Live Yes

Over the last few evenings I viewed the Yes double-DVD release Songs from Tsongas, from their 2004 35th anniversary tour.

Right off the bat, I found myself surprised by the fact that the opening song, Going for the One, knocked my socks off. I always hated that song. They played 2 other songs from the same album: Turn of the Century (which I always liked), Wondrous Stories (didn't like), along with And You and I (didn't like). For some reason I like them now. Go figure.

They also included South Side of the Sky, which they've hardly ever done in concert, and Ritual, from Tales from Topographic Oceans. Glad they had one from Tales!

The "unplugged" version of Roundabout was cool, but I would've preferred the full-calorie version. Likewise with Long Distance Runaround.

One other thought - they could've had the camera on Steve Howe the whole show and I would've been happy. The man is incredible with the guitar - but everybody knows that, don't they?

Tandoori Shrimp

The other night my wife & I ordered out for Indian food. She ordered the Tandoori Platter, and I ordered Madras Chicken.

The Platter came with the requisite Tandoori chicken, but included 3 shrimp as well. Not being a crustacean lover, my wife allowed me to have them.

All I can say is - we must do this again sometime!

The Boss

Another recent musical conversion of mine involves Bruce Springsteen.

When his “Born to Run” single was current, and he hit the covers of Newsweek and Time, being hailed as “The Next Dylan”, my thoughts ran along the lines of, “Who cares?”

He didn’t strike me as being anyone to get excited over, and certainly not as great as The Beatles or Rolling Stones, who were my faves at the time.

I should also mention that the expression, “The Next Dylan”, meant nothing to me, as I never understood why Dylan was such a big deal in the first place. At least until I saw the recent PBS documentary about him. And even then, it was more of an intellectual understanding. He still doesn’t move me in the way he obviously did move millions of others. Perhaps I was born a few years too late?

Or maybe I just don’t get it ;-)

Back to Bruce. I do admit to having liked a few of his songs along the way, such as Jersey Girl, Trapped, Cover Me, Glory Days, & Hungry Heart. But, like Dylan, I never got the reason why he was SO popular.

About a year ago, I had an epiphany. PBS was doing one of their subscription drives, and happened to show a film of Bruce at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1975. For some reason, I watched it. The first thing that struck me was how motley Bruce and the E-Streeters looked. And then there was the beat that prevailed. Not the beat I like. A bit too hung-up for my taste.

But as I watched, I mysteriously began to enjoy the proceedings. It looked like they were having fun – no posturing, no attitude. Just watching Bruce tired me out. The guy was all over the place.

The effect outweighed my previous prejudices, and I think I finally “got it”.

I happily informed a longtime friend, who was probably the one most fully aware of my attitude toward Bruce, that I was now on board. He responded by sending me a copy of Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, which I now enjoy on a regular basis.

Tales from Topographic Oceans

I recently borrowed this Yes album from the library. Two reasons: I had never listened to it, yet I had it pegged as typical, dinosaur-rock, musical self-indulgence; a few months ago I borrowed Rick Wakeman's The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth (about which I had similar beliefs) from a friend, and thought it was pretty good.

I had always assumed that Tales was largely a creation of Rick Wakeman. There is a vision I have of Rick, surrounded by keyboards, playing his heart out, obviously in some sort of ecstatic condition, and I’m yawning, waiting for him and the rest of the band to jump into Yours is No Disgrace or Parallels.

In the last few weeks, I found that I was wrong on several counts. First, I enjoy Tales immensely. Second, it was apparently the brainchild of Jon Anderson and Steve Howe. Third, Rick Wakeman didn’t care for it all that much, at least at the outset.

My apologies to all involved!

Does this mean that I should go back and listen to Tormato again?