[atlantaprog] Re: Controversy

Sez Phil McKenna:

Trevor himself wasn't much more than a very generic pop/rock guitarist who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He can play, yes, but there's just nothing special or unique about him that you haven't heard from a thousand other guys do. Commercially, he pumped up their bank accounts like never before, but once the generic pop virus gets in one's system, it's a bastard to get rid of.

But compare, say, *90125* to other pop-rock albums of its time, rather than to other Yes albums, and a somewhat different picture forms. Not that it didn't disappoint me a bit, but I still found things to like about it. YesWest made YES MUSIC of some sort about half the time. (And don't forget that *90125* wasn't conceived as a Yes album in the first place.) Still, they made a big mistake leading the album off with "Owner of a Lonely Heart" instead of the instinctively "natural" opener, "Cinema"; that must've left a bad taste in a lot of fans' mouths that kept them from hearing the rest of the album with a more open mind. Of course, putting "Cinema" (and, I guess, "Leave It") first would've affected the whole ordering of the album, especially if you still want to save "Hearts" for last. The ordering of songs on an album can affect how you relate to them. (How about a Side 2 of "It Can Happen", "Changes", and "Hearts"? At least you'd get your kinda-proggy three-song side.)

Of his kind, Rabin is possibly the prime example. He has more range and somewhat more musical knowledge that most players of his tradition; he's not exactly Paul Stanley, y'know.

And the word "generic" is a bit loaded; it depends largely on social context rather than purely artistic considerations.

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