Yes Catalog Acquired by Warner Music Group

[ssully]

Noted, but those amps are known to work well for bass. Apparently Entwhistle used one too? The speaker/cab is probably more important than the actual amp head, especially back then. Bass & gtr amps weren't drastically different from one another, compared to today.

I guess we have the Yessongs release to compare sonics: same shows

On his first tour in the USA, Squire, Sunn loaned him a bass head (possibly a Coliseum Bass model) and a 4x12 cab to use. He didn't like the sound. So they swapped him the Coliseum Lead model instead, which he did like.. so much so that when he got back to England, he went to Sound City and got a used one for himself (previous owner: Eric Clapton). So the head did matter. By the time the Yessongs tours were recorded -- he was using dual Sunn 6x12 cabinets with that head. He stuck with this rig until around 1976.

And John Entwistle was, obviously, another bassist who liked a lot of treble.

 

[Electric Moo]

On his first tour in the USA, Squire, Sunn loaned him a bass head (possibly a Coliseum Bass model) and a 4x12 cab to use. He didn't like the sound. So they swapped him the Coliseum Lead model instead, which he did like.. so much so that when he got back to England, he went to Sound City and got a used one for himself (previous owner: Eric Clapton). So the head did matter. By the time the Yessongs tours were recorded -- he was using dual Sunn 6x12 cabinets with that head. He stuck with this rig until around 1976.

And John Entwistle was, obviously, another bassist who liked a lot of treble.

I can't tell if you're just being argumentive or not...but your statement that it was a *guitar* head isn't that significant. Listen to the bass sounds on Yessongs: it was the same rig & many of the same gigs.

The mix is what I'm talking about

 

[ssully]

The levels of treble and bass in the recorded bass signal certainly matters when you are mixing bass. It affects how heroic you have to get to get the bass to 'sit' well in the mix, and how high you can bring it up in the mix.

And therein could lie the reason why Progeny bass sound wasn't all that impressively improved, compared to Yessongs: Kehew just didn't have a lot of low end to work with, but tons of treble. And I cited various significant reason for that, including the choice of head and the knob-twiddling thereof*.

Do you actually play bass or are you just spitballing?



*6x12 cabinets, btw, would not have been a problem. Those were common for bassists of all stripes back then

 

[Electric Moo]

The levels of treble and bass in the recorded bass signal certainly matters when you are mixing bass. It affects how heroic you have to get to get the bass to 'sit' well in the mix, and how high you can bring it up in the mix.

And therein could lie the reason why Progeny bass sound wasn't all that impressively improved, compared to Yessongs: Kehew just didn't have a lot of low end to work with, but tons of treble. And I cited various significant reason for that, including the choice of head and the knob-twiddling thereof*.

Do you actually play bass or are you just spitballing?



*6x12 cabinets, btw, would not have been a problem. Those were common for bassists of all stripes back then

Yes, I have owned, played & recorded with many amps. Bass, Guitar, Keys. And I know how versatile those old amps are.


Did you read Brians notes? He re-recorded the DI signal. Through a real amp. Apparently. Which is what JFE was alluding to, when he said he couldn't hear any of the stuff they trumpeted on about in the promo. And I basically agree, although as I've stated, I am grateful we got the recordings at all.

 

[jaybird100]

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/yes-catalog-acquired-warner-music-1235498598/


Would it be too much to hope that “optimum manner to delight fans” would include some attention in the area of Atmos and box sets?

It’s been slightly disappointing that except for things like Progeny and the Wilson 5.1 mixes, there’s been no major attempt to do much with the back-catalog and old, live recordings in recent years. Instead we mostly get live shows from the current “album” tours.

Weren't their albums released by Atlantic Records? That label has been under the Warner umbrella for years!

 

[Blackwood]

Weren't their albums released by Atlantic Records? That label has been under the Warner umbrella for years!

I long ago stopped following who owns what and under what umbrella. My message now to whatever company owns it is the same... please release it all in Atmos with Steven Wilson mixing it.

 

[Electric Moo]

For the record, Chris Squire had a great live bass sound and it wasn't compromised by him using a "guitar amp" head. A Sunn coliseum lead is a 300w powerhouse that kills for bass duty. If he used one, it was because he liked the sound.

Entwhistle also had a thunderous live sound. He used the same amp.

What was compromised was the recordings of those shows. Due to the Dolby tape misalignment plus haphazard recording techniques: mics used, mic placement, other technical reasons, who knows. And the "fix" I was referring to in post #20 was exactly what they said they did with the Progeny release.

So the @ssully diatribe about Squire using a *guitar amp* is interesting minutae but not relevant at all, to the reason the recordings didn't turn out.

Plus they reamped the bass for Progeny anyway! So it's all moot. There should be ample bass available

 

[Electric Moo]

Hey, I just realized I was listening to the Progeny shows last night, Nov 1st.

The tour ( well, Progeny recordings ) started Oct 31 1972 in Toronto

Nov 1st 1972 was the Ottawa gig, exactly 51 years ago. So it was an anniversary!

The next gig is Nov 11 in Durham, North Carolina

So we can listen to all the recordings on the same dates they played, albeit 51 years later...pretty cool

 

[key_wiz]

I long ago stopped following who owns what and under what umbrella. My message now to whatever company owns it is the same... please release it all in Atmos with Steven Wilson mixing it.

Well ok. But Atlantic has been part of the Warner Music Group since 1967.

 

[Blackwood]

Well ok. But Atlantic has been part of the Warner Music Group since 1967.

Well, in my defense I did say I stopped following this long ago.

 

[jimfisheye]

Aren't they all owned by Nestle or General Dynamics at this point? Amazon will start a bootleg version soon.

 

[Orgillian197]

Ironically, the YES catalogue has just been MQA encoded and is being released by Warner JAPAN on UHQ~CD in Mini LP cardboard sleeves

https://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/30956

I have found them at a very good price at CD Japan and they compare very favorably with the previously released Redbook and hi-res Steven Wilson Yes remasters (obviously not a Wilson version of Yessongs). I've gotten The Yes Album, Fragile, CTTE, Tales and Relayer for $18.74 USD for the single discs and $24.10 USD for Tales plus shipping.

 

[Electric Moo]

It's Nov 11: getting ready to tee off with Yes playing in North Carolina 51 years ago, today!