artistry acknowledged

Congrats to Hannah Hooper and Grouplove on their Grammy nomination!  Healer has made the final five slate for Best Recording Package, with the potential award going to Hannah and Julian Gross as art directors.

As with all the Grouplove releases, the album cover was created by Hannah and features many of her illustrations in the accompanying booklet.  Long-time fans are also aware Hannah painted the portrait of Trevor which serves as the cover of Jacaranda.

the latest earworm

Dropped today from those happenin' lads in Captain Cuts, a new track featuring pop vocalist AJ Mitchell.  Not quite a sunny banger like we've become accustomed to, but still quite catchy even cast as a song of longing for a missed connection.

guess who

As I posted about some weeks ago, Wakey has got a new program available via subscription called Rick's Plaice and today has posted a brief cameo featuring a good friend (which I predicted, but not quite in this way).  One may only hope that Trevor makes an actual appearance in the show itself at some point.  I'm assuming because of the context of the clip that is indeed the case. 

But I think the most interesting part of this is not what one might think it is...though I see that some people have already commented on it.

speculating about Cinema

I came across this particular YouTube upload during one of my usual forays and while I appreciate its' ambition I do have a few issues with its' premise...

The description box provides the context:
After Yes disbanded in 1981 following the Drama tour, bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White formed a new group with singer-songwriter/guitarist Trevor Rabin and former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye. This new group was known as "Cinema." Demos were recorded and a debut album began to take shape... That album was never completed. As the album was being mixed, Jon Anderson returned to helm the vocals and the band name "Cinema" was jettisoned. Yes had returned! But what would that album have sounded like without Jon Anderson? Through the years, bits and pieces of the Cinema-era songs have surfaced. This video represents a "best guess," using the songs that were either completely recorded or contained elements and riffs that would later result in the official 90125 release. Some of these songs are complete, others a bit rough, but you will get the picture...

First of all, that album was completed.  If it wasn't, we wouldn't have had "Make It Easy" and "It's Over."  According to Jon Dee (who was one of the only two fans who witnessed the Cinema lineup in action) there are extant copies of the Cinema album in the hands of at least a few people.  I would well imagine each of the Trevors has one, for example.  And likely Alan White as well.  Also, designer Garry Mouat has stated that the album packaging was originally created for a Cinema release, and was subsequently altered to reflect the new/old identity.  So there is a fundamental flaw in this particular assertion.  However, I can wholly understand desiring to speculate regarding what a Cinema album would contain and what it would sound like.  As his tracklisting illustrates, we have some basis to imagine a group led vocally by Trevor and Chris.

The playlist contains selections which are complete finished songs as well as demo recordings.

Presenting the album that almost was... "Yes: Cinematic" 

1) Make it Easy 2) Owner of a Lonely Heart  3) Moving In  4) It Can Happen  5) Changes  6) Cinema  7) It's Over  8) Fools  9) Hold On  10) Promenade

My points of critique/response are offered thus:

-1-  Everything on 90125 existed in some form before Jon's rejoining.

A Cinema album would have absolutely included "Leave It" and "City of Love."  If you listen to "Leave It," for example, the vocals which are truly dominant are Chris and the two Trevors; it's definitely an example of how Jon was "flown in" (in audio engineering parlance) to flesh it out.

-2- It doesn't make any sense to include more than one version of a song.

As example, you wouldn't include both "Don't Give In" and "Make It Easy" - you would probably only have the latter.   So why would you include both "Hold On" and "Moving In" - if it's simply for the purposes of illustration then the obvious choice is "Moving In." 

-3- "Promenade" is not era-appropriate.

If we take Trevor at his word. he worked up a version of this composition for inclusion on Big Generator, not 90125 - even though, yes, there was an prior version of it (as we have the evidence of a demo from the early '80s).

-4- The appropriate date is still 1983.

Recording of the album was not actually completed until mid-1983, so even if it had been released as a Cinema album, it would have occurred in 1983, not 1982.

So in terms of my best guess, the Cinema album would have probably been more like the following if we consider comparisons for what made the final running order:

Owner of a Lonely Heart

Moving In

It Can Happen

Changes

Cinema

Leave It

Make It Easy

City of Love

Fools

...but you can certainly create a version which omits "Leave It" and "City of Love" and substitute with "It's Over" and "You Know Something I Don't Know," or "I'm With You" for example.  Or even - though I shudder to think - "Would You Feel My Love."  But that's just in terms of what we are aware of - the majority of fans don't know all of the songs which were recorded for the album, and we might never know.

Granted, Jon's contributions to 90125 are fairly significant even considering that he was only involved for about three weeks in the final recording process.  Without Jon you would not have "Our Song" or "Hearts" but you would have a version of those songs.  There are versions of all of the songs, but Jon did make a fair amount of changes/additions to the majority of the lyrics.

After my deep-dive examination of 90124 and what that album should have been if it was truly going to be a precursor to 90125, it strikes me that we could also consider the Cinema record as a version of 90124, since supposedly that was the original catalog number assigned (and thus the title).  Naturally we are left with a certain amount of speculation, but my contention is that the game of What If is always better played when you know as much history as is out there to discover.

off-topic: kudos to a friend of mine

I don't often make off-topic posts but...this is something really special to me and I wanted to publicly celebrate the occurrence - just a nice ray of fandom sunshine, so to speak.

Over 20 years ago, I joined an online community devoted to Nine Inch Nails - one of the earliest-known groups, in fact - called Perfect Isolation (a phrase which came to be associated with NIN but also a phrase Trent Reznor lifted from the Pink Floyd song "Waiting for the Worms" because The Wall is one of his all-time inspirations).  And for the next 15 years or so I was a loyal member of that online family containing people from all around the world, one of the most inclusive online groups I've ever been a part of, which speaks as much to the nature of Trent's universal appeal as it does to the way the Internet can be either an echo chamber or a place which positively expands your mind.  In both online and outside life we experienced meet-ups, successes, scandals, fights, sockpuppets, marriages, kids...just about anything you can imagine which can happen to a particular group of people who band together in an intentional community.  We weren't interested in being the best-known or the biggest fan community - we left that to Echoing The Sound - we were more about being a family.  A very weird sort of family, but that was the depth of our affection for each other.  Not everyone really "got" the vibe, but if you did, then you would always be welcomed.  We were fans of NIN, but we were also fans of each other.

And we also had a guy from New Zealand join (under the username HaloNineteen if I recall correctly) who became our virtual kid brother and then grew up to become a television journalist and filmmaker and then today...it all comes back around again as David led an online panel discussion with Trent and his ongoing collaborator Atticus Ross, plus current and former collaborators and members of the Nine Inch Nails touring band upon the occasion of Nine Inch Nails' induction to the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2020.

with thanks to Gosia Rost for the screencap from YouTube

And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.  I can't fully express how proud I am to see David not only having won the respect of one of his all-time favorite musicians, but also witnessing the professionalism and personableness which he has exhibited throughout his career.

Our PI enclave has scattered to the wind a bit (though we can find each other when we need to) and the online forum as it once was is no more, but the spirit of our community, our family, lives on because the love of music is something which can always build connections - and if you're lucky - for a lifetime.

Media Watch: PROG issue 114

In the latest issue of PROG (the story of Kate Bush's Never For Ever as the cover story) is a review of Changes penned by the publication's editor, Jerry Ewing.

The review discusses the box's contents with various editorializing, but he opines more than once regarding his confusion over the exclusion of Jacaranda.  One might very well be confused until one realizes that Rob Ayling has no interest in actually attempting to license material for release.  But maybe Ewing doesn't know that.

It is all nicely summed up thus:

Changes is an excellent appraisal of (most) of the career of one of modern progressive music's true giants.  It leaves you in eager anticipation for his upcoming solo album.

Changes, discs 7 & 8: Live in L.A. and Boston

To order the Changes boxset (currently listed as Sold Out):

https://www.musicglue.com/trevor-rabin/shop

(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.)

Note: I know I had promised this installment in the review series much earlier but it took me a long time to write this entry mostly because I was doing so much comparative listening.  We're talking five different sources, which you might very well say is overkill.  And you may be right about that, but for some reason I felt it was necessary in order to render a well-informed opinion.

* ~ * ~ *

For more than a few fans, Trevor's three-week 1989 North American club tour is more of a mythical consideration and would have remained so if not for the release of the recording of the Los Angeles show in 2003.  It's never been precisely articulated why those tapes sat in storage for fourteen years but I'm assuming, like the other archival output, the impetus came from Rob Ayling to finally release it.  Beyond that, the tour itself was an itinerary of legendary venues and intimate shows.  Having listened to various recordings I can say that it sounds like a professional-level performance was delivered at every gig - even as there might be some slight variances - and wholly entertaining for fans, especially those who had never even dreamed they'd get a chance to see Trevor performing in such a setting.

It would appear, at least from audience reaction, that the shows were successful in their aim even - when comparing the scope of the production to the number of actual people who witnessed it - if not from a financial perspective.  And as to whether the tour aided in promoting Can't Look Away, that's another matter as well.  Taking on a fairly brief headlining club tour as opposed to an opening slot on a summer blockbuster (such as Styx's guitarist Tommy Shaw did to promote his first solo release in pairing with Billy Squier, touring for Squier's release Signs of Life in the fall of 1984) months after the actual release of the album meant that some of the momentum had probably stalled by then. But again, this unique experience is what those who witnessed it can treasure in their recollections.

For example, journalist Elyse Glickman had this impression when seeing Trevor's gig at Chicago's Park West music venue on November 27th: 

During a live concert, Trevor Rabin exposes many dimensions of himself to the audience.  When singing his current light-hearted hit "Something To Hold On To" Rabin carries off a boyish charm reminiscent of his days as a teen idol in 1970s South Africa.  In more serious songs like "I Can't Look Away" and "Changes" his expression is sincere and dignified.  In an emotional performance, Rabin proves that he can go beyond the pomp and circumstance of Yes, his source of notoriety in the '80s, to stand on his own as a musical presence.

* ~ * ~ *

This entry in my Changes review series is also an instance of I've already reviewed it, in the case of the remastered Live in L.A. released by Varese Sarabande in 2014.  I am providing a link to that review and also the entry about the '89 club tour as part of my "A Guide to Field Recordings" series.

https://rabinesque.blogspot.com/2014/10/some-traveling-music.html
https://rabinesque.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-guide-to-field-recordings-1989-tour.html

In my album review I provided the original setlist for the tour and I wanted to reprise it here as a starting point to discussing the recordings and for the sake of clarification.

Entrance: Lift Me Up (intro)
Cover Up
Sorrow (Your Heart)/Birdland (excerpt)
Heard You Cry Wolf
Changes
Etoile Noir (with Jim's bass solo)/Eyes of Love
Solly's Beard
Something To Hold On To
You Know Something I Don't Know* (with Mark's keyboard solo)/Promises
Sludge (featuring Lou's epic drum solo)

I Can't Look Away
Encore:
Make It Easy/Owner of a Lonely Heart
Love Will Find A Way

*(Recently on an episode of Yes Music Podcast, the only two fans to actually witness Cinema performing [in 1982 at the John Henry rehearsal facility in London] referred to the former song as "Carry On" and that may well be the actual title.  It's the title which became associated with the song as their recording of the rehearsal circulated in fandom during the intervening years.  The reason I think it's titled as I've indicated has to do with the chorus, long-time fans know very well that Trevor normally places the song title in the chorus.  To be fair, both phrases can be heard in the chorus.  I believe I have seen a copyright filing with the title I use, but I can't conclusively verify that.)

Let's discuss the provenance of this recording.  My apologies but I don't have the name/pseudonym of the original taper/seeder.  If that person wishes to make themselves known to me or someone has that information and can impart it to me (via email) then I do wish to give proper credit.

It was originally a simulcast of the show on December 5th, 1989 from Boston's Paradise Theater on local FM station WBCN.  Any and all versions of the Live in Boston recording stem from this single source.  It was recorded onto cassette from the radio and then transferred to digital and speed-corrected using a Roland VS-1680 DAW then downloaded to CD-R and converted to FLAC for seeding/trading.  At some point the Highland Project took this source and created the Cry Lonely Wolf version and released it on CD in 2008 (long after it had been put into circulation online) but that particular bootleg is not the original source of this recording even if it was used as the source, if that makes sense.  And they're out of business now, so I consider that karma because...well...philosophically no one should be paying for bootlegs.

Of the three recordings from the '89 club tour which I have found it is absolutely the best quality because it was a radio simulcast.  But despite whatever "remastering" (yes, I am using scare quotes in this case) has been utilized on the source and hence on this particular release, the source is actually at least a generation removed from what is available in trading circles.  Plus, c'mon, Cry Lonely Wolf doesn't even have period-appropriate photos on the cover!  Those are both Talk tour era photos.  At least with Live in L.A. the effort was made to use images from 1989.

Of course, it could very well be that the source of this iteration is not the Highland Project release, and only the artwork is being referenced in the packaging.  I don't actually know.  But because I do believe a full show from the '89 tour should be widely-circulated and I have personally lobbied for such a thing for years, and this is the only way it's going to happen?  My morals are just going to have to sit down and shut up.  And Rob Ayling has already set a historical precedent for this kind of thing with Union Live.

The main goal I wanted to accomplish was comparative listening using my copy of the original seed versus the copy included in the boxset.  But also, my primary point as regards the release itself - as a document of the '89 club tour - is this: Live in L.A. is the best listening experience in terms of the recording, mix-down and mastering, originally.  You can really appreciate the performance of the songs, Trevor's peak as a guitar hero, and how the band as a whole worked quite well to entertain at an arena level within a club setting.  The Live in Boston bootleg is the best listening experience of what the show was actually like from a historical standpoint, and that is something fans can definitely appreciate, whether they actually attended one of these gigs or not.  I've encountered more fans over the years (myself included) who didn't see Trevor on the club tour than did and I think it's something we deserve to possess and enjoy.  I remarked to Trevor during our latest exchange that because I was unable to travel to Tempe to see him (being a cash-strapped grad school student living in Albuquerque at the time) having a full show to listen to means a lot to me as a fan.  I'm still regretful to this day but at least I can have a memory of what it was like.  And so including both recordings in the Changes boxset is a nice completionist gesture, even as I'm not entirely certain it's really necessary.

As I've already reviewed the Live in L.A. 2014 remaster I really don't have much to say about the original version as far as its' inclusion but if it has in fact been remastered for Changes, I can't really tell.  It sounds pretty much identical to the version of the Voiceprint release I already have.

In regards to having compared the two sources of the bootleg, there has been some "goosing" I would say, in terms of boosting the mid-range, making some elements cut through a bit more, like the vocals and the guitar lines.  I'm not certain that was the best decision.  But overall you can still tell this is a bootleg, which I believe just goes to show there's only so much you can do with such a source.  There's a lot of hiss.  But because we're hearing the actual document of Trevor playing to less than a thousand people there is a certain immediacy which might be missing from the official version of the experience.

The differences within the versions - a direct recording versus a professionally mixed-and-mastered record - is illustrated in terms of the changes Trevor made either for the recording itself or in post-production.  Even as there are backing tapes and sequencing incorporated within the performance itself there are still some elements which appeared to be added later, such as the echo spins in "Sorrow (Your Heart)."  And I assume whatever flubs there might have been were also repaired during the mixing of the release.  The Boston recording really is "warts and all."  And it's valuable in that way, I am still convinced of the importance of its' availability to fans.

So now to consider the ninth show versus the fourteenth show (with a bit of lucky 13 thrown in)...

Lift Me Up (intro)/Cover Up
I believe most of us can agree that the intro to "Lift Me Up" makes for great entrance music.  And I think "Cover Up" makes for a great opener as well, it's quite dramatic.  It serves to establish everyone's acumen from the very beginning.  But there is a very serious recording glitch in the Boston recording which is not on my original copy as far I'm aware.  Again, how could this have gotten past quality control?!  I remain unconvinced there was any.  And it features the first of more than a few instances of Trevor flubbing the lyrics.

Best version?  Live in L.A.

Sorrow (Your Heart)/Birdland (excerpt)
I love that "Birdland" was used as the coda to this song, it's such a treat and it fits in terms of utilizing a different ending.  I don't particularly mind the post-production edits on the official release.
Best version?  Live in L.A.

Heard You Cry Wolf
I love this song, as long-time readers of the blog are aware.  But at the Boston show, Trevor was having a really hard time with staying in key, yikes!  And this was a song recorded after his range had already dropped, historically-speaking.  Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Trevor re-recorded his vocal for Live in L.A.  And I don't take issue with that myself.  At least he got the title right, because in San Diego he said it was "Cry Wolf."  And because "Changes" was edited out on the Boston disc there's an abrupt cut which obliterates the ending, again, totally shoddy post-production work.  Maybe because those songs directly segue one into another that wasn't the best choice in terms of making the edit.

Fun fact: this song is actually another example of Trevor's social commentary, at least according to the explanation he gave to Elyse Glickman, taking aim at the ZA government:  "[It's about] covering up and making cosmetic changes.  It's like the government is crying 'wolf' to fool everybody."

Best version?  Live in L.A.

Changes
I feel like this song was a benchmark on the tour - like, it was important to get it right every night.  But again, it seems like Trevor might have rerecorded his vocal, or mixed it really dry in the recording.  The version on Live in L.A. sounds better than other sources even as there's not much difference in the performances.  What really makes me think this is the attack on the long note at the end of the first verse.  We know if he can do that, then it's all okay.  And none of the live versions I've heard are as good as the officially-released one in that respect.  In Boston, Trevor can do it, but it's obvious that he's straining, and he can't hold it to let it fall off the way it's supposed to.
Best version?  Live in L.A.

Etoile Noir/Eyes of Love

The Boston show is important because we are treated to Jim's fretless bass solo; this song is fairly intricate and I enjoy the flourishes Trevor threw in, and I feel like that live version is able to breathe more, after a fashion.  It sounds good for being a little looser. And the way he bends that one note in the verses?  So good!  But once again, in Boston Trevor flubs the lyrics.  At the L.A. show they play it closer to the album.

Best version?  Live in Boston

Solly's Beard
That intro?  Priceless.  As I've written an entire essay about this piece I feel like I don't need to expound upon it further, except to say that it's wonderful to hear an actual version from this tour.  There's that one part though, which sort of almost becomes both "Memphis" and "Dueling Banjos" and how fun is that?!
Best version?  Aaaaah, that's a trick question!  But I think having an actual recording from the club tour is a good thing, so the point goes to Live in Boston.

Something To Hold On To

Because this was the lead single from the album I think they tried their best to make it fairly uniform each performance.  Frankly yes, I am amazed that Trevor can hit that high note in the intro even on the boots.  I do think it was mixed to sound a little less live on the actual album.

Best version?  Whichever one you prefer.

You Know Something I Don't Know/Promises

As something which didn't make the cut for Live in L.A. the choice is obvious and it's great to have this opportunity, especially in its' unedited form (as it surely would have been edited had it ended up on the album).  Whatever the first part is actually called, it's a pretty rockin' tune I must say.  I know there are those who will consider this blasphemous, but it always makes me wonder what it would have been like if Mark Mancina were in YesWest because he's a total pro with soul.  Casey wouldn't have been out of a job...but he might have had less to do.  "Promises" is another song they try to make sound as close to the album as possible and this time it seems like he purposely changed the lyrics for some reason.  Not wholly, just in a particular way.  I like the echo spins on the chorus - I'm assuming it's meant to reprise the feel of that big gated reverb on the vocals in the chorus.

Best version?  Well, there's only one, so there you go.

Sludge

Another song I've gushed about previously so there's no need to go over that again; although I believe the boys played this well enough every night, after all the listening I've done I will say I think the L.A. version is the best-performed even as it's not the most complete.  I think you can hear the keyboards better on the Boston recording and of course it's got Lou's epic drum solo.  It may even be that it was another one fixed in the mix for the official recording.  So it's really a draw for me, but again, the live experience provides the very best version of the song overall.

Best version?  Whichever one you prefer.

I Can't Look Away

Here now is the most fucking basic of errors:

The album?  Can't Look Away.

The song?  "I Can't Look Away."

So it's been mislabeled from the start on Live in L.A..  But you would think that SEVENTEEN YEARS would be long enough to realize that there was a mistake.  Then again, consider the source.

You know who got it right, though?  Varese Sarabande.  So you know who I think is more professional.

The Boston show features what I would consider a more "raw" lead vocal.  It's also got audience participation and that's fine but this song is Trevor's mission statement, so I believe it's far more important for him to sing it.  Overall however, I think the L.A. version is much more show-stopping, even though I suspect it's been quite heavily augmented and fixed.  But I'm convinced his solo in San Diego was a dress rehearsal for Los Angeles because it's equally as badass.  Everything we love about Trevor as a guitar hero is in that solo.

Best version?  Live in L.A.

Make It Easy/Owner of a Lonely Heart
On both the Live in L.A. and Boston versions the crowd does the majority of the singing so it's interesting to listen to recordings where Trevor is actually singing.  "Owner" in its' final form is not in his range, as we know, so that always makes me tense.  In San Diego it's not so bad, but it's not that good either.  But I am disappointed Trevor edited out that funky breakdown which comes right before the last chorus.  I think the party atmosphere of audience participation makes the song more fun, as is fitting for an encore.  The L.A. crowd sounds better at singing, but that might also be the result of post-production tweaking.
Best version?  Whichever one you prefer.

Love Will Find A Way

The difference in the way this song was performed really depended on where it was in the setlist.  It sounds a lot less ragged on Live in L.A. but it's also pretty obvious how augmented the song is in terms of backing tapes and sequencing.  This is another one where I feel like they were trying to get as close to the record as possible.  But again, it's nice to hear Trevor on lead for this one.
Best version?  Whichever one you prefer.

* ~ * ~ *

And now to the CD booklet, which I will say is a definite improvement in some ways on the original except for the image on page five....which is an obvious photoshop of the photo included in the Wikipedia article about the Paradise Theater/Paradise Rock Club.  Why is that necessary?  That's not even the original marquee, as the club was renamed (slightly) in the late '90s.

Really?  REALLY?!

It just strikes me as wholly amateurish, but then again so does the original booklet.  The liner notes may be dated March 2020, but it's the same text from the 2003 release save the end paragraph regarding the inclusion of the Boston show.  I love that photo on page seven (an outtake from the CLA cover shoot) but again, why does it have to have that ghastly red filter?!

As I've stated previously, even though this release is nothing I would consider well-done and everything in keeping with the kind of non-quality Rob Ayling offers, the Boston recording is a historical document which I believe is important to Rabinites and one which can provide enjoyment even as many long-time die-hard fans would have already obtained it for themselves long before this.