From k2mojo@groovedaddies.com Tue Feb 11 23:42:16 2003
Subject:RE: YES music, WOT

I swear Chris, I think we went to all the same concerts. As I opened up my
email just now I had a copy of Roger Powell's "Cosmic Furnace" playing.
Powell, and Jan Hammer for that matter did some amazing lead work; both of
them could bend a synth to sound like a guitar better than anyone else I can
think of. However, I never thought that Powell was that strong of an
overall keyboardist; his strengths were his leads and his sequencing.
Hammer did some interesting piano work on "Like Children" and "First Seven
Days", but again it was his leads and sequencing that garnered him all the
attention. And since they were both mainly lead players it makes sense that
they'd both be known for sporting early-version strap-on keyboards. When I
saw Beck w/Hammer Group on the 'Wired' tour, Hammer had the keyboard from a
MiniMoog strapped on, and on Utopia's "Ra" tour Powell introduced the
"Powell Probe", basically the first of the true strap-on synth controllers
which he invented to control a large Moog Modular system offstage.
You already know I think Kerry Minnear is one of the absolute best, but
there was always something about original Wakeman era Yes albums (Fragile,
CTTE) that really made me feel like I was listening to music that was going
to make a difference. Maybe it's just me, but CTTE still sends shivers up
my back.
I stated that IMHO, Wakeman is the best ProgRock keyboardist because to me
Yes typifies the best of ProgRock and their albums seemed to have stood the
test of time better than most anyone else in this genre. Everyone has their
favorites, and in each their own way all the early ProgRock keyboardists
struck a chord with most of us 40-something Cloners. It's a natural
occurrence of my generation that I knew who Rick Wakeman was before I knew
who Jimmy Smith was, and I'm glad I'm finally old enough to appreciate both.

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

> I thought Roger Powell from Todd's UTOPIA was a killer lead
> player. Sounded
> more like a guitarist sometimes than a keyboardist. He made the
> most of so
> little. A Korg Polysix or Prophet 5 thru some FX boxes! That
> impresses me a
> lot more than a stage full of $10,000 Fairlights and Synclaviers.
> Hey, what
> about Jan Hammer with a frigging Mini and a Rhodes! Listen to
> Jeff Beck live
> with Jan Hammer! I honestly think those men could have made
> great music with
> a hollow log. And IMHO Kerry Minnear from Gentle Giant beats
> Wakeman with so
> many sticks it's not funny.
> Wakeman's playing, to some degree sounds almost comical now.
> Minnear really
> was his own man. The story of Gentle Giant is a sad and sorrowful
> tale. And
> Yes, I do like Yes.
>
> Chris Nowak
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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