M.O. was more aligned with jazz fusion. Yes was prog rock, but the M.O. never went there. And John McLaughlin had too much influence from India, especially with the title song "Birds of Fire."
Chris Squire RIP the GOAT of Rock bassists with his Rickenbacker bass self taught master ! Listen to Close to the Edge the pinnacle of prog rock epic masterpiece.
Bruford and Squire hitting on all cylinders. One of my favorite Yes songs for real. If you guys have not heard Awaken yet it should be on your list. It's really, no kidding, as close to a spiritual experience as I've ever had. But yeah. Glad you liked this one as much as you did.
I saw Yes in 1977, with a round stage rotating in the middle of the stadium, and my soul and spirit lifted out of my body during Awakening, and I wept.
@@patrickfarren3506 my first ever show of anyone ever, aged 17, was the '78 Yes tour, with the rotating stage, at Wembley Arena, and Awaken had the same effect. Still does, all these years later. I think there's a video of that exact show on RU-vid, in fact, but the quality's not great.
In case you all didn't know, Dr William Bruford now has his own RU-vid channel with some great content already. I am a guitarist primarily for many years but have this obsession with these world class drummers and their technical skills. Awe and envy I guess.
Bruford and Squire smashing it on here(drums, bass respectively)...first heard this on Yessongs (live) and didnt hear the studio version til much later...i like both versions but the live version has a bit more oomph..kudos to whoever suggested this one...nice one guys (still haven't listened to your 'Black Page ' reaction yet, bit under the weather today and feel I need to be firing on all cylinders for that one lol)
Well recorded live shows almost always outdo the studio recordings, imo... Yessongs was my first Yes album and when I later listened to the studio track I thought "cool, but the live version rules!!" Still does!
Yes is an experience !!! Keep exploring! They were awesome in concert. Saw them many times in Seattle Washington in the 70’s. The soundtrack to my teenage years!! Thanks for the ride!!
Watching Chris Squire play his Rickenbacker 4001 is one of my favorite memories from my early concert going years. One of the greatest rock bassists - when Yes was taken into the R&R Hall of Fame Geddy Lee played with the group, as sadly Chris had passed away before they were inducted.
One of the pioneers of prog rock. I love the early Yes years. Was lucky enough to see and listen to these in the early '70's. It was like being a child in a sweet (candy) shop in this era. Along with Yes, you had ELP, Jethro Tull, Mahavishnu Orchestra and others smashing it about all at the same time. A great, inventive era with British bands leading the way.
Jon Anderson's voice is really like no other; it's more than having incredible range, he treats his voice like an instrument. Also, Yes can be the best prog group for intense build ups and crescendos in their songs; so powerful
I will always have a memory of watching them play this song in NYC, sometime around 2002, and when Jon hits that final "I feel lost in the city" and he hits that high note even stronger than the recording (at around 60 years old!) and the blue stage lights were illuminating him and the band is all at a crescendo, I had one of those moments of transcendence. A moment beyond self and a peek at nirvana.
Thanks to you two for sharing. I'm glad you liked this. Sifi, I love your comment "...it tingled different parts of like your mind...". Great thought. This is my favorite song of my life...by anyone. Favorite band. Been enjoying this and all Yes since 1974 when I was 10. It's so fun to see younguns discovering this stuff.
A few years ago I went down to the beach to watch a Daytona sunrise with headphones and yes, Yes. The contrast between the city's chaotic, even cacophonous, flow of ideas and activities to the ethereal sensations of a secluded sunshine is beautifully illustrated in this masterfully crafted piece of music.
I was a fan of Yes when they released their epic albums in the 70's but after listing to Yes songs lately I have now realized how defining Chris Squire's base playing was for their sound, of course all other band members was also fantastic musicians.
So nice seein you guys gettin to sample one of the top prog rock bands around...no one has the unique sweet vocals of John Anderson...this u n is a great choice guys...Ty
This was the first Yes song I heard as a kid in the late 80's. I found my dad's tape of Fragile and it was cued to this track. I loved it right away, I was used to children's music, the soft rock my mom listened to and late 80's pop music, when I heard this for the first time it sounded like it came from outer space compared to all the other music I'd heard.
Jon Anderson once said at a concert that he wrote the lyrics as a meditation. Then Chris Squire insisted on turning it into a rock song. Which is why it has two distinct flavors. "Dreamer, easy in the chair that really fits you..."
This is a prime example of how Jon Anderson's lyrics are chosen by the way they sound, and not their meaning. I mean, what the hell is sharp distance? But by the end of the song, "sharp distance has a meaning all its own. Also, somewhat ironically, it has one of my favorite Yes lyrics, "Easy in the chair that really fits you."
Jon Anderson basically paints with words in the true impressionist sense. And so there is so much room for interpretation and the chance to find something personal for your own journey. And it can change as you grow older and change. It is why he is one of my favorite lyricists. For example, a lyric like, "Dreamer easy in the chair that really fits you," can come across on one day as revelatory 'you are a dreamer and you found your place in life' and the next it can seem to be mocking 'all you can do is dream so it is fitting that you just sit in that chair and do nothing for real.' I know some people think the lyrics can be too abstract or challenging, but I advise people to let the words take you for a ride and then listen again and think of them a different way, repeat...there's no right or wrong just here and now.
Great review, Bill Bruford that snare sound, spot him anywhere, should check out his solo stuff with holdsworth on guitar. Keep it up chaps. Brighten my day Keep well
I love how this begins with guitar and bass playing simultaneous and matching arpeggios, then later one is ascending while the other is descending! So imaginative! This song has moments of frenetic rock paired with beautifully gentle vocals and instrumentals. Just Yes at their peak of creativity!
They did and it bored the pants off them. Sifa & Dan, if you ever want to give it a second chance, try the live version from Yessongs. It’s more visceral and you don’t see the joins the way you do with the studio original.
I have not heard this favorite in decades! I wore this album out. Takes me back to setting in a living room with my friends, a bag of Mexican dirt weed, and some papers, rolling and smoking joint after joint. The while album is a trip, and a masterpiece. Thsnk you. Listen to the whole album. Definately worth it!
A really beautiful reaction! Fragile is one of my favourite Yes albums. And Chris Squire on the bass was a quality of his own and - speaking in categories of bass sound and musicianship - absolutely trendsetting this years on his Rickenbacker 4001 Bass. There goes the myth that he used a quarter as a pick to produce his heavy twangy sound. But in fact it were Herco heavy picks. As a suggestion one should hear him on "Gates of Delirium" from the Relayer album. And lot of fun is his interview where he told us about his first meeting with Jimi Hendrix! Enjoy! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eo-lBnTc3So.html
I always thought that Yes was just showing off their incredible musicianship on this track.Just everyone in the band was on top of their game and killing it.
My favorite YES song Chris Squire on bass and that Bruford snare. I love how it goes from riff to riff to riff back to the original riff and they all fit together. And let's not forget Jon Anderson's voice. Nobody I've ever heard sounds like that. Been waiting all week to see what y'all thought about this masterpiece. ✌❤🤘
Steve is great on this - holding back for the sake of the song. The transition from Bass to Guitar at 4:10 is so amazing. Chris and Bill really shine and Jon's vocals are superb.
Love Yes. Saw them a couple of times. Jon Anderson also did a solo tour a few years back. I remember trying to get our graduation song to be Gates of Delirium from the Relayer album. No success. Some lame pop song. This song , Heart of the Sunrise gave me thoughts of King Crimson, the fast parts.
Great choice! I bought this album as a 12 year-old back in 1971/72 it sounded like nothing I'd heard before - nor since! Simply wonderful! VBW &Thank You! x
BASS!!! Chris Squire is missed. High school when this came out. I was one of the nerd kids that didn't care for disco. This album was the soundtrack of my high school years.
Ladies and gentlemen Chris Squire and Yes the greatest show on earth. Wonderful reaction to a song I've been listening to for fifty yrs. Keep the journey going you'll love it. Try to listen in chronological order. Or just jump into Close To The Edge.
The cacophony and violence of city life portrayed musically is contrasted with Jon’s passionate vocals detailing the spiritual search of all of those lost inside that very city life. Love and peace up against the machine.
Truly, with this, already their fourth album, YES set the bar for all prog-rock at the highest possible level. This was the first album with the line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, and Bill Bruford. Wakeman was the new addition. Together this line-up would create the absolute classic "Close to the Edge" and the enormously challenging "Tales From Topographic Oceans", a double-album but only one song to a side. Then Wakeman departed again and we got the same line-up but with Patrick Moraz on keys for the stunning album "Relayer". The only album Moraz ever played on. And what an amazing match he was. Absolutely one of my favorite YES albums for that very reason. "To Be Over" is such a soul salve after "Sound Chaser". There are giants and there are Giants. But YES was a GIANT among them all. The passing of no other musician, even Frank Zappa, caused me more sorrow than the passing of Chris Squire. The heart of YES. The only member to play in ALL iterations/line-ups of YES. Saw them three times in the "Going For The One" and "Tormato" era. "Awaken" live was phenomenal. Enough cannot be said about YES. This album was in 1971. Fifty-one years ago. And the band with Chris Squire as the constant thread and guiding light until 2015 and his death. Image. 1969 to 2015 as the throbbing heart of the premiere prog-rock band of all time. 46 years. Blessings.
Yes!!!! to Yes!!! One of my favorite Yes songs. The Chris Squire bass is so fat and wonderful. And Jon's vocals are sublime. Although I do think that the Rick Wakeman keyboard runs (about 2/3 of the way through) are a little off-putting.
I agree in the jarring keyboard runs. They bug me... but he makes up for it in the next section. The part that starts with the piano. From that point to the end, the song is pure, blissful perfection.
This is one of the best Yes performances. Wakeman did not show off and over do his schitk. The pipe organ interweaving with the other voices is masterful. Even like the ending (not played).
Saw them do this at the Whisky. The LP had just come out (import). First time hearing this song. Blew me away. After the show we all walked to Towrr Records and bought the LP.
My all time favorite Yes song. Check out a weird Indy movie called “Buffalo ‘66” that uses it in a very interesting way in the final act. King Crimson, too. The whole movie has a prog soundtrack.
It's a song of motifs and dynamics. The band were really starting to understand how to weave an epic soundtrack together by introducing and reintroducing certain motifs, taking it all the way up and dropping it quickly down, moving between major and minor, and creating a sonic landscape that captures the listener and takes them on a journey.
I bought a copy of Fragile back in the 70s at age 14. It was by far the most accomplished rock music I'd heard up to that point. And what a great sounding record! It never ages. Bill Bruford's drumming is a high point for me but everybody plays great and the material is brilliant.
There's a fun callback that got cut off the end of this particular version.. A track called "We Have Heaven" earlier on the album features a gradual layering of Jon Anderson's vocals. The track ends abruptly with a slamming door sound effect. If you wait 5-10 seconds after "Heart of the Sunrise", you hear a door opening, and the remainder of "We Have Heaven" promptly starts up then fades out.
I hope you will understand what an impact this had on me. The album Fragile was released in the UK 11/1/71. I saw them at the Whisky 11/3/71. So none of us had heard any of this.
Love your reactions to this. Yes makes you do air guitar, air bass, air drums, and air keyboards ...is air vocals at thing too?!? The song makes me feel like a kid running full tilt up a deserted 6th avenue at 5 AM. When it ended I felt I had to go and listen to Siberian Khatru (off the Close to the Edge album) immediately. Thanks as always.
Oh yeah you know when this album came out my friend and I went to The Forum in Inglewood California and we saw this band and they were the opening act to Guess Who? No not guess who it was Black Sabbath so they had both put out iconic albums you had yes with fragile and you had Black Sabbath Paranoid and both bands played all the music from those albums there was another band called wild turkey it had the bass player from Jethro Tull Glenn cornick it was more like a blues group so years later you know Patrick moraz did one album with yes called relayer I miss guitarist that I played with Ed Wilson he had a record store and he befriended Patrick he was staying in San Pedro and he was doing little gigs you don't just plan piano solo but before that he had put out like to albums with Bill bruford that I know of just bill bruford on acoustic drums and Patrick moraz on piano it was amazing stuff we actually saw one of their shows up in in well down in Huntington Beach so anyhow he came over to the record store and we had everything set up and we got to jam with Patrick moraz boy talk about pressure I mean this guy played with Bill bruford the greatest drummer that I know of as far as originality and creativity and all that fun stuff so I had to be on my A-game course he did come over again and we get a little video of him and we jammed and he didn't stay very long but it was fun but yeah it's really trippy because they were auditioning different keyboards that keyboardist rather Patrick and then of course Vangelis and they picked Patrick over Vangelis which probably is a good thing because he went on to do Cerita Fire And Blade Runner and those were two epic movies so good for him I just love the music in Blade Runner oh my God anyway tell you a really funny little story you know we're like 12 13 years old well let's see it was 1970 I think 19 maybe 71 yes I was like 12 years old anyway my friend brought in all these forty-five singles these old 45s I mean it was a dumbass goddamn thing ever and he know he regrets it nowadays but he was throwing those damn things around like frisbees one of them came back and there was this hippie kind of dude and he got hit in the knee and he was hurting the poor guy has grown in and anyway I gave him a joint and he was better but the thing is there's a song that Steve Howe played on his acoustic I think it's called mood for a day and fucking rob through one of those 45 records and it hit the light cage that holds the lights and then all the fragments so the vinyl came falling sprinkling down right in front of Steve Howe and Steve house playing this really complex song on his acoustic guitar and yet he didn't miss a nobody's looking up like what the fuck is that he was looking up and it'll just wondering what the hell is going to happen here you know I guess you could have the thought like oh shit is this like caged going to fall down or some shit or what you know but he didn't miss a note my friend doesn't like it what I bring that story up because he still feels that guilt but hey he was only like 11 years old whatever he didn't know any better even though he should have but it was hilarious cuz I had the weed on me but I had all the couple of these cameras and equipment and so they just let me through they didn't even Pat me down for drugs or anything you know it was kind of like a distraction I guess I'm sorry I went on too long again alright you crazy brooklynites hey thanks for the response back I appreciate it you guys take care keep on jam and come up with some crazy original music you know that's what you got to do I mean all these guys did it why can't we? I know it's like a scene or whatever and I know that the music industry is a different but we can do it in spite of the music industry we don't have to get permission take care of you 2
In the Movie BUFFALO 66 the main character goes to a strip bar to go kill the Buffalo Bills place kicker who blew a field goal in the super bowl. While the strippers are dancing to this song's bass solo of Chris. Christina Ricci stars along with Vincent Gallo. Also he used King Crimson's "Moonchild" and Yes's "Sweetness" THIS CIP IS "R" RATED! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H6OtRmGWSEo.html
The drummer Bill Brufford definitely has a jazz sensibility. The nonpareil bass player Chris Squire not only lays down the firmament, but can play as another lead guitar, just an octave or so lower. The terms guitar hero and keyboard wizard were practically invented for Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. And then top it off with the otherworldly vocals of Jon Anderson. "On to the heart of the sunrise" indeed.
