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Thread: Time & A Word- The Story of YES- New book

  1. #51
    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    The thing about Yes is that, for all the lineup changes, there really hasn't been all that much juicy drama surrounding them. At their peak, they were (apart from Wakeman) a bunch of boring, hash-smoking vegetarians who didn't do lots of "rock star stuff." Or if they did, they managed to keep it very quiet. Instead, they were a bunch of persnickety musos who would spend hours arguing over how a single bar of music should go. Eventually, they got sick of the arguing, sick of each other, and unhappy over how the money was split and spent.

    That's not a great recipe for selling books.
    I think Yes did more "rock star stuff" (by which I mean sex and drugs) than Genesis, but maybe authors should have dug deeper because not much appears in the books about them!

    Henry
    Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
    Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/

  2. #52
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bondegezou View Post
    I think Yes did more "rock star stuff" (by which I mean sex and drugs) than Genesis, but maybe authors should have dug deeper because not much appears in the books about them!
    I think they did too, although as far as drugs go, Rutherford and Collins did quite their fair share, and not just pot smoking.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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  3. #53
    Member -=RTFR666=-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    The thing about Yes is that, for all the lineup changes, there really hasn't been all that much juicy drama surrounding them. At their peak, they were (apart from Wakeman) a bunch of boring, hash-smoking vegetarians who didn't do lots of "rock star stuff." Or if they did, they managed to keep it very quiet. Instead, they were a bunch of persnickety musos who would spend hours arguing over how a single bar of music should go. Eventually, they got sick of the arguing, sick of each other, and unhappy over how the money was split and spent.

    That's not a great recipe for selling books.
    That pretty much sums up how I felt the Welch book was written
    -=Will you stand by me against the cold night, or are you afraid of the ice?=-

  4. #54
    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -=RTFR666=- View Post
    That pretty much sums up how I felt the Welch book was written
    My problem with the Welch book is that he didn't really exploit his relationship with the band to do some real digging. He repeats all the same plaudits, and then sort of gave them a pass with some lukewarm criticisms. He's the one British journalist who spent a lot of time with, and would have really know these guys way back when. But you wouldn't really get that by reading his book. And I'm not talking about the rock star crap, but what the hell DID happen with the rumored near-split between Chris and Jon in '73? If anyone should have been able to find out it would have been Welch. Was he sworn to secrecy? If so he had no business writing the book.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

  5. #55
    Quote Originally Posted by bondegezou View Post
    I think Yes did more "rock star stuff" (by which I mean sex and drugs) than Genesis, but maybe authors should have dug deeper because not much appears in the books about them!
    The average accounting firm has more drama and "rock star stuff" than Genesis ever did.

    I'm not saying that Yes in their heyday were choirboys (Squire was actual ex-choirboy, of course...), but it was nothing like what many of their contemporaries were doing.

    Part of the problem might also be that we've had very few Yes autobiographies (and I confess not to have read the Wakeman or Banks books yet). Yes kept their business very private, so it's tough for an outside writer to get much of a glimpse into the machine. I don't know how interested Anderson or Howe would be in total honesty, but I'd be interested in reading whatever they had to say. Bruford's book was fascinating. It's such a shame that we'll never get a Chris Squire memoir, because I think he had the best tales to tell and would have been the most willing to do so.

  6. #56
    Member -=RTFR666=-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulrus View Post
    My problem with the Welch book is that he didn't really exploit his relationship with the band to do some real digging. He repeats all the same plaudits, and then sort of gave them a pass with some lukewarm criticisms. He's the one British journalist who spent a lot of time with, and would have really know these guys way back when. But you wouldn't really get that by reading his book. And I'm not talking about the rock star crap, but what the hell DID happen with the rumored near-split between Chris and Jon in '73? If anyone should have been able to find out it would have been Welch. Was he sworn to secrecy? If so he had no business writing the book.
    IIRC, I had ordered the Welch bio and Spencer Bright's bio of Peter Gabriel together, and feeling equally let down with both...
    -=Will you stand by me against the cold night, or are you afraid of the ice?=-

  7. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by Paulrus View Post
    He's the one British journalist who spent a lot of time with, and would have really know these guys way back when.
    He's even played with one Yes member: he drums while Banks plays guitar on two tracks of Chris Harwood's Nice to Meet Miss Christine.

    Henry
    Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
    Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/

  8. #58
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Did John Kirkman write the intro to this or something?

  9. #59
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    The Hedges is by far the best but if you can't get it (or afford it) then the Welch book is the next best thing.

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