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From: gmk@uicsl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Yessound chaser
Message-ID: <8500006@uicsl>
Date: Fri, 5-Jul-85 21:05:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uicsl.8500006
Posted: Fri Jul  5 21:05:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Jul-85 06:06:25 EDT
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Nf-From: uicsl.UUCP!gmk    Jul  5 20:05:00 1985


["Balance the thoughts that release within you!"]

> /* Written  2:44 pm  Jul  2, 1985 by jer@peora.UUCP in uicsl:net.music */
> Ah! At last a coherent criticism, as opposed to just "I don't like yes,
> they don't have any style." But inasmuch as you attacked one of my comments,
> althewhile attributing it to Rich Rosen (so much the worse), let me respond.

	Sorry for misattributing the quote; I was working from memory
since I didn't feel like saving and editing a dozen articles.

>> "Sound Chaser" is an unequivocally mystic hymn in the tradition
>> of "Close to the Edge" and "Tales from Topographic Oceans" and the
>> subsequent "Awaken". It is *not* an articulation of the
>> conflicts/motivations/influences that compose Yes's music.
>
>This statement bothers me because it seems almost an agnostic view of the
>song.  If you had said "sound chaser is about dancing in the 40s" I would
>not have minded, but "unequivocally mystic hymn?" No.

	Perhaps "hymn" is the wrong word but my interpretation is certainly
not agnostic. Anyone familiar with with the spiritual foundations of
Yes's music would immediately catch the symbolism and allusions in
"Sound Chaser", "Edge", "Tales", "Awaken", etc. These songs are
essentially about experiences on the spiritual path of ECKANKAR.
(If you're interested, look for books by Paul Twitchell in your
library.)

	While lyrics mentioning "music" or "sound" might be taken
quite literally by the uninitiated, they are in reality charged
with symbolism. Virtually all references to "sound", "song",
"music", "wave", "river" (how many Yessongs mention rivers?), etc.,
are allusions to the Audible Life Stream which carries the seeker
back to God; hence sound *chaser*. (Also, "Listening for the sound that
your ears can't hear", from a Richie Havens tune on "Time and a Word".)
If you still doubt that "Sound Chaser" has a spiritual message,
listen for Steve Howe chanting "aum" at the end.

	[ DISCLAIMER: I am no longer associated with ECKANKAR and
do not speak for the organization. I am merely interpreting Yes's
lyrics according to my knowledge of the Path. ]

> [quote from "Sound Chaser"]
> I think this is more or less a recapitulation of what came before; the
> first lines refer to the same music-from-birth notion that is expressed in
> Topographic Oceans:
> 
> 	Cast out a spell, rendered for the light of day.
> 	Lost in light's array, I ventured to see,
> 	as the Sound began to play...
> 
	Care to reinterpret that in light of what I just said? I'm
glad you can see common threads running through Anderson's lyrics.

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"I hearing it -- I living it -- I believe in it -- I loving it!"

Gary Koob
University of Illinois
...!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsg!gmk

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