Making Music - Salute to Squire

[Q]

As the debate between "versions" of Yes rages out of control hither and yon, I would like to put out a call to all Yes fans who themselves make music.

My point of view is that it was Chris Squire, and no other, who engineered Buggles Yes and YesWest, though some of us can't be stopped from skewering the Trevors for it. I maintain that Chris Squire stands out among all Yes members (apart from his seniority) as the Yes man most willing to take the band into new musical territory.

As a musician who has been in a band with the task of developing a fan base and maintaining it, I empathize with Squire, for it is always a chancy thing to push the band into new places, and risk alienating those who would have it remain one certain way forever. As I have said elsewhere, better a Yes willing to try new things than a Yes that is simply its own tribute band.

Are there any musicians out there who know how it feels? Will you join me in a salute to Chris Squire? (We will also be saluting Floyd's David Gilmour, who has traveled a similar road ...)

[Alysoun]

Quantum:

I will join you in that salute.

Despite the fractured history of Yes and the camps of YesWest and ABWH, it is all Yes to me. I always liken this to a version of the later years of the Roman Empire with one Empire in the East and one in the West. It was done to preserve the Roman Empire.
Squire did this for Yes.

To be truthful, although the Rabin, Buggles music is not my favorite, Squire was doing what he needed to keep his band together. The XYZ Sessions panned out, Cinema was looking good for a while, Squire-White did "Run with the Fox", times were changing.

The one hit wonder that was the Buggles certainly did not do justice to the very good musicians that Downes and Horn were.
They were there at the right time. The fact that it did not work out (well, it did not work out with Moraz either) was just the progression of the group. The group was still around when Anderson re-joined the group. It made it easier for Yes to reform. It might have been a lot harder if Yes had not been an entity.

The music that Yes Made during the Buggles residence was a product of its time. If you listen to Squire's solo work, it is not like Anderson's at all. It is far more poppy and this was reflected in what was his group. It happened to all the war horses, ELP, to list only one. Well, just read what a lot of folks say about "Love Beach." It ain't pretty. My complaint about the Buggles Era is that Squire did not take the lead vocals himself. He is and was more than capable to have done so. Trevor Horn's voice was not up to par and he was far happier in the background. He would have been better on backing vocals and they would have suited his range better.

A lot of people will argue that a Yes without John Anderson is not Yes. You will hear the same argument for Squire. It is beyond the point now. Luckily the riff was rebridged. I am less familiar with Floyd's musical squabbles. But Roger Waters did not make it easy for Gilmour, Wright and Mason. They are not talking to this day.

If you are a musician, you should have license to change. Fripp has always done that. And he has maintained tons of his musical integrity.

Squire should be thanked for keeping the idea of Yes alive. Because of him, Yes is still around today and making music that is grand, glorious and still timeless.

A thank you to Quantum for starting this thread.

Allison

[haroldthebarrel]

That is a very good point (the one about the popiness not neccesarilly coming from Trevor)! I agree, listening to Squire's input and solo albums does make you realize that the very stuff that the "Rabin-Bashers" dislike about that era of Yes probably came from Squire too. Though I am not fond of anything by Squire other than Yes and Fish out of Water, he COULD be called brave or he could be called desperate for these ventures. I think that people look into this too much. With all this Rabin-bashing and West vs. East stuff going on, I must make this point:

Whether you like all of Yes, as I do, or whether you only like the 70's stuff. Is it really that big of a deal? I would say about 85% of Yes' albums are undeniably brilliant to all of us, no matter who you are. And no matter which albums you like or dislike. How can we REALLY argue or dispute each others views on this? Yes is just awesome, not many other bands put out such consistently perfect music over such a long period of time.

[Q]

You raise an interesting point about Squire's solo work, harold. It really hit home when I bought Conspiracy, the album he did with Billy. When I looked back at Squire's songwriting efforts with Yes and his solo efforts, trying to find a continuity, I sensed a kind of randomness - it's as though his inspirations are all incidental. (whether this is true of Sherwood, I'm not yet sure)

What Squire's stand-alone composition seems to lack is thematic passion. Perhaps that's why he was so aggressive in pushing new partnerships, with the Trevors, with Billy, etc.

It will be interesting to see what he does on his next non-Yes outing ...

[nightliner]

Chris has always been my faorite ember of the band, and I do feel that the Yes sound is his vision. He is the driving force behind Yes.

I would imagine his next non-Yes venture will be the next Conspiracy album. The first one reminded me more of World Trade than anything Yes has ever done. I think Conspiracy is more of a Sherwood project than a Squire one. I would love to hear another Squire solo efort. Its been almost 30 years since the last one.

[Q]

What I think is REALLY exciting is when Chris cuts loose on his instrument! He is one of the five most influential bassists in rock history, hands down, a true innovator! As a lyricist he is somewhere in the vicinity of both Rabin and Sherwood, but as a player, he is pure genius ...

and his vocal lines are an entire category of musical innovation in and of themselves ...

[Alysoun]

Originally posted by nightliner
Chris has always been my faorite ember of the band, and I do feel that the Yes sound is his vision. He is the driving force behind Yes.

I would imagine his next non-Yes venture will be the next Conspiracy album. The first one reminded me more of World Trade than anything Yes has ever done. I think Conspiracy is more of a Sherwood project than a Squire one. I would love to hear another Squire solo efort. Its been almost 30 years since the last one.

I did read somewhere that he was planning Son of Fish out of Water at some point before 2004. The Son of Conspiracy is %70 done according to his web site.

And as for Squire's "randomness" Bill Bruford has commented that Squire could have produced so much more solo work if only "he'd been able to get out of bed." Good old Bruffy, sarcastic to the end. I get the sense that Squire is very laid backmost of time, a night owl and slow to move. Well there was the incident with the punch but that is beyond the point.

I maintain that Squire's work is very poppy. "Paralles" lyrically does not fit into Going for the One because it was Squire's song and was a cut from Fish out of Water. "Onward" is very sentimental. I could go on. The lyrics on Fish are very poppy.

Chris Squire is not a mystic like Jon Anderson. I know a lot of people don't like Conpiracy. But I've listened to it a lot and he and Billy Sherwood really have chemistry, you can just hear it and you could see it on stage. and their writing styles are very similar.
They work well together despite of what you may think of the musical output.

I hope that he will do Fish Two. I will be right there to snap it up.

Allison