I was a teenage Prog-head. Doesn’t have quite the ring of Dead-head, but that’s what I was. I loved Progressive Rock- Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and most of all Yes.
These guys (almost always guys) would mash up compound time signatures, modal improvisation, bleepo swooshy synthesizer sounds (I loved those!), and classical music posturing, all into the standard rock ensemble format. Vocals, guitars, bass, drums, & keys. A few dashes of lute, pipe organ, or some such “legit” instrument, and voila!-
Prog Rock.
My dear friend Christine and I trekked any and everywhere to see these bands. I swear the members of Yes knew our names by the end of Summer ’75. Cobo Hall, Detroit, Pine Knob Theatre, Michigan Palace, these were some of our haunts.
http://www.motorcitymusicarchives.com/michiganpalace.html
So here’s the thing. The iPod revolution has hit me hard. I’ve loaded into my iPod hours of music that I haven’t listened to in decades, relistening to music that I loved as a kid and… man, some of it is so embarassing that I turn red just thinking about it. I won’t even pretend that my not mentioning any of those particular names is anything other than what it actually is; pure embarassment. On the other hand, I proudly will mention that as a kid I loved The Beatles, Harry Chapin, Jimi Hendrix, ELP, Cat Stevens, Patrick Moraz, Harry Nillson, and, yes, Yes. Yes were pretty killer musicians. Okay there were a few excesses- multi-necked guitars, multi-disk concept albums, multi-keyboards. And the clothes- dangerously high platform shoes, spandex, sequined capes. But hey, if you grew up in the 70s, what did you look like? http://www.plaidstallions.com/fashion.html Not a pretty sight is it? And admit it, if you had had the dough and the nerve, look out Ziggy Stardust. But I digress.
Yes kicked off their North American tour in Hamilton on November 4, 2008. There were a couple of ringers in the band so extra pre tour rehearsal days were booked downtown. I made my way to their rehearsal space hoping to listen outside the door for a bit, but started to feel a little conspicuous and uncomfortable- a middle-aged, briefcase bearing man standing by himself in the hallway. So I moved on, thinking that maybe I would catch a glimpse of one of my idols over at Jackson Square, maybe one of them might be sitting in the foodcourt, eating a Gordita Crunch or something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM-pN6yiDWA
Which suddenly made me feel uncomfortable for the band. I mean, really… In their heyday these guys were selling out arenas like Madison Square Gardens multiple nights in a row. Millions of albums sold, and here they were opening their North American 40th Anniversary Tour in Hamilton, Ontario. Now, I am NOT knocking our fair city or the band. It’s just our size and location suggests that Yes was not exactly diving in the deep end; more like sticking a toe in the water, testing it out before really commiting. So with these fears that they may be mere shells of their former selves…I snuck into their final rehearsal on stage at Hamilton Place. Their actual show date coincided with the U.S. presidential election and I had to pick one or the other and Obama won, and then Obama won. Okay, there were a few Spinal Tap moments during the rehearsal,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomBWvdu_lo&feature=PlayList&p=13478F4D1C72C3D6&playnext=1&index=16
like trying to figure out a peculiar chord voicing “Isn’t it sort of an E minor thingy with an A bass, like?” or watching them huddle around to decipher a section of the “Yes Songbook:Complete!” purchased by the crew at a local music store because no one in the band could remember how some parts went. And really, 40 plus years of pretty complicated arrangements? Who could remember all that?
But what most struck me was this- These guys were working. And they were working hard. Days of rehearsal to perform some music that they’ve played for decades, and some music that they haven’t played for decades. On stage they were commiting, really digging in, stopping and starting to clean up ragged bits, spontaneously dumping a pre-recorded part in order to play it live. These guys did not “phone it in” but were working really hard and playing really, really well. No eye rolling, bored sighs, weight-of-the-world/I’m-better-than-this attitudes. The original members, all well in to their 60s, have been to the mountain top, so to speak. And here they were in Hamilton, pushing that Prog-Rock back up the hill, once again.
