Post a controversial music opinion

I do sometimes wonder about what goes into bands' aesthetic shifts like e.g. Yes becoming an 80s pop group. The GQ piece gives a pretty good picture.

Regarding Yes, though, what became 90125 didn’t start out as Yes. The band, built around Trevor Rabin, had a couple of Yes members, and was called Cinema. But at some point Jon Anderson was brought in, and then Tony Kaye, and it was decided, “Welp, might as well call it Yes.” It wasn’t nearly as calculated a hitmaking move as Starship/“We Built This City”; it was, arguably, largely accidental.

Right, that makes sense. Tbc, I didn't mean every situation was the same, just that it was interesting to get a picture in one case: the original true believer who grudgingly and resentfully went along, the producer who thought he was "no longer relevant", the new guy who had no attachment to the old band at all and was along for the hits, the veteran who just wanted to sell out and retire, the true believers in the new direction.

I got the feeling Tony Kaye was involved purely for legal reasons, as in they needed to have three original members to be allowed to call it Yes or something along those lines. I don't think he even played on 90125. Pretty sure he wasn't exactly a prog believer anyway though, and was happy enough to get the touring paycheck.

Yeah, I think that’s correct, and I seem to remember that Eddie Jobson posted on some message board a number of years ago about how he was drafted into the keyboardist role after the album was finished — to the extent that he was in the first cut of the “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” video — but once Kaye showed up, Jobson was out (and the video was re-edited).

My enduring memory of the Yes show I saw in 1984 — which, to this day, still stands as the worst musical performance I’ve ever witnessed in person — is of Kaye, approximately 40 minutes into a 90 minute keyboard solo, playing Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue In D Minor,” to absolutely tumultuous applause from the crowd. Being too young to drive at the time, my dad accompanied my brother and me to the concert; as he said after the show, “You know...they just didn’t swing.” Nailed it.

there's that bonkers 90215 Live: The Solos album if you want to relive it

Trying to imagine how much Jobson might have improved that lineup

There's a concert video too. It is... not good.

It’s the directorial debut of Steven Soderbergh!

yes live on videotape

it should not be a controversial music opinion to celebrate 90125 as the best album of the 1980s

I haven't listened to "We Built This City" in a few years, and listening to it now, it really is striking how inscrutable yet ponderous the lyrics are— I'd really love to hear Pollard do a version of this tbh.

God, now I really want that to happen. Imagining Pollard singing "Marconi plays the mamba" is just excellent.

Who counts the money underneath the bar?
Who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars?

who indeed

we do

LOL

it should not be a controversial music opinion to celebrate 90125 as the best album of the 1980s

I'm not sure enough people hold this opinion for it to be the subject of controversy (and I will stan all day for Yes from 1971-1977).

yes live on videotape

Chet Atkins, for all his guitar prowess, is an extremely boring musician.

All of Tanya Tagaq's songs sound friggin identical. The first one's a banger but there's infinitely more variety in every recording of Inuit vocal games I've heard.

that’s not what she’s doing is it?

There's a wide range of musical styles from Auk/Blood to Animism to Retribution!

Yeah that is as controversial as "all bop sounds the same", it's wrong, and additionally, it is wrong

Electronic beats and synth pads vs looser live instrumentation; layered looped vocals vs organic improv; beatless jams vs strongly rhythmic tracks; guest rapper vs sung alt-rock covers vs guttural vocalization vs screaming etc

Yeah, Tagaq does a whole bunch of things. I don't like most of them, and usually find myself skipping through her albums in search of one or two tracks that are what I'm actually after, but it's impossible to say it's "all the same" unless one is literally not listening.

Deflatormouse deflated.

enough things happen in the Retribution title-track alone to negate that opinion tbh

enjoy how ILM perks up at the merest whiff of Turrican lol

Heh, I've already divested myself of that opinion. I ended up listening to a wider sampe of her material last night than I had previously, after reading an interview that referred to her range and named corresponding tracks etc

Tagaq had been one of my "Artists Who are Totally Your Thing 'On Paper' That You Nevertheless Do Not Like" or "Artists You Keep Trying To Get Into". I think the wall I kept hitting with was going for the same 2 or 3 videos on Youtube every time that happened to be in a similar vein. Liking the first one enough to keep going, then getting the impression that's all there is.
Anyway I'm obsessed with Tanya Tagaq rn

^typical Turrican move ;)

What's a Turrican? :)

former poster who infamously hated on The 1975 in a really annoying way, baiting their fans something rotten, then decided they were amazing and proceeded to love them in a possibly even more annoying way, now banned

dw though I'm not seriously comparing you to him lol

good luck on your tanya tagaq quest

Deflatormouse I highly, highly encourage you to see Tagaq live when the opportunity presents itself, she is one of the best live acts in the world

She gave this performance the night she won Polaris. I don't know if the video is as effective as "actually being there" was, but it was easily the single most arresting performance I've ever witnessed.

https://polarismusicprize.ca/videos/tanya-tagaq-uja-and-umingmak-live/

Yeah I've seen her three times and she was stellar each time.

We need to reserve the term "banger" or "slaps" solely for songs that are uptempo, with prominent drums and/or rhythm sections (as in, the sonics match the onomatopoeia). I feel misled when I read a review of a track, and it says "she just dropped another one that slaps", or "Bob Dylan's latest banger" and its a slow folky campfire-style tune with basically no percussion.

Xxxp I still haven't hearf the 1975 tbh, i always get them mixed up with DFA 1979
I am gonna check out this link and the Retribution track now, thx
Would love to see her live.
Also, she gives wonderful interviews

Lol fair enough

her Polaris acceptance was great, distinctly remember her leading off with 'fuck PETA' lol

Thank you fgti, that was the most beautiful performance I have ever seen and now I am crying in public

Glad you enjoyed it! The addition of the Element Choir (led by Christine Duncan) was incendiary

Her book is also rather good, I thought!

YES, the choir put it over the top for me. I'm down to check out more of their work for sure. xp

btw my use of "banger" above more or less in accordance with Prefecture's definition. That's what I meant.

She performed with the choir in Ottawa when touring Retribution - it was great!

despite being otm, 'o superman' is a relentlessly terrible song

ha ha ha ha

No, I think you mean ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

beautiful

Deflatormouse, you are totally correct on that one!

Very much agree, re: 'O Superman' and Laurie Anderson in general.