These are largely based on comments in the most recent interviews:
- "Perpetual Change"
- "Starship Trooper"
- "Roundabout"
- "Heart of the Sunrise"
- "And You and I"
- "Awaken"
- "Make It Easy intro/Owner of a Lonely Heart"
- "Changes" (interviews imply more from 90125 and this one was mentioned a while back)
- something else from 90125
- "Rhythm of Love"
- "The Meeting"
- "I am Waiting" (recent interviews have talked of a "couple" of songs from Talk and Anderson mentioned this one some time back)
- "Endless Dream" (the obvious choice from Talk)
I'll put a crisp $20 bill in the tip jar if they play Close To The Edge. Please. Pretty PLEASE!
ReplyDeleteSadly, Wakeman's already said they're not doing "CttE".
DeleteWhat's happened to South Side of the Sky and the snippets of Mind Drive that have been mentioned by Anderson? I think SSotS will be there - I can also most hear Rabin playing it now.
ReplyDeleteThat was a while back: we've not heard anything since to support those. So... we'll see.
DeleteApologies to various people: I've just discovered a bunch of comments that got lost and never approved across various blog posts. All should be up now.
ReplyDeletePretty close Henry, Hold On and Lift Me Up were nice YesWest surprises, I suspect as the tour goes on Changes and something from TALK will get played too, maybe Shoot High Aim Low too. They can drop Roundabout and All Good People imho
ReplyDeleteWakeman even mentioned "The Ladder" CD in an interview, so that would have been surprising.
ReplyDeleteHi Henry, I remain interested in new music because the three of them are quite different and that difference could create some interesting outcomes. The key is to get Jon and Rick into Jacaranda to provide a high quality finish particularly Jon who needs to be recorded in professional surroundings, Trevor has intimated in one interview the new music is largely his so thats definitely a postive. The set list and what I have heard suggest the priority is to stake their claim as another Yes which for baby boomer nostalgia hunters is a great outcome. I am not hearing any real connection between Trevor and Rick some bread and circuses solo exchanges do not make for the kind of alchemy that say Ponty/Clarke/Lagrene achieve on D Stringz. Nor do I hear the kind of orchestral empathy that Geoff Downes brings to pre existing music which may explain why the set is Howe heavy - Rick is in his comfort zone. Whilst Jon has lost the rich warm timbre of yesteryear his general projection and phrasing is as good as it has been for 10 years. One can talk about under achieving and a lost opportunity but that group below the deep ahfficiando's simply want Jon on stage playing with a band.
ReplyDeleteFor me there is no doubt the Anderson Ponty Band has produced a much more fluid, diverse and interesting outcome than (we are Yes) ARW and we are (Topographic Oceans) AS.
Michelle, good observations I like the "bread and circuses solo exchanges do not make for the kind of alchemy" comment which is true], that said I don't believe that this 'we are as much YES as YES' "nostalgia" tour is any reflection on the new music that will be forth coming. All three have spoken highly of what new music they have been working on, even Anderson said it is very varied. The only thing stopping good new music from these three collectively is if the camaraderie is lost
DeleteI am very open to ARW's new music and count me curious. Yes has been with me for 45 years and despite having no interest in attending a greatest hits concert by ARW I have now listened to some of the tour, not from a sound perspective, that would be unfair, but in particular Jon's voice and Ricks playing on Trevor's music. As a chorister I know where Jon's greatest challenges lie and listening to him sing "The Meeting" was pretty uncomfortable he just has not got the power in his lungs to round those notes out or sustain a crescendo. Its not "grey sounding" like APB but it would need a lot of work in the studio. If people listen to him sing on Change We Must and the current tour if they give themselves permission to be honest with themselves they will recognise a much reduced voice. Ricks playing on say "Rhythm of Love" is not only deeply unsympathetic to the arrangement but horribly old fashioned it is pure "bread and circuses" and it drags Trevor away from the intuition of Jacaranda and into hot Rock Guitar land. To be honest I would rather Trevor play keyboards based on Jacaranda and the boots of Rick. Standing back from the wider discussion what I am now clear about is this emotional anchoring in individuals. People want to see THESE individuals on stage. Lee is described as a respectable replacement for Chris and some bemoan Trevor but mostly its this is great because of whose there on stage. I just cannot relate to that I am only interested in the music and growth and I would much rather Yes write a new album and play a decent part of it live rather than bring their Japanese set to the UK next year. Being a 45 year fan I have done ABWH/UNION/1998-04 I do not need these constant revivals why do I want to listen to Heart of the Sunrise yet again having heard the album series view of it. I saw Steve Howe recently and it was really passionate with throwbacks and new things and he did not play it safe a great blend that feels much more in the spirit of Yes to me. The selections from Trevor's music are particularly unambitious but then the whole thing seems deprived of ambition and some thing more indefinable, magical transcendence. "Sounds like" rather than "is"
ReplyDeleteI agree, first and foremost is new music I was one of the few on YESfans who advocated that if AWR toured it was only new and solo music i.e not a note of YES music. I am still optimistic of the new music they have started and committed too complete. There are positives to the 'bread and circus' 1. AWR get to gel [something Rabin seemed to place some importance on] 2. They get their name out there
DeleteIf they had recorded first and captured the hearts and minds of the Yes community with an audacious and well crafted CD I am struggling to see how that would have not been better than playing a nostalgia tour where the amount of real creativity and reinvention is at a pretty low ebb. At least when APB played LDR as a raga it was radically different and really drew you in whereas I find myself thinking Rabin's rotating chord playing like "And You and I" sounds like a bar band who lack invention. I also think LM III bombastic style of playing doesn't suit the skittiness of W Brufords approach whereas playing something robust, fresh and new as he does on Jacaranda his style fits well.
ReplyDeleteJust to add to my last remark Henry I think ARW are now developing their own corporate sound palette. It is tough, rough, muscular, aggressive and puts me in mind of the Talk live shows. it is as if they are submerging the poetic, delicate art filled view of the 70 's music and replacing it with something more relentless and aggressive. Applied to the powerful new music they have alluded to it may work well but for me from the seventies my impression of LMIII is he squashes LDR (Trevor is now offering improvised rock guitar wailing) and Ricks baroque introduction to Hold On is reminiscent of one of those cod intros to Roll Over Beethoven. I am very interested in new music but have no desire to see them put round pegs in artistic square holes with the current set.
ReplyDeleteI agree Molino III is certainly not subtle live, is the LDR you comment on this one here http://www.yesfans.com/showthread.php?83264-Great-cut-Long-Distance&highlight=RSOG ?
DeleteIn regards to that LDR personally I don't mind Rabin's 'flourishes' but Molino didn't do Brufords line justice imho which is central to that song as I am sure you will appreciate
ARW are not APB and clearly are certainly not taking a fusion approach to improvisation or reinventing...[did YES ever do that?]
YESwest always tended to be 'heavy' live but that doesn't mean they won't be considered in the studio I do predict we will get a range of music from heavy corporate to hopefully more refined...
It is to early to come to any conclusions on recorded music
I am completely open minded about new music. My great positive hope is for the first time since Magnification JA's voice will be recorded professionally. My not quite as great a worry is Ricks playing, but Billy Sherwood got a nice performance out of him on "prog collective". Chris was not interested in improvising so the Rabin vision is a very disciplined Rock centred one replacing a very disciplined Art Rock expansive view. My observations are essentially directed at the concerts and some of the footage on U Tube (do not go into Yesfans permanently left in the summer) is well recorded and gives a real insight to whats going on and it is of no interest to me as a potential concert goer. I much preferred APB but that is because my tastes lie outside of hard rock guitar orientated music. There is no reason why any of us should be in the same room as the artists we have followed for 45 years and I lack any sense of entitlement so I am very relaxed, there is so much other music to listen to but I do like to understand why some thing does not work for me and express that view clearly. I will venture one more thought I should not be surprised by the outcome I have always described Trevor as a muscular tough and aggressive player who makes robust music . However I think the new music unlike all these adaptions can breath its own view of that type of approach. There are some hairy pieces on Jacaranda and it works well (for me).
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