Getting to Yes

I don't remember where the poster came from, but I remember the blue UFOs hovering over hills with duct-tape loops holding them on the wall, and I remember knowing—but never learning—that it was a painting by Roger Dean. Somehow I knew also that Roger Dean painted album covers for Yes, who at that point I had certainly never heard. The poster lived on one wall or another for a few of the places we lived in in the stretch during which I went to two schools for fourth grade, a third for fifth, a fourth for sixth, and a fifth for seventh.

When the summer ended and I rejoined my parents for (a couple weeks after) the beginning of seventh grade, my uncle, my mom's youngest brother, was living with us. He'd work with me on Frisbee throwing / catching, and I'd sit in his car and listen to his tapes, or the radio, soaking up his thoughts on Don't Stop (drumming on the steering wheel) or Everybody Have Fun Tonight ("everybody Wang Chung tonight") ("This is an anthem!"). I suspect but can not prove that he was the original source of the poster—I know he was the source of my first orange crate of records, turntable, receiver, and speakers; he'd moved out one night, unexpectedly, after a falling out with my mother.

It was 1986. I didn't know much. I knew I'd loved a glowing-blue poster, by a guy who did album covers for Yes.* I knew AC/DC was my favorite band, maybe my favorite thing, I knew my favorite novel was Starship Troopers, with all its powered armor and pointedly problematic patriotism. Flipping through the orange crate, I saw art familiar, friendly to my eyes. I pulled out it, and skimmed song titles, and when I found "Starship Trooper", I knew this is, this has to be, For Me. I knew, before the needle hit the groove, that this would surely crunch harder, punch faster, than anything off of Flick of the Switch.

What I heard was, essentially, early R.E.M. with a more expansive heart: soaring organ, chiming guitars, carefully plucked, and a falsetto opening the song with "Sister bluebird / flying high abo-o-ove".

I was nothing close to prepared for this. I pulled the needle up and off, stuffed the record back in its sleeve, went back to hard rock radio and didn't think about Yes again for close to 20 years, when my girlfriend was out of town, and I had her mom's car so I could dogsit, so (naturally) I went to Best Buy, where I made a joke purchase of Yes' greatest hits...which blew my mind...and then, a few years later, I was at last ready to realize: Yes makes pretty music that makes me happy; sometimes that's what I want.

Now "Starship Trooper" is one of my favorite songs. When the pretty, hopeful, bombastic section (that I'm pretty sure is called "Life Seeker") gives way to the quick-stepping-then-electric "Disillusion" part (probably), with its layered "aaaahhhh" harmonies, that is extremely pleasing and heartening. When everything drops out and phased, flanged guitar carries the day solo for a while, with a hook so irresistable that Love & Rockets would have a huge hit with a song consisting exclusively of it, then building intensity and instrumentation on top of it for long minutes...then the coily solo comes in and combines soaring with the kind of heart-cutting wince of happy pain you feel when you see your crush (or when I see a particularly blocky puppy head), I realize, in as real a way as I can manage: this is church music.

Twenty years ago, when I heard Yes, it repelled me. A few weeks ago, working a strike in a town not my own, lonely (and exhausted, and generically upset / sad) in a hotel room, I paid for a music streaming service I'd used the free version of for years, putting up with mostly awful ads and unable to download anything, subject to data availability and the whims of Wi-Fi. The first thing I downloaded: Fragile.

NOTE: The artist responsible for my poster, and, I think, a few other artifacts from that time that I haven't been able to remember clearly enough to run down, was not Roger Dean. A lot of the things we just know, but maybe can't remember learning, turn out to be not so, later. This may be particularly true with the knowledge of, and imparted by, Record Store Guys.

The artist is Gilbert Williams. The image I loved, I recently learned, was an album cover for Crosby, Stills, and Nash. It probably sold a couple million copies. thing it's important to learn is that a cool thing can be shared. It doesn't have to be just yours. (My copy of the poster did not have any words on it, though. I have to make that clear.)

Old Men Bickering Like Old Queens Since 2006

Digging the Neilsen-background I put together (for all that you can see it) - but not totally sold on the Robida-professors babbling amongst themselves on the masthead up there...



New reviews on the way soon!

Reviewiera still plugging along since 2006. Wow.

-d.d.

Djinn of Nordic Descent

As is perhaps typical of that Fetishizer of the Facile, Lafayette "Fat" Contradiction has once again latched his attentions to (what I thought was) a mere side-thought in one of my writing. This times, it’s the (what I am now calling) Element of Display Distinction.

Also, display as a concept and a reality, including the elements of design and set-up (what kind of shelf? what order? etc), is a critical distinction which sets any sort of hobbyist collection apart from mere archiving (a mere matter of semi-accessible storage).¹

Upon further reflection, I perceive a murky delineation on my part. I will now attempt to clarify.

The distinction at play is between collections where Display Elements are almost as important as the collection's content, and collections where Display Elements are not (in which case, elements such as accessibility are more important).

It’s the difference between a couple fistfuls of Genesis carts in a shoe box shoved under your tv stand, and a shelved row of games in cases with printed, color covers.

And let's face it: there's a whole breed of joyless collectors out there who buy Stuff and immediately store it in the attic, basement, or closet w/o ever removing it from its packaging. I feel secure in positing that Reviewiera is not habitat to this breed.

However, the degree to which the Display Element is present in a given collection easily falls victim to circumstance. After all, one cannot prominently and colorfully display games in cases if one has no cases. And, if one has cases, one has need of a color printer, and a resource for games covers from which to print, before she or he can have a games case with a colorful cover.

The short of it, then, is that I've further tinkered with custom Genesis cases.

Since my initial foray involved my Genesis RPG stalwarts of Phantasy Star II and Shining Force, the next subject was clearly Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom. III, however, is lacking in appealing cover art, North American, Japanese, or otherwise. Undaunted, I searched for manual art, concept art, and similar peripheries (though not fan-art), and found success with the color cover of a manga spin-off.² This became the centerpiece for the new cover, of which I'm quite satisfied.



At some point in looking for Japanese cover art I had stumbled across the French Mega-Drive site Guardiana, which has a plethora of Japanese versions.³ Of particular interest was Gunstar Heroes, the Japanese version's manga-style cover of which quite accurately reflects the game's on-screen busy-ness. Ranger-X, a personal Genesis fave of mine, features the titular mecha in artful repose.



More recently, another bevy of Madden cases facilitated a simple "what should I make covers for?" projekt. Beyond Oasis is a game I really want to like, and really want to play, but every time I slot it up on the Genesis or the Nomad, I only dink around for a few minutes and then decide to do something else. Still, it was called Story of Thor⁴ in Japan and Europe, and I like the Japanese manga-style (again) cover art for it, so I made it a hybrid, keeping the N.American name intact.

Sonic & Knuckles is a game that I do, in fact, like. I just don't play it often. Generally, games which lack save points don't see much eyeball time w/ me. Which doesn't mean I don't like them. I just don't have the time laying around to make that kind of a push.⁵ The cover I cobbled together's mostly a less-cluttered Japanese version, w/ some text from the N.American release on the back.



Since I was already making covers for games I respect but don't play, and since the subject of Sonic had been broached, I figured the 1st Sega Genesis game I ever owned should have a cover & case of its own: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the pack-in that came with the Genesis I presented with for Christmas '91 or '92.⁶ Sonic n' Tails are taken from the Japanese cover, and the back cover stuff from the N.American edition. The Japanese cover wasn't the best resolution so I ran it through a filter a few times and gave this, I dunno, cel-shaded look?



You may have noticed I'd developed a bit of a set style by this point: GENESIS big on the front, usually 90degrees CCW; GENESIS in white font w/ black background at top of spine. More white background than on the original covers. I figure this is more in line with the SegaCD/Saturn/Dreamcast style of spines/layout. Of course, I had to tweak my Phantasy Star II and Shining Force covers to fit this new style.



Finally, most importantly, the new and expanded view from the shelf.



Way better than a pile of carts shoved behind my PS1 and DC games.

-d.d.

¹ "Hybridization," Feb. 22, 2008.
² Or something like that.
³ Although, sometimes frustratingly, usually at a lower resolution.
⁴ To clarify: a Arabic-themed, or at least Arabic-inspired, action-RPG, with Djinnis, a very Sinbad-esque main character (poofy pants), etc., with the word "Thor" in the title, and no hammer to be seen anywhere.
⁵ S&K is also a rather fine (and successful) example of the proud Sega tradition of add-ons and peripherals. S&K is "stackable", with a game slot under a hood on top of the cart. You put S&K in your Genesis, and then you can put either Sonic 2 or 3 in the S&K slot and play those games with Knuckles. No one ever really talks about the implications of this I but I kinda figure it as the first instance of "new content" for a new game.
⁶ In typical teenager fashion I wrangled my parents into getting one, and then basically got bored and walked away from it, leaving my sisters to develop freaky brand loyalty to Sonic 2: I got them all the plug-n-play version of Sonic 2 two Christmas' ago, and then they preceded to blitz through the first 4 or 6 levels like they'd never stopped playing, oh, FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.

Hybridization

A Sega Nomad became a dear part of my life over the holidays. Yah, the battery life is as short as you've heard - abt 5 hrs w/ (six) alkalines, and although a disappointing 2 or so hours w/ NiMH rechargeables, well, at least they're rechargeable.¹

Phantasy Star II's been getting the lion's share of play on the Nomad. This is contrary to what I've read in some places: that RPGs don't look great on the Nomad and are hard to read. I think it looks fantastic, and if you're having trouble reading it the screen on yr Nomad is either dying or something, or you need glasses.² 'Sides PSII, Sonic Spinball's gotten some semi-serious time, the big No. 2 is the recently acquired Shining Force[: Legacy of Great Intention].

Shining Force is a vintage tactical RPG, which I adore. Menu and item management are pretty minimal, but the story advances quickly and battles don't take more than the occasional 2nd try (so far). Beloved by me features also include:

(A) When Max, yr main character, dies in battle, the battle's over, which kinda sucks (the battle continues if other characters are slain), but the party doesn't lose any acquired experience (or gold, I think) from the failed attempt. This is why a 2nd attempt will mostly likely always succeed.
(B) All the members of the Shining Force are recruited in the town maps. This is not an entirely unique feature (you can do it 108 times in Suikoden, for example), but I must confess it is charming. Most refuse to join up at first, of course, then change their minds after an event or some such.

Anyways, I've been on the warpath in PSII, getting off that god-forsaken rock called Mota and finally reaching the alien world of Dezo, an experience which fills me with strange feelings. Wonder? Glee? Holy shit! Am I having FUN?!?

Having been hitting the Genesis collection so hard lately, my mind wandered to the old conundrum of my lack of Genesis games which come in cases. Great sites exist on the 'nets for downloading covers for yr Genesis (or SNES or NES) cartridges, but I was perpetually held up my the lack of the cases themselves. You can mail-order some, but they're kinda stupid expensive: like a buck per case, but plus 2 bucks S+H. Eff that. So the last time I'm at CDGameXchange, I look at the Genesis section and note 3 sports games, each w/ their case, for a buck each. "I just need the cases," I explain to the clerk as I throw down my ones and scurry out the door.

About 3-4 hours on the GIMP later, I can't stop looking at, or picking up and holding, these 2 beauties...



Of course, I had to make hybrid covers w/ the Japanese art on the front and the North American art on the spine and back.

From the angle that matters the most: the view when on the shelf...



I really can't emphasize enough the smug satisfaction that comes w/ clicking yr copy of Shining Force into a colorful case designated as the case which holds Shining Force. Also, display as a concept and a reality, including the elements of design and set-up (what kind of shelf? what order? etc), is a critical distinction which sets any sort of hobbyist collection apart from mere archiving (a mere matter of semi-accessible storage).

-d.d.


¹ However, I really need a different charger. Mine only holds 4 AAs at a time, and supposedly takes "overnight" to recharge. Which is true, if "overnight" is 24 hours. I need one of those 8-battery 45-60 minute powerhouses.
² Besides, don't 16-bit graphics always look just a bit sharper when viewed on a tiny screen?