Geoff Downes Keyboard Solos on MTTS

[JMKUSA]

On The Quest, Geoff provided solos on four songs by my count: The Ice Bridge (three solos in the final section, trading with Steve), A Living Island (a very brief organ solo), Sister Sleeping Soul (a nice little synth solo) and Damaged World (a synth solo and an organ solo).

It was disappointing to me that some of Geoff’s best moments were consigned to the bonus disk, but I’m worried that will happen again.

We know about the soloing at the end of Cut From the Stars, and there are no keyboard solos on All Connected.

So, what are your hopes for keyboard solos on Mirror to the Sky? I’m hoping we get more solos than last time at least.

[Soundwaveseeker]

I hope MTTS is just slathered in synth solos - with a hefty serving of piano/organ, atmospheric keyboard textures succulently baked into the arrangements, slow-roasted over a bed of bass, with a dash of vocoder, carefully blended with robust guitar passages and Earthy drum fiber, and lightly drizzled with savory synth sauce, served hot and zesty on a warm summer evening.

[Yesed]

I hope MTTS is just slathered in synth solos - with a hefty serving of piano/organ, atmospheric keyboard textures succulently baked into the arrangements, slow-roasted over a bed of bass, with a dash of vocoder, carefully blended with robust guitar passages and Earthy drum fiber, and lightly drizzled with savory synth sauce, served hot and zesty on a warm summer evening.

Now I’m hungry, hope the new album doesn’t ruin my appetite.

[Gilly Goodness]

I hope MTTS is just slathered in synth solos - with a hefty serving of piano/organ, atmospheric keyboard textures succulently baked into the arrangements, slow-roasted over a bed of bass, with a dash of vocoder, carefully blended with robust guitar passages and Earthy drum fiber, and lightly drizzled with savory synth sauce, served hot and zesty on a warm summer evening.

Under orangey skies? 😉

Lookin' forward to your review of the whole album.







SNOWFLOWER ELDER SAY THEN FOR A RAINDROP

[downbyariver]

One opportunity that might exist, if the decision is made to play some of these songs live, is that instead of having a recording of an orchestra playing in the background while our favorite musicians wait for their parts, Mr. Downes could try to translate the orchestra sounds into keyboard parts for the live performances. That would feel more authentic to a live audience and also give the folks who love keyboards but aren't found of orchestras a chance to hear what at least a couple of these songs would sound like without the orchestra and with some keyboards. If it's good enough, it might even provide an incentive for people to buy a future live albums to hear the "rock and roll" version of some of these songs. That's not to say that the original versions won't also be rock and roll, just that keyboards are a little more rock and roll than an orchestra, generally speaking.

One of the small highlights for me on Asia in Asia: Live at The Budokan, Tokyo, 1983 was that Geoff Downes had to or chose to substitute live keyboards that were different from whatever went on in the studio (At least to my ear- I could have been hearing it wrong), likely because of the technical limitations of the time and the necessity of getting it sounding somewhat right for a live broadcast on MTV in the United States on the other side of the world.

I realize Asia may or may not be the best example of authentically live performances. There are times when John Wetton seems to be harmonizing with himself on albums, and then they sound almost exactly the same live, even though Geoff is moving his lips. Perhaps the two have similar singing voices, in which case, comment withdrawn with my apologies. I'm just saying, my point isn't "Do it like Asia" in general (Though I do love Asia), but more "Here is a specific live album from Asia where a choice to do something live with different types of keyboards was beneficial to the performance, in my view, even though the original studio sounds were better for the studio.".

So, my thought is, do whatever you need to do in the studio to make it sound as great as you can. If that means an orchestra, bring in an orchestra. Outside writers and session performers added to the mix? Fine with me. The studio is the place for studio magic. Just credit everyone fairly and it works for me. All's fair in love, war, and studio albums.

It's when we get into the realm of live performances that I like to hear people making music live in front of me (Even if it means it doesn't sound quite as good as the studio versions or requires extra touring musicians- who are fine as long as they are visible on stage), or (in the case of a live album) a tape of people making music live in front of other people- mostly. I understand, you know splicing stuff together from other performances so we can hear lyrics or something. But since Yes probably isn't going to tour with a 50 piece orchestra (Imagine those insurance problems! ), I would much rather they have Geoff Downes recreate and replace the orchestra sounds with his keyboards for those concerts/live album(s) than have him or the live production people just triggering pre-recorded background tracks of an orchestra that's not there that night.

I'd still like to hear what a live version of "Minus the Man" would sound like with the big orchestra segment replaced by up-tempo keyboards and maybe a shredding guitar or bass part from Steve or Billy. As it stands, that's my third favorite song from The Quest, sometimes dropping to fourth depending on my mood. However, even at third, there's sort of a gap between my favorite two songs from The Quest, "The Ice Bridge" and a "A Living Island", and "Minus the Man". I love the lyrics for "Minus the Man" (A lot, actually. I enjoy a lot of science fiction novels and television- especially the thoughtful kind like this.) and I like the tune, I just think the orchestra segments makes it drag a little unnecessarily. I feel like MtM could have been right up there with my top two songs without a gap in quality if they'd just played it straight with rock and roll musicians only.

This is not to say that the orchestra they used is bad- they sound excellent as orchestras go. It's also not to say that they don't improve some songs- they probably do. It's just that, hey, if they are taking Geoff's bandwidth on the studio albums, there are select songs where maybe he could do those parts live on keyboards and we could get a unique version to compare them to and pick our favorite from (Or pick which to listen to depending on mood or setting.).

Actually, one type of song I think an orchestra might be great on is something that deliberately takes listeners on a sonic and lyrical journey through time. Like, let's say you're doing a song about evolution from the primordial ooze that birthed the first single-cell organisms to humanity, perhaps even including a potential (near?) future that might include some of the post-humanism hinted at by songs like "Minus the Man". You could start with life monastic chant and then tribal sounding drums and keep moving through to orchestra and big band and jazz and early 50s style rock and then Beatles/Beach Boys style rock and then 70s style rock and then 80s style rock, finishing with a little trip through the 90s style (What was popular in the 90s as opposed to what Yes did in the 90s), and then a reprise that maybe focuses on the 70s because that's what Yes seems to like to focus on these days. An orchestra would obviously be the first choice for the symphonic orchestra-like parts, and, depending on the skill set, maybe even the big band stuff (Billy Sherwood's father was a Big Band musician, for whom he sometimes played drums as a child [I think anyway- maybe I am thinking of someone else], so he might be helpful there, too, in composing and offering classical players who have the right instruments but not the right experience for that genre some direction on how to swing.). Obviously, I entirely realize that human musical forms are on an entirely different and much shorter time table than the evolution of life on earth, but in a song like that, it wouldn't be intended literally, but rather as sort of an auditory thing that listeners will recognize as symbolizing progress and evolution, which matches the lyrics in theme, albeit not in science and actually history.