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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: "YES" or great concerts.
Message-ID: <1138@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 27-Jun-85 20:14:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxd.1138
Posted: Thu Jun 27 20:14:32 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Jun-85 02:29:54 EDT
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>>Goes to show it's all a matter of taste.  I thought Relayer was a mishmash
>>attempting to integrate Yes-style (whatever that is and was) with a new
>>sound, namely Moraz's jazz-tinged flavorings.  I thought the clash was too
>>harsh, that the styles didn't meld into anything.  "Sound Chaser" sounded
>>to me like four or five separate compositions force-fitted together.
>>I always believed Moraz was very wrong for that band---though I actually
>>liked his previous work with Refugee.

> It sure is a matter of taste. Moraz was/is not as flashy as Wakeman,
> and I always felt he was more willing to intgrate his sound into the
> tune, rather than take Wakeman's approach of integrating the tune into
> his sound.

I always thought Wakeman for the most part did just that in Yes, rarely
soloing concentrating for the better part of most of the compositions on
doing the very thing he was hired for:  electronic keyboard colorizing which
Tony Kaye was too timid to do.  I consider tearing into a Chick Corea ripoff
synthesizer solo for no valid musically contextual reason (i.e., Sound Chaser)
to certainly qualify as flashy in the boldest sense.

> Also (this is not a flame) I have always wondered how much
> of Wakeman's popularity was based on those flying blond locks. I mean,
> the music he has made as a leader ranges from average (HENRY VIII) to
> mediocre (KING ARTHUR) to embarrassing (just about everything else)

Try telling that to Wakeman fans.  (I did, I'm missing a few limbs for it ---
"It's only a flesh wound")  I liked Six Wives and little else.  I agree that
stuff like "Journey", in which he misuses a symphony orchestra in a most
banal way (though I know more than a few who love it) is embarrassing.  Of
course his blond locks were part of his image.  Wakeman wasn't the Emerson a
lot of people thought he was, he was just a good keyboardist who single
handedly defined rock multi-keyboarding style:  the stacks, the purposely
placing keyboards on opposite ends of the stage to impress people as to how
far he could stretch his arms and still play, and (more importantly) the
way in which he introduced keyboard colorization as a pseudo-art form.

> Moraz deferred to Steve Howeas lead soloist, creating sound textures,
> which supported the guitaristic and vocal flights that make up so much
> of Yes. I always felt that Wakeman was trying to inject himself into
> those heights as well.

Again, I see just the opposite.  

> PS Does anyone know Moraz's solo album, I ? Came out before GOING FOR
> THE ONE. It's one of my favorites. I'd be interested to hear what others
> have to say about it.

I think I sold it, or then again I may still have it.  Lyrically it certainly
was banal, instrumentally it was ... different.
-- 
Like a sturgeon (GLURG!), caught for the very first time...
			Rich Rosen   ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr