RIP Chris Squire

The only member of Yes to be part of every lineup. One of the greatest bassists in rock history, with an absolutely amazing sound.

Very sad. I've been getting into Yes little by little over the last few years (and your recent album rundown helped tremendously). However dopey the lyrics might be, however twiddly the keyboards could get, however math-y the unison bits would be, Squire's bass always made sure they rocked.

amazing bassist, RIP

RIP Yes :(

One of the greatest bassists in rock history, with an absolutely amazing sound otm

r.i.p.

chris rocked out when i saw their 35th anniversary tour some years back. great bassist.

fuck

sucks that they never toured one last time with jon

well that sucks

aw, man, RIP

I read that his influence just about single-handedly kept Rickenbacker afloat in the 70s. Their guitars weren't exactly in step with the times, so they upped their production of basses for musicians who wanted to sound like Squire.

oh yeah, that trebly distorto picked rickenbacker sound was huge amongst my 70s prog buddies. so soory to hear about chris. he owned the name "yes," right? i wonder who he willed it to.

my 2nd rock concert ever. totally formative.

oh, man. what a huge influence this guy was...kinda figured things weren't good when he was diagnosed, but didn't think it would go south this quickly

he owned the name "yes," right? i wonder who he willed it to.

he did (hence "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe"), and that's a good question. when he was diagnosed he had Sherwood fill in for him and there are already 2016 tour dates (they're playing Drama), it's weird to imagine Yes going on, but really what'll stop them?

He was responsible for some of the worst recorded music of the last 40 years and could apparently be a colossal dickhead, but when he was on and for long stretches of time, he was the best bass guitarist ever to have lived full stop. No need to add the word "rock".

Never been a Yes fan beyond liking some of the classic rock radio staples, but Squire had a standing that went way beyond Yes fans. During those "top 5 players" arguments among me and my friends in high school, he was always assumed as one of the best bassists ever, nobody even tried to argue. I think his playing is prog at its best -- complex but melodic, and never too fancy to groove.

He clearly woodshedded the hell out of Motown, and had the choir boy's love of big load contrapuntal bass lines burned into him. SImple ingredients which he played the hell out of.

shine on you crazy delirious praematurus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPfgqPcF-BE

RIP. Such a good bassist.

Aw fucking hell :( RIP :(

I never need an excuse to listen to Relayer - it's my favourite Yes album, after all - but right now I can't help but blast it at a deafening volume and think about what a bass talent we've lost.

I knew he was sick, but this has still taken me by surprise, one of my all time favorites, RIP

RIP, treble titan of the Rickenbacker, not to mention the only member of Yes I ever had a dream about (as reported here a coupla years ago: He became my doctor whose rock-god past I didn't want to mention for fear of irritating him)

Goodbye Fish. We loved you.

Really been loving Fish Out Of Water over the last two years, especially the first half. It's a must hear. Wish he did more solo albums in his prime.
Love all the Yes albums I've heard (Yes Album up to 90125 and Magnification), even the flawed ones I still really love. Easily among my very favourite bands.

RIP and thanks for all the amazing, inspiring music.

Wow. Best thing about Yes, always. So sad. That was fast, too.

The only member of Yes to be part of every lineup.

he owned the name "yes," right? i wonder who he willed it to.
he did (hence "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe")

ppl seem really into quoting one of these factoids without connecting it to the other

jon anderson just posted a nice eulogy ~

Chris was a very special part of my life; we were musical brothers. He was an amazingly unique bass player - very poetic - and had a wonderful knowledge of harmony. We met at a certain time when music was very open, and I feel blessed to have created some wonderful, adventurous, music with him. Chris had such a great sense of humor... he always said he was Darth Vader to my Obiwan. I always thought of him as Christopher Robin to my Winnie the Pooh.

We travelled a road less travelled and I'm so thankful that he climbed the musical mountains with me. Throughout everything, he was still my brother, and I'm so glad we were able to reconnect recently. I saw him in my meditation last night, and he was radiant. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones.

Love and light.....Jon

RIP

Really gotten into (Early) 70s Yes in the last couple years Squire's bass work is a big part of that.

Bruford (like Anderson) taking the thoughtful high road about someone he had a lot of issues with:

"Really saddened to hear of the death of my old Yes band-mate, Chris Squire. I shall remember him fondly; one of the twin rocks upon which Yes was founded and, I believe, the only member to have been present and correct, Rickenbacker at the ready, on every tour. He and I had a working relationship built around our differences. Despite, or perhaps because of, the old chestnut about creative tension, it seemed, strangely, to work.

He had an approach that contrasted sharply with the somewhat monotonic, immobile bass parts of today. His lines were important; counter-melodic structural components that you were as likely to go away humming as the top line melody; little stand-alone works of art in themselves. Whenever I think of him, which is not infrequently, I think of the over-driven fuzz of the sinewy staccato hits in Close to the Edge (6’04” and on) or a couple of minutes later where he sounds like a tuba (8’.00”). While he may have taken a while to arrive at the finished article, it was always worth waiting for. And then he would sing a different part on top.

An individualist in an age when it was possible to establish individuality, Chris fearlessly staked out a whole protectorate of bass playing in which he was lord and master. I suspect he knew not only that he gave millions of people pleasure with his music, but also that he was fortunate to be able to do so. I offer sincere condolences to his family.

Adios, partner. Bill."

R.I.P.

Great bassist, I'm going to blast some CTTE and Relayer now in tribute.

Awfully sorry to hear of this and realize that I missed my last opportunities in recent years to see the band with him present. Was just playing a couple of Yes albums (Time and a Word and Tormato!) yesterday, and getting curious about all the post-'83 albums I've never heard. Such a wonderful, on-the-nose of something elsewhere sound.

those are wonderful eulogies. jon's brought a tear

rip, nigh-on unbelievable musician

one of the best ever, RIP

“Although we never met, I’m so sorry to hear about Chris Squire from Yes passing. As a bass player and innovator on the instrument he was a huge inspiration to me. Simply put, he was one of the greatest rock bassists of all time. My most sincere condolences to his family and friends.” — Geddy Lee

The fact that Chris Squire and Geddy Lee never met over the course of the 40+ years of them both touring/being famous makes me even sadder somehow.

i was just listening to fish out of water like two days ago. i must have felt his spirit.

Yeah, it boggles my mind that Geddy Lee and Chris Squire weren't, like, pen pals for at least the last 35 years.

Brian May:

Very sad to hear of the passing of Chris Squire, bass player of the progressive rock band YES, today.

Chris was a truly unique bass player. The word ‘unique' is used a lot, these days, of course, but in Chris’s case, it’s undisputable. His bass playing style was a million miles away from the low-pitched thud of most bassists of the time. His bass guitar was wired up to make an incisive full-frequency range ‘clank’ that had the presence of an orchestra when he played on his own. Blended into the intricacies of the arrangements in his band’s music, it formed a massively strong backbone in both rhythm and pitch. As young musicians, we boys in Queen were huge fans of Yes. We had a loose connection with them, since Freddie had worked in Kensington Market alongside Tony Kaye, their original keyboard player. We regularly saw Yes playing around London in their very early days - when they were still playing covers, - among them a very impressive version of ‘Something’s Coming’ from West Side Story. In these early days they were learning their harmony skills which later emerged strongly in their own compositions … like 'I’ve Seen All Good People', etc.

Chris was a founder member of the band along with singer Jon Anderson, and was a major writer and arranger as well as bassist. I saw the band many times all through their very convoluted history, but one early impression stick in my mind. I was on the Entertainments Committee of my college - Imperial College - and we booked them to play in our Great Hall just after they’d returned from a tour in the USA supporting Iron Butterfly. We were around in the hall when Yes were doing their sound check. At each side of the stage were the speakers of their PA … their amplification system. Now in those days, PA’s were usually made from a valve amplifier putting out about 200 watts in power (compare that with modern systems which pump out hundreds of thousands of watts). The amp would feed small cabinets which held some conventional loudspeakers - the kind that people had in their home radios and record players. The Yes system was shockingly different. It comprised massive square black boxes (known as ‘Bins’ - for the low frequencies) and large metal fan-shaped devices sitting on top (known as ‘Horns’). Our aws dropped. We’d never seen anything like it. We asked them later how this came about and they told us that this was the Iron Butterfly system, designed to put across one of the loudest bands in the world at that time. For Yes, it was not so much about being loud, as being clear. To put across multi-part harmonies on top of a loud rock band required a lot of spare power, or all that would come out would be distortion, since you were trying to make those delicate harmonies compete with the sound coming out of loud guitars and drums actually on stage, in the ‘back line’. For us this was vital information. We, as Queen, were planning to do exactly that … make vocal harmonies sit on top of a band sound that was going to be louder and more ‘heavy’ in content than Yes’s. So if this new kind of system worked, this was what we wanted. Of course there was one small snag … we had no money !!

But was all this sophistication going to solve every problem ? Chris Squire strolled on to the stage and picked up his already plugged-in Rickenbacker bass, and turned it up to do the check. But before he played a note, he frowned and said, in what seemed like a shocked tone (and the implication that this was in no way his problem): “There’s a buzz !” Immediately three or four guys rushed on from the wings and scurried around looking equally concerned.

Now to us, at the time, being beginners with no money and no gear, this seemed incredibly grand ! Couldn’t he sort out his own buzz ? What was this world where other people turned on your amp and plugged you in ? But as time went on, we realised this is more a matter of focus. As a performer you try to optimise your efforts as regards performing. You actually can’t do that if you’re worrying about the technical side of things as well. You pay other folks good money to do that … and if you don’t, you’re actually putting someone out of a job ! The whole touring team thing depends on everyone being a specialist in what they do, and that’s how you achieve excellence. It’s just one of the lessons we, Queen, learned from YES, and, very specially, the amazing and truly unique Chris Squire. I should probably mention that as a player he was a virtuoso; I think just about every bass player I know would confirm that view.

May he rest in peace and happiness, knowing he played a great part in changing Rock for ever.

Sincere condolences to his family and friends, and the guys he pioneered wondrous harmony progressive faerie-inspired Rock with.

Bri

underrated solo album IMO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkT1O9c5gZ4

RIP

that's awesome from Brian May! Yeah, it's weird, when I heard about this, it was a no brainer to post something about it. I wouldn't do that for Jon Anderson or Rick Wakeman (tho certainly would for Bruford). He was really a different kind of bassist than had ever been in rock, and seemed to be just as good for Yes during the prog years as the pop years. Unique dude.

Was totally gutted when I heard about this last night.

"Parallels" (for which he has sole writing credit) still blows my mind. Found this awesome video today of a studio run-through for the song. The bass is front and centre :)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsm0ef_yes-parallels-studio-run-through-1977_music

RIP Chris, RIP Yes.

Our aws dropped

And yet he never him.

From Adrian Belew:

so...when I heard Chris Squire had passed away my first thoughts were of Julie Slick because I knew how much his playing meant to her.
here is my real tribute to Chris:
in the early 1970s I was a starving guitarist. I had joined a new band called Zarada (supposedly it was Czechoslovakian for "garden").
I guess you had to be there.
the beatles were gone and now
we were caught up in the newest music, something called "progressive rock". we were entirely immersed in the music of two bands, King Crimson and Yes.
"Roundabout" was playing on the radio about every other 10 minutes and it was announced Yes were coming to play in my town (Cincinnati) at a large club called Reflections.
through some local finagling Zarada managed to be the first of two opening acts for Yes.
it was our first and only performance, we sucked the moon out of the sky. and that was the end of Zarada.
but earlier that afternoon I got to watch Yes's soundcheck.
first my favorite drummer Bill Bruford came out to tune his drums and play a few fills. I was apoplectic.
then Chris Squire appeared on stage, made a few remarks to the soundman (as I have done 1000 times since) and launched into Fish.
I had never heard a bass player play what he played then and my idea of bass playing has never been the same since.
and that's my tribute.

great tribute, adrian. smh.

Love that Brian May bit
He seems like an entertaining guy

brian may is an extremely funny, interesting, brilliant man who just so happens to have played guitar in and written for one of the biggest rock bands of all time

Has he written any books?

http://www.amazon.com/Bang-Complete-Universe-Brian-May/dp/1780971699/

also edited/assembled a bunch of books on victorian and edwardian stereoscopy

His politics are pretty admirable too.

i thought he voted tory...?

No way!

Ah, seems he used to be but certainly doesn't sound like one now.

Aside from the singles I've never listened to Yes. I'm listening to "Fragile" now and I'm surprised by how much I like it! Squire's bass playing is great, it's got a nice heaviness that grounds everything.

The couple of times I saw Yes, and certainly in clips, Squire always seemed to be having the most fun while simultaneously looking both cool and ridiculous. The other dudes, it was usually serious frowns all around, plus ridiculousness, but Squire rocked the cape and just kept moving.

NA, did you have an aversion to yes (or prog rock in general) before, or did you just not get around to listening to them until today?

It's sometimes difficult to picture but I've heard that early Yes were quite a chaotic band. Only time I got a visible glimpse of anything like that was the old footage of them driving a buggy fast all over the place and trying not to fall out of it. Though maybe my memory exaggerates.

Kind of both. Indie/punk bias against prog but also am ignorant of a lot of "classic rock" (broadly) because my parents were into earlier stuff.

Wakeman's weighed in with a heartfelt eulogy:

I knew, like many of us, that Chris was seriously ill with a rare form of leukaemia, but had heard the encouraging news that he was responding well to treatment and so felt optimistic that with treatment, love and prayer, he would beat it. Ironically I wrote to Paul Silveira, (the manager of YES), on Friday evening to enquire how Chris was and heard the desperately sad news yesterday. The phone has not stopped ringing and my inbox is overflowing with tributes from so many people which simply shows the effect that his contribution to music made to so many of us, musicians and fans alike.

We have now lost, who for me, are the two greatest bass players classic rock has ever known. John Entwistle and now Chris. There can hardly be a bass player worth his salt who hasn’t been influenced by one or both of these great players.

Chris took the art of making a bass guitar into a lead instrument to another stratosphere and coupled with his showmanship and concern for every single note he played, made him something special.

Although Chris is no longer with us in human form, his music has not gone with him and that will be around long after all who read this will also have departed this mortal coil. That’s the great gift of music. That gift can be passed on with what has been created and so Chris will always live on.

I, like all of you, send my heartfelt condolences to all Chris’s extended family and may there be some solace for them in knowing the impact he had on so many of us.

Chris’s passing, truly marks the end of an era.

We have now lost, who for me, are the two greatest bass players classic rock has ever known. John Entwistle and now Chris. There can hardly be a bass player worth his salt who hasn’t been influenced by one or both of these great players.

Just realized Squire died 13 years to the day after John Entwistle passed.

~billy sheehan still lives~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsGjl6kP0SI

Ha, mookie.

mark kozelek, who hasn't been known lately for gentleness

Onward

My condolences to the family, friends and fans of Chris Squire. I've been a fan of Yes since I was a kid and covered Yes' Long Distance Runaround, and later Chris Squire's beautiful Onward, which I can be seen singing in the new film Youth by Paolo Sorrentino. Cameron Crowe and I argued during the movie set of Almost Famous about how he wanted me to play bass with my fingers "like John Paul Jones and John Entwhistle." I would tell Cameron "but Chris Squire played with a pick!" Cameron got his way, but my heart filled with joy and melancholy when I saw the premier of Almost Famous and heard I've Seen All Good People from The Yes Album. I'll never forget listening to that one over and over again in an Ohio basement where my love for Yes ignited. Thank you Chris Squire for the beautiful music. I will listen to I've Seen All Good People tonight, over and over. —Mark Kozelek 6/29/15

Mark Eitzel on twitter, posted alongside the first track from Fish Out Of Water

"Missed the last bus to Fawley to shake the hands of this band when I was 16.. Chris was the only one who did."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om_aejKhooA

Thanks, never expected there'd be an hour and a half's worth of Fish Out Of Water talk from him.

whoah!

I saw them at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, on the '72 tour. A guard let me and Tall Paul in the back, and we were standing in the wings, near Squire and White, which was ideal. Squire danced while he played some of them notes, as well he might.
This is my only memory of Yes (other than: one of the first CDs I ever heard was Union, sounding excellent on excellent home speakers[not mine]).

if you could see all the roads i have traveled toward some unuseable lost equilibrium . . . run like an athlete and die like a deadbeaten speed freak an answer to all of the answers to YES

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/t31.0-8/q85/p720x720/10714583_639668422805272_5644425391034279243_o.jpg

Wonder whose idea that was.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Gonksgobeat.jpg