what if Rabin hadn't chased away Trevor Horn and then proceed to over-produce the album himself
Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that
What would 90125 and Big Generator sound like if Trevor Rabin had joined a re-united Henry Cow instead?
[QUOTE=bondegezou;322577] Jobson was first approached when the band was just Squire/Rabin/White, but he was busy with The Green Album[QUOTE].
Wow,... I had no idea about that. Thanks for making my thread almost worth the rediculous speculation! - haha
There is a personal irony for me knowing this new bit of information. When the Green album came out I bought it immediately. I ended up loaning that copy out (didn't get it back) and found another copy in a used record store a year or two later. It was a radio station *for promotion only* copy - and in big letters across the front, some radio programmer or dj had scrawled - "Reeks of the YES genre!'" Haha,.. who knew!
Genuine prog album from back in the day! - *free download* : masquepremiere.bandcamp.com
Since "90125" was already written, for the most part, by Trevor Rabin coming into the project, Eddie may not have had much say in the record. The keyboards would likely have been different, plus some violin could have added some extra color. With Eddie in place for the writing of the follow-up, it could have been seriously interesting.
Chad
The labels at that time asked for hit albums, not for good albums. If BG had been a good album, it would have been shelved and there would have been as many lineup changes as necessary to produce a hit album. Alternatively, if the key members had balked the band would have been dropped.
If BG had a producer that wasn't involved in arguing, maybe the drums wouldn't have sounded like sticks on a kitchen table...
Gnish-gnosh borble wiff, shlauuffin oople tirk.
That good.
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
According to Eddie, he was first approached in 1974, but that's another story...
I would have loved a YES with Jobson, but from what I've read, the personalities would never work. He's no fan of "Lord Squire", and I think it's a pretty safe bet that him and Rabin would butt heads big time.
I like BG. I don't mind the commercial element in YES (in small enough doses). I like the 2 hits (Rhythm of Love Will Find a Way), as well as Shoot High Aim Low. But, in my opinion, it would have fared better if Horn was allowed to do his job from beginning to end.
How much wood would a woochuck chuck?
Just as interesting of a thought experiment is what would have happened if Yes had continued on with a new singer after Anderson left for ABWH. There have long been rumors that Steve Walsh spent some time with the band, and that Roger Hodgson was offered the spot and declined. Hodgson is one of my favorite songwriters, and I would have loved to see what would have come of that collaboration.
Rabin and Hodgson did collaborate on at least two songs -- "Walls," which made it on to Talk, and "The More I Look," which was on Hodgson's album Open the Door. I never thought much of "Walls," but "The More I Look" is a fantastic song and hints at just how good a Yes + Hodgson lineup could have been.
Too bad it never panned out. Heck, Supertramp's "Fool's Overture" is the best Yes song Yes never recorded ... and that one was all Hodgson.
There was a rumor that they completed an album with another singer (possibly Steve Walsh, maybe Billy Sherwood) and that the label rejected it. Henry has mentioned it before. No idea how much truth there is to it. That whole period of Yes, from around '88 to '91, seems to remain mired in mystery. The only thing I know for sure is that Hodgson was offered the vocalist spot and rejected it out of hand -- but that he did strike up a friendship with Rabin.
Well, there's certainly that one track that was on the Yesyears box, Love Conquers All or whatever it was called, which had Sherwood ostensibly in Anderson's place, though if I recall correctly, it's actually Rabin who sings lead vocals on that one. I kinda had the impression that the Beverly Hills Yes tracks that were on Union were intended for a full blown album by that lineup with Sherwood's involvement. Maybe Henry or someone else who knows more can refute or confirm this, but I kinda got the impression the main reason those tracks made it onto Union was so that they could use the Yes name and Dean logo on the cover, because ya know, it would give the album "legs" the way that ABWH couldn't.
too many cooks in the Kitchen was the problem with BG. the writing was all over the place.
“love conquers all”, along with “the more we live” were written by squire and sherwood ca. 1989. they were probably intended for utilisation within YES during that time (well, they ended up on YES-releases anyway) but they really found their home in the CHRiS SQUiRE EXPERiMENT (w./ sherwood, ca. 1992) which later morphed into CHEMiSTRY and then CONSPiRACY. both tracks appeared on their first release in 2000. of course, “open your eyes” drew from that as well, for better or worse…
anyway, back to the gist: no. by that time rabin was just too dominant in every respect.
See, I've never quite been able to work out what folks like so much about Eddie Jobson.
"It was a cruel song, but fair."-Roger Waters
As much as Emerson is my all time hero, Eddie really has a more sophisticated harmonic sensibility to his writing and his technique is impeccable. And his synth pallette was better than just about anyones. Basically though I like the stuff he writes. He's right under Keith for me. (No, not like that )
I would compare this "what if" with the real thing that happened when Jobson joined Jethro Tull (although it was first to be a Ian Anderson-album). It were the sounds of the keyboards that changed the sound of JT a lot, while Jobson was also credited for "additional musical material". I thought it was nice to hear details of that same sounds reappear on Anderson's first solo-LP "Walk Into Light". The big difference between Yes and JT was that Yes had more captains, so I assume it was more easy for Jobson to make a difference in JT than he would have had he joined Yes.
Wow. It's amazing the variation of tastes that occur on just this board. I rank GftO as one of the better Yes albums, up there with Fragile and CttE; the songwriting just does it for me. BG I rate amongst the lowest of Yes' catalogue, although there's a few good songs on it. The production is not one I would rate highly either, especially the drums; yuk. Heck, I'll listen to Union more than I will BG. 90125 and especially Talk were better offerings than BG. IMO, of course, as is anything we talk about here.
Gnish-gnosh borble wiff, shlauuffin oople tirk.
Bookmarks