It’s 1970 and the band known as Yes haven’t really figured out who they are yet, being still a couple of instrumental wizards short of achieving true escape velocity. Which doesn’t mean this re-imagining of an obscure Richie Havens song isn’t a pile of fun, all jazz riffs, stolen TV cowboy themes, and whatever else could be made to fit.
“Hunters + Collectors being band named after a song by Can but, truth be told, that connection did more to twig me to the enduring riches of Can than the other way around. Which isn’t to cast aspersions at Hunters + Collectors, particularly their first album, which managed to sound simultaneously Euro-cool and deeply, mysteriously, uniquely Australian – all those vast open spaces and way too many weird animals that can kill you.” (Philip Random)
A non-hit from a 1976 album that was thick with hits, Tightrope nevertheless has everything that was ever truly great about the Electric Light Orchestra – big screen dynamics, big melody, big fun all around. It even rocks once they finally get to that part.
In which we start at the end (of the world, that is) — the band known as the Raiders take on Barry Maguire’s way-too-serious 1965 end times mega-hit, add some showbiz schmaltz and set us all free. Because it’s one of those eternal truths. The Apocalypse is nigh, the fan is being hit by shit. Always has been, always will be. And yet, some of the music’s been amazing. It’s almost as if there’s a point to it all.
Some time ago (late 2011 through early 2013), Randophonic presented a series of programs we called The All Vinyl Countdown + Apocalypse (aka the 1,111 Greatest Records You Probably Haven’t Already Heard). It was based on the record collection (and copious notes) of a guy named Philip Random (who you can read more about here).
Bottom line, it was a lot of work spread over a lot of time, and it was all well documented for a while. But then the old blog got mostly retired and most of the podcasts were lost in some nefarious alien time slip, which leaves us with very little evidence that anything even happened. Although Nardwuar the Human Serviette did talk to Randophonic’s host Bill Mullan about it twice.
So in the interests of remedying all this, the plan for the next prolonged while is to review the whole damned countdown (and apocalypse) one track at a time, one day at a time, for the next one thousand one hundred eleven days (or thereabouts).
At some point, we’ll likely get around to re-broadcasting some (or maybe all) of the original programs, or at least reposting the podcasts. But in the meantime …
Yes – Beyond + Before aired July-25-2015 on CiTR.FM.101.9. An overlong and yet rather incomplete three part special dedicated entirely to the band known as Yes. Because founding member and bass master Chris Squire died last month, and respect is due. Also, July 25th marked the forty-sixth anniversary of the release of Yes’s first album.
Here it is in three Mixcloud streams:
Podcast available here.
PROGRAM NOTES:
Part 1 (To The Edge) starts with track one, side one of the album known simply as Yes, and then moves chronologically through the next five albums (including the 1973 triple live set Yessongs), a time of solid change.
Part Two (In Deep) starts at the edge of the Topographic Ocean, from which point the good ship Yes either hit a reef and sunk, or sustained to reveal the true meaning of pretty much everything, possibly both.
Whatever happened, the next album, 1974’s Relayer, was every bit as ambitious, yet more focused. Even most of the lyrics at least half made sense.
It would be three years before Yes’s next album, Going For One, which was okay, but Yes’s true glory seemed to be mostly in the past by now. Or perhaps decades into the future as a rather stunning 2013 performance of Going For the One’s Awaken indicates.
Part 3 (New Language) skips the 1980s entirely and half of the 1990s (a period in which Yes reinvented itself as a massively successful pop act, and then seemingly got bored with it all). But come 1995, something genuinely interesting was brewing again, and it would continue until comfortably into the new millennium. Did they match their earlier glories here? Probably not. But they certainly weren’t guilty anymore of not trying.
TRACKLISTS:
Part 1 – To The Edge
Beyond + Before – Yes (1969)
Astral Traveler – Time and a Word (1970)
Yours is no Disgrace [expanded] – Yes album + Yessongs (1971-73)
We have Heaven – Fragile (1971)
South Side of the Sky – Fragile (1971)
And You And I [expanded] – Close to the Edge + Yessongs (1972-73)
Part 2 – In Deep
Fragments of Topographic Oceans – Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)
[most of] The Gates of Delirium [expanded] – Relayer (1974)
Awaken – Jon Anderson + Todmobile (live in Iceland, 2013)
Part 3 – New Language
Mind Drive [excerpt-1] – Keys to Ascension 2 (1996)
Can I + Face to Face – The Ladder (1999)
Brother of Mine [fragment] – Anderson Bruford Wakeman + Howe (1989)
Homecoming [excerpt] – The Ladder (1999)
New Language – The Ladder (1999)
That, that it is [edit] – Keys to Ascension 1 (1995)
Mind Drive [excerpt-2] – Keys to Ascension 2 (1996)
Footprints [excerpts] – Keys to Ascension 2 (1996)
Mind Drive [excerpt-3] – Keys to Ascension 2 (1996)
Dreamtime – Magnification (2001)
In the Presence of – Magnification (2001)
Children of Light [part-2] – Keys to Ascension 2 (1996)
BONUS VIDS:
Randophonic 