RE: https://fosstodon.org/@samvarma/116196836374395901

You know what... reply with album covers that changed your life

Let's go #GenX

@samvarma
I'll follow up with another oddball pick. I was that one kid in school who didn't much care for Yes's "breakthrough" 90125—Yesssongs or go home, right?—although a few bits have grown on me. But for some reason I really liked this Yes lineup that was half Yes, all of the Buggles (really!), and sparked off Asia (think Yes sounding like Journey), Rabin-era Yes (think Yes sounding like Journey and Art of Noise), GTR (think Marillion sounding like Journey) and cemented Steve Howe in my mind. I mean, he was already cemented there but this added more superglue.
@geoffduncan @samvarma I love love love Drama

@woolie @samvarma
That's not a thing one can often say sincerely, on the internet. ;)

I noticed you're also a Saga person. I didn't learn two-handed tapping from absorbing Van Halen or Steve Hackett (although the latter *very nearly* happened). I first picked it up from Ian Crichton. But more importantly, I internalized a *lot* about cool ways to arrange and record synths in a rock band.

@geoffduncan @woolie @samvarma I never, ever get tired of listening to On The Loose. Great song and it sounds sooo good
@gogmagog
Holds up! My two were Wind Him Up and Pitchman, although Ice Nice on their first album stuck with me too.
@geoffduncan @gogmagog my two were….hahahahahah, I don’t have two. I love most of them. 🤣
@woolie @gogmagog
There’s a warbly feedbacky bit in a solo in an outro somewhere on Heads Or Tales I may have tried to replicate in spirit once or twice. I’ve always wondered if it was just a happy accident or if Crichton could do it at will.
@geoffduncan @woolie @gogmagog So I'm listening to this (Drama) now. Don't think I've formed an opinion yet, but I feel like I can hear the influence of the drumming in my fave band Spidergawd. I also noticed the meticulous precision, and the almost classical arranging. But so far the through lines have yet to reveal themselves.
@samvarma @woolie @gogmagog
Alan White (Yes’s drummer for many, many years) doesn’t get enough credit: he really could hang with damn near anyone.
@geoffduncan @woolie @gogmagog Super crazy how their 1971(!) shit sounds so far above their contemporaries. Most the other bands of the era sound primitive in terms of recording quality et cetera, and these guys sound like they're from 10 years in the future
@samvarma @woolie @gogmagog
You’re right: Fragile and Close To The Edge really sound unworldly compared to a lot that was happening. I don’t know how they managed it (maybe Wakeman’s confidence on the Moog and Mellotron played a role?) I don’t think either album had massive production resources.
@geoffduncan @woolie @gogmagog I mean is it possible that because they were clearly influenced if not formed by classical and jazz, it might have led to a more naturalistic (therefore timeless) aesthetic when it came to recording? Like more of a documentary style, rather than going for a "sound"
@geoffduncan @woolie @gogmagog Thinking about it I'm definitely getting more the sense that they would sound exactly like this live, and there aren't a million layers of production going on. They recorded performances of their parts, and that's it
@geoffduncan @woolie @gogmagog Chatting with my bass player on Wednesday about how jazz musicians often don't "speak" rock even as they think that it's beneath them. The thing that strikes me about Fragile is we have guys here who completely understand the rock aesthetic and energy, while holding in their brains the capacity to also understand classical and jazz. Pretty fucking amazing to be honest
@samvarma @woolie @gogmagog
That's a great way of summarizing it!