Island Life by David Slack

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Island Life: Bye, bye, you peculiar guy.

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  • giovanni tiso,

    All my friends say they will be voting Yes and this gladdens my heart, because there was a time when it was shameful to be fan of that band.

    I'm not sure it's even legal these days. When I saw them they had to call themselves Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford and Howe, which is a bit wordy for a referendum bumper sticker.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler,

    I'm actually quite fond of the oft-overlooked Relayer

    Relayer, all the dying cry before you!

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I've never (knowingly) heard any Yes, because the album covers scared me too much.

    But I have a great fondness for Tangerine Dream.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Oh, you've heard Owner of a Lonely Heart, all right.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Ethan Tucker,

    I like the condolence message photo: the mis-spelling of 'Michael' places it securely in the NZ context of widespread functional illiteracy.

    Can only admit to knowing and liking Yes' I've Seen All Good People / Your Move because Cameron Crowe included it on the Almost Famous soundtrack. It's a beautiful thing, no matter the provenance.

    Wellington • Since Apr 2008 • 119 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    I'm actually quite fond of the oft-overlooked Relayer!

    Yes indeed. Which reminds me: add to that list of fans in their ones and twos the listener who nominated a track (part of Gates of Delirium, I think) from that album for the best song ever written on Jim Mora's show.

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Ah, Yes. Nothing wrong with a bit of prog rock. My own preferences were Mike Oldfield and Alan Parsons - but then, of course, I was only 13 when Elvis died. So. You know. Just saying.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Stevens,

    Ah prog rock, concept albums - yes, they were/are great .
    Mike Oldfield - remember his sister Sally and her one album (I think) "Mandala"?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 230 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Yes was part of my teenage years - but somewhere there (maybe between the punk and the ska) it got boring - I still remember them fondly but can't last more than 5 minutes listening to them.

    I have this theory about listening to music you really like - basically you only get to listen to something a fixed number of times before your brain becomes accustomed to it and whatever it was that really made you love it no longer thrills you - and I think it works whether you're listening intently or just playing it in the background while you work - this means you have to save those somgs/albums you really really like for when you have quality time for them.

    Having said that I don't think I listened to Yes that much.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Jono,

    I discovered Jethro Tull just late enough to miss their New Plymouth concert in 1993 but still soon enough to suffer the abuse of liking a band recently mocked on Instant Kiwi advertisements.

    I burned with the kind of obsession only a teenage geek boy can sustain...Three years and thirty Tull CDs and assorted vinyl and bootlegs later, it was all over.

    Its been along time since, but I can still hear elements of Warchild in the most recent Supergrass joint, how deeply Ian Andersons music saturated my soul. I still get shivers hearing Ian Anderson keening at the start of A Passion Play,

    Can you still see me, lying still/
    The silver cord lies on the ground/
    "And so he's dead" The young man said/
    Over the hill, not a wish away/

    ...Aqualung and Thick as a Brick are ok to, but :-)

    Whangarei • Since Oct 2008 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • davesparks,

    90125 was the first album I ever bought. Went halves with my brother.

    Also have a copy of Relayer, bought second hand in a book and record exchange in Greerton. Mostly for the cover art.

    Note to self: Must buy a "record player".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • richard,

    For some reason the recent news (and I have already forgotten where I was) made me this that if the man required that big of a stimulus package to make it through the rehearsals, who knows what would happen when it came to the actual concerts.

    But fortunately a 70s rock band has already answered the question:

    Not looking for New Engla… • Since Nov 2006 • 268 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Makes me thing of things we played over and over again to our kids in the car - "Locomotive Breath", "Lazy", "Another brick in the wall" (from the helicopter flyover with the sound turned all the way up), probably all of "Dark side of the moon", "Fly like a eagle" .....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I've had a soft spot for Yes since I saw Rick Wakeman on some Channel 4 quiz show about music.

    The panel of ex musos & music writers were presented with a video of a one hit wonder from years past, and in this case it was Picketywitch, featuring the fetching Polly Brown.

    They then got a bunch of fetching slightly older women who all resembled Polly Brown out on stage. One of them actually was the one hit wonder lead singer of Picketywitch, a decade or two older than she was in the video.

    Wakeman awoke from his apparent torpor, yelled somehing along the lines of "I know Picketywitch! In fact I remember this gig in (insert UK town name here), and back in the hotel room after. I never forget an ARSE!"

    At this stage I guessed that the real Polly Brown was the fetching blonde on stage who had just turned the colout of beetroot.

    Another panellist remarked to Wakemen "You know your kids are so embarrassed by this they're leaving home right about now?"

    Rick was up on stage by now fondling a familiar arse.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I've had a soft spot for Yes since I saw Rick Wakeman on some Channel 4 quiz show about music.

    Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Recommended.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Ah yes. It was hilarious. Not just that bit.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Sometimes, we'll play early Genesis, and it'll be footling along quite nicely and I'll have a 'huh, this isn't too bad, is it?' reaction... and then my general feeling of wellbeing will end when some sort of fucking *whimsy* will occur. For several minutes. That's the problem with prog. The whimsy. I forgive it in early Split Enz, just, but most of the time it's a bridge too far.

    (Also, I have listened to Rick Wakeman's concept album about the Six Wives of Henry VIII. Beat *that*. I mean, I didn't enjoy it. But I listened.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Andrew Ll: thanks for that story. Made my day.

    (and I remember pickettywitch. 'I still get that same old feeling...' was their hit, I think.

    As for Jethro Tull...really don't mind, if I sit this one out...[insert cute flute bit....]

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler,

    That's the problem with prog. The whimsy.

    You're missing the point - prog IS whimsy (this is also what makes it a quintessentially English genre). For the exception that proves the rule, see Owner of a Lonely Heart - mortified at having recorded a straightforward rock anthem, they had the video stop dead in the middle for an extended "band morphs into wild animals" sequence.

    I have listened to Rick Wakeman's concept album about the Six Wives of Henry VIII. Beat *that*.

    I see your Six Wives of Henry VIII and raise you a Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • Stewart,

    Being "of a certain age" I have listened to quite a bit of prog stuff over the years; quite a lot of Tull (went to a gig in Ch'ch in 1976, I think, at the newish Town Hall); a bit of Genesis (Selling England...), Tangerine Dream, etc.

    And out in the garage I have a copy of Wishbone Ash's "Targus" that I still hadn't got round to copying to digital when the turntable/amp crapped out. If anyone out there wants to copy it to CD for me & keep the vinyl or a copy of it...

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    You're missing the point - prog IS whimsy (this is also what makes it a quintessentially English genre).

    Yeah, y'see... I can't go for that. (No can do.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    The blackboard photo reminds me of one I saw in early 2005. It read: Please join us as we participate in a 1 minute silence at 1.59 in memory of the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami. Thanxs.

    What sort of customer is drawn to a cafe where the special o' the day board has become a deaths o' the day board?

    Does one sit at one's table, trying to enjoy a slice or two of award-winning pizza before declaring, "No, I'm far too upset about Micheal[sic] Jackson and Farah[sic] Fawcett to eat."?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Oh, and while we're about it, can we please recognise the genius that is Al Stewart? I spent the whole of my time in London with him in my stereo walkman. Stories in song. Lovely.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    I suppose I should confess before I am outed by some long-forgotten school chum, but I too was a teenage Yes fan. I bought the albums, had the Roger Dean posters on my wall, wore cheescloth shirts and beads, talked rubbish. Then along came the Buzzcocks and everything changed.

    But some years later, when I was old enough to know better, I saw Yes at the Wembley Arena, on the 90125 album tour. They were very good; really.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    That's the problem with prog. The whimsy.

    You're missing the point - prog IS whimsy (this is also what makes it a quintessentially English genre).

    I don't think that's quite right... the problem with prog is it is whimsy which at the same time takes itself a little too seriously.

    The forerunners of those long prog-rock suites in the '70s were the late '60s concept albums like the Small Faces 'Ogden's Nut Gone Flake', the Kinks 'Village Green' and the Who's 'Sell Out'. There was whimsy a-plenty along with the conceptual aspect but it never got too po-faced.

    The rot started with the Who's 'Tommy', I think.

    [...Which I believe was some kind of hovercraft....]

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

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