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Roundabout - Yes

KingBubba

KingBubba

"Too Much Stuff"
As I listen to this song today, I consider thoughts I had about it in the past. In my opinion, the great majority of the music created in the last 30 years has been lacking the use of harmonics and complexity. You mostly hear the line of the tune with a strong bit of drums, but harmonics are missing. I guess what I am saying is the great majority of newer songs are very simple in nature. Then I compare that with what I hear in "Roundabout" and I realize how wonderful the musicians of Yes really were. The complexity of the music of "Roundabout" is fascinating to my ear and I wish that more music was this way.
 
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KingBubba said:
As I listen to this song today, I consider thoughts I had about it in the past. In my opinion, the great majority of the music created in the last 30 years has been lacking the use of harmonics and complexity. You mostly hear the line of the tune with a strong bit of drums, but harmonics are missing. I guess what I am saying is the great majority of newer songs are very simple in nature. Then I compare that with what I hear in "Roundabout" and I realize how wonderful the musicians of The Yes really were. The complexity of the music of "Roundabout" is fascinating to my ear and I wish that more music was this way.
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That's probably why I like Phish, their music is complex.
 
I have noticed that most of my favorite Rocks bands are British and its likely due to the classical influence that makes many of them interesting to me. That is not to say that American roots music and what followed sucks because nothing could be further from the truth. Overall I prefer the way British rock bands utilized movements, space and the compositions have enough substance that even after listening for decades I am still finding interesting things in their music .

As for pop music today, its rare to hear more than two real instruments being played on top 40 songs any longer. There is interesting new stuff out there but you are pretty much on your own finding it because the music execs and radio stations are not going to help you find it or promote it like days gone by. And good luck finding a record label that will let a new band spend the time needed in the studio to record complex pieces. They prefer the geek with a computer full of samples, its increases the oligarchs profits.
 
From the ‘Back in the Day‘ file…

As a youngster, I saw Yes in ‘73, or ‘74, (but I think ‘73), at the Hollywood Bowl. I do remember Rick Wakeman was still playing in the band, with his long-flowing blonde locks and his cape, velvet (?) onstage. I do remember thoroughly enjoying ’Roundabout’.

Sadly, what I most remember is the a@@hole behind me throwing up, all over my shoes. Unfortunately that is my big takeaway from that show.

For me and ’modern music’, I find there are no more memorable hooks in nearly any current tunes. No catchy progressions, no clever lyrical wordplay, no ‘nuthin’! It is apparent one had to work hard and catch lightning in a bottle to have a chance at hitting the Billboard Top 50, never mind a small career with a couple of minor hits and a one-hit-wonder, playing the summer state fair circuit.
 
MaxxVolume said:
I`ve been listening to Snarky Puppy for several years, they are one of those groups that kind of defies categorization.


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Lingus is my favorite. That video really gets me going just watching them having such a good time.

That keyboard player around 5 minutes in....
 
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kwayde said:
Lingus is my favorite. That video really gets me going just watching them having such a good time.

That keyboard player around 5 minutes in....
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For sure....the "musical dialog" between the keyboard and drummer is off the hook....

Conventional Wisdom: "A large group of musicians can not function without a conductor"

Snarky Puppy:"Hold my beer !"
 
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Yes was a great band for sure. In my top five favorites.

Mrv8q said:
...I do remember Rick Wakeman was still playing in the band, with his long-flowing blonde locks and his cape, velvet (?) onstage...
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As I type this I have a video paused on YouTube that is about half an hour on Vivaldi and his "Four Seasons" narrated by Rick Wakeman.

I love listening to Yes play, but if I had to spend an afternoon hanging out with one of them I'd choose Wakeman hands down.
 
I saw them in 1977/78 with all the original members on the 'Going for the One' tour.
As I recall it was fantastic, but it's amazing I was able to drive home given what was being shared among audience members...

I think I have all Yes studio releases on LP, but I'm kind of hot and cold on them. No doubt they made very complex music
but at times they seemed to go a little overboard with the complexity which I find somewhat boring
(Tales from Topographic Oceans being a good example, I don't think I've ever succeeded in playing the whole album, and I've tried many times)
The whole punk/New Wave thing came about as a reaction to prog rock like Yes, ELP and others.

I did learn to play Roundabout on the guitar which is kind of a challenge for me at least.
Love that song, really all of Fragile and a lot of other songs as well.
 
Yamaki said:
Ohhh...it took me a minute. I didn't recognize the band name of "The Yes"...

I was thinking "The Who" for some reason.

Yes never had "The" in the band name.

Yer messin' with the one brain cell I have left, aren't ya... ;)
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It reminds me the way-back days, circa 1967, when on local radio advertisement spots there was a lotta shouting about concert at the Electric Ballroom (Chicago) by a band the advert called The Cream ... lol.

IIRC, the name The Cream stuck for about a year in USA, Inc.
 
kirk57 said:
I saw them in 1977/78 with all the original members on the 'Going for the One' tour.
As I recall it was fantastic, but it's amazing I was able to drive home given what was being shared among audience members...

I think I have all Yes studio releases on LP, but I'm kind of hot and cold on them. No doubt they made very complex music
but at times they seemed to go a little overboard with the complexity which I find somewhat boring
(Tales from Topographic Oceans being a good example, I don't think I've ever succeeded in playing the whole album, and I've tried many times)
The whole punk/New Wave thing came about as a reaction to prog rock like Yes, ELP and others.

I did learn to play Roundabout on the guitar which is kind of a challenge for me at least.
Love that song, really all of Fragile and a lot of other songs as well.
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re: "I did learn to play Roundabout on the guitar which is kind of a challenge for me at least."

> seriously, anyone who can learn all that's involved in the execution, on acoustic and/or electric, guitar(s) re: the number "Roundabout" was facing a challenge. Howe's methods & techniques are many, they are varied, and they are very complex, demanding excellent dexterity, speed and control, and the ability to shift one's playing through several Time Signature changes and also Key Changes.

Even some of the "less challenging" material, e.g., "Wondrous Stories", are beyond the technical capes of most players .... the chromatic legato runs he performs toward the conclusion of "Wondrous Stories" are effin hard to pull of, really.

And then there's the material -- pick one, any one -- on the album Relayer. Oy vey, it'd be back to woodshed for most players, Richard Thompson included.
 
I missed the Yessongs tour when they played Meriweather in '73, but I did catch the ToTO at the (South) Carolina Coliseum in '74 - and enjoyed that.
After I returned to MD. I saw the Relayer tour at the Capital Center in '75 then ... missed all the drama years afterwards.
Many years later I took Emma to see Yes Symphonic at WolfTrap in 2001.
We enjoyed that - but, I was left with the question -
when you play what were once cutting edge progressive songs 40 years later, note for note, as Greatest Hits type music -
what happens to the vision and sincerity? (just asking for a friend ...)
 
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Hey, the members of Yes who made all that great once cutting edge progressive music 40 to 55 years ago are either old or dead already. Give them a break.
 
Yes, today's music is much simpler and depending on what you're listening to, it may be computers making up half or all the instrumentation. It's a turn 'em and burn 'em world for the music industry, cut it today, release tomorrow and start making the money (in many instances, but not all). I don't see that changing either.

As for Roundabout and Yes....I was never a fan of Wakeman. The albums did with him were ok, but I prefer the Tony Kaye years, those first 3 Yes albums are the cream of the crop.
 
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