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486_17 | In a later collaboration between Stella and Tyler, The Fountain ‘mural’ print (1992) exemplifies Tyler’s ability to offer mixed media prints on a grand scale. The Fountain measures over 2 metres x by 7 metres, and three woodblocks and 105 intaglio plates were employed to produce the sixty-seven coloured print Stella required in his original collage composition. Tyler once commented, "My choice of wood-block was made based on the large size of the print. Both Frank and I knew we were going to use some of the existing metal plates from the Moby Dick prints series. It was determined that the black image would be printed from the woodblock and the colors would be from metal insert plates". Very large triple ply washi (Kozo fibre) papers were created especially for this ambitious project, as was a custom-built printing press. |
486_18 | Following his retirement from printing, Ken Tyler remains committed to making use of the latest technologies. Work is currently underway on Tyler’s personal inventory site, and he has also commissioned comprehensive virtual archives of Tyler material at such institutions as the National Gallery of Australia. |
486_19 | Collections |
486_20 | Tyler's legacy will continue through his contributions to many international collections, both of artworks and archival material. In the United Kingdom, the Tate Gallery holds a significant collection of prints focusing on the latter half of Tyler's career. In the United States, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, has a comprehensive Gemini G.E.L. collection and has also produced an online catalogue raisonné. Other major collections of Tyler prints include those at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, USA; the Center for Contemporary Graphic Art in Fukushima, Japan; and the Singapore Art Museum. The latter collection was acquired with the assistance of the Singapore government, who in 2002 also supported the establishment of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. The Institute contains all the original printing presses and equipment shipped from Tyler's workshops in America, including a 100 tonne hydraulic platen press. In Canberra, Australia, the National Gallery of |
486_21 | Australia holds a collection of over 7000 Tyler works, as well as an archive of related film, sound and photographic material. |
486_22 | Honours
Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia - For service to the Arts, particularly through the Kenneth Tyler Collection at the National Gallery of Australia and through philanthropy.
Notes |
486_23 | References
Kenneth Tyler Printmaking Collection Online at the National Gallery of Australia
Kinsman, Jane (2015). Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Abbeville Press (1987). Tyler Graphics: the Extended Images. New York.
Armstrong, Elizabeth & Gilmour, Pat (1987). Tyler Graphics: catalogue raisonné 1974–1985. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Center for Contemporary Graphic Art & Tyler Graphics Archive Collection (1998). Frank Stella and Kenneth Tyler: A Unique 30-Year Collaboration. Fukishima, Japan.
Donson, Theodore B (1977). Prints and the Print Market. Thomas Y. Crowell, New York.
Gilmour, Pat (1986). Ken Tyler - Master Printer, and the American Print Renaissance. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Gilmour, Pat (ed.) (1992). Innovation in Collaborative Printmaking: Kenneth Tyler 1963–1992. Yokohoma Museum of Art, Yokohoma. |
486_24 | Goldman, Judith (1977). Art Off the Picture Press: Tyler Graphics Ltd.. The Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University.
Heland Wetterling Gallery (1989). Ken Tyler, 25 Glorious Years. Stockholm.
Online Gemini G.E.L. Catalogue Raisonné, National Gallery of Art, Washington: http://www.nga.gov/gemini/
Museum of Modern Art (1991). Seven Master Printmakers: Innovation in the Eighties. New York.
Kinsman, Jane (2002). The Art of Collaboration: The Big Americans. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Tate Gallery (2004). Print Matters: the Kenneth E. Tyler Gift. Tate Publishing, London. |
486_25 | External links
Kenneth Tyler Printmaking Collection Online at the National Gallery of Australia
Beyond Print: Kenneth Tyler Printmaking Collection A blog documenting "the living history of the Kenneth Tyler printmaking workshops"
1931 births
American printmakers
American people of Romanian descent
Herron School of Art and Design alumni
Living people
School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
American lithographers |
487_0 | Mid-major is a term used in American NCAA Division I college sports, particularly men's basketball, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the so-called "Power Five conferences" (the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC), which are alternatively referred to as "high majors." The term "mid-major" was coined in 1977 by Jack Kvancz, the head coach of men's basketball team at Catholic University. NCAA neither acknowledges nor uses the terms "major" or "mid-major" to differentiate between Division I athletic conferences. Some schools and fans consider it offensive and derogatory.
Football |
487_1 | Because of the development of the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series in 1998, and the lack of a playoff format for the Football Bowl Subdivision prior to the College Football Playoff, the demarcation line between major and mid-major conferences was much clearer in college football than in other sports. The six conferences of the BCS each had guaranteed appearances in one of the four major bowl games (Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl), whereas mid-majors — the teams that were not in one of those six leagues — relied on an at-large bid or a high ranking to qualify for a major bowl. (The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, an independent, was an exception.) It was rare for any mid-major program to receive one of two at-large bids (or only one, if Notre Dame qualified) to one of the four major bowls, even if such a program completed a perfect season. The establishment of the BCS National Championship Game opened two additional at-large berths and mandated invites |
487_2 | for mid-major schools above a certain ranking, which led to an increase in mid-major appearances in the four major bowls. Then conference realignment brought about the split of the Big East football conference. Schools that did not join a major conference from the Big East renamed it the American Athletic Conference, while several non-football schools left and founded a new conference, purchasing the name "Big East" from the newly renamed American. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, the non-Power Five FBS conferences are usually referred to as "Group of Five" conferences rather than mid-majors. No mid-major ever qualified for the BCS title game. |
487_3 | Only one mid-major team has won a National Championship: Brigham Young University's Cougars, then in the Western Athletic Conference, won the 1984 championship on the strength of its perfect record and a win in the 1984 Holiday Bowl. BYU largely won the championship by default, since no other team had held an undefeated record, and there were still lingering doubts about the team deserving the honor because it was in a lesser conference. Since the establishment of the Bowl Alliance (and its successors the Bowl Championship Series and College Football Playoff), no mid-major team had ever been selected for the championship game or tournament until the 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats of The American AAC were selected after an unbeaten regular season. The Bearcats were defeated in the opening (semifinal) round 27-6 by the Alabama Crimson Tide. |
487_4 | Currently, the Group of Five football conferences are the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference. Several conferences that no longer sponsor football were considered mid-majors; two that existed in the BCS era were the Big West Conference and the Western Athletic Conference (which is in the process of returning to football competition in the Football Championship Series, at least initially). |
487_5 | Mid-major schools have compiled a record of 8–6 in the major bowl games since the 2004 football season. Since 2004, only the 2005 and 2011 seasons did not see a mid-major team in one of the major bowl games. The 2010 Fiesta Bowl featured two unbeaten mid-majors (Boise State and TCU); this is the only time two mid-majors have qualified for top-tier bowls. Prior to 2012, each of these teams entered its bowl undefeated, until Northern Illinois qualified following the 2012 season. UCF qualified for the January 2014 Fiesta Bowl (following the 2013 season), in the final year of the BCS, because the American Athletic Conference retained the Big East's automatic slot in the BCS. The current arrangement of the New Year's Six bowl games mandates that the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion be awarded a New Year's Six bowl berth. This has been most recently invoked for the 2021 Cotton Bowl Classic, which featured a Cincinnati team that became the first Group of Five team to be |
487_6 | selected to a College Football Playoff semifinal. The 2018 season saw a controversy that also involved UCF, which went on to win the 2018 Peach Bowl and end the season as the only undefeated FBS team. The Knights were denied a CFP bid in favor of four teams which had all lost one game (two of whom, Georgia and Alabama, had lost by double digits to the same Auburn team that UCF had defeated in the Peach Bowl). |
487_7 | The American Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference have so far been the most successful of the Group of Five at placing their champions in major bowls, respectively doing so seven and five times. However, four of the MW's appearances were in the BCS era, when the conference now operating as The American was known as the Big East and was a primary BCS partner. The Western Athletic Conference, which no longer sponsors FBS football, has done so three times; both schools which went to major bowls as WAC champions now play football in the MW. The Mid-American Conference has done so once in the BCS era and once in the CFP era. Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference have never qualified a champion for a BCS or New Year's Six bowl. |
487_8 | The mid-major teams that have qualified for the most major bowl games are Boise State and UCF, with three each. Boise State qualified twice while in the WAC and once in the Mountain West, and UCF has made all of its appearances while in The American. Cincinnati, TCU, and Utah have each done so twice. TCU and Utah are now members of "Power Five conferences"; TCU is now in the Big 12 and qualified for the 2014 Peach Bowl while there, whereas Utah is currently in the Pac-12 and played in the 2022 Rose Bowl. Cincinnati and UCF are scheduled to join the Big 12 in 2023. |
487_9 | The American is widely considered the best football conference that is not in the Power 5. Since its reorganization and split from the Big East Conference in 2013 (and its corresponding expulsion from "BCS conference" status), they have sent four teams to New Year's Six bowl games: Houston in 2015, UCF in 2013, 2017, and 2018, Memphis in 2019, and Cincinnati in 2020 and 2021. These teams have gone 3–4 in the games played to date. USF, UCF, Houston, Navy, Cincinnati, SMU, and Memphis, all American Conference teams, are very successful programs in FBS play. In 2017, UCF was the first team from The American to go undefeated; its schedule included two wins against Memphis (whose only two regular season losses came to UCF and was otherwise undefeated) and a win against USF (which had only one other loss besides UCF), and the team won its bowl game against #7 Auburn, a team which had beaten both CFP championship game teams (Alabama and Georgia) that year. The Knights also completed an |
487_10 | unbeaten regular season in 2018, but lost to LSU in their bowl game after having lost McKenzie Milton, the quarterback who had led them in both 2017 and 2018, to a catastrophic knee injury in their final regularly scheduled game. Cincinnati also entered its bowl games unbeaten in both 2020 and 2021, but lost both times, narrowly to Georgia in 2020 and more convincingly to Alabama in 2021. However, three of the four American Conference members to have played in New Year's Six games, namely Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, have since announced they will join the Big 12 Conference in 2023. |
487_11 | The bowl game to host the most mid-major conference champions is the Fiesta Bowl, which has hosted at least one such team six times, with the 2010 edition (2009 season) involving two mid-majors. The Cotton Bowl Classic and Peach Bowl have each done so three times, all in the CFP era. The Sugar Bowl did so twice in the BCS era. The Rose Bowl Game and Orange Bowl each did so once in the BCS era. |
487_12 | Basketball |
487_13 | Typically, the term is used to refer to teams that are members of a conference other than the Power Five. Others believe the term uses an arbitrary litmus test, based on how many teams from a given conference qualify for the NCAA tournament in a "good" year, or how much success a given conference has had in the NCAA tournament, or even conference revenue and attendance. The Big East Conference is not in the Power Five, but is considered a power conference in basketball, with the term "Power Six" sometimes used by media to describe the combination of the Power Five and Big East. Beyond that, other conferences such as the Atlantic-10 Conference, American Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley Conference and the Mountain West Conference, have sometimes been branded as "high-majors". Additionally, one men's program outside of these conferences, West Coast Conference member Gonzaga, is now generally considered equivalent to a Power Six program despite its mid-major affiliation. ESPN |
487_14 | currently defines mid-majors as "programs outside the top 7 conferences (Power Five, Big East, AAC) and Gonzaga". |
487_15 | Given the sustained success of many so-called "mid-major" conferences, and especially that of the Gonzaga program, higher profile conferences find it more difficult to distinguish themselves with the "mid-major" and "major" labels, unless one takes into account the distinction of being in now-defunct BCS football playing conference. However, only one team from what is now a mid-major conference has won a national championship since the tournament expanded to 64 teams—UNLV in 1990 as a member of the Big West Conference. (Louisville won national titles in 1980 and 1986 as a member of the Metro Conference, one of the precursors to Conference USA and arguably a major basketball conference of that day.)
Key conferences
As a convenient shorthand, the term "high major" basketball conference is often synonymous with the college football Power Five conferences:
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
Big 12 Conference
Big Ten Conference
Pac-12 Conference
Southeastern Conference (SEC) |
487_16 | These leagues, along with the Big East, were the six so-called AQ ("automatic qualifying") conferences during the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era in college football. Following the breakup of the Big East and end of the BCS era, the remaining five are the primary members of the College Football Playoff (CFP) structure that began in the 2014 season. The CFP is centered around a group of bowl games often called the "New Year's Six", with two of them hosting CFP semifinals each season in rotation. Football champions of these conferences are assured of a spot in a "New Year's Six" game, though not necessarily in a CFP semifinal. |
487_17 | The two leagues that resulted from the 2013 split of the original Big East Conference—the football-sponsoring American Athletic Conference and non-football Big East Conference—are often considered to be major basketball conferences as well. When the original league split along football lines, the seven non-FBS schools, plus Creighton, Butler, and Xavier, founded the current Big East while the three remaining FBS schools, Cincinnati, UConn, and Temple, became The American. In every year since the split, the "new" Big East has been ranked a top five basketball conference by leading analysts such as Ken Pomeroy. Villanova won the men's basketball national championship in the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 seasons. The American has also found success, consistently ranking a top ten league. In the 2013–14 season, the first after the split, American member UConn won national titles in both men's and women's basketball. The American also includes several other historically major men's programs |
487_18 | such as Cincinnati, Memphis, and Temple. UConn eventually left The American in 2020 to reunite with many of its historic rivals in the current Big East. |
487_19 | The term "mid-major" is sometimes used to describe all of the other 25 basketball-playing conferences not receiving automatic tie-ins to either the BCS or CFP. However, most of the time the term is specifically applied only to the non-CFP conferences that consistently produce quality NCAA Tournament teams (distinguishing them from the "low-major" conferences). Often the definition of a "mid-major" is a conference that garners only one bid to the NCAA tournament (its automatic bid, won by its conference tournament winner) and no at large bids, all the while not garnering the attention and television dollars of a major conference. |
487_20 | Until the last decade, the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference were widely considered to be above the level of the other "mid-major" conferences, but still generally below the level of the five major conferences. However, due to recent changes in membership in some conferences, as well as the sustained success of some "mid-major" conferences, most no longer consider the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West to be below the level of the CFP conferences in college basketball. One reason why is the 2012–2013 RPI (a rating used by the tournament selection committee), which in 2012–13 ranked the Mountain West as the third best conference in Division I (ahead of the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) and the Atlantic 10 seventh (ahead of the SEC). The strength of these two non-CFP conferences in men's college basketball in 2012–13 was not an aberration, given that in 2011–12 the Mountain West finished the year ranked fifth, and the Atlantic 10 |
487_21 | ranked seventh, both ahead of the Pac-12. Given the rankings of these two leagues, as well as their prestige, performance, recent post-season results, national perception, exposure, attendance, and many other factors, most observers have trouble considering certain non-CFP conferences as "mid-majors". |
487_22 | So-called "mid-major" basketball programs generally belong to one of the following twenty-four conferences. Note that some of these conferences, including the Mountain West and the Atlantic 10, may be considered a "high-major" as opposed to a mid-major depending on whom one asks.
America East Conference (sometimes AmEast)
ASUN Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10)
Big Sky Conference
Big South Conference
Big West Conference
Colonial Athletic Association (CAA)
Conference USA (C-USA)
Horizon League
Ivy League
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)
Mid-American Conference (MAC)
Missouri Valley Conference (MVC)
Mountain West Conference (MW)
Northeast Conference (NEC)
Ohio Valley Conference (OVC)
Patriot League
Southern Conference (SoCon)
Southland Conference (Southland)
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)
Summit League
Sun Belt Conference
West Coast Conference (WCC)
Western Athletic Conference (WAC) |
487_23 | Conference USA and the WAC both once had many strong basketball programs, but since 1999 WAC men's basketball has dropped in prestige due to members leaving to the American Athletic and Mountain West, respectively. |
487_24 | This list is not static from year to year, as many fail to agree which conferences are truly the majors and which are the mid-majors and/or low-majors during any given season. (The Big West and Ohio Valley Conference were previously included on this list; they finished the 2011-2012 season as the 21st and 25th, respectively, ranked conferences in the RPI.) Some still refuse to consider the Mountain West to be a "major" conference, despite outperforming several other "major" (BCS) conferences for the last several years in a row. There are many conferences (besides the six BCS conferences) that have regularly had teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond, regularly challenge for multiple NCAA Tournament bids, have multiple teams "buy" games from lower-ranked conferences, and have finished in the top 10 in conference attendance every year for the last decade. Additionally, as noted previously, Gonzaga is now seen as a major program despite its mid-major conference affiliation. |
487_25 | The basketball website Collegeinsider.com created its own definition of "mid-major" when it introduced a pair of end-of-season awards for outstanding mid-major individuals in college basketball: the Lou Henson Award for players (first presented in 2010) and Hugh Durham Award for coaches (first presented in 2005). Since the 2013–14 season, players and coaches from the following conferences have been ineligible for these awards:
All conferences that sponsor FBS football, except for the MAC and Sun Belt
Atlantic 10
Big East |
487_26 | Additionally, although Collegeinsider.com continues to include Gonzaga in its unofficial "Mid-Major Top 25" when warranted, it apparently no longer considers Gonzaga to be eligible for its "mid-major" awards. For example, in 2020–21, Gonzaga had no representatives on the Lou Henson All-America Team, consisting of the 25 players on the final watchlist for the Henson Award. This was despite three Gonzaga players (Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs, Drew Timme) being consensus All-Americans in that season. |
487_27 | Members of these conferences are also generally ineligible for the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
In Division I women's basketball, the analytics website Her Hoop Stats created a similar definition of "mid-major" when it introduced the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award in 2020. Currently, players from the Power Five conferences, plus the Big East, are ineligible for this award. |
487_28 | Issues mid-major programs face |
487_29 | Mid-major teams often have a difficult time scheduling major conference opponents, especially at home. Major conference teams usually will not schedule a high quality mid-major team, knowing that there is an uncomfortably high chance that they will lose (especially if the game is at the mid-major team's home court) and if the major team does win, there is often little benefit in media exposure for beating a non-major school. Some major conference teams also believe that scheduling games with additional competitive teams isn't necessary for their current team's development, as they believe there will be enough "tough games" during conference play. This phenomenon often manifests itself in major squads playing mostly lower ranked mid-major conference teams (while refusing schedule requests from better mid-major squads) in their out-of-conference schedules, thereby establishing very impressive records against lesser foes and bypassing higher quality mid-major teams in the process. |
487_30 | In recent years, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has stressed the importance of a team's strength of schedule (SOS) in the nonconference portion of their schedule. Teams with a low-ranked nonconference SOS have often been penalized in their seeding and in some cases not selected for the tournament at all. In 2006, Florida State was left out of the tournament field in large part because its out-of-conference schedule was rated #316 out of 333 Division I teams. |
487_31 | The difficulty most mid-majors have in scheduling major conference opponents has a large effect on their ability to qualify for the NCAA basketball championship tournament and for the National Invitation Tournament. Often, mid-major teams with outstanding records are passed over for at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament in favor of teams from BCS conferences with mediocre records, based partly on the fact that the mid-major teams often have a lower strength of schedule. Without the ability to play more "major" opponents, most mid-majors have to stake their Tournament hopes on winning their conference's season-ending tournament (which promises an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament) since the possibility of an at-large bid is often remote. Mid-majors that do make it into the tournament by winning their conference tournament are regularly placed in the lowest seeds (four of the eight play-in game seeds are reserved for mid-major conference champions), which effectively ensures they |
487_32 | will be eliminated from the tournament quickly because they will have to face the strongest teams in the tournament in their first game. (No play-in game participant has ever defeated a 1 seed, and it was not until 2018 that any 16 seed had ever defeated a 1 seed.) To expand opportunities for mid-majors to play postseason basketball, some unofficial postseason tournaments have arisen, including the aforementioned CollegeInsider.com tournament and the College Basketball Invitational; however, as most of the schools are smaller, they may not be able to afford the entry fees for these pay-to-play tournaments, and a number of mid-major schools have policies prohibiting play in them. |
487_33 | The Gonzaga Bulldogs team faces a slightly different set of challenges. Since its Elite Eight appearance in 1999, it has successfully established itself as the closest thing to a major program in a mid-major conference, making the tournament field in every year since, even in years it failed to win the West Coast Conference tournament. Its position in a mid-major conference is no longer a primary issue with regard to making the tournament field, but is often perceived to adversely affect its tournament seeding. The Bulldogs typically play a nationally competitive nonconference schedule, frequently going on the road, and have proven themselves capable of defeating nationally prominent opponents. However, the relative weakness of the West Coast Conference (WCC) hurts Gonzaga's strength of schedule, which in turn lowers the Bulldogs' Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) (an important numerical criterion in tournament selection). Gonzaga's challenges were similar to those faced by Nevada-Las |
487_34 | Vegas under Jerry Tarkanian, whose Running Rebels dominated a relatively weak Big West Conference (formerly the Pacific Coast Athletic Association) from 1974-92. |
487_35 | Xavier University is another program that had to overcome the mid-major label prior to joining the Big East. On January 9, 2008, PG Drew Lavender was named the "Mid-Major Player of the Week" by Rivals.com but Lavender refused to accept the award making the case that Xavier was no longer a mid-major. This act caused many prominent journalists to debate if the Atlantic 10 is a mid-major conference or not. This quandary no longer applies to Xavier, as it joined the reconstituted Big East in 2013.
Some mid-major teams are now preferring to play "home" games in larger nearby arenas. Gonzaga uses the Spokane Arena in its home city or KeyArena in Seattle for these larger-audience games. Some mid-major and major conference teams have made the use of non-campus arenas permanent. Saint Bonaventure University, one of the smallest colleges in Division I, has regularly played games at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester and KeyBank Center in Buffalo. |
487_36 | The NCAA tournament selection for the 2006 men's tournament was surrounded by controversy related to mid-major programs. A number of teams from mid-major conferences had unprecedented success in the non-conference portions of their schedule, and were therefore ranked highly in the RPI throughout the season. A change in the NCAA's RPI rating process prior to the 2005 season also improved many of these teams' chances by changing from a formula that treated home and road wins and losses equally, to a formula that gave higher weight to road games. Because many BCS conference teams played no more than one or two non-conference games away from home, there was a de facto bolstering of RPI ratings for many mid-major teams, leading to speculation about how this "new" version of the RPI would be used in the selection process by the NCAA tournament selection committee. In spite of a new precedent being set by the committee by leaving the highest ranked RPI team ever, #21 Missouri State of the |
487_37 | Missouri Valley Conference, out of the tournament field, some mid-majors with strong RPI's received at-large bids over lower-ranked BCS conference teams. This prompted harsh criticism from sports writers and coaches of BCS conference teams that did not receive bids. This criticism flew in the face of the fact that the six BCS conferences still received more bids (32) from the committee than in most past years. The mid-major conference teams that were selected went on to silence those critics when a record number (five) advanced to the "Sweet 16". Even more significantly, one of those teams, George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association, made it to the Final Four. In both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA tournaments, mid-major Siena had a strong showing, advancing to the second round with wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio State respectively. In the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, the Butler University Bulldogs reached the Final Four, becoming the 3rd mid-major to make the |
487_38 | Final Four in the modern (1985–present) era. On April 3, they beat Michigan State of the Big Ten Conference to become the second mid-major to reach the national championship game since 1998. |
487_39 | The 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that two mid-majors met in the Final Four. The Butler University Bulldogs returned for their second consecutive appearance after winning the Southeast Regional in New Orleans as a #8 seed. The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams of the Colonial Athletic Association advanced to their first Final Four appearance after winning the Southwest Regional in San Antonio as a #11 seed. VCU became the first team in history to win five games to reach the Final Four, winning the First Four round in its inaugural year. VCU tied LSU in 1986 and fellow CAA team, George Mason, in 2006 as the highest seed to reach the Final Four (#11). The previous time two mid-majors advanced to the same Final Four was the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, when Indiana State of the Missouri Valley and Penn of the Ivy League qualified. Butler is no longer a mid-major due to its |
487_40 | membership in the Big East since 2013. VCU has since joined the Atlantic 10, where it has consistently been among the top teams, even following the departure of coach Shaka Smart for Texas in 2015, and his successor, Will Wade, for LSU in 2017. |
487_41 | Mid-major basketball teams also face significant disadvantages when it comes to resources to spend on recruiting, marketing, and operations, including coaches' salaries. Mid-major basketball blogger Kyle Whellison, who describes as mid-major any team from a conference where average total spending on men's basketball programs is less than $2 million and average total spending on all athletic programs is less than $20 million, notes that teams from major conferences win games against teams from mid-major conferences roughly 84 percent of the time. |
487_42 | In unusual cases, teams may have reputations as mid-majors even if they participate in major conference. An example of this is Saint Bonaventure, one of the smallest universities in Division I; the Bonnies have been a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference (in which it has been a consistent contender under current coach Mark Schmidt). In 2016, the Bonnies were denied a bid into the NCAA Tournament because of their non-conference schedule; Saint Bonaventure has regularly scheduled rivalry games with the three other Western New York universities in Division I, all of which are considered mid-majors. Their participation in a major conference, in turn, disqualifies the team from awards and tournament bids (such as the College Insider tournament mentioned above) reserved for mid-majors. |
487_43 | Swimming |
487_44 | Since 2002, CollegeSwimming.com has produced an objective ranking system for Mid-Major, Division I swimming programs. Initiated by Clark Campbell, the poll has been used to provide attention to teams that were often targeted for elimination ostensibly for Title IX or budgetary reasons. Swimming, along with most other NCAA sports, fundamentally differs in its financial model from the so-called "revenue sports" of basketball and Division I FBS football. The NCAA classifies the latter two sports as "head-count" sports, which means that the total number of players that can receive any athletically-related financial aid from the school is limited. Because a partial scholarship counts fully against the head count, it means that in practice, scholarships are almost always awarded as full grants-in-aid. On the other hand, the NCAA classifies swimming as an "equivalency" sport, meaning that scholarships can be divided among a number of student-athletes. CollegeSwimming.com's definition of a |
487_45 | mid-major institution takes this into account. Though the lineup has changed, institutions eligible for the CollegeSwimming.com poll are those institutions that a) are not members of a Power Five conference, American Athletic Conference, Mountain West Conference, or Western Athletic Conference; or b) provide fewer than one-half of the allowable scholarships under the NCAA rules. |
487_46 | Current Poll
Footnotes
References
External links
Mid-Major basketball coaches poll
History of college basketball in the United States
NCAA Division I conferences |
488_0 | Nick J. Mosby (born 1978) is an American politician from Baltimore, Maryland. He is the current President of the Baltimore City Council. First elected to serve on the City Council from 2011 to 2016, Mosby was subsequently appointed in 2017 to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Baltimore City's 40th District. He was elected as Baltimore City Council in November 2020, assuming the role in December of that year.
Early life
Mosby was born in the Northwood neighborhood of Baltimore. He attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute where he participated in debate team and served as the student council president. According to classmates, Mosby aspired to be mayor while still in high school. |
488_1 | Mosby then attended Tuskegee University, where he received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 2001. Mosby was inducted as a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity within the Pi Omega Chapter in Baltimore. Mosby then worked as a network engineer and project manager with Verizon. Prior to his political career, Mosby served as a Senior Project Manager with Baltimore Gas and Electric.
Political career
Baltimore City Council
Mosby's first attempt for office was as one of seven competitors in the 2007 Democratic primary for the open seat in Baltimore's District 11 City Council seat, vacated by Keiffer Mitchell Jr. In this race, competitor William H. Cole IV received the endorsement of the Baltimore Sun, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Congressman Elijah Cummings, and Mosby went on to place 4th in the election with 10.45% of the vote. |
488_2 | In 2011, Mosby ran again for City Council, this time for the city's 7th district seat (his home neighborhood of Reservoir Hill having since been transferred to that district). The district's incumbent, Belinda Conaway, was facing scrutiny for allegations including that her primary residence was outside the city, in violation of city law. Mosby cited this negative media coverage, and Conaway's $21 million libel suit against a blogger as an impetus for him to run against her.
In the intervening years, Mosby had served as a member of the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee from 2008-2010. Indeed, despite being the challenger, the Baltimore Messenger described the "politically-connected" Mosby as the establishment-backed candidate in the race, citing endorsements of him by Governor (and former Baltimore Mayor) O'Malley, prominent union groups, the editors of the Baltimore Sun, and the sitting Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. |
488_3 | Mosby ultimately defeated Conaway and the other challengers in the Democratic primary with a 51% share of the vote. His defeat of the incumbent Conaway was characterized as an "upset" in city media.
Despite losing the primary nomination, Conaway launched a write-in campaign for the general election later that year. In a formal complaint to Maryland United States Attorney Rod Rosenstein, Conaway alleged illegal conduct on the part of Mosby's campaign in the primary relating to the use of the IRS logo on a mailer and allegations that she had lied on her tax returns, but Mosby's campaign denied any wrongdoing. In November, Conaway further alleged "major fraud" in absentee ballots sent for the wrong council district, writing a formal appeal to Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder, although local officials stated they had received no complaints about the process. |
488_4 | In spite of the write-in challenge, Mosby still won "decisively" in the general election, winning 76.13% of the vote.
Tenure
In his first year as councilmember, Mosby initially emerged as one of several council allies of Mayor Rawlings-Blake, helping that summer to approve her budget cut proposal, against the amendments of Council President Jack Young. Mosby voted against a proposal to amend the city charter to require biannual audits of city agencies, a stance which also aligned with the Rawlings-Blake administration. Instead, later that year Mosby put forward a separate bill, proposing a city wide commission "to provide input on city audits and how they are conducted," whose members would all be appointed by the mayor. The city's auditor opposed the move, saying the mayoral appointments would "jeopardize [their] independence." |
488_5 | In the summer of 2012, Mosby questioned Mayor Rawlings-Blake's appointment of Anthony Batts, a city outsider, to head the Baltimore Police Department, although he ultimately deferred to her judgment in approving his appointment.
In July 2013, when 20 city recreation centers were shut down as part of Mayor Rawlings-Blake's budget, Mosby spoke in favor of their continued operation under privatized administration, including one in Easterwood re-opened by his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi.
In 2014, Mosby started the "Get Fit with Councilman Mosby" Challenge, partnering with close to 30 personal trainers, fitness organizations and chefs, the American Heart Association and Y of Central MD to provide free access to fitness and cooking classes. Mosby called for hearings on the effects of sweetened beverages on children, and proposed legislation that to require warning labels on all advertisements for sugary drinks. |
488_6 | With the aim to support the phase-out of lightweight plastic bags, Mosby supported unsuccessful 2014 legislation that sought to reduce littering by imposing a fee on disposable plastic bags used in stores.
In September 2014, following the contentious appointment of a replacement for another seat on the council (that of Eric Costello to the 11th district), Mosby supported a special election to replace any further empty seats.
Mosby opposed proposed 2015 state budget cuts to the Baltimore City Public Schools, arguing the cuts would be "devastating."
In 2016, Mosby was the sole "No" vote to limit the influence of the Mayor on the city's powerful Board of Estimates.
In August 2016, Mosby voted to raise the city's minimum wage to $15, though the bill failed to pass the full city council. |
488_7 | Development and housing
In 2013, Mosby, along with fellow councilmember Carl Stokes, initially opposed the $107 million tax increment financing deal proposed by the Rawlings-Blake administration meant as incentive for the construction of Exelon's regional headquarters in the Harbor Point section of the city. However, in September, Mosby ultimately voted for the measure.
In February 2014, Mosby supported Mayor Rawlings-Blakes' proposal for expansion of tax breaks for developers of apartment projects within the city.
While praising support for new housing construction across his district and the city, Mosby recognized that investment in jobs and schools would be necessary in addition to development. He criticized Baltimore's affordable housing law as too weak, and sought to place more responsibility on developers to set aside units for low-income renters. |
488_8 | As Baltimore overhauled its zoning regulations for the first time in decades, Mosby proposed "more stringent" requirements on liquor stores within residential neighborhoods, including a Public Nuisance Prevention Board that would have allowed community members to provide input on when to limit certain kinds of alcohol sales. Mosby criticized his fellow council members, who stripped his proposed amendment by an 11 to 3 vote, as "cocky" and "arrogant."
Ban the Box
In 2013, Mosby sponsored Ban the Box legislation, which passed the City Council the next year over the opposition of business groups like the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Baltimore Committee. The bill, which Mosby characterized the act as the "most progressive" iteration in the country, expanded the city's existing prohibition on asking about criminal history on public job applications to private employers as well. |
488_9 | Baltimore's business community proposed replacing the prohibition with voluntary commitments like "a pledge to hire a certain number of ex-offenders each year" During the spring of 2014, Mosby attempted to reach an agreement with the GBC and business interests, but reported that they were unable to come to a consensus, and so the legislation continued. In an attempt to assuage business critics, Mosby drafted an amendment to exclude job postings where a criminal record would be automatically disqualifying. In multiple editorials, the editors of The Baltimore Sun urged Mosby to accept the GBC's further proposed changes to the law, claiming it would improve Baltimore's perception as "business-friendly." |
488_10 | Despite the opposition, the City Council passed the bill 10 to 4 at its April 29 meeting. The final passed legislation applied to private employers with 10 or more employees, where a criminal history would not otherwise bar the candidate (such as in child care). In passing the legislation, Baltimore joined 10 states and about 60 local governments nationwide with similar legislation. Mayor Rawlings-Blake signed the bill into law at the end of May. |
488_11 | Crime and violence
In 2012, Mosby proposed a city law, subsequently passed, banning the sale of items to minors by stores where more than 20% of sales were for alcohol. Mosby proposed further restrictions on liquor stores in 2016, requiring that they not “adversely affect, jeopardize or endanger public health,” but was unable to gain majority support on the council, who voted to remove his amendment from the final zoning package. Mosby also lobbied to shut down operators of illegal after-hours clubs in his district, which he cited as a source of violence.
In the hopes of diverting young men from work in the drug trade, Mosby encouraged urban farm projects within his district as an alternative way of making a living. He wrote in support of neighborhood farm activists in their fight to keep plots from being sold by the city for redevelopment. Mosby also worked with local activists in opposition to anti-LGBT violence. |
488_12 | In August 2013, Mosby worked with fellow councilmember Mary Pat Clarke to close a methadone clinic in the Hampden neighborhood, following complaints from local merchants about associated crime. The two councilmembers supported increasing police foot patrols in the neighborhood.
Following the 2013 killing of Trayvon Martin, Mosby proposed a non-binding resolution calling on the city of Baltimore to boycott Florida-based businesses in protest. |
488_13 | In 2013, Mosby's wife, Marilyn, launched her campaign for Baltimore's State Attorney. The two made the city's increasing homicide rate a central part of their program. Beginning in April, the couple organized weekly "Enough is Enough" marches, working with police and community groups to reduce crime and violence in West Baltimore. Mosby noted the impact of increased police on suppressing crime in his district in June of that year. The Baltimore Sun reported Mosby as supporting a "criminal justice system that is tough on violent offenders and keeps them off the street." Following the death of Tyrone West in July of that year, Mosby criticized the State's Attorney's level of transparency and communication regarding the investigation. |
488_14 | In January 2014, Mosby worked with fellow councilman Brandon Scott and community activists to call for greater citizen intervention against rising homicides in the city, in particular a proposal for a "mobilized street force" of city residents to patrol the Sandtown-Winchester and Belair-Edison neighborhoods. Mosby and Scott also collaborated in proposing a comprehensive security review of city buildings following a January 2015 security breach at a police station.
In February 2015, Mosby was a supporter of requiring body cameras for police officers "as quickly as possible". |
488_15 | Freddie Gray and the 2015 uprising
During the 2015 Baltimore protests following the death of Freddie Gray, Mosby's council district included Gray's residence in the Gilmor Homes project. Mosby received national coverage for his visible presence during the unrest, and for his calling attention to the roots of the violence. Mosby argued that fundamentally "folks in West Baltimore [...] don't feel they are part of the process." He drew both praise and criticism for his willingness, along with others on the City Council, to work with community members including members of gangs in order to bring an end to the unrest.
Mosby agreed that the unrest was "unproductive" but also the result of decades old of lack of investment and socio-economic decline. Mosby also criticized the Baltimore Police Department's early handling of the unrest as "incendiary," "not factual" and "problematic at best." |
488_16 | Following the violence, Mosby advocated for the city to expand its "Safe Streets" anti-violence program to the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. He also praised Mayor Rawlings-Blake's decision to fire police commissioner Anthony Batts, saying he hoped it would allow for a "reset" of community-police relations.
Mayoral bid
Several months after the Freddie Gray unrest, Mosby was reported among those considering a run for mayor of Baltimore. City residents began receiving phone calls polling their potential support for a run in August. Mosby published an op-ed in the Sun calling for "political will" to use data analysis, like the CitiStat program, to modernize the administration of the city. Finally, on October 26, Mosby formally announced his candidacy.
When he announced his bid for the mayoral election, Mosby decided to forego a bid for re-election to his seat on the City Council. |
488_17 | Mosby proposed reforming Baltimore City's Civilian Review Board to include elected seats. Similarly, he (along with several other candidates) proposed the city transition to a partially-elected school board. Recognizing the limits on the city's ability to reform city schools legislatively (as the system is controlled in part by the state of Maryland directly), Mosby promised to provide extra-legislative support for the system, such as increasing use of City Year members to find recent college graduates to teach in city schools. |
488_18 | As a candidate, Mosby called for the creation of a city task force "to help provide free expungements of criminal records, pay fees for Baltimore residents to seek GEDs, cover the cost of vocational training at Baltimore City Community College in certain high-demand job sectors, subsidize apprenticeship programs and refund the income taxes for unemployed ex-offenders to the business that hire them." During his candidacy, Mosby opposed granting tax breaks to the operators of the Royal Farms Arena, citing the potential loss of millions in tax revenue without prior study. He also called for the city to sue lead paint manufacturers, and to use the proceeds to remove lead from houses in the city. He also claimed he would eliminate the city's gag order on police brutality lawsuit settlements. Mosby proposed cutting the city's property taxes and introducing a separate fee for trash pickup. |
488_19 | Along with most of the candidates, Mosby supported the city's tax increment-financed support of the Port Covington redevelopment proposed by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.
In the televised Democratic Primary debates, opponents implied Mosby would have a potential conflict of interest if elected mayor, as his wife remained the city's state's attorney. Respondents to a non-scientific poll in The Baltimore Sun said 57% to 41% that they did think it would pose a conflict of interest. In its editorial, the Sun rejected the idea, arguing Mosby "deserve[d] the chance to make his case." In November 2015, 58% of poll respondents said his marriage would not impact their vote one way or the other (38% said it made them less likely to support him).
In a November poll, Mosby registered 10% support among likely primary voters. In January, he was reported to have 7% support among primary voters. By mid-March, Mosby was reported to have 6% support. Polling in April showed his support at 4%. |
488_20 | Mosby dropped out of the race the week before the primary, though his name remained on the ballot. In dropping out, Mosby endorsed one of the two frontrunners, Catherine E. Pugh, which fueled speculation that he may have been seeking a position with a future Pugh administration, speculation which Mosby denied. Upon Pugh's victory in the primary later in April, speculation then focused on whether Mosby would seek to replace Pugh in the Maryland Senate's 40th district. Mosby ultimately applied for the seat, but the district's central committee selected Delegate Barbara A. Robinson instead. |
488_21 | Maryland House of Delegates
In January 2017, Mosby applied to the Democratic Central Committee of Maryland's 40th district to replace the outgoing Robinson in her seat in Maryland House of Delegates. Mosby was selected after the committee's original choice, Pugh aide Gary Brown Jr., was indicted for campaign finance violations. On taking office, Mosby cited lead abatement, property values and school performance as legislative focuses for him.
Three months after his appointment, Mosby made an unsuccessful attempt to become the head of Baltimore's delegation to the House of Delegates.
Tenure
In March 2017, Mosby sponsored legislation to assist people affected by gambling addiction.
In January 2018, Mosby supported plans to demolish and redevelop the Gilmor Homes project in his former city council district.
In March 2018, Mosby put forward legislation to use state funds to research the effect of Maryland's gun laws. |
488_22 | Mosby was a 2019 co-sponsor of legislation to allow lawsuits to be filed in Baltimore courts against manufacturers of lead paint The legislation failed to pass during the 2019 session.
In January 2019, Mosby joined State Senator Mary Washington to introduce bills prohibiting Baltimore city from placing liens on homes and churches due to unpaid water bills.
While serving on the House's marijuana legalization task force in 2019, Mosby suggested eliminating caps on the number of licensed producers in the state in order to avoid excluding racial minority owners from participating in the growing market.
Mosby was lead sponsor of a statewide "Ban the Box" bill, which was passed but vetoed by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan
In March 2020, Mosby was the lead sponsor of several among a package of ethics, anti-corruption and campaign finance bills that passed the House of Delegates. |
488_23 | Mosby supported reforms to Maryland's child support system in March 2020, which required courts to consider parent's extenuating circumstances and actual income before assigning the amount of support to be paid, calling them "definitely incremental steps in the right direction," and called for a commission to look into the situation further.
A graduate and supporter of historically black colleges and universities, Mosby sponsored an unsuccessful 2018 House bill to increase Maryland HBCUs funding to compensate for historical losses due to unfair treatment by the state. In May 2019, another Mosby-sponsored bill was successfully signed into law, this one providing up to $240,000 in annual tax credits to historically-black Maryland colleges and universities.
Mosby was a critic of proposals in 2019 to move the Preakness Stakes from Northwest Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course to Laurel Park in neighboring Anne Arundel County. |
488_24 | Criminal justice
As a delegate, Mosby was involved in several bills involving criminal justice and policing. Mosby criticized Governor Larry Hogan's removal of judicial discretion in applying mandatory minimum sentencing laws, arguing they have "never been an effective way of reducing violence." In 2020, he sponsored a bill allowing parole without governor approval for inmates who had served more than 30 years.
In 2019, Mosby voted against allowing school police to be armed. He was also skeptical of the Johns Hopkins University proposal for a private police force and voted against the legislation authorizing it. Mosby supported moving Baltimore's police academy at Coppin State University. |
488_25 | Baltimore City Council President
Late in the summer of 2019, Mosby was reported to be considering a second run for mayor of Baltimore. By October 2019, it was instead reported that Mosby was considering a run for the Presidency of the Baltimore City Council. Mosby announced his candidacy in December.
Mosby entered into what The Baltimore Sun called "the first competitive race for the position in nearly a decade." Mosby was considered an early frontrunner in the race, with a February poll showing him receiving 26% of support, with his closest competitor, former council member Carl Stokes, receiving 10% support.
He received the endorsement of Mayor Jack Young in March. In May, Mosby received the endorsement of The Baltimore Sun in the Democratic primary election. In the primary, held June 2, Mosby was the victor, winning with 40.2% of the vote. |
488_26 | Prior to the general election, Mosby received the endorsement of the Baltimore Afro-American on November 2. He easily won election in November, defeating his Republican opponent with 79.5% of the vote.
In March 2021, The Baltimore Sun reported that federal prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation into Mosby and his wife, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, subpoenaing her campaign and the couple’s business records.
Personal life and business
In 2005, Mosby married Marilyn Mosby (née James), who subsequently became the state's attorney of Baltimore City. The two are often referred to as a "power couple" in Maryland politics.
Shortly after his wife's election, Mosby stated he would recuse himself from any prosecutor-related matters in the city council, following speculation that the two might influence each other's actions in office. |
488_27 | In October 2020, a $45,000 tax lien was filed against the property of Nick Mosby and his wife, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, for three years of unpaid federal taxes (2014, 2015, and 2016). Nick Mosby stated that he has been “in ongoing conversations with the IRS” about resolving this issue. Mosby stated the debt was a result of an early withdrawal from his retirement savings that he used to cover “family tragedies.” Mosby subsequently reported the tax lien was paid off in full.
That same month, it was reported that Mosby's consulting company, Monumental Squared LLC, was listed as sharing its address with a developer who was also a major campaign donor to Mosby.
Later in October, Mosby received scrutiny over his joint ownership of a rental property that was reported to be unregistered with the city, and not listed as lead-certified. Mosby's co-signator on the mortgage argued that Mosby had no direct involvement in the renting of the home, nor in evictions from it. |
488_28 | Electoral history
References
1978 births
African-American state legislators in Maryland
Baltimore City Council members
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute alumni
Living people
Maryland Democrats
Members of the Maryland House of Delegates
Tuskegee University alumni
21st-century American politicians
21st-century African-American politicians
20th-century African-American people |
489_0 | Union is the thirteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 30 April 1991 by Arista Records. Production began following the amalgamation of two bands that featured previous and then current members of Yes: Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), consisting of vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Steve Howe, and Yes, comprised at that time of bassist and vocalist Chris Squire, guitarist and vocalist Trevor Rabin, keyboardist Tony Kaye and drummer Alan White. The eight musicians signed with Arista and a combination of unfinished tracks by both groups were selected for Union. The album’s sessions were highly problematic from the start, including disagreements between some of the musicians regarding the "merger" of the two bands, strained relations during the recording process, and decisions by the production team of Jon Anderson and Jonathan Elias to bring in session musicians to re-record parts that Wakeman and Howe |
489_1 | had originally completed. This would be the final Yes studio album to feature the participation of original member Bill Bruford. |
489_2 | Union was released to a decidedly mixed critical reception and the majority of the band themselves have openly stated their dislike of how the material was produced. Despite all this, it fared relatively well commercially, reaching No. 7 in the UK and No. 15 in the US. "Lift Me Up", "Saving My Heart", and "I Would Have Waited Forever" were released as singles; the first of which topped the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for six weeks. After two months, Union was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 500,000 copies. Howe's acoustic guitar piece "Masquerade" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Yes supported Union with their 1991–1992 "Around the World in 80 Dates" world tour that featured all eight members playing on stage together; Bruford and Howe left Yes at the tour's conclusion, with Wakeman following shortly thereafter. |
489_3 | Background |
489_4 | In 1983, Yes had reformed with singer Jon Anderson joining bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White, who were working on new material with guitarist/singer/songwriter Trevor Rabin. Original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye eventually joined, and these five went on to record the group's most commercially successful albums, 90125 (1983) and Big Generator (1987), for Atco Records. In 1988, Anderson left Yes and formed Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), a group with former Yes members Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Bruford’s former King Crimson bandmate Tony Levin on bass guitar. ABWH released their self-titled album for Arista Records in 1989 and supported it with the 1989-1990 "Evening of Yes Music Plus" world tour. During this time, the four remaining Yes members began to write songs with former Yes producer Eddy Offord and held auditions for a new lead singer, including Supertramp vocalist Roger Hodgson and Billy Sherwood of World Trade. Sherwood went on to become a |
489_5 | longtime collaborator with Yes- firstly as a touring member in 1994, then as a producer/engineer from 1995-1997, and finally as a full member of the band (on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) from 1997-1999. (After Squire passed in 2015, Sherwood rejoined Yes to replace him on bass guitar.) |
489_6 | For Yes’ 90125 album from 1983 and Big Generator from 1987, the band moved away from Progressive Rock, with the two albums containing more new wave, art rock, pop rock and dance-rock influences than their previous Progressive Rock-oriented work. The band returned to Progressive Rock for their Union album from 1991. |
489_7 | In 1990, ABWH started work on a second album at Studio Miraval in Correns, France with producer Jonathan Elias, for whom Anderson had contributed lyrics and vocals to Requiem for the Americas (1990). Bruford has praised the material that Howe, Tony Levin and he were developing prior to Anderson's involvement, and had high hopes for ABWH's creative future. The atmosphere changed when Arista asserted that none of their new material was suitable for radio airplay. After instrumental tracks had been put down, Anderson went to Los Angeles to record some of his vocals. While in L.A. he visited Trevor Rabin and heard some songs that Yes were working on. Anderson suggested that he could add lead vocals to these tracks, in addition asking Rabin for one of his songs that ABWH could record. "What I read into that was they needed a single", recalled Rabin, who was primarily responsible for Yes's 1980's hits. Rabin pitched demos to three of his songs, including "Lift Me Up", but requested that |
489_8 | ABWH record only one. Anderson wished to record all three, which sparked a discussion amongst management of Yes and ABWH that "joining forces" and making an album together would prove the most beneficial arrangement. |
489_9 | The combination of the two bands received mixed internal reactions. Rabin thought the idea was "useful and convenient to everyone, because we wanted to go on the road, and it was a quick way". Squire called Yes's involvement in the ABWH project a "salvage job". Howe and Bruford both resisted, seeing no need to "become Yes" once again as they felt they had reached substantial success as ABWH. Bruford added: "ABWH was a group in the making ... However, the politicians got involved and that idea was quickly crushed." Following a period of negotiations Atco agreed to release Yes from the label (for an undisclosed sum from Arista), thus allowing everyone to sign a four-album deal with Arista. This gave the green-light for an album that combined tracks recorded by both groups. As part of the deal, Atco retained the rights to the band's back catalogue. Squire remembered a "huge, 90-page contract" was produced to settle the various legal issues between the two bands, labels, and promoters. |
489_10 | The album's original title was Dialogue, which was announced in the press as late as February 1991 during the mixing stage. |
489_11 | Recording and production
Four pages of the album's CD booklet are dedicated to the song credits. Union includes nine tracks recorded by ABWH, these being "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Shock to the System", "Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day", "Silent Talking", "Angkor Wat", "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)", "Holding On", "Evensong", and "Take the Water to the Mountain" Collectively they were recorded in five different studios, including Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris, SARM West Studios in London, Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and Vision Sound Studios in New York City. Howe recorded "Masquerade" by himself in Langley Studios at his home in Devon, England. "Evensong" featured only Bruford and Tony Levin on Chapman Stick. |
489_12 | The remaining four tracks were produced by Yes: "Lift Me Up", "Saving My Heart", "Miracle of Life", and "The More We Live – Let Go". According to White, Yes had roughly three months to finish their tracks. The majority of the bass parts on the album are played by Tony Levin (on both bass guitar & Chapman Stick), with Squire only playing bass on "Lift Me Up", "Saving My Heart" and "Miracle of Life". Sherwood played the bass on "The More We Live- Let Go". Squire sang backing vocals on the four tracks Yes produced, as well as several of the ABWH-produced tracks, including "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" and "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)". The number of people who worked on the album is highly unusual. There are seven different producers, roughly seventeen recording engineers and mixers, six backing singers, nine synthesizer player/programmers and no less than four additional musicians who added parts as well. This is |
489_13 | the only album in the Yes discography to feature participation from this many individuals who were not in Yes, or part of a regular, much smaller production team. |
489_14 | Issues with ABWH tracks
When Elias accepted Anderson's invitation to produce the ABWH tracks, with Anderson credited as an associate producer, Elias felt uneasy about the task as a Yes album of "fresh" material was something he thought was too difficult to achieve, following the band's history of internal conflict. He aimed to present the "high technical edge" that Yes were known for, within the structure of more concise and direct songs (similar to what Yes had been doing through the 1980s) and not spotlight only technical prowess, or "how many notes could be played" during a given song section. Anderson initially resisted this approach as he wished to distance himself from the more commercial music that had largely defined Yes across the previous decade. |
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