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What did they do next – Part 8b – Squire and White – 411

Run WIth the Fox video screenshot
Run With the Fox video screenshot featuring Miguel!

Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius, Wayne Hall, Preston Frazier and Bill Govier

This week, ark and I take a close look at both the XYZ sessions and Run With The Fox – the two things Alan White and Chris Squire did after the breakup of the Drama lineup of the band. See if you agree with our assessments as always and leave your comments on the show notes for this week.

I also need to give my now weekly apologies – this time to Patron Mark Lang. I meant to put his wonderful Trading Boundaries photos in the show notes for last week and then I forgot – sorry Mark – they  are in this week’s notes, below.

  • What do the XYZ sessions sound like today?
  • Could the band have worked?
  • Wasn’t Run With The Fox good enough for radio airplay?

Listen to the episode and let us know what you think!

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Show notes and links:

Mark Lang’s photos from Trading Boundaries:

YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Jeffrey Crecelius
  • Preston Frazier
  • Bill Govier and
  • Wayne Hall

Patrons:

Aaron Steelman
Dave Owen
Mark James Lang
Paul Tomei
Joost Maglev
David Heyden
Martin Kjellberg
Paul Wilson
Bob Martilotta
Lind
Michael O’Connor
Peter Hearnden
Brian Sullivan
David Pannell
Miguel Falcão
Lobate Scarp
Chris Bandini
David Watkinson
Neal Kaforey
Rachel Hadaway
Craig Estenes
Dem
Paul Hailes
Mark ‘Zarkol’ Baggs
Doug Curran
Robert Nasir
Fergus Cubbage
Scott Colombo
Fred Barringer
Scott Smith
Geoff Bailie
Simon Barrow
Geoffrey Mason
Stephen Lambe
Guy R DeRome
Steve Dill
Henrik Antonsson
Steve Perry
Hogne Bø Pettersen
Steve Rode
IanNB
Steve Scott
Jamie McQuinn
Steven Roehr
Ken Fuller
Terence Sadler
Jeremy North
Tim Stannard
Jim
Todd Dudley
John Cowan
Tony Handley
John Holden
Joseph Cottrell
John Parry
Keith Hoisington
John Thomson
William Hayes
Barry GorskyMichael Handerhan

Robert and David

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Theme music

The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from the following two creative commons sources: thanvannispen and archive.org



5 replies on “What did they do next – Part 8b – Squire and White – 411”

Thank you for the plug on the paperback. XYZ was a good idea but as with many projects not all of them make it.

Run with the fox I remember it coming out and have loved it every since.

When you cover the Cinema era I’ll send you material and perhaps have a chat along with Jon Dee about those almost Yes times.

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all fans.

Yes again another interesting Yesyear ahead. It just never stops eh?

All the best.

David

Once again I find myself in agreement with IanNB who expresses some of my own thoughts about XYZ far more succinctly than I ever could.
Whilst I do think that there is are a couple of problems with the potential line up, I think it could have been very beneficial for Page. His blues leanings (and “feel” over “accuracy”) might well have been a hindrance live if reprising many earlier Yes numbers. However, having exhausted just about every possible combination of notes in the minor pentatonic scale in producing the definitive guide to heavy blues-rock riffs by the time of Led Zep IV he’d moved on as a studio musician/composer.
Some have rightly mentioned the layered guitars in Achilles Last Stand which is a quite a mind blowing way of painting with tones, but his “prog” heritage starts rather earlier. Obviously “Stairway” has many of the prog hallmarks – building from the gentle acoustic themes to the heavy electric climax, then fading away to the solo final line. Many cuts on Houses of the Holy also have very prog leanings – “The Ocean” being a great example of a rock riff working in an odd meter, eastern flavours in the melody of “The Song Remains the Same”, the contasting acoustic/electric passages of “Over the Hills and Far Away”, the moody melotron in “No Quarter”. By Physical Graffitti, Page (or possibly JPJ) was really getting to grips with contrapuntal melody – depite the rather slow burn of the first half the final part of “In the Light” has several different melodies and different rhythms working both contrasting and working together.
After a couple of lesser albums (in my mind) – due, I’m sure in no small part to the sad death of Robert Plant’s young son, which left JPJ, a masterful musician, arranger and producer, but perhaps a lesser composer very often at the helm, Bonzo dies and the band, rightly as it turns out, called it a day.
XYZ could have been the lifeline Page needed to move forward. musically. Sadly it didn’t work out and he attempted several less than satisfactory projects trying to recreate what he was known best for with others who were also from the blues/rock heritage (Paul Rogers and David Coverdale being the two obvious big names). Plant, on the other hand, continues to seek musical pastures new, and whilst he may only have had limited commercial succes, much of his work has received critical acclaim.

On another note, I fimd Run with the Fox OK, but whilst it may be muisically superior, it’s quite honestly not up there with the Glam Rock madness of Slade and Wizzard. (This may be an age thing)

This has been a fantastic year from YMP with so much variety and something for everyone from the ten percenters like myself to the one percenters. My patreon contribution has never been so well spent and I encourage others who have yet to contribute to consuider doing so in order to keep the flame alive.

Thank you Kevin and Mark and the rest of you who contribute to the lively debate. May the 2020s bring us all more Yes goodness!

Bah! What I negelcted tos ay was that this Christmas I finally got round to listening to Chris Squire’s Swiss Choir and whilst I normally approach the merging of traditional/classical with rock with some trepidation, I found this a joyous and very competent album. It treats the traditional with respect (beautifully sung by the choir) and enhances itgreatly when the rock elements enter. I love it!

Happy New Year to all at YMP.

In regards the XYZ demos I remember reading some years ago that it was said there were several sessions. That sounds promising. Also… recently, Page stated he has the multitracks of recordings that are way better than the regularly circulated unofficial recordings and that he thought they sounded good. Gives hope to a further developed version becoming available at some time in the future. And also … in response to David Watkinson (above)… yes please to interviewing both David and the UK’s best export to Australia, Jon Dee, when it comes to the pre-Cinema (Ice) episode of YMP.

Happy New Year, Guys!
I agree completely that Run With The Fox is a Christmas classic. I know that a wider audience would love it, as my wife likes it – it’s her second favourite Christmas song after Fairy Tale Of New York. However, as always, timing is everything, and had the track been released before 1977 – or, arguably, after 1984, it might have stood a chance. However, for a few years in the post-punk era, Christmas songs were considered naff. There were no ‘festive’ number ones from 1979 to 1983 in the UK, and Christmas hits of any sort were few and far between. The Christmas number one in 1981 was Don’t You Wan’t Me by the Human League. There were a few vaguely festive songs in this era – like Stop the Cavalry by Jonah Lewie, but none of them were really Christmas songs. This all changed in 1984 with both Do They Know It’s Christmas and Last Christmas by Wham, but it was 3 years too late!
Add to this the almost total hatred of anything associated with progressive rock at the time, and poor old Run With The Fox stood no chance, regardless of any promotion it might have received. It was certainly low key, but I remember knowing about it in that pre-internet age. I bought the single at the time.

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