Chris Squire RIP
YES - Yours is No Disgrace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pQOaLFSdEg
Never a great fan of Yes...or prog for that matter. A friend tried to get me into Gong for years.
Jon Anderson looks young on that vid...
Steve Howe is a great guitarist
I sometimes feel prog is sort of a musician's music, almost like some of the more challenging forms of jazz. I know plenty of people that are into prog, and they're all musicians. Most people I know that aren't musicians absolutely hate prog.
Squire could definitely play.
Yes - I've Seen All Good People (live from Yessongs) (1973, Atlantic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peS4L9jfGt4
^
Squire veering from the masterful studio version to bolster the live sound. Brilliant, ambitious, imperfect, beautiful.
Some favorites of mine....
America (Simon & Garfunkle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WDkdZ6QvXY
A prog masterpiece right here! Howe's riffing and clean country-esque picking is tremendous, Squire is bumping along thunderously. The riff at just after 8:20 is bombastic rock n' roll goodness. They're really flexing on this one. Bruford's drumming is tight and he's really grooving, and one of his best drum sounds IMO. Great and bizarre vocal harmonies too.
Starship Trooper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQKVqVpoMxw
Siberian Khatru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HnIr6jYWU
Wonderous Stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Dz4isf2EU
Heart of the Sunrise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WDkdZ6QvXY
My inner 16-year-old music geek self really identifies with this stuff. Holed up in the bedroom on Saturday night, forsaking friends and girls, YES blasting through headphones and trying to keep up.
^
Can't beat it. Wah pedal, ES-175...
You can tell the guy was listening to some Chet Atkins at some point.