Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Yes BY PAUL FOXWORTH Guest essay (This is neither a journalistic review of the Yes in concert nor an analysis of their albums; rather, it contains random observations of them as an artistic experience both live and on record.) The Yes create an extraordinary sort of music. Between the five of them they are adapt at all the major musical idioms contemporary to the West, which they synthesize in arrangements executed with preci sion and sensitivity. Both their studio- and their live-sound are clear, well-balanced, and multi dimensional. The tone-color of the music is constantly changing in response to the rich and varied flow of emotion painted sonically in their songs. (Their performances of their arrangements are faithful to the recordings, but without sounding like carbon copies: alike, and yet subtly different). And, an extra attraction for those who love fine } music rather than performers' bending it out of shape for the sake of show: their stage presence is that of serious musicians plying their craft, far more concerned with the quality of their sound than with whatever Rock-Stardom be confer red upon them, content to merely indulge themselves tastefully (as with their colorful clothes) without allowing their visual eccentricities to interfere with the musical experi ence they are creating. The Yes are hard to listen to: their } music demands the listener's total Looking for som We I C.Le NOW OPElN Hotel your c Featurin Shirts-bi Trouser: Broomsi Sweater: by Forui Suedes, Suits, sp4 S. McKri Cristmas is ri C. Lem HL daily ) creates ( concentration in a way no other bands' do (except, at their best, fel low British groups Procol Harum and the-virtually unknown in this country. Fairport Convention). The subtlety and intensity of the music challenges one to put their whole head into it and experience the full spectrum of its tone-color. Lis teners either love Yes' music After experiencing it enough to feel com fortable wtth its eccentricity and complexity or else find these stumbling blocks to really getting into the band. To some, the cool precision and seeming extravag ance of Yes' music seem in conflict with the whole concept of Rock as warmth and explosiveness. Yes' music embodies these qualities but in a way that takes patience to learn to appreciate as being not just a wall of sound but also a complex counter pointing of carefully disciplined instrumentations. Some people feel that their music is pretentious and too damned complicated to be worth the trouble it takes to cope, although they acknowledge Yes as being "good" (i.e. undeniably talented). And then, there are those who go to Yes concerts because the band is famous and has a hit called "Roundabout" on the jukebox at the Campus Club and on AM radio: wit ness those who repeatedly cat called for that song during their concert at the Coliseum October 2. These rude concert-goers deserve a separate paragraph: they are what cause Coliseum audiences to appear to shabbily receive most high-caliber bands that appear ething new in clothin ave just what you nee m Har for your convience in the Wad losest downtown store to the U '7i Norman, Sero, Oleg Ca i, baggies, corduroys-b 'icks, and Asher i-sleeveless, crewneck, ci m, Byford Imports, and leather-by Robert Lewis artscoats- Stan ley Blackel ansky Ltd. ght around the co wrper Charge Acc6 or the shopping p >f all USC student 7ary musi through their fragmentary, snap shot imagry; but though the lyrics may not seem to have a specific meaning, their dream-like quality and the high pitched gentle tone in which he sings them effectively convey feeling, as in "Long Dis tance Run Around". Anderson is, like the title of Yes' fourth album, "fragile": he is the opposite of someone like Jagger who thrives on crudeness and nob glorification (but then, Jagger sel dom has much of any deeply-felt emotion to share with his listeners). Anderson's lyrics are vague and continually shifting focus: they are word-collages, and are well worth the trouble of listening to careful ly.(The most recent Yes albums have lyric-sheets enclosed). Anderson's partners in Yes are no less masterful in applying their respective instruments to the total sound: guitar in hand (whatever kind, or lute-in "I've Seen All Good People"), Steve Howe does it to you, with a penchant for solo Classical folk compositions (far less annoy ingly slick than Greg Lake's of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) and steel-pedal-as-soring-lead guitar ("Siberian Khatru", "And You and I" on the new album) among other things. His leads are intriguingly counterpointed with Chris Squire's facile, lightening-fingered bass and Rick Wakeman's keyboards. Wakeman's forte' is probably organ - he is continually bouncing around between Bach chorale-style, Steve Winwood (John Barleycorn vin Any BEATLE Any MOODY BLU Any DOORS s Any CREEDENC -ON CASSE Also most recordings by the ] LIGHTFOOT, THE WHO, ROE EAGLES, JACOB RARDIN, BRF KRISTOFFERSON. CONSTELLATION CAS Requests Fullfilled ir 796-5 P. O. Box 475, Colh 20c 1 9 Ouncf BUD1~ Every M All Ni THE 0TH 1354 Rose1 Happy Hou, 4:.30-7:00 1.( C tage) lead-style,Lee Michaels heavy-on-the-chords style; he also loves to bounce between piano (grand, upright, & c.) and synth esizer and God-knows-what, and is absolutely overwhelming when be pounces on them in quick succes sion during his concert solo-trips in a blitz of musical expressions rang ing from vaudeville tack-piano to high-mass Handel. The drums are very ably played in concert now adays by a fellow whose name I don't know (but will inquire of Rick, Rock-addict-in-residence at Budget Tapes and Records) and who just recently replaced bloody good-drummer Bill Bruford, who left after the new album was recorded. Incidental percussion is supplied by Anderson and the drummer when he isn't pounding his kit. In conclusion: YES are superb. Their music is of greater complex ity than anybody else's around save for that of Jethro Tull and the afore mentioned Emerson &c., and they perform with much less self conscious flashiness and far grea ter tastefulness than these groups. The fact that their music is so com plex is in itself not a merit, perhaps, but it gives them the maximum potential to express emotional sub tl:ties within the Rock idiom as it exists at the present stage in its evolution. And the YES make awfully good use of that potential. song available ES song available ong available E song available TTE TAPE 1OLLING STONES, GORDON STEWART, JAMES TAYLOR, CAD, LED ZEPPELIN, and KRIS SETTE RECORDINGS I Professional Sound i610 imbia, S. C. 29202 lEER Draught (EISER onday Night ght Long ER PLACE vood Drive r Mon.-Sat. Draught Bud. xtra ordir there. (When the Byrds played there were cat-calls for "Eight Miles High" between every other song). These people seem utterly incapable of respecting subtlety in music; thus their idiotic behavior. Dammit, it isn't easy being on stage making music. It's hard work. And one of artists' needs on stage is to be able to play what they think they ought to play. (Those cat-calling morons kept Yes from wanting to play encores. Why should they? For rude crowds?) Back to Yes itself, and one man in particular: Jon Anderson, vocal ist. Anderson is the most visibly eccentric and, I feel, intriguing member of the band because of the duality of his stage presence. At the microphone, articulating the moods the songs convey, his voice is a fifth instrument, intense and clear; during passages with no vocal score however, he usually steps back on stage, away from the blaz ing lights and crowd beyond (unseen, save for the first few rows, due to the glare). Seemingly list less, as if lost, he appears by-passed by the music somehow. Out of place, almost ineffectual in the dramatic interplay of instruments all around him. Only to step cauti ously forward and once again pour words into the air in beautiful pat terns when the song again calls for emotional articulation. Anderson is obviously a sensitive person, and he protects himself from direct emo tional exposure to his listeners through the elusive, esoteric quality of his lyrics. This is achieved g this winter? d at... per s e Hampton SC campus issini, Pulitzer f' Austin Hill, nbleknit styles Tripp Knit r, Linette Ltd., rner. Use your unt. Open leas ure