Many of my friends would tout Rush as the greatest Prog Rock band ever, but I would argue Yes every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The constant of Yes is none other than Chris Squire who passed away Saturday night. Squire, who was 67, was suffering from a rare form of leukemia.
What differentiates Yes from Rush and specifically Squire from Geddy Lee is while Rush's members have elite technical musical prowess, Yes is much more melodic in every sense of the word. Though Squire isn't singing lead vocals and playing keyboards with his feet while playing bass like Mr. Lee, his bass lines are soothing, inviting, and song-worthy - not just a bunch of interesting notes. It's like the difference between jazz and blues. Good jazz is interesting and otherworldly, Blues is human. And listening to Squire's bass is like listening to his soul dance out of his Rickenbacker. Otherworldly.
I've seen Yes three times in concert and each time I was duly impressed and always blown away by Squire. He also influenced many bass players who came after him, including Billy Sheehan, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, Les Claypool of Primus, John Myung of Dream Theater, Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots and of course Geddy himself.
Squire will be missed by many and I will forever be grateful for his music.
If you're unfamiliar with Squire's work, check out a couple of the video clips below.
Heart of The Sunrise (My favorite)
Wal Ozello is the former singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's the author of the science fiction time travel books , Revolution 1990 and Sacrifice 2086 and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.