Okay, you got me. I freely admit before all my fellow music lovers and audiophiles alike that I had a very specific ulterior motive when I noted in a recent Remaster Class column that the title track to Yes' September 1972 magnum opus Close to the Edge was my "second-favorite 5.1 mix." Following my primary intention of encouraging listeners to marvel at the fully enveloping scope of that song's truly amazing surround sound mix, I figured the next thing anyone reading said comment might wonder would be along the lines of, "Yeah, cool cool cool, that's great and all—but what's No. 1?"
So . . . seen anything good lately? Now that we have almost nothing but time on our hands as we collectively self-quarantine behind closed doors and chill in front of our screens, there's no better time than the here and now to catch up on all the great rock documentaries we've been meaning to delve into via the streaming universe. Naturally, we here at S&V assume you've already devoured—and loved—the half-dozen rock docs I recommended here just a few short weeks ago, so what should you watch next?
Yes may have hit the roundabout motherlode with November 1971's Fragile, but their true zenith came with the following album, September 1972's Close to the Edge. Edge was the perfect intersection of envelope-pushing, multi-movement compositions and beyond-heady lyrical mysticism, permanently cementing Yes' status as top-tier progressive rock progenitors.
Prince was determined. While he had made some inroads on both the sales charts and urban radio with his first four hot-button, mostly one-man-show albums of the late-'70s and early-'80s, an opening slot on The Rolling Stones' 1981 tour exposed the narrowmindedness of many concertgoers who outright booed and/or threw things at Prince and his band while they were onstage.
Some bands have sonic innovation flowing through their veins, right from conception. Case in point: Nektar, the progressive European collective who initially made their bones in Germany in the 1970s, even though their founding members were all from the U.K. Early, mind-expanding Nektar albums like 1971’s Journey to the Centre of the Eye, 1972’s A Tab in the Ocean, and 1973’s Remember the Future were all said to have influenced the always exploratory likes of Pink Floyd. I sat down with Derek “Mo” Moore and founding drummer Ron Howden to discuss the enduring legacy of their deep canon and how they address their history on their recent album The Other Side.
Pandora was one of the world’s leading Internet radio entities when it debuted 20 years ago. Now under the mighty SiriusXM corporate umbrella, can its Pandora Premium tier deliver an experience on par with the competition?
Few artists have oh-so-quantifiably defined their own uncopiable sound as definitively as King Crimson did with their October 1969 debut, the full-title-mouthful In the Court of the Crimson King: An Observation by King Crimson. This five-track, beyond-progressive salvo brought together forward-thinking pastoral, orchestral, jazz, and blues-rock sounds into a distinctive blend that only served to widen the overall aural palette of the most formative decade in popular music.
Subtitle it The Ballad of Never-Easy Rider. Produced by Cameron Crowe, David Crosby: Remember My Name is a self-actualized love letter to one of rock's most significant rollercoaster-ride careers. Croz's admitted goal for the film's wished-for postscript is some level of interactive redemption with his chief collaborators of years past—i.e., Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young—all of whom he doesn't speak with to this day. (Why? As he readily admits, the combination of anger and adrenaline always turn him into "instant asshole.")
Which one's Pink? It's a question the mighty members of Pink Floyd have answered more than once throughout their unmatched 50-plus-year career. No matter who's been at the helm—the wide-eyed lysergic-minded guitarist/vocalist Syd Barrett, the uncompromising iconoclast bassist/vocalist Roger Waters, or the melodic linchpin guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour — the mantra of delivering music that's always high fidelity, first class has been at the core of Pink Floyd's production values from the very beginning.