Voices For Fripp

Robert Fripp and his massive influence on the Rock Hall inductees for 2014:

Nirvana
From a May 1995 Robert Fripp interview in Rock & Folk Magazine: "Did
you know that Kurt Cobain was a big fan of your album Red?"

(Fripp) "I found out through John Wetton last year. The producer of the
first Nirvana records [...] told John that Red was an important record
to Kurt."

Hall & Oates
Hall's first solo album Sacred Songs was produced by Fripp, who also
played on the album. Hall also sang on Fripp's solo album Exposure.

Peter Gabriel
His first solo album featured Fripp on guitar. Then Fripp produced (and
played on) Gabriel's second album. Gabriel also sang on Fripp's album Exposure.

Linda Ronstadt
When she sang with Phoebe Snow on "Saturday Night Live" in 1979, Fripp
was one of the guitarists. I don't know why. Go figure.

http://www.dgmlive.com/vision.htm?&show=1642&id=3088

E Street Band
Roy Bittan played piano on Peter Gabriel's second album, which was produced (and played on) by Fripp. (I mentioned that already, didn't I...)

Cat Stevens
His album Mona Bone Jakon features an appearance on flute by Peter
Gabriel who, as I've mentioned, later worked with Fripp. (Gotta stretch
here to make this work...) Fripp also recorded Show Of Hands featuring
a viola player named Cat(hy) Stevens. (Still stretching...)

KISS
Well, the name KISS does start with the same first two letters as King
Crimson, so that means they used to be very near each other
alphabetically in the record store bins, right? (Reeeeaaaally stretching
for this one...)

OK, I got it. From an April 2010 interview with Gene Simmons: "I
listened to everything, R'n'B, Beatles and stuff, and then really
started to hone in on the early great sixties anglo bands, I'm a big
anglophile. One listen to 21st Century Schizoid Man, by... you don't
know what I mean, right?"

Roadrunner Records UK: "21st Century Schizoid Man - rings a bell but I
couldn't tell you who it's by off the top of my head."

(Simmons) "Look it up."

Music by "yeselpkrimson-son"

Not Yes-related, nor even prog-related at all... It's contemporary classical chamber music, live from the Zodiac Trio's 2013 tour of China.

My 18-year-old son, NoelF, composed the 4th movement "Libra." (It starts at about 3:14)

Stand For The Frail (Demo)

It took a while, but this sixth entry in the series of "unreleased Nashville demo recordings" was recently discovered, making a complete double trilogy of "Bobby & the Yup family" acetates from 1959. But this one just features Bobby solo: a voice (of sorts), a guitar, and a mouth harp... exploring the "protest song" genre way back when.

He thought YES would be a good band name. . .

(1947-2013)

To Peter Banks,

With a wave and a thanks,

We say goodbye to all that.

The Brotherhood of the Traveling YesPants

The tale... no, the legend... of The Brotherhood of the Traveling YesPants begins in the hazy 1970s with none other than the iconic Jon Anderson:

Over the decades, several have tried to join The Brotherhood, with varying success:

“Look, Christopher! I am wearing Jon’s YesPants! Trés chic, no?” “No. You’re fired.”

“I thought the memo read white specs, not white slacks.”

(Alan read the memo correctly and was a skillful ballplayer in his day.)

Ideally, the Traveling YesPants should always remain with the lead singer...

... because they might otherwise get stretched out beyond repair!

The Traveling YesPants, today...

... and perhaps tomorrow? Joining The Brotherhood, Will?

Postscript: Until the Traveling YesPants are returned one day to the founder of The Brotherhood, they seem destined to be saddled with a curse:

Owner of a Lonely Shart.

 

Who Wore It Better? Round 1: Kate vs. Katniss

Not Yes-related at all, but:

                 Kate Bush (1985)            “Katniss” from The Hunger Games (2012)

Up to their necks in necks...

These days, when Steve Howe plays his Variax guitar on that fixed stand, it always looks kind of awkward to me...

... but I guess the double-neck guitars don't have the tonal range he's looking for? He used to play one, back in the day:

As did these guys:

And even this guy:

And then, when the bass players get into the act:

You can even get a double-team double-neck:

But why stop at just two? Chris Squire has this monstrosity:

But this just looks like a carpal tunnel case study waiting to happen:

This looks Tricky to play, and probably wasn't Cheap to build:

Let's see... 12-string, 6-string, 5-string bass, 4-string bass, 7-string, and just for good measure, another 6-string?... At least this guy rests it on the ground, to save his own neck, I'd guess?

This guy actually asked for a custom 12-string, but the guitar builder messed up... I suppose he could tune each neck to a different open chord; C, C#, D, D#, etc., and never have to learn a bunch of different positions:

Hmm. Maybe that Variax on a stand that Steve Howe uses doesn't look so awkward after all...

AWagon demo

On this "fifth acetate" from the increasingly inaccurately named "trilogy" of newly-found, unreleased "1959 Nashville Demo Recordings," Bobby & the Yup family crank out a "potential theme" for a proposed B-movie western about a 19th century trek across the American frontier in a covered wagon.

The movie execs eventually rejected this demo after they decided that Bobby's lyrics and the Yup family's "too-spacey" (for 1959) arrangement never really connected with the basic concept of the film. In particular Bobby's perplexing wordplay, in which young stars assemble and touch impenetrable youth while high vibration go(es) on, clashed rather harshly with the traditional Old West imagery of their movie.

Oddly titling the song "A Wagon in our Heart" probably didn't help matters. (Maybe some sound effects of horses would have helped?)

The Yup Album (Demos) - On A Roll, Intoned

What more can I say? They really were on, like, a roll... (& stoned?)...
 

(Yup, it's the fourth in a trilogy of "1959 Nashville Demo Recordings" from Bobby & the Yup family.)

Positively Topographic Suite (demo)

Reportedly the last in a trilogy of recently discovered "1959 Nashville demo recordings" from the unknown act "Bobby & the Yup family" finds them further pushing the envelope of their "epic length song form" way back when, this time cracking... the four minute barrier!

This time around, the Yup family keyboard player finally gets a prominent place in the mix; BUT with this take going an incredible 13 verses without a break for a chorus, a bridge, or even a solo, the poor keys player and the rest of the band are left churning away at the same chord progression, while front man Bobby seems to go off on his own, with no direction home:

A lengthy engineering note was found in the "dusty old storage cabinet" along with this acetate. The engineer (named Eddie) offered, "No one in the studio knew what the hell was going on... verse after verse after verse... What the hell kind of songwriting was this supposed to be?? By the eighth stanza, the singer's eyes rolled back in his head and he started speaking in tongues or something... Nobody, including the other folks in the band, could tell what the hell he was going on about! And then damned if the kid didn't snap out of it, just in time for the next verse! Too damn spooky for me."

The note goes on to describe a series of failed takes, with the keys player getting so bored and frustrated that he sends out for some Tennessee barbecue, which he stashes under the piano bench and munches on when Bobby isn't looking. At the end of the final take, he just slams his piano lid down, kicks over the bench, and walks out saying it's all gone too far... And the rest is obscurity...