The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Bass Zone => Topic started by: Chris P. on June 28, 2015, 07:49:41 AM
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:-\
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is this real. all i could find is that he is being treated for leukemia. i hope this is another death hoax.
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His bandmate Geoff Downes posted it on Twitter. Guess it's true then...
RIP
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Not a Yes fan, but his influence was felt beyond the world of prog rock. RIP Chris.
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the band announced that he was ill, not dead. i want to see something "official", not a he said she said type of thing.
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The band released a statement confirming the news. RIP Chris.
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Shocked and saddened by this - his aggressive playing style and use of distortion & effects were huge influences on me. Between him and Andy Fraser this has been a rough year for rock bassists - two of my biggest inspirations.
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Not a Yes fan, but his influence was felt beyond the world of prog rock. RIP Chris.
I feel exactly the same way. Such a loss. RIP Chris
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Fish out of water... rip...
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Awful news.
He was one of my earliest influences.
RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQKVqVpoMxw
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Another legend gone. Such an inventive player. RIP Mr. Squire.
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RIP Chris, an incredible talent is lost. :sad:
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This upsets me more than I would have realized. Squire casts a long shadow. He's one of those guys who influenced even those of us who were never deep Yes fans for whatever reason (I never disliked them at all, in fact I quite enjoy the songs I've heard, I just didn't go that deep into prog in general). I remember when I was about 14 my uncle giving me a mix tape with both "Does it really happen?" and a solo song "Hold Out Your Hand" on it. As a young adventurous bassist I was really taken with the bass work on both. I used to try to play along with both (badly). I can vividly recall them to this day.
Going to see Rush tomorrow.. I think it's fair to say Rush would not be what they are without there first having been Yes in general and Chris Squire in particular.
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Very sad news. I remember talking to the late Paul Goddard in August of 2013 and he stated that Chris Squire was his biggest influence.
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I was hugely influenced by the "Yes Album" ...Truly a great musician...
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He was a big influence on me growing up listening to prog in the 70's and learning to play bass. Fragile blew me away. I think I have listened to Heart of the Sunrise and Roundabout like a billion times, until I completely worn off the vinyl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRjAgl1dQBk
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Sad news. RIP.
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:sad: RIP
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Very sad news. I remember talking to the late Paul Goddard in August of 2013 and he stated that Chris Squire was his biggest influence.
I heard the news on my drive home. Sad day, indeed. As everyone has said, Squire influenced scores of bass players (if not all) beyond the realm of prog. He's always been a big influence on me. That comment from Paul Goddard makes his solo on "Another Man's Woman" make a lot of sense now.
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Sad news, one of my greatest inspirations ever. He was the reason I had to have a Rickenbacker (Geddy and some others helped also but Chris was most likely their excuse too) and as a honour to him I will have a two pickup Telecaster bass in my arsenal sometime in the future. That's a promise.
"The Yes Album" was a first time I heard Chris playing and that distinctive sound was a revelation for a 15 year old back in 1991. Here's a lost classic sleeper from that album and also one where he plays that white Telecaster. Love the coda where he just lets it rip.
Rest in Peace The Fish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uQAT49h1D8
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To me, Chris Squire will always be the best of the prog bassists, and one of the best bassists in general. He knew when to open it up, and knew the value of 'thump, thump, thump".
This has always been one of my favorite Yes songs, and it's one that Squire takes full composer credit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncAk15x0l8Y
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RIP Chris. Thanks for everything. I posted this yesterday on Facebook:
Chris Squire - I've had a lot of musical heroes over the years, but Chris is possibly the one I aspired to be most like. The backup singing "lead bassist" who brought attention to an instrument that was so often overlooked. This man could play one note, and you knew it was him. He played every note like he meant it, because he DID. The authoritative tone and melodic style that launched a thousand bass players around the world. I'm sad that he's gone, but glad that he didn't have to suffer long. I wish to just celebrate his life from here on forward, and I aspire to keep his spirit alive through my own music. It's time for everyone to step it up, because there's now a gigantic hole in the bass player universe.
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Nice words from Geddy Lee: "Simply put, he was one of the greatest rock bassists of all time." Kind of surprised that they never met.
http://www.rush.com/chris-squire-1948-2015/ (http://www.rush.com/chris-squire-1948-2015/)
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I was surprised too about that.
Here's a great photo from 1974 with five of Chris' basses at the background. 3 Ricks, Tele and the Jazz.
(http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/464385035-bass-guitarist-chris-squire-of-english-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QXf6Rn1WHkjLrLvN%2bh3gGb2y3eolBflRy%2bbn%2bcD7tNpI3p7QkNzmpJZ6CWBS2qOFrQ%3d%3d)
Another from the same sessions with Guild, Dano 6-string bass and the Ampeg Baby Bass (?):
(http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/464382867-chris-squire-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7Qbm1zq4EvsxcaxFxWa4sqLLOuQPlXOq7pETHr7wvuAV0eF9kaHMlV4oiccX7MgwyzA%3D%3D)
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I guess there is treble in paradise now. Clank loudly in peace, Chris. 8)
Heard it this morning, 67 is young and dying of a rare and incurable form of leukemia had nothing to do with the baroque lifestyle he (had once) entertained. Just tough luck. I saw Yes two or three years ago, we were close to the stage, you could hear the backline and in that his Ric dominated the mix like maybe Ted Nugent's Birdland used to dominate it in the 70ies. The man did not only tower with his sheer Henry VIII physical size, but also with his bass playing. It was more than authoritative, it was commanding! And though a pro for so many decades, he played with a certain wild abandon, bum notes and all, très cool.
I preferred his testosterone-charged bass playing even to JAE's - John would often play introvertly for himself, Chris was "wham, bam, I am the band, you better listen!"
Very much your "70ies excess rock star turned grizzled elder statesman", they don't make them like him anymore.
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i saw yes touring in support of the the yes album many centuries ago. after all this time it is still in the top three shows i've seen. they were opening for emerson lake and palmer who were equally stellar. fyi lake played a jazz bass that show.
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This was the song that introduced me to them... Anderson-less I realize now... but what a great opening bass riff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL68VE-Qi7Y
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Nofi and his dark past. :o The mind proggles. :mrgreen:
And finally someone who not only admits to seeing ELP, but also liking it. 8)
I saw ELP on their last (or was it the penultimate one?) reunion tour. They played well, but you could see that Lake's heart was no longer in it (if it ever was, he's a folkie at heart) and after an hour or so, their muscular "prog on steroids" had overstayed its welcome with me, they can become harsh-sounding after a while.
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This was the song that introduced me to them... Anderson-less I realize now... but what a great opening bass riff.
A great song too and one of the few he played on his non-reverse Thunderbird. "Drama" is a great album where Chris seemed to be working especially hard. Great basslines and backing vocals.
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Nofi and his dark past. :o The mind proggles. :mrgreen:
And finally someone who not only admits to seeing ELP, but also liking it. 8)
I saw ELP on their last (or was it the penultimate one?) reunion tour. They played well, but you could see that Lake's heart was no longer in it (if it ever was, he's a folkie at heart) and after an hour or so, their muscular "prog on steroids" had overstayed its welcome with me, they can become harsh-sounding after a while.
My first time seeing Yes might well have been that same tour, as openers for ELP. I loved both bands. I saw each a second time, on different shows. ELP supporting Brain Salad Surgery, and very good.
I saw Yes again for Relayer, from the fourth row. Simply astounding. Squire liked to play in one rhythm, sing in another, and move in a third that was somewhere in between the two. He drove me nuts....as did Anderson, who seemed to lilt around the stage and always looked as though he was too far from the mike for his vocal queues, but always seemed to show up in front of the mic when duty called.
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Man....SAD news.
Squire was such a big part of Yes' sound and the guy I most identified with what a Ric Bass sounded like.
Met him backstage once when Bruford invited my drummer and I to a Yes show as his guests. Real nice guy.
R.I.P.
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Squire was the ONLY member of Yes to play on ALL their albums, and the latest tour is the ONLY one in which he didn't play. He was the rock of Yes.
I saw Yes only once, in 1983 as a college freshman. That was the show where Alan White signed my tour book. :)
RIP, Mr. Squire, and thanks for all the music.
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Bill Bruford gives a nice tribute on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/billbruford):
Really saddened to hear of the death of my old Yes band-mate, Chris Squire. I shall remember him fondly; one of the twin rocks upon which Yes was founded and, I believe, the only member to have been present and correct, Rickenbacker at the ready, on every tour. He and I had a working relationship built around our differences. Despite, or perhaps because of, the old chestnut about creative tension, it seemed, strangely, to work.
He had an approach that contrasted sharply with the somewhat monotonic, immobile bass parts of today. His lines were important; counter-melodic structural components that you were as likely to go away humming as the top line melody; little stand-alone works of art in themselves. Whenever I think of him, which is not infrequently, I think of the over-driven fuzz of the sinewy staccato hits in Close to the Edge (6’04” and on) or a couple of minutes later where he sounds like a tuba (8’.00”). While he may have taken a while to arrive at the finished article, it was always worth waiting for. And then he would sing a different part on top.
An individualist in an age when it was possible to establish individuality, Chris fearlessly staked out a whole protectorate of bass playing in which he was lord and master. I suspect he knew not only that he gave millions of people pleasure with his music, but also that he was fortunate to be able to do so. I offer sincere condolences to his family.
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"He had an approach that contrasted sharply with the somewhat monotonic, immobile bass parts of today."
"An individualist in an age when it was possible to establish individuality, Chris fearlessly staked out a whole protectorate of bass playing in which he was lord and master. "
Doubleplusgood-Amen!!! Bill Bruford can obviously read my mind.
And in commemoration, I have now finally learned to play the Roundabout bass riff! Took me quite a while to get it right yesterday, not something that comes naturally to me with that scraping "jump" from the empty E to the empty A (something I generally tend to avoid if I can, scraping always makes me feel slightly guilty!). Stored for eternity as one of my handy "quotes" to play at appropriate (and of course inappropriate, that is all the fun!) places in the future.
Now all I need to learn is sing pitch-perfect harmony in a different rhythm and wear one of those cute gowns ... With all due respect and admiration to the dearly departed, he had a slight Dame Edna look to him in his later stage years. 8)
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This was the song that introduced me to them... Anderson-less I realize now... but what a great opening bass riff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL68VE-Qi7Y
Great song. Drama was my first "new" YES record. I was familiar with the YES Album and Fragile, and also a live bootleg from the Tormato tour (magic...). Drama was so much Chris' record, it was perfect for this aspiring 16 yo bass player. I saw them for the first time on this tour, 16th row, in the round at the International Amphitheater in Chicago. They opened with this song, and yes, he played the blue non-rev bird, much to my surprise. There was also the Ric (of course), the Jazz, the Electra (with built-in flanger), and the Ranney 8 string. What a bad influence! "It's normal to play several basses in one show, right?" ;) I'm happy to have these memories, and happy to have seen them last summer, when Chris' bass playing and tone were everything you'd expect, and his voice was possibly better than ever.
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How that Drama album was (unjustly) slaughtered in the press at the time, now it's a cult favorite!
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Yes was one piece of horizon broadening i never got around to, but was on my list
one of the bands that my teenage idiot self tarred with the brush of "not punk rock"(my first bass actually had a Yes sticker on it when I got it- that lasted 10 mins)
middle aged me has gone back to get to know quite a few bands that the up myself brat dismissed, just hadn't got round to Yes yet, the comparisons and descriptions on this thread have inspired me to correct this. which 5 songs are a good start ?
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the 'yes album' and 'fragile' are a good start.
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I still have the vinyl of Yessongs... and (just checked) Going For The One
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Nofi's recommendation is perfect for classic Yes at their peak as young men.
But there is also a comparatively recent work (just not the last album, that was lame) you should give a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tapx0WlouJM
This is a divisive statement, I know, but for 80ies MTV Yes, the "Trevor Rabin solo album with assorted Yes members as guests" is a classic too, "Yes, it's a form of Yes, son, but not as we know it!": 90125 ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpIduDaggVA
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Nofi's recommendation is perfect for classic Yes at their peak as young men.
But there is also a comparatively recent work (just not the last album, that was lame) you should give a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tapx0WlouJM
This is a divisive statement, I know, but for 80ies MTV Yes, the "Trevor Rabin solo album with assorted Yes members as guests" is a classic too, "Yes, it's a form of Yes, son, but not as we know it!": 90125 ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpIduDaggVA
"YES" to all of this. Trevor Rabin is ridiculously talented, and combined with Squire and Anderson, with Trevor Horn producing, they knocked it out of the park for that era. They had a tough time making the follow up, Big Generator, and after that, I lost track of all the lineup changes, live albums of old material, etc. etc. Then along came Fly From Here, a really enjoyable album that was mostly leftovers from the Drama era. Sadly, their last album, Heaven and Earth, is pretty weak and cringe-worthy.
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Heaven & Earth feels like a collection of unused B-sides. And makes Starcastle sound like Black Sabbath in comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8qyuL_wpXQ
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A nice obituary: https://prog.teamrock.com/features/2015-06-29/chris-squire-the-heart-of-the-matter (https://prog.teamrock.com/features/2015-06-29/chris-squire-the-heart-of-the-matter) (sorry to post so much of this stuff, it comes up on Facebook)
To me, the best places to start are, as mentioned, "The Yes Album" & "Fragile." If you can handle longer, more symphonic stuff, then "Close to the Edge" or Chris Squier's solo album "Fish Out of Water." "Tales from Topographic Oceans" might be too much, but I like it. I also really love "Drama." Some people like the "Yessongs" live album, finding it more aggressive than the studio albums - I didn't like it early on, it sounded poorly recorded to me, but when I saw the film version it made more sense. I also really like "Fly From Here" - some great bass tones and nice songs. And "90125" (or is it 90210?) is a pretty amazing album, though much slicker than any of their other stuff.
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I love the earlier stuff...and I love "Fly from here"...FRAGILE WAS ALWAYS UNEVEN, BUT I THOUGHT CLOSE TO THE EDGE WAS PRETTY MUCH PERFECT
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I have always had a soft spot for "Relayer", which usually goes unmentioned.
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I have always had a soft spot for "Relayer", which usually goes unmentioned.
Good call - I was going to mention it but it felt indulgent. I had a lot of Yes on vinyl (later '80s pressings, not original), and the two I chose to have Roger Dean sign when he made an appearance at my local record store were Relayer & Tales From Topographic Oceans.
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I've always been fond of "Going For The One". I was nearly 16 when that came out (and purchased new) and the 8 string work just blew my mind. (as did the harmonies at the 4:50 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3fQ1wPCFdc
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I have always had a soft spot for "Relayer", which usually goes unmentioned.
My two favorite albums are The Yes Album and Relayer. I once spent the time to learn "Gates of Delirium".
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I loved the music from Relayer...but if I recall correctly the mix of that album was almost stridently hot on the high end...like it was mixed down by someone with hearing loss...made it hard to listen to.
I should buy another copy. By now my ears don't reproduce the highs as efficiently as they used to.
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Their best album was Yessongs. It impresses me that that such a band sounded better live than in the studio. Saw them twice at the Spectrum in Philly, 73 & 74. Their sound system was fantastic; sounded great even in the nose bleed seats. Certain substances might have clouded my memory however.