{"id":74573,"date":"2020-07-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=74573"},"modified":"2020-07-07T16:53:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T21:53:43","slug":"just-a-couple-of-prog-rock-blokes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=74573","title":{"rendered":"Just A Couple Of Prog-Rock Blokes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

I’ve never much cared for the “progressive-rock” band Yes (except for their 1985 reboot, saying which always starts an argument with my Yes-fan friends). And in saying that, I’ll stipulate a lot of that disdain was my own adolescent “too cool for school” arrogance about music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But “a lot” ain’t everything. “Progressive Rock”, with its orchestral pretensions and acid-fueled subject matter, annoys me almost as much in retrospect as it did then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as I noted five years ago with the death of their founding bassist Chris Squire<\/a>, they could really play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, they knew it. One of the things that probably got me off on a bad foot with Yes were a series of interviews I read with guitarist Steve Howe; with his academic background and classical guitar training, Howe came off like he was working on a cure for cancer, rather than…songs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyboardist Rick Wakeman – he of the Gregg Allman hair and flowing robes and mad-scientist stacks of keyboards – is inseparable from Yes (although he’s left the band a few times, so Yes is clearly separable from him). In the seventies, Wakeman was practically a synonym for bloated pretension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they were right – but as always, there’s more to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is htt a fairly fascinating piece about the Rick Wakeman story<\/a>, including a lot of things I really never thought I’d want to know but am glad I now do. And I’m actually kind of interested…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…in the guy. Not the seventies Yes albums, or Wakeman’s (not making this up) ice show about the legend of King Arthur – although reading about the guys he produced it all with just gets more and more interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to circle back to Steve Howe? I saw this a few years ago, before Squire’s death – a “rig rundown” of Howe and Squires instruments, amps and other gear. And Howe comes across as a pretty dang likeable…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…well, not so much a “bloke”. Maybe more of an affable old professor who’s taken to genial chats about his favorite light reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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