true) is indeed, very sad, but I don't know the guy personally, and I certainly wouldn't let it have any bearing on my relationship with Yes music. After all, I love Miles Davis' work but I think the guy was a complete a****le!

darkshade

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Posted: August 01 2011 at 14:06

I try to not let the drama outside of the music affect my music listening, as Ive listened to Fly From Here a few times now, and I would say it's a 3 star album, good, but if you don't get it, you won't be missing much.

As far as how they dealt with Anderson, that sucks. If he was on this album, it's possible my rating for this album would have gone up to at least 4 stars.

My Last.fm

cstack3

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Posted: August 01 2011 at 14:14

thehallway wrote:

In short, attempting to be progressive by using 40-year old musical building-blocks is both bad for the music, and embarrassing to the band. Creating something really progressive, i.e. innovative and fresh, would have been much better, but obviously not within this group's reach. So, proving that they are able to write decent pop choruses, I think Yes should be focussing on that market.

Oh wait, that's what Asia's for.

Maybe we just don't need Yes any more!!!

Hah! I thought that exactly! Asia always had the "pop-prog" formula down in a way that Yes could only dream, sadly.

Squire seems to be rather obsessed with going back in time vs. forward....he said this about the 90125 band ("going back to our rock & roll roots" to paraphrase the man), and now he's trying to go the prog-route, while also trying to get a hit single!

To his credit, FFH is a decent album in some ways, and it is charting respectably, so if this is a swan-song effort for this band, so be it.

Squire's never had much success outside of the Yes formula....just a glance at his discography vs. other members of the band shows that. Besides "Fish" (a superb album that is 40 years old), he did a bit with Conspiracy, his attempt with Syn and that's about it. I think he's an excellent & innovative bassist without much in the way of composing talent.

Howe's efforts with Asia and, recently, his little jazz-trio ensemble (which does some very cool treatment of Yes classics) are more genuine and impressive to me. However, they came one last time to drink at the trough of the Yes tour cash-cow, this time I think the cow is drier than in the past. Pity, it didn't have to be this way.

lazland

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Joined: October 28 2008
Location: Wales
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Posted: August 01 2011 at 14:16

thehallway wrote:

lazland wrote:

^ There are some valid points from both in this segment of the thread, but, as one of the "ranters", I'll make a couple of comments:

Re no. 2

I think I feel strongly about it because of the joy that Anderson has brought to my life, that he is not just "another" singer, but someone who has had a vast influence on the genre I love and my life.

It is, I suppose, a little bit sad of me, I don't know.

I am also able to differentiate between ar*****les & etc., but I don't think that is a description that could possibly be levelled at Anderson.

Squire, however.....well that's a different proposition.

When you care about something deeply, you tend to let your opinion be known.

Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org

Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time!

cstack3

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Posted: August 01 2011 at 16:52

lazland wrote:

It is, I suppose, a little bit sad of me, I don't know.

I am also able to differentiate between ar*****les & etc., but I don't think that is a description that could possibly be levelled at Anderson.

Squire, however.....well that's a different proposition.

When you care about something deeply, you tend to let your opinion be known.

I agree with you, Lazland! His message over the years was truly inspiring, and whenever he is not in Yes, that message of hope & spiritual yearning just disappears.

Does anyone else find the lyrics on "FFH" as bad as I do? I listened carefully to the whole thing today, and find much that is laudable in the compositions. However, the lyrics just STINK!!

At least with Anderson's vocal chop-suey, you didn't have to understand what the hell he was singing about, just go along for the ride!

thehallway View Drop Down

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Joined: April 13 2010
Location: Dorset, England
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Posted: August 03 2011 at 07:33

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't calling Jon Anderson an a****le. Far from it!

He is an important figure in my life too.... in fact, I would say that he, along with Jimmy Page and Keith Emerson, is one of the reasons I became a musician, and why I'm foolishly going to dedicate my life to music. An idol, if you will.

However, when it comes to Fly From Here, I don't even have Anderson in my head at all. The soap-opera-like goings on between him and Yes are not related to that, or to any music. I'm on Anderson's side, but it wouldn't change my love or hate or indifference towards any future music from him, Yes, or anyone else involved. If FFH happened to be an amazing landmark in modern music (don't worry, it isn't!) then I would happily admit that, even if the guys in the band had murdered Jon.

I'm not saying that music isn't affected by it's surrounding atmosphere..... because it is, sometimes in a contrary way to the goings on in the band (Abbey Road, for example). My view is just that the music shouldn't be judged against those happenings. This links to my confusion when people refuse to listen to ELP because the band are "pretentious" or "pompous"......... I don't care! I enjoy the music, and it's not like I have to socialise with the band anyway.

brainstormer View Drop Down

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Posted: August 04 2011 at 10:51

I haven't been blown away by the album yet. Not much can
compete these days with my appreciation of Magma's Merci album, which
I think is really an incredible album that people just weren't ready
for.

I have to say Asia has been a very guilty pleasure in my life. I couldn't
listen to them at all until the early 1990s, and I then found the proverbial
wisdom in their lyrics to be refreshing. It was a type of esoteric in the
exoteric formula. I liked as much the Wetton Manzanera album, which
had the same kind of spiritual quality to it. I think Wetton is a very sincere
man, and that sincerity shows through in the beauty of his music. He
does have a side however, about 25% of what he does in solo work,
which is overly sentimental and even schmaltzy to me, like his love
songs named after women....very conservative musically. I guess in that
sense he has a spottiness to the overall flow of his solo work, but regardless,
I still listen to it.

--
Robert Pearson
Regenerative Music http://www.regenerativemusic.net
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Slartibartfast View Drop Down

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Posted: August 04 2011 at 11:27

I thought the album cover looked a little familiar:
Not Necessarily Acoustic

I was re-arranging my CDs and though "hey, when did I get, oh."

Edited by Slartibartfast - August 04 2011 at 11:28

Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...