This Tuesday night – 6th March at 8.30pm GMT – I’m going to be hosting a Yes Music Podcast Round Table Event.
The idea is to get a few Yes Fans together to chat about some current Yes topics and record it for the podcast. So please consider coming along – via WebEx (VoIP).
If you are interested and can make the time on Tuesday, please drop me a line to show@yesmusicpodcast.com and I’ll send you the details.
If you are in a different time zone, you can check the actual time of the event where you are using the widget below.
Over the coming holiday period, I won’t have time to record the usual album episodes. What I’d like to do instead is create a couple of episodes made up of what you regard as the best moments of Yes music – the moments which remind you why you love listening to Yes – your ‘champagne moments’.
I’d like as many YMP listeners as possible to submit their ideas by Tuesday 13th December through any one of the following routes:
Leave a comment on this blog post
Ring the voice mail number (on the right) and leave a message
Upload an audio file to the new ‘GoAruna’ site (click the link on the right) – please make this .wav or .mp3 (44100Hz and 128bps if you understand this stuff)
You can submit as many champagne moments as you like but I might have to select one or two if lots of people get involved – as I hope they will!
He recently returned the favour and was kind enough to interview me for his own podcast, which is part of his fantastic Twilight Guitar website.
Not only is Mike a brilliant teacher and guru of all things guitar, he’s also a talented blogger, podcaster and one of the most generous people you could hope to meet.
I’m looking forward to releasing a great interview I did yesterday with guitar guru, Mike Murphy. He was in the US, I was in England. We spoke to each other via the miracle of Skype. The sound was clear and there was only a slight lag – as you will hear.
This is another example of how technology has revolutionised communications – I couldn’t have done this interview at all only a few years ago.
However, is technology always positive ? Does music always benefit from the latest in technology?
Wood and cat gut or iPad and Animoog?
When Yes recorded their earliest albums, music recording technology was at a comparatively early stage – and so was instrument technology. Of course, all musical instruments are products of the current state of technology and always have been. A Stradivarius violin was ‘the latest thing’ in the 1680s – it was the Animoog iPad app of its day.
However, it sometimes seems to me that more technology can mean less creativity, less need to innovate. I remember hiring the first video camera I ad ever seen when I was about 17 years old. It had no zoom function so to make the film interesting, I had to create the angles and simulate the zoom myself. The result was a slightly bizarre but highly-creative, interesting movie. I wonder if the same is true with studio technology?
I’m no musical Luddite…am I?
Clearly, something like 90125 would not have been possible without the creative use of the latest technology (and the involvement of a genius producer like Trevor Horn) but when it’s possible to create any effect you like easily and quickly in the studio, do musicians come to rely too much on this and too little on their own musicianship and flair?
What about all those ‘manufactured’ acts through the last 30 years, culminating in the X-factor production line – without technology would this be possible – and would it be a good thing or a bad thing?
I’m really enjoying the weekly exploration of Yes albums and I hope you are too!
In between these episodes, I’m also going to start doing a few interview specials. This is because I know there are many people out there who know more than me about aspects of Yes and have different perspectives. I’d like to hear what they have to say and also share this with you.
So I’m in the process of organising Skype chats with some very interesting folk who will make fascinating guests. Here’s a flavour of what’s on its way:
A Yes fan guitar teacher with lots to say about Yes guitarists and their special styles
A Yes fan prog rock musician
A Yes fan prog rock website owner and ‘3rd cousin of Yes’
Several others!
If you have a story to tell, why not get in touch? In the meantime, watch this space for some great conversations…coming soon.
