Heart Of The Sunrise

Source: Google

Those who know me, even those who have had the misfortune of happening to stand a short distance from me when the fuse gets lit, will know how I feel about Yes. This is not one of those posts.

Chris Squire was, I think inarguably, the most influential bass player of all time. Acknowledged as the first bass guitar player to completely disregard the standard manner of playing the instrument and reassembled the role of the bass player in music. And there's really not much more you can add to that.

Yes music in the 1970s was a constant competition between art and ego, pushing somewhat primitive recording technology to breaking point in order to achieve an exceptionally grand, multi-faceted vision. I was obsessed with it for many of my teenage years before something clicked in my head, and I realised that it wasn't just for me anymore. My views on the band are now somewhat vociferous, but there is no way of denying that myself, and every music-centric person I know, fell under the influence of the long shadow cast by Yes.

Squire was the first player who made me want to pick up a bass. Thinking about it now, his style is impossible to define beyond a shrug and simply saying 'Well... it's Chris Squire'. From the all-out frenzy of Heart Of The Sunrise, to the thunderous stomp of Parallels, to the snowfall-delicate Onward, to the growling Tempus Fugit - there were many, many sides to his shape and he excelled at all of them.

My father was always irritated that Squire didn't play the bass 'properly'. For me, not doing it properly was the blueprint on how to do music right. Thank you for that lesson, Chris.

"Onward through the night of my life."