You and me, too, Moon Cat...Truly sad. I know a LOT of people who are sorely depressed by this news, and nearly all of them musicians.
It was Squire's bass playing that a music friend in my early teens pointed out to me what a "bass guitar" was -- on "Roundabout."
When he ripped it up on Rickenbacker, he was unparalleled in all of Progressive Rock in terms of placement, attack and aggression.
I never really heard half of what he was doing on "Roundabout" until I heard this:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCIQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGRjAgl1dQBk&ei=8diQVd_UFcXAsAWtooG4BQ&usg=AFQjCNGz_t3JwHmmAcQp1kkeDq7cFXfAPg&bvm=bv.96783405,d.b2w
For me, his peak on record (for me at least) is on the double live "Yesshows" doing the unimaginable all over "Ritual" from Cobo Hall in Detroit in 1976. It bears little resemblance to the studio version. It's almost like Lemmy if he was in Mahavishnu Orchestra. Sounds stupid, but it's true:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQyCkwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQXTn82YwTZk&ei=XtqQVabYIYXlsAXHtab4BA&usg=AFQjCNH-BSdXheherjf3Vjr4mQHD1cASHQ&bvm=bv.96783405,d.b2w
Chris Squire. Dead. Man.
Maybe it's better to just remember the good times: Hearing "Astral Traveler" for the first time. Seeing Yes in the Round in Madison Square Garden June, 1979 and walking a friend who was a girl (and not a girlfriend who was gonna kiss me) home later. Or the time Squire's bass made the huge Moroccan dinner plate displayed on the wall of a friend's den rattle like mad during "Sound Chaser" when he cranked it to an unimaginable volume. Or how Squire produced "Yesshows" and wound up jacking his bass up like Tony Visconti did his on "The Man Who Sold The World." Or even three nights ago when I played "Parallels" at top volume as a celebratory victory lap for a personal triumph. And his gear was sharp and snappy as fuck: the silk cape, the fuzzy boots, the Harlequin suit later on...and on and on.
I remembered an experience in a record store on Portobello Road about a decade ago that brought a smile to my face as much as Squire's attack on "Astral Traveller." I was flipping through the bins when two smartly dressed, attractive young women came in the shop. It was a small shop, so I couldn't help but hear that one of the women was talking about getting her Dad a present for his birthday.
There was a glass case with stupidly pricey picture sleeve singles and excitedly, the woman burst out in a super posh accent: "Oooh! I must get this for Dad: look at that bouffant of his!"
The single was The Syn's "Flowerman"/14 Hour Terchnicolour Dream." It was around ?200-?300 and she bought it because she was Chris Squire's daughter...!
http://images.45cat.com/the-syn-flowerman-deram-3.jpg
After she left, I joked to the guy at the counter why he didn't just sell her one of their manifold copies of "Don't Kill The Whale." He smiled (because they were so plentiful and cheap.) But he then said, "Wait a minute: how'd you know we got copies?"
I replied, "Doesn't everyone?" (Boom)
After thinking about it today, nearly everything I still like about Yes is dominated by Chris Squire's plastic fantastic, tripping-the-light fantastic pummel bass.
(Well, and/or Patrick Moraz. But he's my fave member, natch.)
Chris Squire left a big impression on me, I guess. Far bigger than I previously thought.
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