Media Watch: Changes makes a Best Of year-end list

Published today on the Something Else! website is columnist Preston Frazier's listicle featuring his picks for the best of those boxsets released in 2020, with Changes coming in fifth on the wide-ranging roundup.

https://somethingelsereviews.com/2020/12/30/best-of-2020-trevor-rabin-prince-greg-lake

update: Jack is back

In the spirit of the season, Soundtrack Central uploaded the score suite for Jack Frost and it reminded me - as someone who has collected both score promos and score suite promos over the years - that I sometimes believe a score suite is a better listening experience than a score promo because all (or most) of the main themes and cues are combined into one long piece of music and thus is easier to appreciate simply as music.  

https://soundcloud.com/soundtrack-central/jack-frost-theme-suite-trevor-rabin

It's definitely Christmas...more or less.

As much as we all may be relieved that 2020 is finally coming to an end, it's perhaps a bit difficult to get into the seasonal spirit in our pandemic environs.  So I thought I'd try to remedy that with some Christmas music, and a wish for all my readers everywhere to be safe and well this holiday season.

I've previously blogged regarding holiday music which Trevor has been associated with, and I wanted to take a closer look at Jon Anderson's 1985 holiday-themed album 3 Ships, which has Trevor guesting on guitar along with Elliot Easton of The Cars.  And I will also note that I was inspired by the most recent episode of Yes Music Podcast, wherein Kevin and Mark discussed their impressions of the album as relevant to the season.  But my primary curiosity beyond how it sounds and how well it has aged has to do with how much Trevor content there is.

There are two versions of the album: the original, and then a 2007 reissue by Voiceprint which includes five bonus tracks from other existing releases.  It might be difficult to recognize the release as a Christmas album from the cover...but can we talk about how Jon looks like he's 14 on the (original) back cover?  Give that art director a Grammy already!

The album is a mix of traditional songs and originals, both religious and secular.  I would say based on the character of those bonus tracks included in the reissue that the original release was definitely aiming for more of a popular demographic rather than a traditional holiday vibe.  Although some of the songs don't seem particularly Christmas-y, as there is more of a World music spin on a few such as "Forest of Fire" and "Day of Days," it's easy to apprehend the overall sentiment.  This is Jon at Peak Twee, supported by a youthful choir on many of the tracks and lots of airy crystalline synths everywhere.  It's a pop album, but Jon's voice is expansive enough to embrace pop in as supple a fashion as any other genre he has encountered.

Of the traditional songs, I would say my favorite is "O Holy Night" as it's been a favorite of mine since I first heard Nat "King" Cole perform it on The Christmas Song as a child, but it's particularly inspired here, featuring a lovely solo from gospel star Sandra Crouch.  There are a couple of strong pop songs in "Easier Said Than Done" and "How It Hits You" but I'm more in favor of "Forest of Fire" with its' atmospheric jungle ambiance.

As for Trevor, I would say he definitely plays the solo on "Where Were You?" but that's it.  And it's a cool solo, rather bombastic, suitable for the anthemic vibe of the song.

There may be other parts throughout the album but certainly nothing particularly recognizable.  For example, I would be much more likely to credit the guitar on "Easier Said Than Done" to Elliot, as it sounds more like his style.  This is despite what we see in the video for the song, which features footage from the sessions at Crystal Sound and so they are both spotted therein (and a funny thing to notice is Trevor getting his makeup touched-up at the two-minute mark, because he's barely in the video and we only see him from the side or the back).  It's also nice to see Frankie Banali, but again, just briefly.

It's all '80s all the time, thanks to Roy Thomas Baker's sparkly production, but in a tasteful way.  It's very polished, Jon is sounding great, very fun and upbeat and is a solid inclusion on any holiday playlist.

And since the album is an artifact of the 1980s, for those of us feeling not only nostalgic for the holidays but for that particular heyday, here's a (somewhat silly) MTV tie-in video for the title track.  Jon's outfit is...wow.  I'm trying to imagine what the legacy of 9012Live would have been if he'd worn something like that in Edmonton.

Media Watch: SOAL podcast on the history of Yes, part two

Available now to view, SOAL Night Live host Sean Tonar leads further discussion on the history of the band with Yestorians Henry Potts and Aymeric Leroy.  Part two includes the advent of YesWest, as well covering Trevor's entire tenure with the band.  Part one is also available on SOAL's YouTube channel for those interested.

The specific YesWest-focused content is at various spots in the video, the conversation begins with analysis of the various tours, commentary on their tours starts around the 27-minute mark and the formation of Cinema about an hour in.

Media Watch: Yes Music Podcast episode 460

This week's episode of Yes Music Podcast is part 18b of their What did they do next? career retrospective series for Trevor, regarding his move into Hollywood film scoring with The Glimmer Man.  Better still, as I referenced in the previous entry, co-host Kevin Mulryne kindly invited me to come on and offer my perspective on this career change.  As always, I have lots of things to say and hope I provided added entertainment value to their previously well-established efforts.

Many thanks indeed to Kevin and Mark for an interesting conversation and for providing the blog a moment of recognition in the greater world of Yes-related fanworks.

Links to listen:

https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/17157671/tdest_id/1120238

https://yesmusicpodcast.com/what-did-they-do-next-part-18b-trevor-rabin-plus-arc-of-life-460/

The Man of a Thousand Credits: one of "six perfect singers"

One of a continuing series in regards to the myriad variety of Trevor’s discography.

You might have seen the news that Rick is reissuing his 1999 concept album Return to the Centre of the Earth as Super Deluxe and Deluxe boxsets featuring all kinds of bits and bobs as well as a vinyl release, and so on his YouTube channel has been sharing archival video related to the making of.  Today's post is regarding the guest singers, one of whom is someone we know and love...Rick discusses "the Yes connection" at the 2:18 mark in this video.

And here is the song, featuring Trevor on lead vocals and guitar solos, which occurs in the narrative at the point that the intrepid explorers are crossing the Bridge of Time before finding themselves dropped into the River of Hope.

Media Watch: Yes Music Podcast episode 459

This week's episode of Yes Music Podcast features the continuation of their ongoing What did they do next? series regarding the careers of those associated with Yes, and in this case, Our Trev.  It does foreshadow my upcoming appearance on the show to discuss Trevor's foray into Hollywood film scoring, which I am looking forward to with much excitement.

https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/17065580/tdest_id/1120238

Changes, disc nine: Jack Frost score promo

(With eternal thanks to Dearest Friend of the blog Cee for visual assistance with the physical media.  And also many thanks to everyone who has helped spread the word about my coverage of Trevor.  I truly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read the blog and also provide engagement via links and other comments on social media.)

* ~ * ~ *

The holiday season is upon us, so what better time to review the only score of Trevor's which can conceivably double as Christmas music?   Back in 2013 I wrote a Knowing The Score entry about Jack Frost, originally released in 1998, which I will link below.  For long-time die-hard fans it's a film which is definitely in our collections because Trevor appears it in as well, as the lead guitar player in the titular character's rock band.  So one could reasonably assume that's a reason why this score in particular was selected for the boxset.

https://rabinesque.blogspot.com/2013/12/knowing-score-jack-frost.html

But it's also a score promo which has been available on the grey market for many years, that's how I originally obtained a copy of my own way back when.  I tend to wonder how the selection was truly considered; I will assert that this promo was not licensed from Warner Bros.  I could be wrong, but nothing else in this boxset was licensed outside of the existing arrangement between Trevor and Rob Ayling to distribute his back catalog and archival releases.  As anyone who collects such items is aware, score promos are circulated within the industry for a variety of reasons - for example, to voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration when it's time to select a slate for Best Original Score in a particular year.  But also copies will be sent to production companies to enable those responsible to adjudge a composer's work if they are considering that person for a project.  And of course it's not unheard of for those promos to then make their way into the hands of collectors and used record stores and grey market "distributors."  Those who offer promos online for trading are perhaps the least culpable in the sense that they're not charging for something which is not to be sold in the first place.

During my recent exchange with Trevor he decried those in the grey market profiting off his work, and I fully sympathize with that stance.  Especially given what many of these people charge per disc.  On the other hand, Trevor doesn't necessarily stand to profit again off his own work either, as he does not own the rights to any of his scoring work as it stands.  So the inclusion of a score promo in an archival boxset and also for individual sale is cutting it very fine, I would say, as regards the legality of such a selection; as I don't believe that even enough time has elapsed for the rights to the Jack Frost score to potentially revert to Trevor.

But Jack Frost has been consigned to history as a box office bust and therefore could be considered a property that The Powers That Be are likely not too fussed about being used in this fashion, perhaps?  The movie tends to be rather more a curiosity than a holiday classic for a few reasons: Michael Keaton as a reincarnated snowman?  Really?  Also Henry Rollins as the most intensely intense hockey coach (I think his performance is hilarious).  In addition to Trevor and Lou's debut, this movie also features cameos by three of the Zappa kids (before the infamous years-long feud over their dad Frank's estate): Moon Unit as a schoolteacher, Dweezil as an A&R rep, and Ahmet as the town snowplow driver.  But when I try to imagine one of Trevor's true great "lost" scores being included in this fashion - say, Remember the Titans or Whispers: An Elephant's Tale - well, I tend to believe that litigation would surely follow in the wake of such a decision.  So while I think it's a nice gesture as regards the concept (making a previously unreleased score recording available to fans), the execution is yet another example of whatever can be gotten away with and I find that notion suspect as a philosophy.

If actual licensing could have been involved in the process, for example, then a nice bonus would have been the inclusion of those tracks which the Jack Frost Band "plays" in the film and were included on the original soundtrack release - a cover of "Frosty the Snowman" and "Don't Lose Your Faith" (aka "Have A Little Faith") which Trevor appears on.

The accompanying booklet contains stills from the film, one of which is a screencap from the opening scene with the Jack Frost Band (which is obvious because you can see part of a credit in the image).  There is actually an existing production still featuring Keaton as Jack singing and you can see Trevor in the background, but that wouldn't have been as interesting to use.

I'll opine that it's not as good as my screencaps just in terms of appreciating Trevor's presence (I mean, look how grainy it is!), but after all, mine have that pesky Photobucket watermark all over them now.  I will interject here with a bit of trivia: there was a Jack Frost Band mini-reunion when Trevor appeared on stage with Lili Haydn at the Concert on the Bluffs in 2016, which perhaps is one of those things only Rabid Rabinites would appreciate.

One way in which I think this booklet should have taken its' cue from the promo release was to credit those people on Trevor's team, such as Paul Linford, Gordon Goodwin, Don Harper and Steve Kempster.  But in all this is rather a slapdash affair; at the very least I think a short paragraph from Trevor should have been provided to elevate this above the level of a grey market release.

Now onto the music, which I do believe is a wonderful thing to have in your possession even as a score promo does not reflect all of the music actually composed for a film.  However, as Jack Frost relies heavily on licensed music there is less score than there would normally be in such an instance.  In my previous essay I do opine on the music but I'm approaching this from the perspective of listening to the score rather than marrying the music with the movie so specifically.

Frostbite

Trevor could always be counted upon to write a strong memorable main theme, and "Frostbite" certainly achieves that objective.  From those opening chords which are so lovely and delicate and evoke the appropriate emotions associated with love and loss, then progressing through layers of synth voicing to conjure a crystalline landscape of wonder, accented with the warmth of guitar.  As I've stated numerous times before, this theme is one of the most beautiful pieces of music Trevor has ever written.  As it recurs throughout the film I can understand placing it at the beginning of the running order on the promo, but I tend to believe it works better at the end in terms of the listening experience.

The Snowball Fight

I think this is fun in terms of how it contrasts orchestral and rock elements, something which Trevor would become known for throughout his scoring career.

It's Snowing

This could have been an actual song, the theme contains a delightfully propulsive riff and the harmonica and dobro lines provide an intriguing melody; it's easy to imagine it going on for another 2-3 minutes.

Magic Harmonica

I love the wistful mood of the piano on this one, how it leads into the "Frostbite" motif from another realm.

Miss Him Too

Woodwinds are always instruments of longing and regret and express that mood to me in this particular cue.

The Cabin

This has a definite Christmas vibe to me, it's easy to imagine the very place it is named for, a cozy cabin surrounded by snow, once again leading into the main theme.

Goodbye

As a cue, I appreciate how majestic and cinematic this one sounds, which is fitting for where it is placed in the film.

The J Shot

This theme moves through several different moods before resolving into "human highlight reel" music, which Trevor became known for (and in demand to produce).  I really love his dobro playing on this one, which is such a lovely coloring against the strings.

Frost in Medford

I appreciate this as an elegant cue, either this or "Frostbite" really should have been included on the film music composed by Trevor Rabin promo to illustrate his abilities for more lighthearted fare.

Charlie Boy

I believe this cue should have been sequenced with "Goodbye" as they resolve one into the other.