Topic: Riff-In-A-Jiff
First tab entry of the New Year. 
Let's start 2009 with a riff/Intro."Roundabout" is -- along with "I've Seen All Good People" -- one of the best-known songs by progressive rock group Yes. It's the opening track on Fragile (1971), the band's fourth album, a disc that went double platinum. For release as a single, the lengthy track was edited down from its full 8:29 to 3:27. It was released in 1972, with "Long Distance Runaround" as the B-side, and climbed to #13 on the US Hot 100.
The harmonics-laden acoustic guitar Intro has become something of a signature piece for guitarist Steve Howe. During this part of the band's history, Yes enjoyed considerable success, both popular and critical. They became a major concert draw, being noted for the high quality of their live show, in both sound and lighting technology, and of course, in the music itself.
YES - "Roundabout" (J. Anderson/S. Howe)
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/varriffs.txt
Audio (album version):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z9He-TPnro
Posted by planet/zerofret
at 1:25 AM EST
Updated: Monday, January 5, 2009 1:26 AM EST
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Updated: Monday, January 5, 2009 1:26 AM EST
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"Step Into Christmas" was released in 1973, likely the most prolific and succesful year of Elton John's career. He began that year with the January release of the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player. Then, in October, came the release of the legendary Good-bye Yellow Brick Road double-album. The two albums combined produced a total of six hit singles, two from the former album and four from the latter. In late November of that year (after the first two single releases from GYBR), "Step Into Christmas" was released as a non-LP single. It reached #23 on the UK charts. Later, when the 1974 album Caribou was remastered and re-issued in 1995, the song was included on the CD as a bonus track. It's also been included on other Elton John compilation CDs.
ELP's "I Believe In Father Christmas" is probably my favourite contemporary Christmas song by a pop/rock act. After doing the tab of it, I was surprised when I looked on YouTube and couldn't find a copy of the version I had tabbed. The song has had three lives just with Greg Lake/ELP alone. The first version was Greg Lake's recording of it, released as a solo project. (
It's interesting to read comments at YouTube about this song, plenty of people saying that it's anti-religious, anti-Christmas, anti-Christian, etc. I think they mostly object to the first few lines of the second verse. It isn't the cheeriest Christmas song you'll ever hear, but I don't think it's any of those above named things, and Lake has made it clear in interviews that it's not meant to be any of those things. But I think it's a song of its time (written in 1974), a time when "message" songs were the order of the day. The Vietnam war was still ongoing. In the video of the orginal version, Lake sings the last line, "The Christmas we get we deserve", then there's a montage of video clips of the Vietnam war, finishing with a clip of a soldier arriving home and his young son running into his arms. Lake says the song protested the over-commercialization of Christmas, but to me it seems more like a loss of innocence song about how at Christmas adults fill childrens' heads with idealistic platitudes about peace on Earth and good will to men. But as those children grow up they realize that wars and crime and social ills go right on, even at Christmas time. I don't see the song as bitter or depressing; it just seems to be saying that Christmas itself isn't a magic panacea that makes the world a wonderful place. People have to do that. People have to make those platitudes about peace and good will mean something by their actions. The "Christmas we get we deserve" line suggests that the world is only what we make it. Which means there's always the option to make it better. So for me, the song sounds a note of hope and possibility, too. My two cents worth, anyhow.
Calling all "long-haired freaky people". 
One from the request file today, Loverboy's "Hot Girls In Love". The song is from the band's third album Keep It Up, released in 1983. The record went double platinum in the US, with "Hot Girls In Love" becoming their most successful single up to that point. It peaked at #11 on the Billboard chart, aided by heavy rotation on video stations like MuchMusic and MTV. This degree of success garnered the band its first headlining tour. The one time I saw Loverboy live was the year before this (summer of 1982). They opened for April Wine at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, although with the kind of success both bands were enjoying at the time, it was more like a great double bill. 
"American Storm" is the opening track of Bob Seger's 13th studio album Like A Rock (1986), his fifth with The Silver Bullet Band. The album went platinum, reaching #3 in the US. "American Storm" rose to #13 on the US Hot 100 and reached #2 on the Rock Charts. The song title was also tapped as the name of Seger's 1986 tour. It was a nine-month, 105-show affair, which sold 1.5 million tickets. At the time, Seger said the American Storm Tour would be his last major tour.