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Time
And A Word, the album, had it all. So here we are in the
ungodly year of 2010 and drumming master / jazz-rock icon Bill Bruford
was kind enough to write a few of his thoughts about an album that
hardly anyone, at least in the American media, gave a second thought
to back when it first came out in 1970. In fact, back in mid 1970,
Yes was the last thing on anybodys mind. By January 1970, no
one, including this writer could accept that The Beatles had really
truly broken up and, in that second Nixon-ian era it felt like probate
to even think about them anymore. By contrast in 1970, The Shadows,
Englands first rock and roll band from the late '50s, was a
band that I hadnt even heard yet, and wouldnt till the
spring of 1981, just six months after John Lennons assassination
in 1980. Lucky enough for me though, ten years before, in the spring
of 1971 we all went to see Jethro Tull downtown at the Fillmore East.
Back following the end of the Beatlesand after The Moody Blues
changed music foreverit was Tull that best encapsulated that
remarkably creative rock spirit of the post-Beatles progressive era
back thenat least until I heard YES. Or I should say listened
to YES becauseeven though I distinctly recall my high school
buddy Jerry Wortman playing me the first track off of Time And
A Word sometime in late 1970at that time I wasnt
even aware of YES. Back in early 71, the hi-tech, jazzy high
harmony vocal rock sound of YES sounded off-kilter compared to, say
the focused hard gothic rock of Aqualung even by early 1971.
So after Jerry played me YES and their lead off Richie Havens
cover on Time And A Word, I went on my merry way...until one
fateful and quite cold night late in November 1971. Several weeks
before, the NY times, as they did every week in the Sunday arts section
in that 68-71 era, advertised tantalizing concerts that usually
paired two or three like minded bands at the fabled Academy
Of Music on east 14th St. in Manhattan. So without trepidation
I scored my tix for that late November 71 show that featured
my then favorite 60s band Procol Harum at the top of the bill,
relative newcomers and currently then reshuffled King Crimson as the
middle band and then there was YES, who my gang had never seen before,
as the opening act that night. We all ingested LSD tabs at that crazy
pizza place around the corner of 14th and 3nd Avenue and a half hour
later the lights went down for the late show that started that night
at 11:30 pm! Put simply, that night, right then and there YES proceeded
to instantly blow my mind for the first time. It was, to my ears,
like a new jazz meets rock sound was being created right there and
then, in America. The reactionfor many of us witnessing Yes
for the first time, that nightin my mind, created a near tribal
hysteria in the audience. The place went completely mad! My friends
and I were climbing on chairs from the back of the orchestra just
to see what was going on! At the core of the band, I just couldnt
take my eyes off of Bill Bruford, who played and looked like he was
driving a train! The madness of that November 71 Academy show
with YES remains, to my memory at least, in stark contrast to their
quickly thereafter headlining tour, again at the Academy of Music
in early February 1972, which occured even before Fragile had
come out in the states, when I swear, from my tenth row center seat,
you could hear a Pinder drop! And, yes the acid was equally potent
but a lot had changed just two and half months later! Although Peter
Banks had played superb and quite inventive electric guitar on Time
And A Word, he was extricated from the YES lineupBanks
was also replaced on the album art for the U.S. release of Time
And A Wordand
Steve
Howe was now the guitarist in YES on the The Yes Album, released
Stateside several months before the November '71 show. And although
I had picked up The Yes Album before that 71 show, I
didnt really listen to YES till I came home after the show,
that same night as I recall, when I came home and put on my legendary
white Koss electrostatic headphones! What a magical night of music
it was at that late show that found us stumbling for the train back
home to Long Island in the early morning Manhattan light. Of course,
now it seems like a lifetime ago but of course, I thought to remind
Bill Bruford about the 40th anniversary of Time And A Word and
he was kind enough to write something about it. For this 17 year old
at that AOM show in that short eclipsed moment in late 71, YES
uniquely broke down the borders between rock, classical and jazz music
and in my estimation and understanding of what was happening, a musical
dynasty was unearthed. Even though all the members of YES who played
on Time And A Word are alive and well I hope, there sadly is
going to be no Time & A Word reunion in 2010. Its
true weve grown so old but yet, now 40 years after good old
Jerry played me that opening Time And A Word cut, there still
remains that brilliant moment in music history when YES built on the
legacy of the Beatles and Moody Blues and crafted something truly
amazing, something we can still appreciate, even a century later.
Thanks to Bill Bruford for writing the following comments about Time
And A Word, the album, for mwe3.com in February 2010. One could
write volumes on Bill Brufords drumming on the first six YES
albums, including that amazing Yessongs with nearly a half
hour of the original YES rhythm section, before Bill graciously handed
the sticks over to Alan YES is the answer White who, as
Bill always humorously points out (LOL!), is the real drummer of YES.
Long may they all thrive! |
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