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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
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Posted: March 11 2015 at 23:17 |
richardh wrote:
Magnification is also very good. I find good things in all these albums (Talk , Magnification, Ladder and Keys) but they are all uneven and a bit patchy. I suppose the question would be though would we rather have this and an active touring band that Yes still are or would it have been better for them to have packed it in? Obviously my view is the former. | I think they should keep on getting albums... from time to time. There should usually be something worth enjoying on most of them (though I must admit the last one was a difficult one to find something memorable, and even the two songs I actually liked have something that I don't like... apathy would be what bothers me on them, I guess), also, I find very little to like on The Ladder and Open your Eyes. However, as is the case with Talk, Keys to Ascension (or rather, keystudio, I guess), Magnification, and even Fly from Here, they all have songs I really love, though I don't really love the whole albums... but that is something I could say also about most of their albums in the 70's, actually, except for Fragile and CttE which are the two I really find wonderful as whole albums.
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richardh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Points: 25890
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Posted: March 12 2015 at 02:18 |
Dellinger wrote:
richardh wrote:
Magnification is also very good. I find good things in all these albums (Talk , Magnification, Ladder and Keys) but they are all uneven and a bit patchy. I suppose the question would be though would we rather have this and an active touring band that Yes still are or would it have been better for them to have packed it in? Obviously my view is the former. |
I think they should keep on getting albums... from time to time. There should usually be something worth enjoying on most of them (though I must admit the last one was a difficult one to find something memorable, and even the two songs I actually liked have something that I don't like... apathy would be what bothers me on them, I guess), also, I find very little to like on The Ladder and Open your Eyes. However, as is the case with Talk, Keys to Ascension (or rather, keystudio, I guess), Magnification, and even Fly from Here, they all have songs I really love, though I don't really love the whole albums... but that is something I could say also about most of their albums in the 70's, actually, except for Fragile and CttE which are the two I really find wonderful as whole albums. |
For me CTTE is the only one I love from start to finish. Even Fragile has those solo bits that jar a tiny bit
Edited by richardh - March 12 2015 at 02:18
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
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Posted: March 12 2015 at 22:29 |
richardh wrote:
Dellinger wrote:
richardh wrote:
Magnification is also very good. I find good things in all these albums (Talk , Magnification, Ladder and Keys) but they are all uneven and a bit patchy. I suppose the question would be though would we rather have this and an active touring band that Yes still are or would it have been better for them to have packed it in? Obviously my view is the former. |
I think they should keep on getting albums... from time to time. There should usually be something worth enjoying on most of them (though I must admit the last one was a difficult one to find something memorable, and even the two songs I actually liked have something that I don't like... apathy would be what bothers me on them, I guess), also, I find very little to like on The Ladder and Open your Eyes. However, as is the case with Talk, Keys to Ascension (or rather, keystudio, I guess), Magnification, and even Fly from Here, they all have songs I really love, though I don't really love the whole albums... but that is something I could say also about most of their albums in the 70's, actually, except for Fragile and CttE which are the two I really find wonderful as whole albums. |
For me CTTE is the only one I love from start to finish. Even Fragile has those solo bits that jar a tiny bit
| Yeah, the solo bits on Fragile, but they are short enough that I can ignore them and won't bother me. Actually, Mood for a Day is very good from it's own, and even adds to the album. The Fish is perhaps even better, but mainly thinking about it as an extention to Long Distance Runaround (I think about The Fish as the instrumental bass solo of the other song... and Long Distance Runaround doesn't really sound complete without it). I even enjoy We Have Heaven because of it's weirness, and it's good as a prelude to South Side. Five Percent for Nothing... come on, it's barely half a minute long... in a blink of an eye it's done. Perhaps the one that bothers me the most is Cans and Brahms, which is not so very short and it's not particularly good as some of the other bits... but it's not terribly bad either, and I can still consider Fragile as a Masterpiece even with that song on it. What bothers me most about Cans and Brahms is what could have been and was not... mainly that it was used instead of what Wakeman really intended as his contribution to the album: the song that eventually became Catherine of Aragon... but somehow because of record company contracts he was forbidden to contribute any songwriting for Yes, so he had to go with this other classical adaptation. I don't know if Wakeman would have had Catherine of Aragon played wholly by himself, or if he would have "cheated" and played it with the rest of the band (as was actually played on 6 Wives), but if it had been on Fragile the album would have ended up even better than it is. The only bright side to this is that Catherine of Aragon ended up on 6 Wives, which is another wonderful and brilliant album that I completley love and would miss that song on it (I guess Rick would have come up with something else to take it's place, but I wonder if he would have been able to come up with another equally strong song).
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richardh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 25890
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Posted: March 13 2015 at 03:27 |
When I think about it Six Wives is the only purely instrumental symphonic prog album that I absolutely love. The themes are incredibly strong and the playing of all concerned is off the scale of brilliant. I wonder though about that missing track 'Henry'. The record company didn't allow that onto Six Wives (later included on the Hampton Court live DVD) so maybe that could have been used instead of Cans and Brahms?
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verslibre
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 01 2004
Location: CA
Status: Online
Points: 14873
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Posted: March 13 2015 at 11:06 |
richardh wrote:
When I think about it Six Wives is the only purely instrumental symphonic prog album that I absolutely love. The themes are incredibly strong and the playing of all concerned is off the scale of brilliant. I wonder though about that missing track 'Henry'. The record company didn't allow that onto Six Wives (later included on the Hampton Court live DVD) so maybe that could have been used instead of Cans and Brahms? |
How about Criminal Record? I've always enjoyed that as much as (if not more than) Six Wives.
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Rednight
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 18 2014
Location: Mar Vista, CA
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Points: 4807
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Posted: March 13 2015 at 12:33 |
^Long live Bill Oddie!
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Dellinger
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Posted: March 13 2015 at 23:40 |
richardh wrote:
When I think about it Six Wives is the only purely instrumental symphonic prog album that I absolutely love. The themes are incredibly strong and the playing of all concerned is off the scale of brilliant. I wonder though about that missing track 'Henry'. The record company didn't allow that onto Six Wives (later included on the Hampton Court live DVD) so maybe that could have been used instead of Cans and Brahms? | Well, the track for Henry that was played on the Hampton concert wasn't actually the one Rick had thought so many years ago. I'm not sure about this, but as far as I understand, Rick had some idea for that track on his mind, but since he didn't use it, well, he wouldn't remember it after so many years. Who knows, perhaps those ideas ended up in some other song from a later album. By the way, I got to see that Hampton concert live (well, not the one on the DVD, but the one the previous night, however, that's just about the same).
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
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Posted: March 13 2015 at 23:44 |
verslibre wrote:
richardh wrote:
When I think about it Six Wives is the only purely instrumental symphonic prog album that I absolutely love. The themes are incredibly strong and the playing of all concerned is off the scale of brilliant. I wonder though about that missing track 'Henry'. The record company didn't allow that onto Six Wives (later included on the Hampton Court live DVD) so maybe that could have been used instead of Cans and Brahms? |
How about Criminal Record? I've always enjoyed that as much as (if not more than) Six Wives. | Criminal Record is also brilliant, and I do love it, however, I like 6 Wives better. CR is less consitent, I guess, first it's got 3 wonderful songs with Chris and Alan, all of them very much alike, then comes 2 rather weaker songs (the breathalizer or whatever particularly annoying, if I remember well). Then, of course, the album is redeemed by the absolutley wonderful Judas Iscariot.
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Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
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Points: 15916
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 02:01 |
I find Birdman and Breathalyser 'light relief' after side 1, and then we get the 'biggie' - Judas Iscariot. Crimes Of Passion is my fave track from CR though.
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
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Points: 12581
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 23:03 |
Tom Ozric wrote:
I find Birdman and Breathalyser 'light relief' after side 1, and then we get the 'biggie' - Judas Iscariot. Crimes Of Passion is my fave track from CR though. | Perhaps Wakeman was trying to pull off an ELP. However, Birdman doesn't really harm the album enjoyment... it just isn't as great as the other songs, but it's still a nice piano piece, if I remember well. The Breathalyser I could really do without... still, I'm not sure if it's as annoying as the "light reliefs" ELP were so fond of including on their albums.
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Upbeat Tango Monday
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 10 2015
Location: Buenos Aires
Status: Offline
Points: 1189
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Posted: April 14 2015 at 15:08 |
Another Tormato lover signing in! One of my favorite veRgetables. Joke aside, I do like the album quite a bit.
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richardh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 25890
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Posted: April 15 2015 at 01:39 |
Dellinger wrote:
Tom Ozric wrote:
I find Birdman and Breathalyser 'light relief' after side 1, and then we get the 'biggie' - Judas Iscariot. Crimes Of Passion is my fave track from CR though. |
Perhaps Wakeman was trying to pull off an ELP. However, Birdman doesn't really harm the album enjoyment... it just isn't as great as the other songs, but it's still a nice piano piece, if I remember well. The Breathalyser I could really do without... still, I'm not sure if it's as annoying as the "light reliefs" ELP were so fond of including on their albums. |
The Sheriff > Are You Ready Eddy? > The Breathalyser > Jeremy Bender > Benny The Bouncer
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bhikkhu
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 06 2006
Location: AČ Michigan
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Points: 5109
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Posted: April 15 2015 at 14:16 |
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justin4950834-2
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 08 2013
Location: Cobb
Status: Offline
Points: 329
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Posted: April 15 2015 at 14:26 |
Not great but not bad like people make it out to be. Yes it has a bad production, but past that bad production is a few really decent songs.
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Rednight
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 18 2014
Location: Mar Vista, CA
Status: Offline
Points: 4807
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Posted: April 15 2015 at 15:30 |
I see it as a good production with a few really decent songs.
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
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Points: 12581
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Posted: April 15 2015 at 22:30 |
richardh wrote:
Dellinger wrote:
Tom Ozric wrote:
I find Birdman and Breathalyser 'light relief' after side 1, and then we get the 'biggie' - Judas Iscariot. Crimes Of Passion is my fave track from CR though. |
Perhaps Wakeman was trying to pull off an ELP. However, Birdman doesn't really harm the album enjoyment... it just isn't as great as the other songs, but it's still a nice piano piece, if I remember well. The Breathalyser I could really do without... still, I'm not sure if it's as annoying as the "light reliefs" ELP were so fond of including on their albums. |
The Sheriff > Are You Ready Eddy? > The Breathalyser > Jeremy Bender > Benny The Bouncer | From all this songs the only one I actually enjoy is "Are You Ready Eddy?".
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