See, Fred. I invoked their name, you dissed me, and now he's dead!

Worst part is he died in PHX yesterday. I lived in AZ. No one wants to die in PHX!

Wow! At least to a few of us dinos around here, he was one of the top bass players of the last 1/4 of the last century, and, still, well into this one.

Thanks for the countless hours we "spent together" over the last 45 years! You were one of a kind.

I've always been a big fan of bass players, and found Yes music in high school. It was fun, challenging and exciting. So Squire was a hero of mine for quite a long time. We had many good hours together.

I remember discovering and being fascinated by his solo album. I haven't heard it in a while, but it seemed to wear well. I remember naively thinking and perhaps hoping that Drama was The End. That was something like 35 years ago.

I saw various incarnations of the band at various venues. They never disappointed me, and Chris always seemed to channel joyful authority. He was an amazing musician, and I am grateful for the art he left us.

Saw them play with Chris here in Texas back in college. Great show / great band. Best wishes to his loved ones.

It's odd. All of the reports say he was the only Yes member to be on all of the studio albums. That's because they legally could not use the "Yes" name when he did not appear on "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe." I don't know the history surrounding that recording, but I have always filed it under "Y."

Yeah, me, too. I think it's rather good, and don't know why he and the others seem to have been "on the outs" during that period. (There's no "and" in the title, btw). Tony Levin was a brilliant choice as replacement, and that was quite a good concert. I think Chris may have been playing with Tony Kaye, Alan White and Trevor Rabin at the time.

Here is a nice remembrance from Brian May

I really fear that these inevitable artistic losses over the next decade are going to be a tremendous buzzkill.

I realized a couple of weeks ago that almost all my heroes are going to die in the next 10 years or so.

Except Charles. He's got 11, from what I've heard.

RIP

Live at Montreux

You ready my mind. Well, partly. I also thought we should have a "pool." Then I thought that I should make an R.I.P. post for, say, like, Roger Waters, and just wait for Fred to show up.

In keeping with my fashionably late posting...

Thanks for the shout out Bob, I was trying to figure out a way to blame this on you.

For the longest time, I had no idea how well regarded Chris Squire was, I just knew I loved his bass lines.

Yes, all the musical legends we old guys admire will be gone soon. Well, except Mick Jaggar because he's chemically so well preserved he'll be touring well into 2080.

It's a passing of the torch to a new crop of legends like Kanye West I guess.

Kanye West is a legend in his own mind

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the name....but I recovered when I realized it wasn't Billy Squire.

Good one! But he IS a homey (Wellesley High). Now won't you feel bad if he dies next week?

Ahem. "Squier".

As usual, (zzzzzzzzzz...), Tom is correct that Chris and Billy do not spell their last names the saem [sic].

I think I can speak for us both when I say that we were never paying enough attention to the "Stroke It" one to have really noticed. We appreciate the correction just the same.

Oh, you do not. You maybe "noted" the correction, but I think claiming "appreciation" is disingenuous.

As a big fan of Yes, their homophonous names just always seemed like a cruel twist of fate to me. Still pretty bummed about Chris Squire's passing.

Nice tribute/old-interview piece at Notes From The Edge...

http://nfte.org/interviews/CS200_Tribute.html

Flashback:
A young Lampshade's mom drops him off at the Roller Palace in Beverly, Massachusetts. He laces up his roller skates and bypasses the roller rink and makes his way straight to the video games.

Until Stroke It by Billy Scwire came on...that would lure me out there for my laps.

Oh wait, that wasn't the right song...it was Tom Sawyer..

Anyway, I'm gonna miss you Billy, you died too young. In the Dark is a great song.

I think it was Leo Sayer's cover of Billy Squier's Tom Sawyer?

Tom, really, I never was a Billy fan. I didn't know his name was spelled "er,", and not "re." I first learned the word in 1962 when I saw it after the word, "Country," on the side of a Ford wagon with fake wood panels.

Me, disingenuous! You know I only do that consciously, right?

I WILL tell you what always confused me was that Tony Banks, Tony Kaye, Peter Banks thing. I'm glad David Jones changed his name to David Bowie or I woulda thought it was "Ziggy Stardust and The Monkees from Mars."

You have both elevated my Saturday. Thank you.

If you mean we made you laugh, great! If you mean that we expanded your horizons or lifted you spiritually in any way, we apologize, as that was not our intent. Seriously, Tom, who comes here for that?!

I'm easily amused. It's a virtue.