taking sides: yes' union vs 10cc's meanwhile

I'm a fan of both bands, but haven't heard either of these albums. Based on the credits, Godley and Creme's contributions to their album are much more vestigial than those of any member of Yes?

There's definitely stuff I like on Union, haven't heard the other

Based on the credits, Godley and Creme's contributions to their album are much more vestigial than those of any member of Yes?

Essentially, but Union is infamous for not being a true collaboration either. Several members felt erased from the process (e.g. producer Elias bringing in session musicians to overdo a lot of Wakeman and Howe, or non-member Tony Levin often replacing Squire).

Consequences, the 10cc podcast, has an episode about Meanwhile. Gouldman and Stewart started out on the project with a lot of optimism, but the recording didn't go to plan.

Here's an interview with Jonathan Elias where he talks about working on Union, sounds like an A+ shitshow all round.

http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/iv/jeinterview.htm#p2

lol I was hoping someone would post that

A+ interview

A++: extra + bcz wakeman comes out of it worst, as he always should, i hate him and ppl must pander to me on this

I'm guessing that guy no longer gets all yessed out late at night.

I haven't listened to a Yes album since I "went new wave" in 1979, so I'm unlikely to ever hear Union, but that interview is hilarious.

Yes "went new wave" in 1979 too, you have that in common!
Bruford only gets one mention in that interview; as I recall from his book, he felt the band on Union was more interested in the catered dinners than the music (although he should get some acknowledgment that he was the one who brought Tony Levin to the group). And the interview only covers half of the record, because the "other half" of Yes (Rabin/Squire/Kaye/White) were recording their contributions elsewhere, which had to be crammed together with the ABWH songs into a putatively "united" package.

This might be the first time I've ever felt like listening to a Yes album.

i've never heard Meanwhile but I hate Union so it wins my vote by default

from that interview: "Half of them couldn't really play any more. I mean, it was really sad. They were just sloppy and tired and old"

Imagine, the majority of these guys are still playing in some capacity (well White and Squier are now dead but the others are all still active to some degree, Howe the most active).

This might be the first time I've ever felt like listening to a Yes album.

― Twa pehs an' an ingin ane an' aw (Tom D.), Thursday, December 29, 2022 4:27 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Be their guest!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHdJL_hcXl8

Bruford is recorded on Wikipedia as saying its the worst album he's ever played on. Somehow his presence makes the opening group singing in the Lift Me Up video visually a lot funnier.

Imagine, the majority of these guys are still playing in some capacity

I saw them play as Yes (sans Anderson) maybe about 8-10 (?) years ago. It was Howe, Squire, White, Oliver Wakeman, the guy who fills in for Anderson. The only one I'd seen before that was Howe when he toured with Asia, but I thought the old guys still had pretty good chops.

I saw this show on the Union tour, AMA

this was the infamous "Steve Howe was a total dick to Peter Banks and all of Yes were total dicks to Patrick Moraz" show.

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fwiw the videos I've seen of latest round of Yes shows for the 50th anniversary of CTTE are actually not too bad

there's an interview with Eddie Jobson somewhere that's kinda interesting, apparently he was in Yes for a short period during the 90125 era (and actually appears in the Owner of a Lonely Heart video) but was booted out in favor of Tony Kaye because doing so allowed them to call themselves Yes again. he described a similar dynamic - Rabin was the only guy who cared, everyone else was real catty and mentally checked out

one of the big what ifs in prog is how it would've gone if they made more albums with Moraz. he seemed like someone who could've taken the band in an even wilder direction maybe without the personality conflicts that Wakeman brought. sucks that Moraz was kinda hung out to dry like that since it also killed the band he was in prior to that called Refugee. he just wound up a Moody Blues sideman that nobody really liked. weird career.

xpost they probably play better than alan white squier had over the last 20 years, and davidson sounds arguably better than jon anderson these days too, but it still begs the question of 'do i want to pay this much money for a cover band' and the answer is kind of no

xpost isn't moraz supposed to be a pain in the ass to work with?

I have no clue, I never read anything about him. To me he's like the character from that one episode of every sitcom who's from a foreign country who winds up replacing one of the other characters and does everything he does a lot better. and everyone loves it and thinks he's the coolest thing until they all decide he sucks for some reason and send him back

If you have 24 hours to burn, check this: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+moody+blues+vs.+patrick+moraz+-+the+music+trial+of+the+century

lmao okay no way am I watching all of that but there is something weirdly compelling about this. it's very repetitive though. they all look so strange in suits. Moraz doesn't even look like an actual person, he looks like those bad comedy sketches where they put a bunch of facial prosthetics on someone and they wind up looking like a weird puppet. maybe it's just the lighting in court, everyone in the room looks terrible

funny I do actually recognize one of the Moodies' promo photos from that era, they still used it but they just cropped Moraz out. lmao

finally voted Union. if just cus there's more kinda interesting bits.

The only time I've seen Yes live was on the Union tour, it was cool to see all of them together playing all the hits, there seemed to be no issue with chops, but they all appeared to be very bored and listless. The songs were competently performed but lacked any particular passion or excitement.

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I've seen a lot of positivity about their early 00s shows. Stephen Thrower said there was a great dvd from that era I think

Yah I saw a couple of those shows. Keys to Ascension tour. It was fucking rad.

I saw them on their 35th Anniversary tour and it was amazing. One of the best concert experiences I’ve had.

I'm quite fond of Magnification and I've still to hear a lot of the 80s-90s albums but part of me wishes they had just committed completely to their solo careers and just left Yes in the past