The BBC has an interesting article titled Is the American Dream in Business? which takes a brief look at the not-so-bright prospects of contemporary Detroit.

I left the US in late 2006 for the brighter skies (economically speaking) of the Old World. At the time, things were still going pretty well in the US but you could see the gathering clouds on the horizon. The dollar was already sliding, oil prices were creeping up, and there were some signs that the house price bubble was going to burst.

Things have clearly taken a turn for the worse since then. People fear a real economic crisis, and the American Dream does not seem quite as bright and shiny as it used to. What's it looking like from where you are?

I'm really wondering how this will play out in the general election campaign. Will it be all about the same old irrelevant nonsense? Or will things get so bad that it will be simply impossible to ignore the harsh economic realities? And if so, will that play into Obama's hands, since the Republicans will have very hard time arguing that they're not responsible for the current state of the economy?

We Can... talk about something other than FISA!

Yes is the name of an English progressive rock band formed in 1968, forty years ago. Apart from a short pause in the early 1980s, the band has been active all those years.

When I was born, Yes was already famous, and some might say past their zenith. The first time I recall hearing about Yes was in 1990 on late night music radio. A year or two later I was staying at a friend's house over the summer and while browsing through his vinyl collection, I came across Close To The Edge, an album with strikingly simple light green sleeve and beautiful, haunting music. But the summer ended and with it ended my acquaintance with Yes, at least as far as the 1990s were concerned.

Fast forward 15 years; iTunes finally arrives to my laptop. Looking around the iTunes store I found Yes and remembered the green cover. After expending a modest amount of dollars I discovered that I liked the music just as much as I had fifteen years ago.

I like British prog rock music (Pink Floyd, Van der Graaf Generator) so naturally I started exploring Yes. And I liked what I saw, or rather heard. Relayer, Going for the One, Keys to Ascension, Magnification, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tales from Topographic Oceans, even the first eponymous album from '69.

The music of Yes is... well, for one, not pop music. It's almost an anathema of pop music with long tracks (many around 20 minutes), extended instrumental sequences, high dynamic range, and somewhat impenetrable lyrics. Definitely not suited for radio play and possibly something of an acquired taste. Plus a lot of it sounds like it was made in the 1970s... because it was.

I find much of the Yes music very compelling and fascinating. I'm no musician but even I can tell that many of the Yes compositions are structured exactly like classical music, with clearly identifiable movements and main themes, yet sound so unlike classical music.

I always wonder what the music of Bach or Vivaldi or Tchaikovsky would look like if they lived today. Maybe some of it would sound a lot like Yes.

Worth mentioning are also Yes cover versions of songs by other artists, for instance Every Little Thing by the Beatles and America by Simon & Garfunkel. In both cases, it takes a bit of careful listening to realize what the originals are, but the Yes covers are different and beautiful in their own way.


It is probably wholly coincidental that Yes is also the name of a track on the latest Coldplay album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. Compared to Yes, Coldplay is much poppier and easier to listen to. Coldplay music is colorful, sweet, mellow, inoffensive, bright, glittery, attractive, soft. It's difficult not to like Coldplay, which is probably a good reason for musical snobs to hate them.

Viva la Vida is very well produced and compared to the previous releases, it's more of an album and less a collection of independent tracks. This is also reflected in slightly longer tracks, with two around the seven minute mark.

I rather like Viva la Vida and in my opinion it's a notch above the earlier albums. I doubt anyone would claim that it's a step back for Coldplay. Certainly the charts show that Coldplay hasn't lost its fans - not that I think the charts mean anything.


If I had to guess which music will be more popular 20 years from now, Yes or Coldplay, I'd be hard pressed to make a choice. Yes has already proven its worth and while Coldplay might be a fad, I don't think it is. Coldplay is more accessible but then again, the fact that the music of Yes is more challenging is also what makes it worthwhile. We'll just have to wait and see.

As always, I'm interested in hearing recommendations of other similar music.