Best of the last decade

[bondegezou]

As suggested in another thread... What do you think are the best pieces of music by the Yesmen (outside of Yes itself) in the last decade?

My suggestions...

STEVE HOWE
Wish I'd Known All Along (Asia, Phoenix) -- written by Howe
Intersection Blues (Steve Howe, Natural Timbre)
Free (Asia, Aura) -- written by Downes/Payne; Howe shares guitar duties with pat Thrall and Ian Crichton
Siberian Khatru (Steve Howe Trio, The Haunted Melody) -- a very substantial re-working
The Serpentine (Steve Howe, Homebrew 2) -- released 2000 but dates back to 1970s
J's Theme (Steve Howe, Natural Timbre)
Distant Seas (ditto)
Tailpiece (Steve Howe & Martin Taylor, Masterpiece Guitars)
Camera Obscura (Steve Howe, Skyline)
Kenny's Sound (Steve Howe Trio, The Haunted Melody) -- arrangement of Kenny Burrell piece
Fanfare for the Common Man (Asia, various live releases) -- arrangement of ELP's arrangement of Aaron Copland
I'll Take Les (Dylan Howe, This is It) -- guest solo by Steve

CHRIS SQUIRE
Violet Purple Rose (Chris Squire & Billy Sherwood, Conspiracy) -- released 2000 but dates back to 1990s sessions
Lonesome Trail (ditto) -- released 2000 but dates back to 1990s sessions
Cathedral of Love (The Syn, Syndestructible) -- although co-credited to Squire, he had less to do with this song than others on the same album
City of Dreams (The Syn, Syndestructible)
The Promise (The Syn, Syndestructible)
Sussex Carol (Chris Squire, Chris Squire's Swiss Choir)
Fire on the Moon (Steve Hackett, Out of the Tunnel's Mouth)

ALAN WHITE
Information Overload (CIRCA:, CIRCA: 2007) -- the writing credits are given to the whole band, but this was mostly written by Sherwood/Kaye
Look Inside (ditto) -- ... and this was mostly written by Sherwood/Rabin
Black Dog (Keith Emerson with Billy Sherwood, Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute to Led Zeppelin)

JON ANDERSON
Piano Songs (Jon Anderson, various live releases)
A Moment So Close (Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Outbound) -- Anderson guest vocals
Sadness of Flowing (Peter Machajdík, Namah) -- lyrics and vocals by Anderson
Sacred Balance (Jon Anderson & Steve Layton, available at times on Steve Layton's MySpace page)
Violin Stories (Jon Anderson & Bill Kirkpatrick, available at Jon Anderson's Facebook page)

RICK WAKEMAN
Nobody Home (Rick Wakeman with Billy Sherwood, Back Against the Wall) -- Pink Floyd cover

BENOIT DAVID
As I Am (Mystery, Beneath the Veil of Winter's Face) -- vocals by David

OLIVER WAKEMAN
I've not heard much of Oliver's work; I quite like parts of Jabberwocky, his album with Clive Nolan (and Peter Banks and dad Rick guest), but that's from 1999 and just outside the specified time period

PETER BANKS
No Harm (Harmony in Diversity, Trying)
Illusion (The Syn, Original Syn 1965-2004)
Peaceman (Come Together Live Together Love Together) (Funky Monkey, Join Us in Tomorrow)

BILL BRUFORD
Never the Same Way Once (Bill Bruford's Earthworks, The Sound of Surprise)
White Knuckle Wedding (Bill Bruford's Earthworks featuring Tim Garland, Random Acts of Happiness)
Two Left Shoes (Bruford - Bortslap, In Concert in Holland)
Nov Den (A New Day) (The Bulgarian Women's Choir—Angelite, Voices of Life) -- from the aborted UK reunion "Legacy" project
The Brook The Ocean (Gordian Knot, Emergent)
Travel Light (Pete Lockett’s Network of Sparks feauringt Bill Bruford, One)
Kit and Caboodle (pianocircus featuring Bill Bruford play the music of Colin Riley, Skin & Wire)
Stalling Between Two Fools (ditto)

GEOFF DOWNES
Free (Asia, Aura)
Ghost in the Mirror (Asia, Silent Nation) -- co-written by Billy Sherwood
The Die is Cast (Icon, Icon II-Rubicon)
Wish I'd Known All Along (Asia, Phoenix)
Linus and Lucy (Charlie Brown Christmas Theme) (Geoff Downes with Billy Sherwood, An All-Star Salute to Christmas)

Henry

[Sharp on Attack]

BILL BRUFORD
Revel Without a Pause from the Sound of Surprise

JON ANDERSON
Animal Life with Tom Curiano

CHRIS SQUIRE
Half a World Away (2nd Conspiracy album)
The Lonesome Trail (1st Conspiracy album)
Violet Purle Rose (1st Conspiracy album)

STEVE HOWE
Where I belong from Remedy Elements

[pedro skychaser]

Originally Posted by bondegezou

As suggested in another thread... What do you think are the best pieces of music by the Yesmen (outside of Yes itself) in the last decade?

Cathedral of Love (The Syn, Syndestructible) -- although co-credited to Squire, he had less to do with this song than others on the same album

Henry

one of the best pieces of music by anyone in the last decade...gotta listen to it now.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



www.pedro-tv.com

www.thenewtonian.net

[bondegezou]

TREVOR HORN
All the Things She Said (t.A.T.u., 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane) -- produced, co-wrote English lyrics
Love's Divine (Seal, Seal IV) -- produced
I'm a Cuckoo (Belle & Sebastian, Dear Catastrophe Waitress) -- produced
Valentine (The Delays, You See Colours) -- arranged & mixed by Horn, plus additional production and vocals
Broke (Captain, This is Hazelville) -- produced
The Sodom and Gomorrah Show (Pet Shop Boys, Fundamental) -- produced, bass, additional guitars
If You're Out There (John Legend, Evolver) -- produced
Berlin (Aviv Geffen, Aviv Geffen) -- produced, additional keys
Freeway (The Producers, "Barking Up the Right Tree" single) -- co-wrote, bass, co-produced
Stealing Cars (Kid Harpoon, Once) -- produced

TONY KAYE
Look Inside (CIRCA:, CIRCA: 2007)
Get Back (Bobby Kimball with Billy Sherwood, Abbey Road)
All Intertwined (CIRCA:, HQ)

Henry

[Frumious B]

The discs I go back to the most often are undoubtedly the two Circa: albums which get more play from me than all of the other post Magnification Yes connected music I have combined with the possible exception of the Steve Howe Trio album which has turned out to be quite durable for me. Of Billy Sherwood's solo output I'm quite fond of No Comment. From Steve Howe I enjoy The Haunted Melody and Natural Timbre. The "permanently trapped in 1986" cheese factor of Asia remains too great for me to embrace them. I tried The Syn, but Steve Nardelli's vocals are extremely hard for me to take though some of the music is nice. I don't do Christmas music, so Swiss Choir is a "No go." The first Conspiracy disc has some decent stuff on it, but doesn't really flow as an album because it's really a hodgepodge of different sessions recorded over a number of years. The Unknown is much better, though the "bringin' our toys..." lyrics on the title track make me cringe a bit. I dislike most of Rick Wakeman's solo albums so I haven't bothered with any of them. I also haven't bothered with Jon Anderson's stuff aside from streaming a few songs off his Facebook page which are OK, but nothing transcendent. Aside from a few isolated albums I'm not a big Jon listener outside of Yes. Based on what I've read about White and the clips I've heard it wouldn't be of interest to me so I haven't bothered. I also haven't heard anything Bill Bruford has done since The Projekcts aside from that Gordian Knot disc, though I am genuinely intending to get around to picking up some more of his stuff. There's just been other music that has been more of priority for me so it keeps getting knocked to the back of the line.

[bondegezou]

I've not mentioned Billy Sherwood, Trevor Rabin, Patrick Moraz or Igor Khoroshev yet. I've mentioned several pieces above involving Sherwood already, so stick those together and you'll get by Billy list. Rabin has released numerous soundtracks in the last decade, but I can't say any particular piece has stuck in my head. I guess I'd pick something from his American Outlaws score.

I've not heard much from Moraz this decade. If anyone has recommendations, I'd be interested to hear. To my knowledge, Khoroshev hasn't released anything in the '00s, which is a damn shame.

Honourable mentions to Eddie Jobson's UKZ and their EP Radiation; to the Will Butterworth/Dylan Howe album The Rite of Spring Part 1; and to Deborah Anderson's Silence and her work on Télépopmusik's Angel Milk.

Henry

[Frumious B]

Originally Posted by bondegezou

I've not mentioned Billy Sherwood, Trevor Rabin, Patrick Moraz or Igor Khoroshev yet. I've mentioned several pieces above involving Sherwood already, so stick those together and you'll get by Billy list. Rabin has released numerous soundtracks in the last decade, but I can't say any particular piece has stuck in my head. I guess I'd pick something from his American Outlaws score.

Rabin's lack of output post 1994 aside from scores for some of the lamest movies ever committed to celluloid is a major disappointment to me. I assume this work has made him far wealthier than anything he did with Yes, but you'd think that someone with his considerable gifts could block out some time to do something a bit more "art for art's sake" if not a rock and roll record then maybe something more ambitious in scale or he could at least try his hand at scoring some films that are a bit more substantial with no sign of the dread name (for me anyway) Jerry Bruckheimer.

[luckeydoug1]

Henry, I quite like most of your choices (well, for the ones I am familiar with at least) but the one that really stands out for me is your choice of American Outlaw for Trevor. Although his title track for The Great Raid may be my most favorite of all his soundtrack music, it is, indeed American Outlaw that I listen to most often from start to finish. The movie itself, while not being the smash box office success like other films he has been involved with (ie, National Treasure), it is a movie that I enjoy watching.

I am also with you all the way with your Chris Squire list. I also quite like the track Conspiracy from the 2nd album.

For Tony Kaye I would add The Story Goes from the Circa: tracks released only on iTunes. He has some stellar killer riffs on that one.

Peter Banks' No Harm is another outstanding choice

[luckeydoug1]

Originally Posted by Frumious B

Rabin's lack of output post 1994 aside from scores for some of the lamest movies ever committed to celluloid is a major disappointment to me. I assume this work has made him far wealthier than anything he did with Yes, but you'd think that someone with his considerable gifts could block out some time to do something a bit more "art for art's sake" if not a rock and roll record then maybe something more ambitious in scale or he could at least try his hand at scoring some films that are a bit more substantial with no sign of the dread name (for me anyway) Jerry Bruckheimer.

Interesting point. While I will agree that some of the movies he has signed on with have been duds, I still quite like the soundtracks that he has created for nearly all of them. Perhaps it is part of my classical training, but I probably spend more time listening to Trevor's sound tracks than any other music, with the exception of Billy Sherwood related music (ie, solo, Circa:, Headsets, etc) at this point in my life. That being said, I really wish Trevor would get on with that symphony he said he was working on quite a few years ago.

[Frumious B]

Originally Posted by luckeydoug1

Interesting point. While I will agree that some of the movies he has signed on with have been duds, I still quite like the soundtracks that he has created for nearly all of them. Perhaps it is part of my classical training, but I probably spend more time listening to Trevor's sound tracks than any other music at this point in my life. That being said, I really wish he would get on with that symphony he said he was working on quite a few years ago.

I have a hard time mentally separating the music from the godawful movie, especially when the CD cover is the movie poster and the track names reference the movie. I just can't bring myself to buy. I suppose Rabin could do me a big favor by throwing out a two disc "best of" from his film scores under his own name. I think I could probably manage to listen to such a release with less prejudice. It's not fair, but I can't deny that presentation and context do have an effect on how I perceive a given piece of music.

[Sharp on Attack]

I can't comment on original soundtrack. For me it's just a part of the film. I've never been able to listen to any OST.
Even Jim Jarmusch 's Dead Man with Neil Young's scorching guitar which blew me away during the film, I can't imagine listening to it.

[Frumious B]

Originally Posted by Sharp on Attack

I can't comment on original soundtrack. For me it's just a part of the film. I've never been able to listen to any OST.
Even Jim Jarmusch 's Dead Man with Neil Young's scorching guitar which blew me away during the film, I can't imagine listening to it.

Actually the first album I ever owned was the soundtrack to The Empire Strikes Back. If a movie appeals to me and the music is striking enough for me to actually want to listen to it on its own then I'll often grab the soundtrack. One example of an original soundtrack where I am fond of both the movie and the soundtrack album would be The Virgin Suicides with music by Air, a very atmospheric kind of film with a soundtrack that reminds me quite a bit of vintage Pink Floyd.

[bondegezou]

Originally Posted by Frumious B

The discs I go back to the most often are undoubtedly the two Circa: albums which get more play from me than all of the other post Magnification Yes connected music I have combined [...] Of Billy Sherwood's solo output I'm quite fond of No Comment. [...] The first Conspiracy disc has some decent stuff on it, but doesn't really flow as an album because it's really a hodgepodge of different sessions recorded over a number of years. The Unknown is much better, though the "bringin' our toys..." lyrics on the title track make me cringe a bit.

I like CIRCA:/Billy Sherwood solo/Headsets/Conspiracy/World Trade etc., but they have a tendency to all rather blur into one for me after a while. Lots of fine music, but only scattered tracks are what I find to be great. Take the best bits of, say, CIRCA:'s two CDs and At the Speed of Life... and I think you'd have a really memorable album.

Henry

[Frumious B]

Originally Posted by bondegezou

I like CIRCA:/Billy Sherwood solo/Headsets/Conspiracy/World Trade etc., but they have a tendency to all rather blur into one for me after a while. Lots of fine music, but only scattered tracks are what I find to be great. Take the best bits of, say, CIRCA:'s two CDs and At the Speed of Life... and I think you'd have a really memorable album.

Henry

I think that Sherwood benefits from having a more sharply defined role as he does with Circa: as bassist/lead vocalist/songwriter working with other musicians in a band context as opposed to more solo type projects where he does everything. Those projects can get a bit samey for me.

[YESOLA]

Originally Posted by pedro skychaser

one of the best pieces of music by anyone in the last decade...gotta listen to it now.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



www.pedro-tv.com

www.thenewtonian.net

Yeah for all the crap and controversy this thing caused, the Music on the whole album was really very good. I enjoyed it. I love Squires playing and vocals on it as well. I think it's among the best of the Yesmen's output in this period.

[Albedo]

Originally Posted by YESOLA

Yeah for all the crap and controversy this thing caused, the Music on the whole album was really very good. I enjoyed it. I love Squires playing and vocals on it as well. I think it's among the best of the Yesmen's output in this period.

I would agree with that. Despite the vocals, I think much of the music was excellent.

I think the first CIRCA album had 3-4 excellent tracks that were kicked up another notch in the DVD live version.

Steve's Natural Timbre is another favorite.

[bondegezou]

Originally Posted by Albedo

I think the first CIRCA album had 3-4 excellent tracks that were kicked up another notch in the DVD live version.

Steve's Natural Timbre is another favorite.

Agreed on the first point. Some of what seemed weaker on the CD came alive on the DVD.

And on the second point, seems we've got a fair bit of consensus going on!

Henry

[bondegezou]

Originally Posted by Frumious B

The discs I go back to the most often are undoubtedly the two Circa: albums which get more play from me than all of the other post Magnification Yes connected music I have combined with the possible exception of the Steve Howe Trio album which has turned out to be quite durable for me.[...] From Steve Howe I enjoy The Haunted Melody and Natural Timbre. The "permanently trapped in 1986" cheese factor of Asia remains too great for me to embrace them. I tried The Syn, but Steve Nardelli's vocals are extremely hard for me to take though some of the music is nice. [...] The first Conspiracy disc has some decent stuff on it, but doesn't really flow as an album because it's really a hodgepodge of different sessions recorded over a number of years. The Unknown is much better, though the "bringin' our toys..." lyrics on the title track make me cringe a bit. I dislike most of Rick Wakeman's solo albums so I haven't bothered with any of them. I also haven't bothered with Jon Anderson's stuff aside from streaming a few songs off his Facebook page which are OK, but nothing transcendent. Aside from a few isolated albums I'm not a big Jon listener outside of Yes.

So, Frum, not wanting to import arguments from another thread, but... Of the three albums you pick out as best, one's by Steve Howe and one's got Alan White on it. You have nice things to say about another Howe album, and about three albums with Chris Squire. And your greatest criticisms are for Rick Wakeman's and Jon Anderson's work. So, and you can guess where I'm going with this, I would have thought you'd've been quite optimistic about an album by Howe/Squire/White without Anderson/R Wakeman!

Henry

[Yorkshire Square]

Stuff I have which I dig from the noughties:

Rick
Retro & Retro 2: Both amazing albums of well crafted songs, top notch playing and plenty of Rick's sly humour.
At Lincoln Cathedral: Beautiful organ music; not Yes by any stretch of the imagination, but a fantastic album of classical music.

Steve
Natural Timbre: A well rounded set of Steve's signature playing.
Motif Vol 1: Revisits oldies and gives them a new slant.
Phoenix (Asia): Amazing album for a group of guys revisiting the 80's!!

Jon
Lord of the Rings Soundtrack Demos: I think Jon did these hoping they might get onto the Peter Jackson films. Which they didn't. But some lovely vocals from Jon.

Chris
Syndestructible (The Syn): Cool. This is the way Yes ought have gone post Magnification (with or without Jon).

Bill
Bill hasn't been in Yes since 1972 as far as I'm concerned, but everything he's done since (including that Onion thingy) has been AWSOME!
Crimson (Not in this last decade of course!)
Bruford & Moraz (Ditto)
Earthworks
Bruford & Borstlap
Gordian Knot
BLUE
Network of Sparks

[bondegezou]

Originally Posted by Yorkshire Square

Jon
Lord of the Rings Soundtrack Demos: I think Jon did these hoping they might get onto the Peter Jackson films. Which they didn't. But some lovely vocals from Jon.

These have been released as In Elven Lands: see the Yescography for details -- http://www.relayer35.com/Yescography/InElvenLands.htm

Henry