From Yes, with more than a little predictability, we pivot to reasonably unloved 80s supergroup Asia, featuring Yes's Steve Howe on guitar. Here's their second album, Alpha, which I bought in the heat of the moment in 1983.
I'm not going to claim this is any lost classic of 80s MOR, but it's perfectly pleasant and listenable within its own soft-rock microcosm and the Roger Dean cover art is lovely. My copy came from Bridgend and still looks near-mint and plays just fine. I'm fond of it because of the associations I have with that time in my life when I first played the record, rather than any intrinsic quality of the music itself.
We're edging super-close to 1500 pounds on my Justgiving page for Alzheimer's UK, which is brilliant. I'm grateful for the donations to date but want to keep pushing between now and the half-marathon:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990
Hello Mr. Reynolds! I am wondering if there's any way to show you an imagined book cover for a story set in the RS universe. I'd love to send it to you.
ReplyDeleteHi, is it possible your name is Marcus and you sent it to me already via my agent? In which case I'll be dropping you a line when I catch up.
DeleteIt is indeed Marcus! You made my day just by responding on here.
DeleteMay I ask your favorite Yes song? Personally I love to think about your Revelation Space characters while I listen to Owner of a lonely heart, Changes, It Cam Happen, Real Love, Walls, and Hearts
ReplyDeleteAlso what Kate bush do you like? Peace
Starship Trooper & Yours is no Disgrace. Kate Bush, too many to mention.
DeleteSeconding the idea that listening to music is a form of time travel.
ReplyDeleteAt least I feel that way about most everything in the Yes catalog as I discovered that band in my first year of high school when 90125 dropped, which was just a few months after Asia Alpha. And the discovery was an actual journey that took several years, what with not owning a stereo or even a decent Walkman, at the outset.
An interesting short story premise might be to imagine how a teenager of 1985 would see his social status would be changed as a result of having secret access to a modern streaming music service. Having informed opinions about music was certainly powerful social currency at that age and in that time and place.
Love your work, Alastair! I hadn't really been reading much good sci-fi in many years when I happened to watch Love, Death & Robots. That got me to the library to borrow Beyond the Aquila Rift, Diamond Dogs, and the first Revelation Space novel. I think I've read everything you've published except the Prefect novels, and Chasm City. The scope/scale of Revelation Space is truly awesome - the notion of Dawn Wars was novel to me at the time. (I read Cixin Liu later - after Inhibitor Phase). House of Suns is perhaps my favorite of all your books - perhaps because I find an imaginary future with Campion and Purslane in it to be one that I'd want to inhabit myself.
Thanks! I agree with you about music as a social currency (at least as it was then). I remember being completely amazed the first time I met someone (in the 80s) who'd heard of Nick Drake! It was a different time.
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