9012Live: The Solos (1985)

9012Live: The Solos (1985)

This weird little nugget is exactly what its title implies: A collection of solos (plus performances of the 90125 tracks “Hold On” and “Changes”) recorded on tour in 1984. Tony Kaye gets all Phantom Of The Opera via an organ patch, Trevor Rabin offers some fake flamenco with gooey synth in the background, and Jon Anderson sings the “Soon” section of “The Gates Of Delirium,” from Relayer. The version of “Changes” is more sprawling than the studio take, but the real highlight, for sheer WTF-ness, has to be Chris Squire’s massively fuzzed-out, distorted, echo-slathered, 1/8-speed solo bass version of “Amazing Grace,” which basically prefigures Earth and Sunn O))). That leads into the album’s closer, “Whitefish,” a hard-driving bass-drums duet (with occasional interjections from Anderson) that crams “The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus),” “Tempus Fugit,” and “Sound Chaser” into an apocalyptic eight-minute medley. Is this for anyone but the most diehard fans? No. Will those diehard fans find it diverting? Sure, but not much more than that.