----- Original Message ----- From: "just john" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2002 6:21 PM Subject: Re: 70s "Prog" Rock (was Quatermass)
> >> Now here's something I've never had a satisfactory answer to: > >> > >> Yes was famous for its volume-control lead guitar sound. Steve Howe did > >it > >> in Yes, and Peter Banks did it in Flash, but Banks didn't really do it on > >> his albums with Yes. > > > >In 7 or so years of hanging out on alt.music.yes I have never heard of such > >a thing. Could you explain exactly what it is you are talking about? > > > >> > >> SO, was Howe imitating Banks, or was Banks imitating Howe? > >> > > > >I suppose it could be argued that Howe played a bit in Banks style for the > >sake of continuity. But the guitar sounds on "Time And A Word" and "The Yes > >Album" are strikingly different. I think the guitar riffs ... > > > > I'm not talking riffs, I'm talking lead. Pretty much the same thing in a single guitar band. Everything hangs on the melodic hook. Reggie? > > To make a slow attack on notes, they manipulate a volume control. That's > the heart of the slow parts of the "Yes lead guitar sound." I'd never > heard it before I heard it with them. It's on Flash albums, too. But it's > not really on either of the first two Yes albums. SO, one of the guitarists > is imitating the other, but I don't know which. > I think that was a style that was popularised a bit during the sixties and had just come back into vogue with the progressive set. It is used to great effect on 'On The Silent Wings Of Freedom" from Tormato. > > > >I think it is also noteworthy that TYA begins the Yes "Canon" and it is the > >introduction of Steve Howe that is the catalyst here. Wakeman doesnt show up > >til "Fragile" yet TYA is considered the first "Great" Yes album. > >[Yes canon runs til "Going For The One"] > > ... and then they kinda froze the sound, so I could spend the late 80s and > early 90s razzing CI$ RockNetters: "If it's progressive, why does it still > sound the same?" Well.....you are kinda getting into a different era now. In 82 Rabin took over the guitar chores and tried to turn the band into a stadium filling hit machine. It only worked for one album. At the same time the tide was turning in music. Quality music by quality musicians was under attack from the low end by the grassroots movement of punk rock and from the high end by the record companies who wanted *all* the profits. At this point, if a band wasnt playing teenybopper rock ballads, they were being marginalised, or put out of business. > > > > >Also noteworthy is Steve Howes run of Guitarist of the Year awards, totally > >dominating the 70s. 5 consecutive I believe. > > > > But Peter Banks played with Jan Akkerman. Nyeah! (I didn't know about that > early collab listed in allmusic.com ...) > > I stopped being impressed by Howe's technique when I heard Larry Coryell > and then John McLaughlin. I like Howe's first solo album, but more for the > vocal experiments. I think pretty much everyone recognises that Howes technique is a bit weak. But he comes at you from such unexpected directions and can play with such heart that he is recognised as one of the greatest *players* of the last few generations. There are a lot of great technicians out there who play with very little soul and are putting out boring crap. > > Banks' playing always sounds more fun. Heck, Yes did concerts where they > all faced away from each other. Might as well put on a CD and save the > concert money for bands that improv a bit. > Actually most bands dont improvise, they just pretend to as a lot of concert boots show. And throwing a different lead over a basic track is not that much of a big deal. Jazz improv is a different kettle of fish, but that has never been a hallmark of rock music. > > > I always enjoyed "One Live Badger," too ... Ever heard Detective? xponent Yes Fan For 30 Years Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
