Keyboards/YES

[Jacksonjim@aol.com]

>Yes and ELP were quite popular in `73, for instance. ELP was (in essence)
The Who with a keyboard instead of a guitar. Even The Stones were moving in
that direction; a direction Pete
pioneered.<

I don't see it this way.  I don't think it's fair to YES to suggest that
Pete's use of keyboards in '71 was a direct inspiration to YES.  YES had
keyboards from their beginning.  Listen to YES, TIME AND A WORD, and, of
course, THE YES ALBUM.  Yes's move to synthesizers was due to Rick Wakeman's
appearance in Yes in summer, '71, when the Who were still working on WHO'S
NEXT.  Wakeman had ability beyond Tony Kaye and his over-reliance on the
Hammond organ.  Rick was able to bring in more advanced keyboards and
keyboard playing because of his own ability and the direction that Yes was
moving toward (My opinion: if there had been no WHO'S NEXT, Yes's FRAGILE and
CLOSE TO THE EDGE wouldn't look much if anything different from what we have
now.).  I have always thought that the keyboards on WHO'S NEXT served purely
supportive roles, but were suggestive of possibilities.  That others picked
up on these possibilities is of no question, but I doubt that Rick Wakeman
(or Keith Emerson, for that matter) was really driven by what Pete Townshend
was doing with keyboards.

Sorry to all non-Yes fans.  And I know we've argued a lot about how the
zeitgeist influenced everybody, so I don't think Pete is the progenitor of
keyboards/synths in rock.

Jim