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Entwistle and Squire (mostly Squire)



Bernd said:

>>Recently, I heard lots of people compare Chris Squire to JAE, and that
thing made me curious.  I checked out several Yes records and listened to
them very carefully, but I couldn't find anything exciting in the bass line.
 Good bass playing, yes, but way, way behind JAE.

So, if you can recommend any reference songs where CS excels IYO, I'd be
grateful.  Up to now, my impression of him is that he is the only remarkable
spot in the awfully wailing Yes sound...<<

The comparisons between Squire and JAE come from that:
1.  they both use Rotosound strings  (well, JAE certainly USED to use them)
2.  A purposefully more trebly sound (I think Squire wanted to emulate JAE in
a non-traditional rock way--his trebly bass is a counterpoint to Bruford's
jazz drumming and the harmonies that Yes has always employed; once Steve Howe
and Rick Wakeman joined, you had three "lead" instruments)
3.  Undeniable interplay between bass and drums (esp. when Bruford was in
Yes)--not in the same manner as JAE and Moonie, but an interplay that is so
very obvious on record

I don't like to say that one is better than the other.  Squire's playing
recently has been unspectacular, the blame for which I feel goes to Trevor
Rabin.  You have to understand that Rabin teamed with Squire and Alan White
back in 82 so that Squire-White would be Rabin's rhythm section, not so that
Rabin could be Yes's guitarist.  I think the 80s success of Yes may have made
Squire feel more compelled to be the typical bassist for Rabin's material.
 There is no 80s YES without the success of 90125 and "Owner of a Lonely
Heart."  I am anxious to hear new/old Yes with the departure of Rabin and the
return of Howe and Wakeman.  

If you want to hear some great Squire, listen to HEART OF THE SUNRISE (from
FRAGILE; I have a great boot from 1991 of Yes that features an excellent
version of this song).  This is Squire's bass at its most trebly and
distinctive--the bass drives the song.  Also, his melodic bass is critical to
SOUND CHASER from RELAYER.  See also PARALLELS from GOING FOR THE ONE for
more melodic bass, esp. toward the song's end.  And don't forget TEMPUS FUGIT
from the Anderson-less DRAMA.

Sorry Bernd that you don't like Yes.  "Wailing"?  Never heard their stuff
referred to in that manner.  They certainly are an acquired taste, and their
stuff most lately hasn't been as good as their really classic records--THE
YES ALBUM, FRAGILE, CLOSE TO THE EDGE, and GOING FOR THE ONE.  Also, YESSONGS
is considered with LIVE AT LEEDS among the truly superb live albums before
live albums tended to be shit (starting with probably FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE).

I don't see that it's necessary to only search out Yes stuff where Squire is
"superior" to JAE.  Chris's stuff is almost always excellent in its own
right.  These two are the distinctive bassists of the rock era.

- --Jim