Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
This week Mark and I enjoyed thinking about what Billy Sherwood has contributed on bass to the last two Yes albums, The Quest and Mirror to the Sky. We each chose three examples of songs from those two records to talk about and shared our thoughts on whether Billy has continued the tradition of Chris Squire bass playing or gone his own way – or a combination of the two.
- Is Billy channelling Chris?
- What do we want from a ‘new’ bass player?
- How does Billy’s multi-instrumentalist pedigree affect his bass playing with Yes?
There wasn’t enough time to review the posts on the YMP Facebook discussion group this week but hopefully I’ll be able to get back to that next week.
Also, apologies to those who sent in entries to last week’s quiz. I haven’t forgotten and I’ll be announcing the winner next week.
Let us know if you agree with us!
Yes – The Tormato Story
Available now!
YMP Patrons:
Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Wayne Hall
- Ken Fuller
- Jeffrey Crecelius
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Lind |
| Al Dell’Angelo | Lobate Scarp |
| Barry Gorsky | Mark Baggs |
| Bill Whittaker | Mark James Lang |
| Bob Martilotta | Mark Slater |
| Brian Harris | Martin Kjellberg |
| Brian Sullivan | Michael Handerhan |
| Chris Bandini | Michael O’Connor |
| Craig Estenes | Miguel Falcão |
| Dave Owen | Paul Hailes |
| David | Paul Tomei |
| David Heyden | Rachel Hadaway |
| David Pannell | Robert Nasir |
| David Watkinson | Robert Vandiver |
| Declan Logue | Ronnie Neeley |
| Dem | Scott Colombo |
| Doug Curran | Simon Barrow |
| Fergus Cubbage | Stephen Lambe |
| Fred Barringer | Steve Dill |
| Gary Betts | Steve Luzietti |
| Geoff Bailie | Steve Perry |
| Geoffrey Mason | Steve Rode |
| Guy DeRome | Steve Scott |
| Henrik Antonsson | Steven Roehr |
| Hogne Bø Pettersen | Terence Sadler |
| Todd Dudley | |
| John Cowan | John Thomson |
| John Holden | John Viola |
| Jamie McQuinn | Tim Stannard |
2 replies on “Billy Sherwood’s bass – 672”
I attended Billy’s solo shows at the Iridium in NYC back in 2016, and they were amazing. I’m sure his new tour will be equally impressive.
So far as Billy as a multi-instyrumentalist goes, I like to point out that he’s filled the role of 5 different members of YES over the years: He first worked with the band during the ABWH years with the view of replacing Jon Anderson as lead vocalist; he took on Trevor Horn’s role of producer during the KEYS TO ASCENSION period, then replaced Rick Wakeman as keyboardist for OPEN YOUR EYES; he played lead guitar on the 1980s material during the tours for OYE and THE LADDER, filling Trevor Rabin’s spot; and since 2014, he’s been Chris Squire’s hand-picked successor on bass.
And since he often plays drums on his own solo albums, he’s virtually a one-man YES by himself!
Billy played bass on Union’s The More We Live-Let Go. I believe he wanted to erase it, but Chris insisted it stay on the track.
Good episode!
Preston