He has earned his spurs, that's definitely true, and he's one of the greatest and renewing bass players in rock history.
But I never liked the concept of 'sophisticated' intelligent rock, or -for that matter- the sound of his bass.
But that's just me
Strange enough there's one song of Yes which I liked a lot at the time, and re-listening it now it still does:
Your move.
It has the capacity of making the sound waves whirling and 'phasing' through my mind.
Those high voices which seem to go nowhere create fascination ánd expectation, dunno. The great use of open vowels, as a selection criterium for rhythmic placing of the words. just magic.
And the bass is kept darker as elsewhere, lucky me.
There's a (doubled) kick only on the first beat of each bar only, which holds back the typical rock drum concept, good for me
The combined voices in the first part are already thrilling to me, but really eclectic it get's with Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda / Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda
With a great baseline capturing the whole diidit line downward, and up again at the end.
Really great
Not surprisingly I like this text part the most, as I usually don't like 'content' in music anymore (to avoid the typical (rock or pop) song structures, not really applicable on Yes, definitely true).
It's strange that (only) one single piece of a band or even it's style of music, that I don't have connection with, can make me feel that happy.
Playing it all the time while writing.
Brutal stereo mix also, no delay/reverb shit, and that 'flute organ' drives me crazy
As far as I know this is far more than I achieved in my musical life.
So Yes, Chris Squire, my respect, anyway, RIP.
Edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rpBUD0hjaI
at 22:24. Preferrably at 2:42 tho
