It’s been a slightly contradictory few weeks in the Tafkass household music-wise, in that I’ve been poring over Pat Gilbert’s brilliant biography of punk icons The Clash, whilst at the same time listening pretty incessantly to Yes’s 1974 prog epic “Relayer”.
For anyone unaware, The Clash were, along with the Sex Pistols, the most influential punk band. Punk came along in 1976 as a direct reaction to the “dinosaurs” of stadium, and particularly progressive (or prog), rock - of whom possibly the most reviled of all were Yes - with the aim of giving rock ‘n’ roll music back to the kids. And they succeeded.
The Clash’s story is brilliantly told by Gilbert; full of genuinely exciting chaos and passion framed by the cultural melting-pot of mid-late 70s London. The personalities, the privations and excesses, the commitment to the cause politically, musically and even fashion-wise, and of course the inevitable crash-and-burn: it all makes for riveting reading. The band are still hugely loved, and massively relevant today, with a lot of the right-wing evil which Joe Strummer railed against once more on the march. I loved it so much I’ve since bought a couple of Clash biopic DVDs, which I can’t wait to watch, in order to put faces and voices to names.
I sincerely doubt that I’d ever buy a Yes biopic DVD - there’s probably not a lot story-wise beyond interminable studio noodling and endless world tours, constant line-up changes with one extremely gifted but phenomenally boring musician replacing another, and the only excesses / privations being a retinue of thousands of barely-used guitars, or singer Jon Anderson occasionally unable to find his kaftan.
However, when we switch to the music itself, it’s a completely different story. The Clash undoubtedly wrote thrilling tunes, were brilliant live and very capable musically, but, beyond the usual “Greatest Hits” compilation fare, their short, barking songs occasionally infused with reggae are of limited appeal to me, no matter how lyrically worthy. Despite my interest in their story, I don’t own every Clash album, and I haven’t listened to their masterpiece “London Calling” more than a handful of times.
On the other hand, I’ve been listening to “Relayer” constantly during the last month, and have done so hundreds of times over the 20+ years I’ve owned it - and it’s not even my favourite Yes album. It’s a mighty high-prog jazz-inflected beast with only three tracks; the first, “The Gates of Delirium”, is based loosely on Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” and weighs in at 22 minutes. The other two tracks are a paltry 10 minutes each (although of course, this is still about 3 times longer than any Clash tune). The time-changes, the interplay of musical themes, and above all the unabashed expertise - especially in the form of Steve Howe’s running, melodic guitar soloing - still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, even after so many repeat performances. Yes’s best pieces (to me) are like puzzles you have to unpick - but once you’ve listened to an album enough times to know all of its complexities, it’s pure joy to revisit it any time, and especially after a break of a year or two, during which time you always forget QUITE how brilliant it is…
And this is a crucial factor in the rivalry of prog and punk; one which is often ignored. As Vic Reeves said in his (very funny) autobiography Me:Moir, once things changed in the late ’70s, every kid cut their hair and played at being a punk in public, but many looked forward to the privacy of their bedroom where they could listen in peace to Yes, ELP, Genesis and Uriah Heep. Punk, of course, had a far wider cultural impact which shaped (and continues to shape) so many walks of life outside music, but interestingly, despite this wider cultural impact and 30+ years of derision in the music press, the music of prog is still the bigger seller, both in terms of album reissues and live ticket sales.
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