affirmative

I go through months were I needs me some Yes. For years, literally, I would listen to Roundabout, from the Fragile album, and sulk. Where was the bass? Oh, I could hear the trebley part of the bass on that amazing line, but where were the bottom octaves? The deep stuff? It was not on the first copy of the album I bought. I heard a little bit more on the British copy of the album, maybe even a tiny bit more on the Japanese pressing, but the bass was never in the place.

Then came cds. Fragile was one of the first cds I bought, but it sounded so tinny and tipped toward the treble that it hurt my ears. I decided I would never hear the real bass. The father of one of my daughter's classmates is a bass player in town. At some school even we got talking, and it turns out he had been searching for the same grail. Where is the bass on Roundabout? He had never found it either.

Then came the DVD-A of Fragile. DVD-audio uses a dvd disc for almost strictly music. The music is presented at much higher bit rates than cds. They sound great. And the format is dead as J. Edgar Hoover. But that version has the bass. It shakes the room when I play it. It moves your guts around. I told my friend about it, and he bought a special player just for that disc.

I am ripping that version to my computer this morning, so I can listen to the bass at the push of a button on my computer. I expect to annoy my wife a lot this month! Well, more than usual.

As for the album itself, it is hit and miss for me. Roundabout is killer, obviously, but the little sections done by the individual members are not what I buy a Yes album, well, several damn version of this Yes album for. I buy them for Long Distance Runaround, South Side Of The Sky, and Heart Of The Sunrise. The trippy stuff. Man.

Oh sure, Mood For A Day is OK, and The Fish is kind of interesting, but Cans and Brahms still sounds horrible even on DVDA. To me, that was just time that the lads could have used for a proper song.

I saw the band in Red Rocks. The bass was there in the foothills of the Rockies my friends. The band even had surround sound which they tastefully used exactly twice, once on Roundabout and once on Owner Of A Lonely Heart. Surround sound at a large outdoor arena is intense. I think 35% on the audience peeked right then.

So get out your Yes, and give Fragile a listen. Play some air guitar or bass or drums, and try to not hate me because I can hear the bass on Roundabout.