From k2mojo@groovedaddies.com Tue Feb 11 18:31:08 2003
Subject:RE: YES music, glitz, and purists (hopefully on topic)

"The Yes Album" was the first of the Yes albums I heard (when I was 13 in
'71) and so it holds a lot of great memories for me, but there was no
denying that when "Fragile" came out Wakeman's playing raised the bar for
the whole band. Then when "Close To The Edge" came out - 'fuggetaboudit';
"Six Wives" just further convinced me "I'm not worthy". Hearing the middle
section of "And You And I" (Eclipse?) live in '73, with the Mellotron and
Moog carrying the powerful theme and Bruford's perfectly sparse drumming, I
admit brought me to tears.
Starting with the "Close To The Edge" tour I saw nearly every incarnation of
Yes that toured, and I thought that of the lot Patrick Moraz came closest to
filling Wakeman's shoes. Much later, when I saw the "Union" tour with both
Tony Kaye and Wakeman the disparate level in their playing was blatantly
apparent; Kaye's playing was definitely top-notch, but there is only one
Wakeman and everybody knew it. I have to give credit to Kaye for having the
kahunas to get up on the same stage with him; lesser men would have balked.
>From what I remember, on the "Union" tour Wakeman's rig was mainly Cheetah
controllers controlling a lot of racked synth modules and I don't know what
created his organ sound then. I was in the 10th row and the concert was in
the round on a rotating stage, but my eyes were glued on his fingers (it was
very cool getting to observe his playing from all angles). I just recently
saw Yes once again this last Summer in Chicago and while I wondered about
the lack of a real C3 onstage given all the other keyboards he had, you kind
of forget about stuff like that once he starts playing (although I did make
a mental note to myself to look into getting a GeneralMusic RealPiano).
IMHO, the best of the ProgRock keyboardists was and still is Wakeman.

Ed Fliege
k2mojo@groovedaddies.com
www.groovedaddies.com

> You are right on, which is why I qualified that with
> "Tony Kaye was the better Hammond guy
> Roundabout's solo the exception."
>
> Wakeman used the Hammond as just "another" tone color,
> and really concentrated on pianos and synths. But he
> is without question the more happening keyboardist of
> the pair, and actually PROBABLY the best they had. I
> have a fondness for Geoffrey Downe's work on Drama
> though. And I really like Relayer. But Wakeman is
> the man for quintessential Yes. And Tony was actually
> about the weakest keyboardist they had. But just
> being the guy on Yours Is No Disgrace and Starship
> Trooper makes him pretty darned happening.

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