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An interview with Mars Hollow

2012-01-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

Mars Hollow's eponymous debut album made many people's top ten prog rock releases of 2010, but my own radioactive Yes fan senses started tingling when they announced that Billy Sherwood would be producing their second album, The World in Front of Me. Released 2011, the album has again brought the band critical acclaim and they have since continued the relationship with Sherwood, opening for CIRCA: live in September and October 2011.

The band have recently been highlighted by Classic Rock Presents… Prog as an upcoming band. This year, they plan to release their first DVD, "Live at RoSFest 2011" (preview available here), are playing further dates and are working towards a third album.

The band consists of John Baker (guitar, lead vocals), Kerry Chicoine (bass, lead vocals), Jerry Beller (drums, vocals) and Steve Mauk (keyboards, vocals). Kerry, a regular at ProgressiveEars.com, kindly organised the following interview with the band in October 2011.

You've each had bands before Mars Hollow, often far from the progressive rock sound of Mars Hollow. [You can read the band members’ biographies on their website here.] So what was the impetus for Mars Hollow, for this sound, at this point in your careers?

Jerry Beller: I have been in Prog rock bands or projects before but for certain parts of my career I decided to do Hard Rock or Metal or Fusion... I have always loved Prog and I got the right three other guys together when I formed this band and the time was right... and since I just got off of a project that I was doing with Ryo Okumoto I thought that it would be great to get a Progressive project together and see what happens.

Kerry Chicoine: For me, personally, ever since I heard Mike Keneally's music – in the year 2000AD – my mind has been reaching for something beyond the standard power-pop stuff I love so much. I still love a good pop song but as I've gotten older and been exposed to more detail-oriented music, naturally I've been drawn towards more unconventional song structures. Having spent some time playing prog-rock alongside Jerry Beller in Ryo Okumoto's band, I knew I'd found a rhythmic soul-mate so when Ryo's project folded, it was only natural Jerry and I get something going. In a nutshell, Mars Hollow is the result.

John Baker: After a long succession of my own bands I was looking for some situation where I could just write and play without the sole leadership responsibility. At first I sought out bands that needed some "colorful" guitar playing and backing vocals. I saw a prog ad and thought "why not try that again" revisit my youth and so forth. When I thought about it, I realized prog, especially symphonic prog had all the aspects of what I was looking for.

Steve Mauk: I have always loved progressive rock and my first band was playing crazy complex prog back in the 70's. As that genre fell out of popularity I got sidetracked and wrote and played pop and rock for years and years. But I often felt unchallenged, and started wondering what it would be like to play that kind of music again. When I saw a classified ad looking for a progressive rock keyboard player I got really exciting thinking about the possibilities. That situation did not pan out, but right after I saw Jerry's ad and that led to the foundation of Mars Hollow.

Kerry and Jerry, you two had a spell together in Endless Enigma, an ELP tribute band. There is occasionally some scepticism about former tribute band members among fans, with controversial examples like Benoît David joining Yes, and Arnel Pineda in Journey. You've also got Johnny Bruhns and Scott Connor in CIRCA: both coming from tribute bands. How does the experience in Endless Enigma impact on your playing today?

Kerry: While I've never really been interested in playing in a tribute band, when the Endless Enigma opportunity arose I was compelled to take it because ELP are my all-time favorite band, ever. I looked at it as a challenge – I was singing as well as playing bass, lead guitar and synth pedals. Plus, I loved the music and I wanted to really learn that stuff – it's a blast to play. I guess the experience impacted my playing by having to learn all of that complicated material – it made me a better musician having learned some of their classic pieces, and helped me gain some insight as to Greg Lake's amazing bass playing as well as Keith Emerson's fantastic sense of composition. I really love ELP and I'm sorry Endless Enigma didn't work out; here's a video of us performing "KarnEvil 9 First Impression Part Two".

Jerry: The ELP tribute was just a side project for me. I have always played in original bands and thought that it would be a fitting Tribute to my Prog Heroes but it was not something that I did on a regular basis and that project was on and off anyway. Also my influences were from those early prog drummers like Carl Palmer but he is not the only one... Barrymore Barlow, Neil Peart, Alan White, Mike Portnoy, Curt Cress, Bill Bruford and so on... so it did not effect the way I play in this band just doing what I normally do.

Your debut album was produced by Ronan Chris Murphy. Can you tell me what it was like working with him?

Kerry: I met Ronan at a party at least 10 years ago and we kept in touch. When Mars Hollow recorded some early demos, I sent them to Ronan and he was agreeable to helping us with our first album. We knew he'd worked with guys like Mike Keneally, Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin, Robert Fripp, Willie Otero – monster chops kinda guys – so we thought he'd be a cool producer. We feel very lucky to have had him on our team.

The guy was great to work with – easy going, great ideas for editing songs, an awesome engineer/technician, you name it. He really blew us away with his mixes; the guy has fantastic ears and his mixes are integral to how the songs ended up coming across. If anyone out there reading this is looking for a great producer, definitely contact Ronan.

Jerry: Very relaxed and he did a great job on that first CD it had a great 70's vibe to it. Very cool and a great guy. Also had some great production ideas. Very mellow guy to work with. Nothing but praise to Ronan.

John: He made a few pre-production suggestions based on hearing us at rehearsal and proceeded to capture the vibe of our live thing quite well. I recorded almost all the guitars myself and I know he wishes I hadn't. When he mixed, I know I put him through a whole lot more work than he is used to – so, sorry Ronan. I learned something from Ronan at every step of the process.

Steve: I really enjoyed working with Ronan. He has a fantastic ear and a great enthusiasm for songwriting and recording. He gave us excellent preproduction notes before recording in terms of some of the song structures and arrangements that I think made the record that much better. He also set a very supportive, relaxing vibe in his studio which helped bring out our best performance.

And you decided to work with Billy Sherwood on your latest album. What brought you to Sherwood?

Kerry: I liked the glossy, high-tech sound of the first two CIRCA: albums and thought it would be cool to work with someone of Billy’s stature, so I wrote him via MySpace and he responded immediately. We met the guy, hit it off on a personal level, and then we went off to write the second album and didn’t see him for a year LOL.

Jerry: Well Kerry had some internet conversations with Billy in the past so that was part of the connection, then we posted a video of one of our shows about two years ago and Billy saw it and sends us an e-mail stating that he was interested in working with us and we took him up on his offer. Very cool person to work with. Great production came from the sessions and the CD came off very powerful which is what I wanted on this CD.

John: We were simply exploring the variety out there. We thought "we already made the first record, let's have something different". Kerry lobbied for Billy and we agreed. The amazing thing is that Billy also agreed. I realize now that Billy loves to work with as many bands as time will allow. It doesn't matter to him about the musician's status level.

How would World in Front of Me have sounded differently without Sherwood? What did he bring to the album?

John: The biggest thing he brought was that the drums sounded bigger and the record as a whole sounded wetter and less analog. Listeners will decide for themselves whether or not they like those differences.

Kerry: Billy is known for creating a certain sound and that's exactly what we wanted for the second album. If anyone else had produced it, it would've sounded nothing like what Billy achieved. Billy definitely has his own thing goin' on and that confidence is one of the things that drew us to him. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. That said, Billy definitely took our input very seriously and he truly worked with us so that in the end, we all created the album as one.

Unlike Ronan – who made actual songwriting suggestions here and there – Billy pretty much left the songwriting to us; his main role was in capturing the band performing (the album was largely recorded live), making suggestions for guitar and keyboard patches, making melodic suggestions occasionally, and dialing in a cool bass sound. For the bass, all I said to Billy was, "Plug me into whatever you plug yourself into and work your magic!" He's already got his DW drum kit mic'd up so we knew we'd start laying down tracks FAST.

Sure enough, we finished the basic tracking in five evenings. Billy works so fast and with so much energy; we'd think "That was a bad take" but Billy would say, "No way, check it out, it's awesome!" and sure enough he was right 99.9% of the time.

After the basics were done at Billy's we went off and did some overdubs then turned it all over to Billy for mixing. He did a fantastic job building the mixes from the ground up and we were all smiling when we heard his final versions.

Mars Hollow have only played a fairly small number of concerts. What's the reality of securing live dates for a band like yourselves?

Kerry: We just played our 13th gig – lucky 13! Our first gig ever was in November of 2008, so we've managed to play out about every four months since then, which isn't too bad a schedule all things considered. We've been lucky in that we've been asked to play RoSFest, ProgDay and Mexicali Prog (3 times) so these higher-profile type gigs have definitely helped raise awareness.

Honestly, we can pretty much play Los Angeles any time we like – as long as it's not a Friday or Saturday night LOL. It's like a cattle-call out here and most bands have no problems finding gigs at 10:30PM on a weeknight.

However, we made a conscious decision at the outset that we weren't going to play LA-area gigs on weeknights – it's just too difficult to get people to come out. So we pick and choose our local dates and continue seeking out festivals and other out-of-area opportunities, such as playing Corona thanks to Billy Sherwood and CIRCA:.

We've got some things in the pipeline – preliminary plans if you will – for some touring in 2012 so hopefully we'll at least get another chance to play internationally and also do a string of gigs in the Northeast USA; we'd also love to partner with a couple LA-area bands and do a proper West Coast USA tour. We're always on the prowl for gig opportunities outside of LA.

John: You gotta ask for the opportunity. Don't wait for an invitation without some prompting of your own. We don't have a manager so it's "every band for himself". A bit of aggression is necessary from the bands. We play most of our shows well outside of our home state of California, so travel expenses are the biggest consideration. Shipping gear is a really big hassle and expense and you have to be as prepared as possible to use unfamiliar equipment to produce familiar sounds.

Jerry: Yes, we would like to play more concerts and it is possible. Just need to get in the right situation. Also this type of music is something I think more people would enjoy and should have more media exposure. I think more people would get into it if they know it was around... There is more for your money from this music: it is not just a 3 minute Pop song and I am not bashing Pop. Look, The Beatles had a prog album and their last record had a prog style side to it with songs running into each other. So I think that prog can get big just like all the other types of music that seam to come back around again and again.

Your debut received great reviews, you were heralded as the 'new Spock's Beard' or the 'new Marillion'. So you have these expectations upon you from the prog community. Yet at the same time, receiving more widespread attention beyond prog fans is difficult. How do you feel about how you've been received?

Kerry: "Blown away" pretty much describes how I feel LOL. We've been lucky in that the prog community has largely embraced us as a presence to be acknowledged – those fans are very, very discriminating so to be generally accepted within the community is a huge accomplishment. We're very lucky and very gratified at the reception, please believe.

Honestly, we never set out to win over the prog community; our music – as proggy as it gets sometimes – is, at its core, melodic rock. It's accessible, it's catchy, it's "poppy" for lack of a better word. We make a point to have at least a couple of accessible songs on our albums not because we're "selling out" for a hit single, but because we all love good songs and it breaks up the flow of the longer, proggier pieces.

Although we're very happy with where we've taken the band thus far, we feel there's still a chance (however slim) we might cross-over into the classic rock world, or the melodic rock world, whatever the kids are calling it these days. That's been the goal all along; we feel our music crosses boundaries a lot of "prog" bands might go at lengths to avoid but the point of this whole enterprise is writing good rock songs, and the goal is to get those songs heard.

John: We could not have asked for a better reception from the prog community. Whether any "purist" prog fan wants to admit it or not I'm convinced that we are well received due to a good amount of melodic accessibility. In my opinion, that's the single biggest reason why the pioneers of the progressive rock genre were popular. We cross over into mainstream rock a bit so it's reasonable to think we have a better chance of being accepted outside of prog, but that remains to be seen.

Steve: Incredibly gratified by the response we have received. It has inspired me to really work harder with my sounds and songwriting. When you know there is an audience that appreciates what you are doing, it makes you want to do it better.

Jerry: Greatly received and great reviews all around, oh and by the way we have a lot of fans that are not big Prog fans, but like what they hear due to the Pop that we infuse with the PROG. When we started this project we all decided to infuse Prog with Pop so that we could turn more fans on to this style of music and even though the second CD was a little more intense it still has the POP element in it... just wanted to turn as many people on to PROG as possible. As I said in one of the other questions, PROG is not a criminal on an island somewhere, it is a style of music that is there to enjoy... A lot of fans still go to the big prog shows like Yes, Rush, Genesis, but need to know about the new bands of Prog... that's what needs to happen.

You have your own sound, but your music also harks back to ELP, Yes, Rush and other big name prog bands. How do you balance these influences? For example, I've described the end of "Midnight" [on debut album, Mars Hollow] as sounding like Keith Emerson soloing over Chris Squire. Is that a comment that makes you happy to be compared to the greats, or frustrated that you're being compared to them?

Kerry: I'm very flattered whenever I hear comparisons between Mars Hollow and the classic bands of the '70s – we all grew up on that music and, face it, the stuff was pretty amazing and we're all heavily influenced by that golden era. Comparisons are inevitable because we're plowing the same fertile fields as the old school guys – long-form rock songwriting mixed with a bit of accessible melodic pop to keep things interesting and fun. We have the advantage of building on that which came before, while the classic bands were really breaking new ground and sowing the seeds for guys like us. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude for setting the stage.

I personally don't consider the balancing of our influences; we never say, "Ok, that's enough of a Yes vibe, let's move into Gentle Giant territory now", you know? We just write what we write, and we're ruthless editors – our primary goal is to keep the songs moving.

Jerry: It does not make me frustrated. Yes, the influences are there but we don't approach a part like – oh, let's put a Keith Emerson solo part with a Geddy Lee bass line in there. I guess that it is our heroes that are in us, so a little of that comes out... but it is not something that we do on purpose. We try to make everything sound like us... I would rather like being compared to a great player, that makes me feel that all of those years of hard work paid off.

John: It's never frustrating to be compared with the greats. Keith Emerson and Chris Squire were also influenced by their musical greats and I'm pretty sure they were not frustrated if they were ever compared to them. The pattern of influence goes back for as long as people have been making music.

Progressive rock lyrics in the 1970s varied between New Age influences on the one hand and a technophile/science fiction on the other. Musicologist Edward Macan talks about prog as having Apollonian lyrics (philosophical, optimistic, utopian) as opposed to the Dionysian lyrics of heavy metal (primordial, of the senses, ecstatic). Prog in the 21st century is a different affair. Mars Hollow's lyrics are often quite dark, with references to failed relationships. Do you see your lyrics as being 'progressive' as well? Is there a common theme to them?

Kerry: John is the primary lyricist for the band; he's written lyrics for all but two songs. The two songs I wrote lyrics for – "Dawn of Creation" and "In Your Hands" – I was definitely going for a proggy vibe. "Dawn" is spacey and laced with astronomical references, and with "Hands" I was going for a Neal Morse Spock's-era "is it religious or not?" kind of vague spirituality thing. In reality "Hands" is more of a slam on the GW Bush administration LOL – it's actually pretty sarcastic.

Steve: I've always felt that good lyrics are ones that move you emotionally, whatever the genre. John has a definite talent for delivering insightful, soul probing concepts and I think that is one of the strengths of this band that has set us apart.

John: Our lyrics are introspective allegory, based on the human conditions of despair and happiness, longing and fulfillment; not on science fiction or legendary books about wizardry or trolls, etc. That's just the way we do it. It goes along with the fact that we don't have album covers that feature science fantasy artwork. Nothing against any of that, but it's just not for us.

Thanks to the band for agreeing to the interview. Thanks also to 10T Records for copies of the band’s two albums: I heartily recommend both.

Next Yes album "sooner rather than later"

2012-01-13T03:37:00.000-08:00

In a new Billboard interview, Squire talks about making the next Yes studio album "sooner rather than later" and there are unconfirmed rumours on Yesfans.com of a specific timeline leading up to a spring/summer 2013 release. Yet there has been a certain scepticism among Yes fans about how quickly Yes might produce a follow-up to Fly from Here. I suggest this comes from two sources.

First, critics of the David-fronted band basically question this Yes's viability as recording artists. They struggle to believe that this band is capable of making an album and/or that anyone would want to release such a thing. However, such critics confuse what they want with what is likely to happen. However many fans were undoubtedly lost when Anderson was left behind, Fly from Here sold well and Frontiers want more.

I have more sympathy for the second reason for scepticism, those who look at recent history. It took ten years to produce Fly from Here, some way, so it will probably take ten years before we get the next album. However, I would argue that we have to consider why there was a ten year delay.

Much of that delay, in the post-Magnification period, was due to the tensions between Anderson/Wakeman and Howe/Squire/White. Those tensions are now outside the band. Throughout that post-Magnification period, Howe/Squire/White appeared keen to continue the traditional record/tour/record/tour cycle, so it should be no surprise to see them return to that model.

Critics of the current line-up sometimes characterise them as ruthlessly and recklessly rushing into a Yes without Anderson, but actually I think a chunk of the delay in producing Fly from Here was because of Howe/Squire/White's tentativeness in moving ahead without Anderson. They spent years before taking the plunge and deliberately didn't rush into making an album. It seems likely that that tentativeness has probably now gone.

So, I would say we should look not at the period since Magnification but just slightly earlier, the period before Magnification. From Howe's return in the mid-nineties through to Magnification, the band was in that record/tour/record/tour cycle with the longest gap between records of 24 months from The Ladder to Magnification. Indeed, they did this while jumping between record labels. With greater stability through the relationship with Frontiers, it seems to me quite unsurprising that we should see a new album around mid-2013.

Prog's critics' choices

2011-12-29T02:47:00.000-08:00

Yes fandom remains riven by the issue of Benoît David replacing Jon Anderson. The same debate sits like a black hole, dragging other discussions off course. So I find it interesting to step back sometimes and see how the prog music community more generally views the band's and the musicians' output.

The last issue of 2011 of Classic Rock Presents... Prog includes their annual Critics' Choice selection of the 20 best albums of the last 12 months, as voted on by the magazines' contributors. The winner is Opeth's Heritage but Yes's Fly from Here comes in 5th, with Steve Hackett's Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (with Chris Squire guesting and a couple of tracks co-credited to Steve Howe) coming 7th. Blackfield's Welcome to My DNA, with one track produced by Trevor Horn, is 11th. Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning, with Tony Levin appearing, was the #2 album.

Rick Wakeman writes for the magazine, which has championed the planned Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin collaboration. However, nothing by Anderson or Wakeman makes their overall top 20. But the 21 contributors' individual top 20s are also listed, and we see appearances there by Anderson/Wakeman's The Living Tree and Jon Anderson's Survival & Other Stories, as well as the Jakszyk/Fripp/Collins album A Scarcity of Miracles (with Levin), Levin Torn White, John Wetton's Raised in Captivity (with Billy Sherwood, Tony Kaye and Geoff Downes) and Mars Hollow's The World in Front of Me (produced by Sherwood).

The King Crimson reissue series, obviously including multiple albums with Bill Bruford, was in the top 10 reissues list, while "Union Live" was in the top 10 DVDs.

The issue also includes glowing reviews of Steve Howe's Time and Yes's recent London show, and a more ambivalent review of In the Present - Live from Lyon.

Steve Howe's Time

2011-12-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a joyfully busy time for Yes-related releases. Highlights include the aggressive Levin Torn White, Chris Squire appearing on Steve Hackett's Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, and Jon's epic of a digital single, "Open". The latest release is Time, Steve Howe's new solo album, now out in Europe, although a domestic release in the States only comes in 2012.

Time doesn't have multiple Yesmen on board, there are no epics, no big-name prog collaborators, even the cover is rather bland. Yet this may be some of the most beautiful music Steve Howe has ever recorded.

While Hackett's Beyond the Shrouded Horizon is a vibrant mish-mash of different styles (and includes some tracks co-crediting Howe as composer, presumably Hackett recycling GTR ideas), Howe has a tradition of very focused projects. In some ways, Time follows on from Natural Timbre, but while Natural Timbre was about acoustic playing, Time sees Howe working with a small orchestral ensemble. Rock and orchestra isn't a new thing. Yes did it on Magnification, Jon Anderson uses a string ensemble on "Open", and Howe fans will remember "Beginnings" on the album of the same name.

But this isn't a rock + orchestra album. Howe is much more integrated into a classical sound. Yet nor is this a classical guitar album. Howe kicks off the album with an interpretation of Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 (Aria)" (a mid-20th century piece combining a Bach-esque approach to Brazilian music) that he plays on steel guitar. Within the album's focus, there is variation. Sometimes the guitar is to the fore, but then there's a piece like "Orange" with Howe's banjo as the base and the orchestral instruments rotating the lead, while Joyce's "Purification" has some jazzier playing by Howe.

While Howe does play classical or acoustic guitar on about half the album, what shines through is a certain Steve-Howe-ness to all the playing. Credit must absolutely also go to Paul K. Joyce for the arrangements and how he complements Howe's guitar work. Joyce also plays keyboards, occasionally inserting an almost Wendy-Carlos-esque sound choice.

Joyce is best known for writing "Can We Fix It?", the theme song to Bob the Builder (which reached #1 in the UK and Australia in 2000). However, he has also done more orchestral music. There's a moment in "The Explorer" where the brass plays with the guitar -- spine-chilling. It's this attention to detail and a melodic and harmonic richness that makes Time stand out. There's an autumnal feel to much of the music, but different emotions are expressed, like with the jaunty "Orange".

Possibly the best Yes-related release of the year. Details, liner notes and samples all available at http://stevehowe-time.com/ .

Yes, 17 November 2011, Hammersmith Apollo

2011-11-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

This isn't a full review, because mostly everything I said about the band's first UK date in Cambridge (see last blog post) applies here, their last UK date.

Overall, I think it was a slightly better performance, although with seats in the circle to the sides rather than being at the front, not quite as fun an experience! The new material in the set seemed to have benefitted from having had longer to bed-in. The slight tentativeness I described in Cambridge was gone, with "Life on a Film Set" and "Into the Storm", in particular, that little bit tighter. This was the best "Into the Storm" I've heard across these two shows and several boots.

This was a longer set than in Cambridge, a 2.75 hour run time (including an interval, at the venue's request). They played all of the rehearsed songs except "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and re-arranged the order to suit playing two sets (although in a different way to in Brighton): intro music: "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra", "Yours is No Disgrace", "Tempus Fugit", "I've Seen All Good People", "Life on a Film Set", "And You and I", Howe solo ("Solitaire", "Trambone"), "Heart of the Sunrise", interval, "Fly from Here", "Wonderous Stories", "Into the Storm", "Machine Messiah", "Starship Trooper", encore: "Roundabout". This gave the first set a big ending in "Heart of the Sunrise", but required the courage to open the second set with the full "Fly from Here" suite. It paid off with a positive audience reaction, although the biggest response was for "Wonderous Stories" and I was also chuffed at the very strong support for "Machine Messiah".

"Machine Messiah" was the one song we hadn't heard in Cambridge and a personal favourite, so I was very happy to hear it. That said, I wonder whether it has suffered from not being played every night, because there were a few flubs earlier on in the piece, due to Downes I think. Otherwise, performances were strong all round, with "Roundabout" (and Downes' playing on it) an unexpected highpoint. Squire was clear, focused and in good voice (and had his mum in the audience). White, full of energy. Howe, reliable as ever. David was better than in Cambridge, although still the occasional weak spot. The long note in the transition in the middle of "Life on a Film Set" still eludes him. And I still don't like how the band use "Starship Trooper: Würm" like "All Good People", as a place to set indvidual solos. I don't mind individual solos; I'm just a purist about how they should approach "Würm"!

So, great set, great performances, band are confident and appear to be still improving. I look forward to seeing reviews of the rest of the tour as it travels eastwards through Europe.

Yes, 8 Nov 2011, Cambridge Corn Exchange

2011-11-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

Toe carefully strapped (see last blog post), I attended the first date on the British leg of Yes's European tour in Cambridge. (Squire introduced it as the first date on their English leg, only for Howe to offer a friendly correction of 'British'.)

Their first UK date, and only the fourth date of the whole tour, revealed a Yes totally different from the shambolic beginnings to their US summer tour, or even from their last visit to the UK two years ago. Tonight was a band firing on all cylinders, happy with each other, and hungry to perform. They were tight, well rehearsed, and all five delivered.

Whereas Howe had been the focal point in 2009, now the whole band were working as a unit. Squire was more focused and his singing was great. White didn't tire and the live environment showed off his drumming on the new material. Downes was comfortable, bringing his own style to the old material. David was in great voice: there were a couple of high notes he didn't quite reach, but ironically all on the new material. But I'm going to start talking about the set list, so look away now if you're avoiding spoilers...

While collecting the tickets for the evening, the venue's poor sound insulation meant I could hear the soundcheck. The piece they were playing set the scene for the show later that evening: "Into the Storm". Compared to 2008-10 and accusations of being a tribute band, when they were playing sets where often only two of the band had played on the original songs, the current line-up now are putting their own material out there, and more broadly breaking away from only the pattern of selections from The Yes Album/Fragile/Close to the Edge + "Owner of a Lonely Heart". They are also doing something many fans have long asked for: they are changing the set from night to night. Having played everything at their extra long debut show, each show since has seen different songs rotated in and out, and a willingness to sometimes omit the old warhorses that seemed permanently glued on. "Into the Storm" had been omitted at the previous show in Spain, and I took its soundcheck appearance as a good sign it would be played that evening. The soundcheck continued with the overture and first two parts of "Fly from Here", before rounding off with "Yours is No Disgrace". But what of the actual show?

Set: "Yours is No Disgrace", "Tempus Fugit", "I've Seen All Good People", "Life on a Film Set", "And You and I", Howe solo ("Solitaire", "Clap"), "Fly from Here" (whole suite), "Wonderous Stories", "Into the Storm", "Heart of the Sunrise", "Starship Trooper"; encore: "Roundabout". In other words, that's most of the new album, all except "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be" and "Hour of Need". Compared to the opening European night, we had no "Machine Messiah" or "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

The new material worked and met a good audience reaction. The Cambridge Corn Exchange is a cosy venue (capacity 1800, sold out tonight) with most of the audience standing, and there was a good atmosphere. Some tentativeness by the band was apparent: for example, I could see Howe counting down the changes in "Life on a Film Set". But the full "Fly from Here", in particular, blossomed live. "Into the Storm" was less successful for me: it got too loud, a problem with "Würm" as well, although being right at the front, that may have been a problem with my location rather than the playing. (I could feel the air displaced by the bass notes, we were that close to the speakers.) "Solitaire" also came alive, and Howe's solo spot also delivered a vigorous rendition of "Clap", Howe's happiness apparent.

The new songs were placed in the middle of the set, with standards as bookends. "Yours is No Disgrace" worked well as an opener. I've seen Yes so often warm up over their first song, but the band were up to speed from the beginning tonight. "Wonderous Stories" was a pleasant return to the set and Downes, who has a short solo at the beginning, was able to express his style of playing. He was also hot on "Roundabout". "Roundabout" and particularly "Heart of the Sunrise" at the end of the set had seemed tempting songs to skip if my toe began throbbing, but I was glad I stayed, with great performances of both. "Heart of the Sunrise" shone despite its familiarity.

Less successful was "Starship Trooper". While "Disillusion" was strong, I could do without Squire's posturing in "Würm", although should anyone accuse me of being a killjoy, I enjoyed Downes' keytar excursion! Some reviewers have also criticised David's 'Dad dancing', but I liked it: he was enjoying the music, and conveying that enjoyment to the audience.

Met many other fans at the show, familiar faces like Brian, TB, Yumi and Malcolm, as well as new souls like Joey. Big hello to all.

In all, this is Yes back playing how they can. I know London at the end of the UK leg is already sold out, so if you haven't already got tickets, act soon.

The curse returns

2011-11-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

February 2000: Yes were touring in support of The Ladder and played two shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I had tickets for both. After the first show, I went on to a friend's party and got mugged while waiting for a train. So, if you search around on Facebook, you can see a picture of me at the second show with a huge black eye.

Ah, well. These things happen, I thought.

The next Yes tour, the Masterworks tour, wasn't coming to Europe, so I and a friend decided to fly out to the US east coast. We were planning to see three shows and meet up with some friends we'd made online, like the infamous Steven Sullivan and Jeff Hunnicutt.We began with the 23 July Nissan Pavilion show, then the fantastic and infamous 25 July Virginia Beach show. Down the coast for Raleigh on 27 July, then it was on a train to get to Charlotte for the next day. We met some other fans on the train and we were offered a list to the venue that evening.

There we are, five of us in the car, just leaving the motel, when BANG. Another car had slammed into us as we were turning. Everyone staggered out of the car, checking to see how everyone else was. Lots of calls of "I'm OK", lots of consequent relief... except for me, who was still sitting there, too winded to say anything. I eventually climb out and it's obvious I'm not OK. Fortunately, we were one block from an emergency room and I was soon patched up, but we missed the show! And, unfortunately, my shoulder was in pieces and that took four years of pain and two operations to be repaired.

So, one misfortunate on the way from a Yes show. Then another misfortune on the way to a Yes show. Come December 2001 and the Magnification tour and I was a bit worried that something would happen during the show, maybe a lighting rig falling on me or something. But nothing untoward happened; the curse appeared broken.

Further happy shows followed: 2003, 2004, 2009.

And now it's 2011. I've got tickets for Cambridge tomorrow and London later in the tour. Both were nearly sold out. I could only get a standing ticket for Cambridge. But that's fine. It's not like I can't stand for two and a half hours.

Except, guess what? I broke my toe yesterday. I tripped going upstairs. A hairline crack of the proximal phalange of the right toe. A pretty trivial bone to break. It's not going to stop me working or anything. Except, you know, if I was planning to stand for two and a half hours in a crowded concert hall 48 hours later. That might not be a good idea.

The curse returns.

The Buggles, 25 Oct 2011

2011-10-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

The British Music Experience is a museum of popular music in Britain, housed in the cavernous O2 Dome. They host various special events and, at fairly short notice, this, the latest Buggles show was announced. I say “the latest Buggles show” as if they happen all the time. This is only the second time the band has played a full set. Apart from promo appearances back in the day, usually mimed, the band’s only played live 3 times before this!

The BME’s performance zone is fairly small and wasn’t full. I’d estimate less than 200 in the audience. The band performed to more last year paying very high price tickets raising money for charity. Tickets tonight were cheap, so my guess is that the audience size reflects the minimal advertising and short time between announcement and performance. Not that I believe this show was about making money. Since late 2006, Horn has been doing occasional live shows, initially as The Producers with Lol Crème (guitar and vocals), Steve Lipson (guitar), Chris Braide (vocals and keyboards) and Ash Soan (drums). As he said tonight, he gets bored being in the studio all the time and likes to get on stage occasionally.

The evening began with an initial Q&A sessions with Horn and Downes. The BME curator hosted and asked the initial questions, before throwing it open to the audience. Horn and Downes described how they met: Downes auditioned to be the keyboardist for Tina Charles, for whom Horn was musical director. Horn picked Downes because he liked his shoes apparently! The pair described how they bonded as two Northerners in London.

Discussion moved on to The Buggles. Horn said he has always regretted the name and that they should have called themselves something like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (cue audience laughter). Horn talked about the vision for the band, not one he seriously thought would ever happen, of a giant computer in a basement creating music and how The Buggles would be one of the bands the machine would produce. He described how he and Bruce Woolley were inspired by Kratfwerk, and how “Video Killed the Radio Star” was specifically inspired by a JG Ballard short story. An audience question made the comparison with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz, who present themselves as a fictional cartoon band, and Horn said the original intention for The Buggles had been similar (to the point where Island’s Chris Blackwell was surprised to find them prepping for a TV show).

The pair talked about making the first album and wanting everything to sound automated, although a drum machine was the only actual computerisation available. Given the recording equipment of the time, they needed multiple takes of “Video Killed the Radio Star” to get it just right, as if played by machines. Horn described sessions with him, Downes and Paul Robinson (drums) in the recording studio and Hans Zimmer behind the recording desk. [Edit: Zimmer was in the audience.] After the success of “Video…”, they faced the need to rapidly record a whole album, in between ongoing promo work for the first single. While the host was effusive in praise for The Age of Plastic, Horn was more humble, saying he felt the album had three good singles. Asked how difficult it was to follow up such a big debut hit, Horn said that it was basically impossible: no album could live up to “Video…”. Horn also talked about the plan for a new vocabulary of pop lyrics, avoiding all love songs, but that he was, in retrospect, uncertain that those ideas stretched to two albums. He also said that Downes had been the main composer and himself, the main lyricist in the band.

Other stories followed. Horn described their surprise at the success of “Video Killed the Radio Star” and how, at short notice, they found themselves miming to the track in France. Horn had never had to do that before, but he said it was fairly difficult to make mistakes while miming!

Why didn’t they tour, the host asked. Because by then they had joined Yes. Horn, warmly, described joining Yes as “absurd”. He described the fear in having “to be Jon Anderson” live and how nothing in his production career since has been as scary. Asked about the second album and Downes’ early departure, Downes explained that he got the offer to join Asia.

An audience member said he had given up hoping for a third Buggles album, which received a smiling but emphatic “Good” from Horn, but he asked about Fly from Here. Downes told the familiar story of how the initial plan had only been for Horn to do one song, “We Can Fly from Here”, for which Horn then wanted Downes, but then Horn was “railroaded” (Downes’ word) into doing the album. Horn, blushing, seemed almost embarrassed at the turn of events. He talked about how the band in 1980 had had their eccentricities and issues, but that this time they were “just so nice” that he ended up doing all of the album. There wasn’t any explanation as to why Horn was given such creative input though.

Everyone left the stage and there was a short break before the show proper. Horn introduced the show saying they were in an “apt setting” for these songs, “a museum”. Horn and Downes were front centre and front stage right respectively, wearing traditional silver jackets. Downes had a pair of stacked keyboards and a couple of laptops. Behind Horn was Paul Robinson on drums, then the back row continued to stage left with Lol Crème (guitars), Steve Lipson (guitar) and a second keyboardist in Julian Hinton. They opened with “I am a Camera”, although this was only for a few lines before going into an instrumental version of “Two Tribes”. Next was “Video Killed the Radio Star”, from which the band were joined by three young women (Kirsten, Holly and Kate) who provided backing vocals, dancing and an explosion of glamour next to the old men!

The rest of the set was “Living in the Plastic Age”, “Slave to the Rhythm”, “Elstree”, “Rubber Bullets”, “Space Oddity”, “Johnny on the Monorail”, “Check It Out”. As with last year’s Buggles show, Alison Moyet guested for “Slave to the Rhythm”. She looked great and provided the right Grace Jones-esque growl to the vocals, although she did seem to miss a verse, much to her embarrassment, although Horn was relaxed about it. Crème took lead vocals on “Rubber Bullets”, having said he can’t sing high enough to do “Donna” any more! Unfortunately he was mixed a bit too low.

“Check It Out” was the lead single from the debut album by Trinidadian hip hop artist Nicki Minaj. The song, done with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, samples extensively from “Video Killed the Radio Star”. So, at the 2010 charity show, the Buggles thought they would return the favour and cover it themselves. This was, of course, a preposterous idea – a bunch of white men in their 50s and 60s covering a sexy young rap song – and they knew it. The performance (available on YouTube) was rough, but the audience got the joke. Yet tonight the performance was much smoother. Kirsten, Holly and Kate took Nicki Minaj’s lead vocal, with Horn doing will.i.am’s part. It’s a preposterous idea, and yet they pulled it off. My partner said that they didn’t get Minaj’s timing quite right, but that’s a quibble. Because “Video…” acts as a core of “Check It Out” and with the three girls covering Minaj, the performance actually works as a piece of music, not simply as a joke, although when Horn takes will.i.am’s rap, it is an act replete with post-modern irony.

Overall, with Chris Braide’s departure, there seems to have been an elision of The Producers and The Buggles. The set was mostly a cut-down version of last year’s show, but also fairly close to the early Producers sets. However, the band seemed more confident and slicker than those previous shows. That isn’t a criticism of the prior Producers line-up: the line-up and set tonight were clearly built on the foundation of those Producers shows.

Horn still has a somewhat nervous stage presence, avoiding eye contact with the audience, often even closing his eyes while singing, but he appears to have become more comfortable taking the lead role. While Braide was the main vocalist in The Producers, Horn was singing at the front here for everything except “Slave to the Rhythm” and “Rubber Bullets”. And he was singing great. The brief “I am a Camera” opening and “Space Oddity” were particularly strong. His bass playing was distinctive too, particularly on “Two Tribes”.

The band as a whole played great, bar minor fluffs from Crème and Moyet. The new boys to the line-up, Downes and Robinson, fit right in. Downes owns the Buggles pieces in a way that Braide didn’t and contributed fine on the non-Buggles material. Robinson was a precise and powerful drummer, and I preferred his work to Ash Soan’s. Lipson clearly enjoys “Two Tribes”.

The addition of the three glamorous backing singers worked really well. They were suitably rehearsed, provided useful backing vocals on The Buggles material and key parts on “Check It Out” and “Rubber Bullets”. They also gave the band a visual focus that gave this show a sheen absent from the low key, few-blokes-having-some-fun of The Producers early on. In fact, I felt rather sorry for Downes, so often the melodic core of the music, but the largely male audience were largely fixated on the gyrating hips stage left than Downes’ playing stage right!

The compere after the show said the band “will be back on the road next year”, although Horn in the Q&A had commented on his live work these days being about “twice a year”, so I expect any further Buggles/Producers dates will continue at that rate.

I’ve been spoilt. I’ve now seen The Buggles live three times, plus several Producers shows. I would love to see some more variation in the set and I missed having the new material we got in later Producers shows. But that’s a minor thing: the band played their 9-song set fantastically. Over the last 5 years, they’ve evolved into a tight live unit playing a set of classic songs.

Edit: Downes' tweeted this picture of the band. That's, left to right, Hinton, Lipson and Robinson on the back row, and then the men on the front row are Downes, Crème and Horn, with the girls and their perfect teeth in between.

Digital delights: Jon Anderson's "Open"; Tony Kaye's "End of Innocence"

2011-10-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

Lots of excitement in online Yes fandom around yesterday's release of a 21 minute epic by Jon Anderson, "Open", available to buy on Amazon.com etc. I've not heard either yet, but, actually, I'm more excited by the new 46 minute epic "End of Innocence" by Tony Kaye that he's put up for free on YouTube:

Edit: I've had a first listen through of "End of Innocence". It's a largely instrumental work, with a short vocal part by Daniela Torchia (Tony's wife). It sounds as if it's all done by Kaye on synths, but he's often imitating an orchestra. Overall, I think it's a good piece of music and will, once again, demonstrate how underappreciated Kaye is by many fans!

It is an overtly political piece, supporting a model of US military intervention overseas as something that brings democracy and freedom to people around the world, and linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. Personally, I would question aspects of that as a political position, but that doesn't stop me enjoying "End of Innocence" as a piece of music. It's less forthright in its politics than, say, Conspiracy's "The Unknown", another musical response to 9/11.

Edit 2: I've now also heard "Open". First impressions... Thumbs up from me. A step up from Survival & Other Stories or The Living Tree; this is Anderson's best work of the last few years. It's partly orchestral, the composition harks back to Anderson's late 1970s work like on Olias or Tormato. However, his vocals are still fragile. It's easy to recognise this as a post-2008 performance. The lyrics are less noteworthy, typical of his recent work.

The Big Poll: What was the best studio album of the last 12 months featuring multiple Yes men?

2011-10-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

I wasn't certain whether to run this poll. This is a Yes fan site, so you would kinda expect a Yes album to easily defeat non-Yes albums. Why bother having the vote? But what exactly is and is not a Yes album remains contentious for some, with Fly from Here sporting only 60% (Howe/Squire/White) of what we call the classic line-up and The Living Tree, of course, featuring the other 40% (Anderson/Wakeman). So perhaps we should expect 60% of the vote for Fly from Here and 40% for The Living Tree?

But if I was going to have a poll of Fly from Here vs. The Living Tree, it seemed unfair to overlook other "spin-offs" involving multiple Yesmen, so, with a one year time frame, that adds CIRCA: (Kaye/Sherwood). And the final wildcard, released (most places) about the same time as Fly from Here and on the same label, is John Wetton's Raised in Captivity, which Wetton made in close collaboration with Sherwood and which features guest appearnaces from Kaye again and from Geoff Downes.

So, four albums, one labelled Yes, but three infused with the Yes spirit, and all four featuring multiple Yesmen: that seems like a fair poll on a Yes fan site. There seems no a priori reason why the album that says Yes on the cover would necessarily win against this competition.

The poll was clearly popular with a total of ~~170~~ 187 votes. [Edit: The poll stayed up longer than intended, so I give the final results below.] And the result?

Yes: Fly from Here -- 163 (87%)
Anderson & Wakeman: The Living Tree -- 18 (10%)
CIRCA: And So On -- 4 (2%)
John Wetton: Raised in Captivity -- 2 (1%)

That appears like a comprehensive victory for Fly from Here. Some do prefer The Living Tree, but they're in a quite small minority. CIRCA: and Raised in Captivity avoid the embarrassment of getting zero votes, but this result doesn't suggest they've made much impact on Yes fans.

The Living Tree won the poll of best Yes-related album of the second half of 2010, and albums by Anderson and Wakeman have done well in those polls, so it's not that The Living Tree is unloved (or that Anderson/Wakeman fans have deserted the website), but Fly from Here does appear to have bested it.

With The Living Tree In Concert Part One due next month and the Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin project still on the horizon, we'll see how they do against other big Yes-related projects (like Levin Torn White, Squackett, Rabin's Jackaranda, Howe's Time and a new Mystery album) in future polls.

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the first half of 2011

2011-09-12T03:34:00.000-07:00

74 votes in total for our latest poll.

1. Jon Anderson: Survival & Other Stories - 46 (62%)
2. Asia: Live at the London Forum (w/ Howe, Downes) - 9 (12%)
3= Blackfield: Welcome to My DNA (w/ Horn) - 6 (8%)
3= Trevor Rabin: I am Number Four - 6 (8%)
5= Mars Hollow: World in Front of Me (w/ Sherwood) - 3 (4%)
5= any of various King Crimson archival releases (w/ Bruford) - 3 (4%)
7. Jonathan Elias: Prayer Cycle 2: Path to Zero (w/ Anderson) - 1 (1%)
8= David Mark Pearce: StrangeAng3ls (w/ O. Wakeman) - 0
8= dB-Infusion: Muso & Proud (w/ Banks) - 0
8= Ant-Bee: Electronic Church Muzik (w/ Banks) - 0

I nearly didn't include Survival & Other Stories in this poll as it first had a limited release last year (and, indeed, came second in the poll for the second half of 2012). This general release through Gonzo was trailed as having additional tracks and being remixed, but in the end, seems to have been identical to the prior version. Still, with nearly 2/3 of the total vote, it comprehensively trounced the alternatives.

A distant second place was another of Asia's beat-the-boot-like live releases. I was at the show in question, notable because the shows before and after had to be cancelled because Howe had a back problem, not that you can tell from the great performance.

I'd like to say that some of the lower scoring albums here are very good and well worth getting. I discussed Muso & Proud and Electronic Church Muzik in a recent blog post. Prayer Cycle 2: Path to Zero is another strong release from Jonathan Elias, which I think successfully charts a midway between the more accessible and political American River and the more ethereal first The Prayer Cycle album. The album I voted for, however, was Mars Hollow's The World in Front of Me, produced by Billy Sherwood, a great new prog album that recalls the likes of Yes and ELP, but very much has its own style too.

Current Yesmen all busy

2011-09-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

It's now clear that Yes have discussed, at least in general terms, recording a follow-up album to Fly from Here, but it is also clear that any new album is unlikely before 2013. However, that doesn't mean they are resting on their laurels. Quite the contrary, all of the current band have significant projects in the pipeline.

We know the Chris Squire/Steve Hackett, or 'Squackett', album is in the can, although we await release details. Meanwhile, Squire guests on Hackett's next solo album, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, due at the end of September. Squire is on three tracks of the regular CD, including a 12 minute piece, and two more tracks on a limited edition bonus CD.

Steve Howe has been trailing a major solo project for later this year, although he's been tight-lipped on details. One report has him signed to Warner Classics. With a major label involved, expect some significant promo in due course.

Most imminently, due next week (as I type), is the Levin - Torn - White instrumental album. Samples released so far are intriguing as to what this power trio can deliver.

Benoît David, meanwhile, is ~~finishing up~~ [beginning] recording on the next Mystery release. A release in early 2012 now looks most likely. Lead composer, Michel St-Père, has trailed a possible 19 minute epic on the album.

Geoff Downes does not appear to have a new release quite as soon as bandmates, but there are plans for the 30th anniversary of Asia's debut album next year, and he's also involved with Trevor Horn's The Producers project (possibly now re-titled Us).

So, that could be 7 major releases over the next 12 months, enough to keep us busy until Yes return to the studio.

2 new guest appearances by Peter Banks

2011-09-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

We don't hear enough from Peter Banks. It's been a while since we've had a significant project from him. Plans for a tour with Ambrosia were, unfortunately, put on indefinite hold as Banks has some health problems. However, this year has seen two releases with guest appearances by Banks, so good vibes to Pete and let me tell you about Muso & Proud and Electronic Church Muzik.

The more recent was the dB-Infusion album, Muso & Proud. Banks provides a tasteful solo on one track, "Midnight Blues", although I think the track as a whole is surpassed by several others on this great fusion album. The band is headed by Daniel Berdichevsky and also features keyboardist Gonzalo Carrera, formerly of Karnataka. Also guesting on the album is Soft Machine's John Etheridge, of whom Banks himself is a huge fan. I saw both Banks and Etheridge guesting live with the band a few years ago, and Pete was full of praise for Etheridge's work. Further guests include Hugh McDowell, formerly of ELO and who's been working with Asia and iCon, and Steve Hackett's brother John on flute. (John appears on Steve's Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, due later this month and with Chris Squire guesting.) Muso & Proud can be ordered online here and can also heard there on streaming audio.

You may have seen a lot of Jon Anderson interviews recently. Well, that's because he's got a new promoter, Billy James, who's been doing a great job organising them. Billy's also now doing promo for CIRCA: and Jeff Berlin. You may remember the name in connection with Peter Banks because Billy co-wrote Pete's autobiography "Beyond & Before". Well, Billy also performs himself under the name Ant-Bee and, earlier in the year, released Electronic Church Muzik, with Banks appearing on two pieces. Billy kindly sent me a copy of the album and I can recommend it.

There are plenty of further guests on the album, including Daevid Allen and Jan Akkerman (formerly of Focus and appeared on The Two Sides of Peter Banks back in 1973), but most notable are the multiple former members of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, namely Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Preston, Bunk & Buzz Gardner, James 'Motorhead' Sherwood and the late Jimmy Carl Black. Zappa is a good starting point for describing this album: Ant-Bee has a similar mix of avant-garde music and humour, but what makes him distinct is a collage approach with multiple short tracks glueing together the album and connecting together longer pieces (Banks used a not dissimilar approach on his Can I Play You Something? release). The many guests are often given free reign on these longer tracks, as is the case with "Endless Journey", a spacey piece of around 6 minutes by Banks recalling his 1990s solo work to an extent. His other appearance is "The Guff", a short piece also with Gong's Gilli Smyth.

Not connected, but another album I'd like to mention while I'm here is The Winter Tree, the debut album from this new band that emerged out of Magus. Andrew Laitres of the band sent me a copy of the album and it's a nice affair, comparable to Camel in style, perhaps.

Forthcoming projects with multiple Yesmen

2011-08-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

It's now a month or two since the release of Fly from Here and the band are on a break from the supporting tour. The other project that's had everyone excited, the Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin collaboration, is still some way off. But don't imagine that we're in some kind of lull when it comes to Yes-related news as there's a whole bunch of projects featuring multiple people connected to the band.

Due in a few weeks is Levin - Torn - White, an instrumental power trio consisting of Alan White, Tony Levin and David Torn. Torn and Levin previously worked together with Bill Bruford, but this new combo has taken many people by surprise. A preview teaser video is on YouTube and worth checking out. More here.

And in October the Anderson Wakeman tour comes to North America with 14 dates in the north-east US and Quebec. I was pretty disappointed when they played the UK last year, so I hope this tour goes better. A live album from the UK tour is also expected soon, although we await a specific release date.

Billy Sherwood remains as busy ever. The latest CIRCA: album with Tony Kaye, And So On, is now available through the band's website. Sherwood is also involved with Sonic Elements, a progressive rock project connected to the music software company Sonic Reality. The project, led by Dave Kerzner, involves both covers and original material. There is a preview of a piece called "Trifecta" here, which features Sherwood (bass, guitars) and Kerzner (keys) playing to a drum track from one of Sonic Reality's libraries. But the drum track is Rush's Neil Peart playing "Tom Sawyer", so "Trifecta" is a new piece of music built around a familiar drum track. Kerzner has said the project will also include some Yes covers involving Sherwood and "several other ex-members of Yes", but who has not yet been announced.

Last, but not least, due at some point this year is William Shatner's Searching for Major Tom, featuring both Steve Howe and Patrick Moraz, albeit on different tracks. Details here.

Raised in Captivity, by John Wetton

2011-08-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

Raised in Captivity is the new solo album from John Wetton, made in close cooperation with Billy Sherwood. Wetton and Sherwood co-wrote and performed most of the album between them, but there's also a gaggle of guest stars. (These include Tony Kaye, which puts Wetton's tally of Yesmen he's worked with up to 11: Banks, Bruford, Kaye, Howe, Wakeman, White, Downes, Horn, Rabin, Sherwood and Khoroshev.) In recent years, Wetton has been reinvigorated after past health problems and he came to this album after the successful Asia and UK reunions. Sherwood is a self-professed fan of Wetton's work, particularly UK, and has also been busy on multiple projects these last few years, including CIRCA: and several solo albums. It looked like the right ingredients for a strong album.

Despite Wetton's recent reunion with UK and the appearance of guests like Robert Fripp, Wetton has not returned to the more progressive stylings of King Crimson and UK. Stylistically, Raised in Captivity is in keeping with Asia or Battle Lines, but with Sherwoodisms thrown into the mix. I expected that and was looking forward to this album. I was bitterly disappointed. Too much of this album is uninteresting, generic and forgettable. Take the opener, "Lost for Words", it perhaps shows the best combination of Sherwood's and Wetton's styles. With its catchy melody and fun wordplay, is a nice starter to this album, but 3 minutes into its 5 minute duration, I grow bored of it. There's just not enough meat. The same is true elsewhere. Like "Goodbye Elsinore", a nice enough song, but it outstays its welcome past Steve Hackett's solo. And these are not long pieces, so something's not right if I'm getting bored halfway through them! The diminutive "Steffi's Ring" is the only piece that doesn't outstay its welcome.

At least "Lost for Words" and "Goodbye Elsinore" begin OK. There are other pieces here that are just deathly dull. I struggle to imagine that anyone in 6 months time, even Wetton or Sherwood, will be able to remember such throwaways as "New Star Rising" or "Don't Misunderstand Me". At least the latter has a cute middle eight, but the former is just so bland. Other songs feel like repeats: "The Last Night of My Life" is a bad "An Extraordinary Life" (from Asia's Phoenix), "The Human Condition" is a poor "Information Overload" (on CIRCA: 2007).

John Wetton has long been known for his vocals and as time marches on and many of his peers have had problems with their voices (e.g. Jon Anderson, Ian Anderson), Wetton's voice has stood out even more. So it's somewhat disappointing that I don't feel he's been produced very well on this album, precisely where his vocals should be front and centre. Particularly on a piece like "Mighty Rivers", a duet with Anneke van Giersbergen that should be all about the vocals, Wetton's vocals don't sound as good as they do on the likes of Omega.

I guess most reading this blog are familiar with Sherwood's work in Yes/CIRCA:/World Trade/Conspiracy/Yoso/solo etc. His contributions here are distinctive, but at some point he crosses the line between distinctive and cliché. In particular, Sherwood's drumming style tires rapidly. He has recognisable fills, but he uses them everywhere. The comparisons with Asia are most obvious and while Sherwood is a talented musician in many ways, he's not as good a drummer as Carl Palmer, or as good an electric guitarist as Steve Howe. You can't help thinking that had the album been recorded by a band, say the recent UK line-up with Jobson/Machacek/Minnemann, then it would have been much stronger.

I've mentioned some of the guests already. Their contributions are variable. Steve Morse's solo on "Lost for Words" is disappointing. Hackett's in "Goodbye Elsinore" better. Jobson's violin on "The Devil and the Opera House" is one of the highlights of the whole album and makes you weep that he's largely turned his back on studio work. Palmer-James' words on the same piece add a nice variety in lyrical style. Yet, broadly, many of the guest appearances feel tacked on, most notable of all being the Fripp Soundscape used to bookend the title track. It's nice, but it has nothing to do with the piece it frames.

Sherwood has said, "John is incredibly prolific and fast... I can relate to that and so we created the template of the entire record within the 1st 10 days of working together. [...] We spent 30 ish days together working every single day with the exception of the day I had to go to the L.A. NAMM show. Everyday we worked we moved forward..." In his Classic Rock Presents... Prog interview about the album, Wetton likewise makes the contrast with the long and expensive process of making Battle Lines. I'm glad they worked well together and the speedy production must have helped keep the budget manageable, but the problem is the end result sounds like it was put together that quickly. If this was a set of demos, I could perhaps approach them with some optimism. "Take those ideas. Drop those ones, they're not working. Now record it with a proper band." As a finished album, there are bits and pieces I like, with "Lost for Words", "The Devil...", "Steffi's Ring" and "Goodbye Elsinore" the strongest, but not one song works for me all the way through. Little of it is actively off-putting (except perhaps "We Stay Together"), but so much of it is is superficial and unmemorable.

I re-listened to Battle Lines and Caught in the Crossfire for a comparison. 24 hours after Caught in the Crossfire, I was still humming "Turn on the radio..." I can't get 24 minutes into Raised in Captivity before wanting to listen to something else.

If there is a note of ire in my review it's not because I think poorly of Wetton and Sherwood. Quite the opposite: they've both done better, which is why Raised in Captivity is so disappointing. If you want some good work from Sherwood, I recommend his last solo album, Oneirology. For Wetton, there's a wealth of options: Asia's Omega is a good album, while fans of his 1970s work should get Ultimate Zero Live. And for an archival release, anyone who likes Red or UK should consider the recent DGM download of 1977 rehearsal sessions by Fripp, Wetton and Mahavishnu Orchestra's Michael Walden: see here.

In the interests of giving a right to reply, I point you to a thread on Yesfans.com. I mentioned my dislike of the album there and Sherwood offered a rebuttal here (scroll up for my prior comments). [3 Sep EDIT: Link now fixed.]

Poll: Best track on Fly from Here

2011-08-02T05:29:00.000-07:00

And our latest poll results, for your favourite track on Fly from Here, are as follows. There were 124 votes:

"Into the Storm"	30	24%
"Fly From Here Pt II - Sad Night at the Airfield"	25	20%
"Fly From Here Pt I - We Can Fly"	16	13%
"The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"	14	11%
"Hour of Need"	11	9%
"Life on a Film Set"	10	8%
"Fly From Here Pt III - Madman at the Screens"	8	6%
"Fly From Here - Overture"	3	2%
"Fly From Here Pt IV - Bumpy Ride"	3	2%
"Fly From Here Pt V - We Can Fly Reprise"	3	2%
"Solitaire"	1	1%

So, perhaps no surprise that "Into the Storm", picked out as a highlight in so many reviews, has come out top with about a quarter of the total vote, although cumulatively the "Fly from Here" suite amassed about half the total vote (61 votes; 49%).

The one piece so far played live, the single "We Can Fly", comes in third with 13% of the vote, beaten by Part II. Surprisingly, "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be" came fourth, despite having attracted some criticism in reviews.

I can't remember now whether I voted myself for "Hour of Need" or "Fly from Here - Overture"!

What should Yes play live in July?

2011-06-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

Results to a quickie poll on the main site, I asked what should be the focus for the forthcoming Yes tour, and your answers (82 votes in total) were:

Play songs from the new album, Fly from Here: 46.3 votes
Play more from Drama: 12.3
Play neglected pieces from the late 1990s/2000s: 8.5
Play neglected pieces from the 1970s: 6.8
Play neglected pieces from the YesWest era: 4
Play neglected pieces from the Banks era: 1
Play the 'greatest hits': 1
More solo spots for each band member: 1

So, that's pretty conclusive. Some reports have suggested a focus on Fly from Here and Drama, which will please fans. However, in a recent Billboard interview, Squire described the tour with Styx as, "more of a summer shed, rock 'n' roll-y tour and we'll have to obviously play Yes songs people are familiar with and squeeze it all into 90 minutes." He did add, "Later on [referring to the European leg] we'll hopefully go into a format where we have a longer playing time, so we'll be presenting more of the new album."

Fly from Here released (in Japan at least)

2011-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Fly from Here, the new Yes album, is now out, at least in Japan. European release is due 1 July and US/Canada follows 12 July. (German site Musicload.de reportedly already have the album available digitally, but in Germany only.)

The Japanese release has a bonus track of a longer version of "Hour of Need". At 6:46, it's more than twice as long as the regular 3:07 version. Fans outside Japan will have to decide for themselves whether it's worth paying the extra for an import copy for that additional three minutes and thirty-nine seconds of music! (I remember buying Keystudio solely to hear the otherwise unavailable "Lightning", Wakeman's intro to "Children of Light", and that's less than a minute long, so I'm in no position to pass judgement.) I've yet to hear the longer version myself.

Several retailers (e.g. CD Universe, HMV Japan) are reporting that the Japanese release has a second bonus track, described as "a rare track, which was going to be included in the album "DRAMA."" This is not the case. They are mistaken; possibly it's a garbled reference to the title track. There's just the "full-length" version of "Hour of Need".

The first reviews of the album, aside from my own one (available here) that is, are beginning to appear and I expect we'll also see a range of interviews with the band members to accompany promotional efforts. Sales indicators seem reasonably good so far, with the album as high as #50 at Amazon.com (US), #98 at Amazon.jp (Japan), #56 at Amazon.co.uk and #26 at Amazon.ca (Canada).

And, of course, the US tour begins in a few weeks and Downes' live return to the band. There's a poll on the website front page asking what you think the set list should focus on.

Did Anderson and Wakeman give permission for the new Yes line-up?

2011-06-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

Wherever there is online discussion about the new Yes album, arguments about Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman’s absence are not far behind. The fateful decision in 2008 by Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White to continue Yes without them won’t go away. Every time the band or Anderson are interviewed, the same questions come up… and judging by comparisons with Genesis, the same questions will go on being asked for decades.

Much has been made of Anderson’s comment that only White contacted him immediately after his acute respiratory failure, yet it’s the communication a few months later, when Howe/Squire/White were putting together the new line-up, that are more significant. Squire has always insisted that they had Anderson’s blessing, but this seemed at odds with criticisms by both Anderson and Wakeman.

Two recent interviews show that Howe/Squire/White were in contact with both Anderson and Wakeman, and suggest both Anderson and Wakeman gave explicit permission for the new band.

Rick Wakeman was interviewed recently by Anil Prasad in his Innerviews series. It’s another great interview from Anil, reaching parts other interviewers do not. In it, Wakeman discussed how he was approached by Howe/Squire/White in 2008:

“Chris Squire called me up and I said “I will not play in the band if Jon isn’t singing.” Then Chris said to me “Who would you recommend to do it?” [Rick describes recommending Oliver] I’m not being critical. What anybody wants to do, they can do. But when I’m asked, I will explain my feelings.”

Here’s Anderson talking to Planet Rock, explaining his criticism at the time of the 2008 tour:

"The problem was [that] they weren't telling anyone that I was not in the band and they weren't advertising Yes as Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Alan White, which is what we agreed upon if they wanted to go out there. I actually gave them my blessing and said 'If you want to go out there, you've got to make a living. I'm just not ready at this time to do that kind of touring.'

"Then they found a singer that sounds like me […] I thought, well, that's what they wanna do. It's not what I call in my heart what Yes is all about but that's what they wanted to do so I had to say something. "

So, Howe/Squire/White were in contact with both Anderson and Wakeman. Anderson describes an agreement, albeit with conditions. Wakeman hints at giving permission too, although at other times he’s had the same complaint as Anderson, that Yes haven’t been clear enough about their line-up. But, contrary to these complaints, all the touring in 2008 was explicitly billed as “Steve Howe, Chris Squire & Alan White of Yes”. The switch to just “Yes” came in 2009.

It appears that Anderson and Wakeman, while they may not like the course taken by Howe/Squire/White, were both asked and both gave their permission.

Riding a Tiger – A Review of Fly from Here

2011-06-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have been fortunate to hear a friend’s review copy of Yes’s new album, Fly from Here. Do you want the short version of this review? Purr purr purr.

“Armies of angels are starting to fall”

What to expect? It’s been ten years since the last studio album from Yes, Magnification. Ten years before that was Union, ten years before Union was Drama, ten years before Drama was Time and a Word. If Yes changed so much over those previous intervals, what can we expect now with Fly from Here?

Fly from Here is also only the second time that Yes has released an album without Jon Anderson, arguably the central songwriter in the band’s history as well as a most distinctive vocalist. The decision to continue without Anderson in 2008 was hugely controversial and online spaces still rage with the debate.

On tour with Asia in May, Steve Howe and Geoff Downes said Fly from Here was like a cross between Close to the Edge and 90125. Close to the Edge, perhaps Yes’s greatest album, possibly even the greatest progressive rock album of all. 90125, the band’s most commercially successful release and a whole new sound. A cross between them? Talk about shooting high. Well, I don’t think Fly from Here is remotely like a cross between Close to the Edge and 90125.

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. In an interview in the first quarter of this year, Howe said, “I don’t think [the album]’s very predictable. I think people are going to go, “Ouch! Ooh!,” in surprise.” Steve Howe is right.

Ooh!

In a good way.

“As stupid now as were at first”

It will sound like Drama, that’s what a lot of people have said, and the band encouraged those comparisons. It doesn’t, mostly. There are points of comparison. “Into the Storm” has something of the same quality. Parts of the title track too. But I think Fly from Here is closer to the album the band would have made after Drama had they stayed together. We’ve got “We Can Fly from Here”, which we know was intended for that project. We’ve got a second Buggles demo: “Life on a Film Set” is “Riding a Tide”, a c. 1981 demo, one of the bonus tracks on the 2010 re-release of The Buggles' Adventures in Modern Recording. But “Fly from Here” and “Life on a Film Set” don’t sound like Drama; they sound like a development from Drama.

With Jon Anderson gone and Trevor Horn brought in, some critics have prejudicially disparaged Fly from Here as a Trevor Horn album with Yes as a backing band. There are moments that perhaps point in that direction. A Horn/Downes vision of Yes predominates on a song like “Life on a Film Set”. This works fine for me. When Adventures in Modern Recording was re-released and everybody focused on the two-part demo of “We Can Fly from Here”, I remember raving about “Riding a Tide” and saying it sounded very Yessy, so it’s no surprise I like it here too.

“Fly from Here” has become a 23-minute epic, but the way it’s constructed isn’t like “Gates of Delirium” or “The Revealing Science of God”. There’s an explicit “Overture”, not something Yes has done before. It reminds me, to make an odd comparison, of the Trevor Horn-produced album Tenement Symphony by Marc Almond. To go through the epic in detail, after the overture is “Part I We Can Fly”: this is pretty much the song as we know it. “Part II Sad Night at the Airfield” is based on the demo “Part 2” on Adventures in Modern Recording, although it has been developed and extended. “Part III Madman at the Screens” is a variation on the secondary theme introduced in the latter half of “Part II”. “Part IV Bumpy Ride” introduces a new theme, but also re-visits an additional theme introduced latterly in “Part III”. Then “Part V We Can Fly Reprise” is, as the title says, a reprise of the “We Can Fly” main theme as the big finale. The Overture and Parts I and II could stand as separate pieces: indeed, they could have been on the album separated by other tracks, as Horn did with the two parts of the “We Can Fly from Here” demo on Adventures in Modern Recording. Parts III, IV and V then run together more and are less free-standing.

“From some other part of me”

But there’s another side to this album (terminology that seems appropriate for the first Yes album to be released on LP in some while). This is not the third Buggles album. On songs like “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be”, “Hour of Need” and “Into the Storm”, and even within the title epic (e.g., “Part IV Bumpy Ride”), there’s a sound, a quality, that is all about Chris Squire, Steve Howe and, indeed, Benoît David.

But not always quite how you expect.

By the way, to respond to some online speculation based on the song titles. No, “Hour of Need” has nothing to do with the piece of the same name on Steve Howe's Spectrum, as far as I can tell. But, yes, “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be” is something of a ballad.

“Somewhere a fire is breaking out”

Chris Hosford, a.k.a. Frumious B, a well-known online fan, suggested Fly from Here would be all instrumental fireworks, like on Drama, but without the core songwriting ability Anderson brought. It’s not. It’s almost the opposite of that. There are some great songs here, and the band have often held back on the fireworks.

Given Howe has complained about how his guitar parts were withheld or removed from albums like Magnification, Union and ABWH, I too thought Fly from Here would be like Drama or The Yes Album, drenched in Howe’s guitar playing. But it’s not. He’s there, he’s distinctive, he has solos, but the music is left alone when needed, by all the instrumentalists. There’s space and sparseness when needed. Howe uses a lot of acoustic and steel guitar; he almost does bluegrass on “Hour of Need”. There’s less cheesegrater.

“Remember what has been achieved”

The Yes cheesegrater is an analogy the band invented. Consider Drama as an example: it’s the idea of how these basic songs from The Buggles and Squire went through the cheesegrater and became Yessified. A process that’s also happened to many Jon Anderson songs on other albums. But Fly from Here does something more subtle. “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be”, “Life on a Film Set” and “Hour of Need” haven’t been through a grater. They represent a multiplicity of different visions for Yes, yet with a continuity of sound as well. This continuity isn't as crude as a cheesegrater. They have been infused in a water bath like a Heston Blumenthal pudding. They, I suggest, represent where Chris Squire and Steve Howe are as composers today and where the whole band are as performers.

While one song has been turned into an epic, you’ve then got “Hour of Need” that, contrary to its name, is the shortest piece on the album at 3:07 (although a longer version is included as a bonus track on the Japanese release). “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be” and “Life on a Film Set” are 5 minutes apiece. “Hour of Need” feels like a much longer piece: it’s got the ingredients, I've not heard the extended version, but it’s easy to imagine earlier incarnations of Yes stretching “Hour of Need” and these other songs to 7, 8, 12-minute pieces with filigrees and reprises, but on Fly from Here, they are compact jewels. Although I’d be happy for them to have gone on longer myself!

I’m guessing “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be” is going to be similar to Squackett. The song dates back to 2006/7 and writing sessions for a Chris Squire solo album. The album as such has been abandoned, with much of the material migrating to the Squackett project. That explains the contribution of Gerard Johnson, who was involved with these sessions, having previously been in The Syn with Squire, and before that a collaborator of Peter Banks'. Simon Sessler contributed to the lyrics.

“That’s when I start to be the man you’ve always seen in me”

There are more familiar Yesisms here too. There’s a jaunty angularity in “Into the Storm” and “Bumpy Ride” that remind me of Tormato. The use of contrasting vocal sections, again notable on “Into the Storm”, is very Yes, as Squire takes a prominent second vocalist role.

There are also comparisons possible with Asia with similarities to some of Howe’s compositions for the band like “Wish I’d Known All Along” or “Through My Veins”, although Howe opts for more Yessy lyrics on “Hour of Need” compared to the relationship angst of his Asia songs. Howe and Downes’ instrumental interplay here reminds me of recent Asia (e.g. “Wish I’d Known All Along” again). Downes came in last to this project, replacing Oliver Wakeman half way through the album sessions, but his stamp is on this album and there are so many places were you can’t imagine Oliver Wakeman’s style working. Albeit largely through recycled Buggles material, Downes is more prominent in the writing credits than Yes's keyboardists usually are. And this is some of Downes’ best work. So often just what the music needs, not more or less. Occasionally, there's a bit of a 1970s style, a bit Jeff Wayne or ELO, that style of keyboard playing.

Bits of Wakeman's work have been used in the final mix, but what is unclear. There's a short keyboard solo on “Hour of Need” which might be him. In fact, “Hour of Need” is probably the piece where it's easiest to imagine a Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman version.

“There’s no-one sleeping, no-one awake”

I’ve not discussed the lyrics yet. Some feared the band would try to ape Anderson’s lyrical style. They haven’t. The lyrics and indeed vocal melodies are very different to what Anderson would do. They are, in some ways, quite un-Yes-like, more so than even Drama’s, yet they still encapsulate some familiar themes of positivity and striving for betterment, pleas for a better world through personal action. I think Howe's lyrical influence one can hear in songs like “Birthright”, “Spirit of Survival” or chunks of Tales from Topographic Oceans comes through on “Hour of Need”. There’s a romantic and humanist element from Squire on “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be”. That humanist strand to Yes’s lyrics, which Stuart Chambers discussed at some length in his book “Yes: An Endless Dream”, comes through in “Into the Storm” as well. There’s also a narrative style that I presume comes from Horn in “Fly from Here”. There’s another influence though, references to angels and heaven, not in a religious way, but a mythopoeic one. And there’s some clever wordplay, some arresting lines, although there are also points where the lyrics are weaker, like the rhyming in “Hour of Need”.

“In the dark / While the obvious isn't clear”

A special note about “Life on a Film Set”, as I’ve used its line “Riding a tiger” to title this review. If Panthers are fans of Drama, I say we continue the big cat metaphor and fans of Fly from Here have to be tigers. But I’m also wondering about the abortive Greg Lake/Geoff Downes collaboration in 1988 called Ride the Tiger: did Downes name it after this song?

“Something not so superficial / Like something I can really do without”

Some also feared that David’s vocals would ape Anderson’s. David’s role in Yes before now has been to fill Anderson’s shoes and how he sings Anderson’s Yes songs is not how he sings in Mystery. Again, fear not. David is not imitating Anderson here at all. In places, he’s singing parts Horn first did and that influence comes through with the staccato fashion Horn sometimes has (see “Life on a Film Set”), but David sings these parts better than Horn. Mostly this is David singing as himself, as he does in Mystery. In fact, better than he does in Mystery, this is great work from David.

There’s also lots of harmony, and a fair amount of lead, vocals from Squire. This is used in contrasting sections effectively on pieces like “Into the Storm”. There was uncertainty about whether Horn might have any vocal role: he doesn’t take any leads, but I think I can hear him in the backing vocals, at least on “Fly from Here”.

There’s lots I haven’t mentioned. What about Alan White? This is not an album full of in-your-face drumming. There isn’t anything like the intro to “Changes”. But there’s plenty of nice drumming throughout and rhythmic ideas. “Solitaire”, Howe’s acoustic solo. It’s a nice acoustic solo, what you’d expect from Howe, fits on the album. The production... The production is, of course, impeccable. Everything is clear, multiple layers of music. What one would expect from Horn. I could say more about “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be”, how it’s almost almost Fleetwood Mac-ish.

“I want to be the one who’s always there beside you / But we both must face the dawn / Alone”

In detail, it’s not what I expected, it’s not hugely like this or that prior Yes album. Broadly, it’s uplifting, it’s positive, it’s memorable, it’s what Yes music should be. It’s got those dramatic, instrumental moments: “Fly from Here Part V: We Can Fly Reprise” and a moment in “Part III Madman at the Screens” kill me. And the same for some vocal sections, like the “Armies of angels...” section in “Into the Storm”.

It’s an album worth immersing oneself in. Much of it on first and second listen was odd, confusing and even off-putting. It took me a few listens, but all the pieces grab me now. I’ve been going around humming them. I love it.

“Lonely eyes watch as the moon shines down”

There is no Jon Anderson on this album. Even Drama has echoes from Anderson’s influence. There is nothing here that has anything to do with him. OK, there’s a vocal line in “Hour of Need” which maybe is a bit Anderson-ish, but that’s it. Yes music has been made of so many components and obviously nearly all Yes fans are going to be fans of what Jon brought to the table, so some are, I’m sure, going to find out how much they miss him with Fly from Here. But this is a new Yes. This is, despite the use of two 30-year old songs, an album about Yes in 2011. I don’t think you can love this album without accepting that.

To finish, let’s put this is some context. In my opinion, and I’m sure you’re all going to have your own opinions soon enough, but for me... OK, it’s not as good as the average Yes album in the 1971-1981 period, but then little is. But this is better than the average Yes album in the 1991-2001 period. (Of course, that’s a period with a couple of albums that really drag the average down!) I think it’s a better album than Anderson/Wakeman’s The Living Tree, Jon Anderson’s Survival and Other Stories, Asia’s Omega, CIRCA: 2007, Mystery’s One Among the Living, The Syn’s Big Sky, White’s White and John Wetton’s Raised in Captivity, and most of those are good albums. If this was a brand new band, with no history, I’d be looking forward to their next album.

So, now they’ve got back into the album habit, let’s hope their next album is soon and not another 10 year wait!

Full release details, album credits and links to samples are on the news page, as you’d expect.

Fly from Captivity

2011-05-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

Fevered excitement is the order of the day online with Yes's new album Fly from Here so close, and new details emerging very day. I've just put track times up on the news site and below. There's a great high resolution image of Dean's album cover here where you can really see the detail, like the two panthers in the trees. Speaking of panthers, I'm hearing the first few comments from people who have heard the album: it's like Drama, and it's not like Drama...

But let's not overlook some other Yes-related projects coming out shortly. After a great debut album, Mars Hollow are shortly to release their second album, produced by Billy Sherwood — more on that in due course. And then there's John Wetton's Raised in Captivity, produced/mixed/co-written/co-performed by Sherwood and out at the same time as Fly from Here. Frontiers have released three snippets of the album (see on the news site under Sherwood) and that distinctive Sherwood sound can be heard, suggesting this is perhaps as much a "John Wetton & Billy Sherwood" album as a John Wetton solo album.

Fly from Here
side A:
1. Fly From Here - Overture (1:54)
2. Fly From Here Pt I - We Can Fly (6:01)
3. Fly From Here Pt II - Sad Night at the Airfield (6:42)
4. Fly From Here Pt III - Madman at the Screens (5:17)
5. Fly From Here Pt IV - Bumpy Ride (2:15)
6. Fly From Here Pt V - We Can Fly Reprise (1:48)

side B:
7. The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be (5:13)
8. Life on a Film Set (5:12)
9. Hour of Need (3:08)
10. Solitaire (3:30) [Howe solo]
11. Into the Storm (6:54)

Yes vs. AWR - timelines

2011-05-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

When people talk about the possible Anderson Wakeman Rabin album and the competition this alt-Yes offers to Fly from Here, they tend to stress how we can enjoy both and this is not a contest. And they're right. But, you know, it's much more fun to look at it as a contest! I thought it would be interesting to look at timelines.

The new Yes as we know it was announced in September 2008 (although the idea of Yes moving on without Anderson was mooted as early as June 2008 in the initial panicked reaction to Anderson's ill health). That same month, the idea of doing an album at some point is mentioned in interviews. We'll take September 2008 as the starting date.

The idea of Anderson Wakeman Rabin, or Anderson Bruford Wakeman Rabin as the initial plan was, dates back to February 2010. Wakeman, without naming names, first described the project and plans for an album that month.

But it's one thing to moot doing an album at some point. That's not the same as really starting work. Of course, musicians are of always writing and often use older ideas, so this is difficult to assess. Still, let's try to identify when we first see serious and collaborative work towards an album. For Yes, that would seem to be September 2009 when Squire, Howe and O. Wakeman gathered to exchange ideas specifically for a new album. With AWR, it would appear to be January 2011, when Anderson first says that he and Wakeman have written material for the project (whereas his 2010 interviews talk of writing in the future). So, this first step took 12 months for Yes and 11 months for AWR.

For Yes, recording sessions began in October 2010, another 13 months on. Recording finished in February 2011 (3 months more) and the album was mastered in May 2011 for a June 2011 release. Presuming that happens to plan, that's 3 months from recording finished, 6 months from recording beginning, 19 months from joint writing beginning, 31 months from the project beginning.

AWR started later. To stay one month ahead of Yes, they need to start recording by February 2012 and aim for a September 2012 release. OK then, clock ticking...

Comicoperando

2011-05-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

Comicoperando is a tribute to Robert Wyatt led by musicians who have worked with him over the years. The project began early last year and has featured the likes of Richard Sinclair and Gilad Atzmon, but there is a short tour this year with a sextet of Dagmar Krause (lead vocals), Annie Whitehead (trombone, backing vocals), Karen Mantler (Hammond B3, lead vocals, harmonica), Michel Delville (guitar, vocals), John Edwards (double bass, vocals) and Chris Cutler (drums). Given such talent brought together, it was disappointing that the Queen Elizabeth Hall was only about half full, around 450 people, at their London show last night (12 May 2011).

The band seemed unconfident, apologetic and occasionally under-rehearsed (Krause notably missed a couple of cues). However, by and large, their performance was rich, tight and strong, and their apologies unnecessary.

The real fireworks for me came from the rhythm section, Cutler’s fluid drumming and Edwards’ complex bass playing. Whitehead’s trombone was the dominant lead instrument, working well with Krause’s and Mantler’s vocals, although I felt Delville’s duet vocals on “Just as You Are” were weak.

Dagmar Krause, of course, has a very distinctive voice, and Robert Wyatt, of course, has a very distinctive voice, so it was a surprise how well Krause’s vocals suited Wyatt’s songs. Krause was powerful and strident on “Out of the Blue” and “Gloria Gloom”, but emotional and intimate on “Alifib”. Mantler’s light, delicate vocal style offered a nice contrast on pieces like “Life is Sheep” and “The United States of Amnesia”. However, sometimes the vocals did not cut through the music well enough for the lyrics to be distinguished, a shame when dealing with Wyatt’s work.

The set spanned Wyatt’s career. Highlights for me were the playing on “The British Road”, the power of “Out of the Blue” and, of course, getting to hear old favourites like “Sea Song”. The show was a tad short, but I resisted the temptation to call out for “The Song of Investment Capital Overseas” as an extra encore!

Set (not in this order):

September the Ninth (written by Robert Wyatt / Alfreda Benge) - vocals Krause

Alliance (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Mantler

Beware (Karen Mantler) - vocals Mantler & Krause

Gloria Gloom (Bill MacCormick / Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause

The British Road (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Mantler

Maryan (Robert Wyatt / Philip Catherine) - vocals Mantler & Krause

Just as You Are (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause & Delville

Life is Sheep (Karen Mantler) - vocals Mantler

Alifib (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause

Sea Song (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause

Little Red Riding Hood (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause & Mantler

Out of the Blue (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause

The United States of Amnesia (Robert Wyatt) - vocals Mantler

Memories (Hugh Hopper / Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause

encore: Soup Song (Brian Hopper / Robert Wyatt) - vocals Krause & Mantler

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the second half of 2010

2011-04-21T00:48:00.000-07:00

There were 118 votes in our poll for the best Yes-related album of the second half of 2010, a busy period with long-awaited projects like the Anderson/Wakeman album and the release of Mr. Mister's Pull, and significant new projects like Yoso and the first of Jon Anderson's Internet collaborations.

1. Anderson/Wakeman: The Living Tree: 37 (31%)
2. Jon Anderson: Survival & Other Stories: 23 (19%)
3. Asia: The Omega Tour Live (w/ Howe, Downes): 18 (15%)
4. Yoso: Elements (w/ Sherwood, Kaye): 14 (12%)
5= Geoff Downes: Electronica: 4 (3%)
5= Strawbs: Live at the BBC Volume One In Session (w/ R. Wakeman): 4 (3%)
5= David Bowie: Station to Station [special edition] (w/ Kaye): 4 (3%)
5= The Sorceror's Apprentice OST (w/ Rabin): 4 (3%)
5= Mr. Mister: Pull (w/ Rabin): 4 (3%)
10. King Crimson: any of several archival live releases (w/ Bruford): 3 (3%)
11. Strawbs: 40th Anniversary Celebrations Vol. 2 Rick Wakeman & Dave Cousins (w/ R. Wakeman): 2 (2%)

There were no votes for Robbie Williams' In And Out Of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990 - 2010 (w/ Horn) and one invalid vote.

No doubt about the winner this time. The Living Tree has divided fandom: a recent thread on Yesfans.com got so heated that two people, ironically a current and a former collaborator of Jon Anderson's, got banned after criticising the album. However, it clearly works for some. In a strong second is Anderson's Survival & Other Stories, an impressive performance given the album has only had a limited release to date (on sale on Anderson Wakeman Project 360 dates). Which means that Anderson's albums attracted 50% of all the votes, a clear indication of his enduring popularity whether in or out of the band.

The other big project of the period was Yoso, an attempt to break a bigger market by combining the core of CIRCA: with the vocals of former Toto frontman Bobby Kimball. However, the poor showing here echoes some bad reviews and the band has already been dissolved. Nonetheless, a new CIRCA: line-up has emerged with more members in common with Yoso than the previous CIRCA: line-up, and CIRCA: have now been taking on by Yoso's former management, 2 Plus Entertainment.

AWR, official sites and a response

2011-04-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

I recently reported, based on information I had received and believed to be reliable, that the Anderson Wakeman Rabin project was dead in the water. However, denials soon followed, most notably from Rick Wakeman in his April GORR. I quote the key section:

Wayne has mentioned to me that he received a lot of e-mails to the site displaying their displeasure at the news that the proposed project with Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson was not going ahead. I must admit I threw my head in my hands when he told me as it is, to the very best of my knowledge and certainly Jon's as well, total rubbish.

There are some not very nice people out there who like to stir things up, and believe it or not, we know who some of them are. They are the equivalent to people who start computer viruses and I have no time for them. I have always said that if you hear a rumour, log into this site, and if it's confirmed here, then it's true. If it isn't, then treat it as a rumour started by somebody who thinks they know something, but actually don't!

Which would appear to be directed at me and the site!

I am, to say the least, confused as to the current situation with the project. I have faith in what I've heard, that there are issues with the AWR project, but the above and another denial from close to the trio are pretty clear. So, exactly what is going on, I don't know. My apologies if I am wrong.

I hope I am wrong. I'd like to see this project go forward. Rick's presumption of malice is wrong, but not unexpected: he's expressed similar negative views about online discussion before now. But I do agree with Rick that if you want the official news, go to the official sites.

I sometimes see people online going, "Henry said it, so it must be true," which is flattering, but mistaken. I am not an official site, I will deal with rumour, and I do get things wrong. I do my best to be right and how I work means I can often scoop official sites (as with the recent news around Geoff Downes replacing Oliver Wakeman), but I am wrong-footed too (I presumed the Mexico Yes dates in May would automatically be with Downes, but it appears that O. Wakeman may still be in the band for those). So, fingers crossed that AWR will move forward, and I'll update with any further news I hear.

Over 3 years is a respectable stint for any Yes keyboardist

2011-04-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

Oliver Wakeman is playing his last few shows with Yes. He is to be replaced by Geoff Downes, presumably as soon as the current Rite of Spring tour ends.

Yes has always had a high rate of keyboardist turnover. Tony Kaye lasted just over 3 years initially. His replacement was of course Oliver's dad, but Rick lasted less time, leaving after 2 years and 8 months. Next came Patrick Moraz for an even shorter spell: 2 years, 1 month.

Rick was back, but only for just over 3 years, before the shortest spell of the keyboardists we usually count, Geoff Downes, at a bit under a year.

Tony Kaye then returned... or rather joined Cinema, which became Yes. He seems to have been in the band for around a year before leaving, being replaced by Eddie Jobson for a few months, and then returning. Kaye was then continuously in Yes for by far the longest period of any keyboardist, another 11 years.

Counting ABWH as well, Rick had his longest spell in Yes of around 4 years from the beginnings of ABWH to the end of the Union tour. Given there were plans for him to be involved in Talk, maybe we should count that as longer. After Kaye's departure, Rick again returned, but this time quite briefly, about 1.5 years. Igor Khoroshev lasted about 3 years. Rick's latest stint in the band was for 2 years, 2 months.

Compared to these previous Yes keyboardists, Oliver has done pretty well. He's been in the band about three and a third years, although the cancellation of the 2008 tour meant his earlier months weren't very busy. (Even if you count only from the beginning of rehearsals for the In the Present tour, Oliver is still on 2 years, 5 months.)

Oliver's period in the band is longer than all but one of his father's; longer than Kaye's first time round; longer than Downes, Moraz, Khoroshev or Jobson. Any Yes keyboardist who gets to 3 years should probably be looking over their shoulder(!); only Tony Kaye has done substantially better.

What marks Oliver out, however, is the possibility that he won't appear on any studio material. While we now know Downes is the main keyboardist on Fly from Here, it's unclear whether any of Oliver's work will be used.

Switching keyboardists while making an album is familiar territory for Yes. Rick first came in when the band were working towards Fragile. Moraz began the Going for the One sessions, only for Rick to return. We've even had one Yes album before capturing a transition: Billy Sherwood plays most of the keys on Open Your Eyes. Igor Khoroshev was then recruited and appears on a few of the tracks.

If Oliver isn't on Fly from Here, however, the only precedent for someone touring as a member of the band but not seeing a studio release is Tony O'Reilly's few months as drummer in 1968.

The other lessons here are that Downes perhaps deserves another go at the job more than most ex-keyboardists, given how brief his first time was, and most Yes keyboardists get to come back at some point! In the mean time, here's good luck to Oliver for his career after Yes.

Anderson Wakeman Rabin cancelled

2011-03-31T03:57:00.000-07:00

For reasons as yet unknown, I understand that the Anderson Wakeman Rabin project has been abandoned.

There has been an air of competition between this project and the current Yes line-up, echoing the ABWH/YesWest rivalry at the end of the 1980s. It's now clear that the original plan back at the beginning of 2010 was for Anderson Bruford Wakeman Rabin... at least, that was Anderson and Wakeman's plan; it doesn't appear that Bruford ever actually agreed to it. Four ex-Yesmen together was a tantalising prospect and, against a Yes with only three longstanding Yesmen (Howe/Squire/White) plus some newer members, an ABWR project would have had a strong claim to the mantle of being the 'real Yes'. ABWR would have had the majority of the band from Fragile and Close to the Edge, and as many of the band members from other key albums like 90125 and The Yes Album. Even when it became clear that Bruford was not involved, AWR was still an impressive line-up against HSW, as I argued in an earlier blog post.

But the project is now over; meanwhile, HSW have recruited two more former Yesmen for their team, with Trevor Horn producing and co-writing the new album, Fly from Here, and Geoff Downes playing on the album and possibly more. As far as I know, Anderson and Wakeman are still working together, with further touring and a live album planned for this year. Yet that means the 2011 project with the second most Yesmen involved is John Wetton's new solo album, Raised in Captivity, produced and co-written by Billy Sherwood, with guest appearances by Tony Kaye and Geoff Downes, as well as brief Yes member Eddie Jobson, Robert Fripp, Steve Hackett, new UK guitarist Alex Machacek and former King Crimson lyricist Richard Palmer-James.

[5 April update: Well, there have now been denials from R. Wakeman himself and another source close to the trio that the project is dead. So, I am uncertain what is happening now! More as I get it...]

DPRP poll

2011-03-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

I always like to see DPRP's poll of the best prog rock of the year. Their 2010 results are now out: see here. But I wondered how Yes-related acts did in this broader field.

Favourite Album: Won by Spock's Beard's X, the best Yes-related performance was Mystery's One Among the Living (with Benoît David, plus Oliver Wakeman guesting) at #18. Steve Hackett's Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (with Chris Squire guesting) was just behind at #20. Asia's Omega was at #26. The Living Tree was at #44. Then we have to jump to #132 and Yoso's Elements. Lower albums get less than 5 votes each, so I haven't trawled through the rest of the list.

Favourite DVD: Won by Transatlantic's "An Evening With Transatlantic: Whirld Tour 2010", but Asia's "Spirit Of The Night: Live In Cambridge 2009" managed #19.

Favourite Track: Won by Spock's Beard's "Jaws of Heaven". Mystery's "Through Different Eyes" was 34th equal. Steve Hackett's "Fire on the Moon" (with Squire) was 43rd equal.

Favourite Art: Won by Unitopia's Artificial. Asia's Omega came 19th equal.

Favourite Concert: Won by Transatlantic at Tilburg. Nothing Yes-related got more than one vote.

Biggest Disappointment: Won by Mike Portnoy's departure from Dream Theater. The Living Tree came 11th equal here, while Anderson not returning to Yes was 16th equal (although that's on a mere 4 votes).

Favourite Newcomer: Won by UK band Haken. Mars Hollow came 7th, and Billy Sherwood is producing their second album. Yoso came 16th equal.

Biggest Happening: Also won by Portnoy's departure from Dream Theater! The announcement of Yes's new album made 16th equal (on 3 votes).

Favourite Guitarist: Won by Steve Hackett for Out of the Tunnel's Mouth. Jeff Beck for Emotion & Commotion (exec. producer: Trevor Horn) was 13th equal. Steve Howe picked up a couple of votes only.

Favourite Keyboardist: Won by Ryo Okumoto for Spock's Beard's X. Downes (for Omega) and R. Wakeman (for The Living Tree) were tied at #17.

Favourite Vocalist: Won by Daniel Gildenlow for Pain of Salvation's Road Salt One. Benoît David (for One Among the Living) was 11th equal. Jon Anderson shared 25th equal (for The Living Tree) with John Wetton (for Omega).

Favourite Drummer: Won by Nick D'Virgilio for Spock's Beard's X. Carl Palmer was 12th equal (for Omega).

Favourite Bassist: Won by Dave Meros for, guess what, Spock's Beard's X. John Wetton was at #9 (for Omega). Tony Levin was 13th equal (for Stick Men's Soup).

So, overall, and perhaps surprising some Yes fans, David and One Among the Living pretty much beating Anderson and The Living Tree! And a reasonable performance by Asia and Hackett's Out of the Tunnel's Mouth.

Plotting out the Yes year

2011-03-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

If you can pull yourself away from the global news from Japan and Libya, the Yes news is coming thick and fast. The new, expanded & remastered ABWH from Gonzo is now available, and the current band are on tour, with the rest of the year beginning to become clear.

[Edit: And the latest Chris Squire interview confirms Downes will be the main keyboardist on Fly from Here.]

Now-4 Apr: Rite of Spring tour continues.

Apr: Finish the new Yes album, Fly from Here: recording appears to have been completed, although final overdubs wouldn't be a surprise and there's then the mixing, mastering etc.

28 Apr-26 May: Asia tour North, South and Central America. This may leave Squire with time to move forward the Squackett release. White is at a charity show on 30 Apr, and there is his mystery project with Tony Levin and possibly David Torn to fit in somewhere.

28-30 May: Two Yes shows, with Asia opening, in Mexico. Recently announced and still something of a puzzle. Will there be further Yes touring around these two shows? Will these shows debut Fly from Here material? What do these shows tell us about the ongoing uncertainty and rumours as to Downes' involvement on the new album and the possibility of his replacing O. Wakeman?

Jun: Unclear... but presumably some promotional activity for the new album.

Jul: Approximate release date for Fly from Here. Trevor Rabin's long-awaited new solo album is also due in the summer, as is an Anderson Wakeman Project 360 tour live release.

Jul/Aug: Yes North American tour with Styx.

Sep/Oct: Unclear, but one report suggested a South American tour by Yes around Sep. There's probably a Japan tour at some point, but whether in this period or later (early 2012?), we don't know. CIRCA: tour Europe. Howe has a solo release planned for Sep. Anderson & Wakeman may be playing Canada, and possibly the US and Europe, around Oct.

Nov/Dec: Yes European tour.

Dec: Asia possibly re-group to start work on their next album.

2012: I'm guessing now, but Asia will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Asia, so another solo album and a new round of touring presumably. Howe has hinted at spending more time on solo projects in 2012. However, continued touring by Yes also seems likely.

It's not clear when the Anderson Wakeman Rabin project might get going. Could be this year, could be 2012.

What a difference a day makes

2011-02-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hosni Mubarak has resigned, and such an event is clearly more important than anything that happens in the world of prog! But you will forgive if this blog focuses on today's other events...

UK have re-formed: John Wetton and Eddie Jobson are joined by Jobson's UKZ mates Alex Machacek on guitar and Marco Minnemann on drums. Two Japanese dates are being advertised, but presumably there will be a fuller tour. In one sense, this is hugely unexpected: we've been waiting thirty years (lol) for a UK reunion. Then again, given we had almost the same band when Wetton joined U-Z for three Polish shows in Poland in 2009 (now captured on Ultimate Zero Tour - Live), and given Jobson's recently guested on Wetton's new solo album, it's hardly surprising at all to hear this news. Still, I'm looking forward to it immensely and hope we get European dates.

Wetton's been recording his solo album with Billy Sherwood in LA. Anyone following Geoff Downes' tweets will have seen he's been in LA too, attending the NAMM show and also guesting on Wetton's album. Of course, Yes have also been recording in LA, produced by Trevor Horn. Surely Downes must have popped by to visit!

Well, yes, he did... and more. It's now emerged that Downes has been recording with Yes for their new album. (Downes is now back in the UK, and Yes are still working on the album.) So, what does this mean? A guest appearance? A reunion of the Drama band on "We Can Fly from Here", already thought to feature Horn on vocals? Or something more?

pianocircus play Skin & Wire

2011-02-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Last night, we saw a one-off show by piano sextet pianocircus (David Appleton, Paul Cassidy, Kate Halsall, Dawn Hardwick, Semra Kurutaç and James T Young) at King's Place, the relatively new arts venue behind King's Cross station. The first half of the show was pieces by Colin Riley, including two taken from Skin & Wire: pianocircus featuring Bill Bruford play the music of Colin Riley. Bruford was in attendance, three seats to my right in fact, but not performing. I'd estimate the total audience at a bit over 100.

The evening opened with "Squiggle Zipper", a jarring, discordant piece from Skin & Wire and, I felt, the weakest performance of the evening. The timbral variation provided by the drums and more on the album version work better for me than the piano/synth-only version here. Visuals throughout the first half were supplied by William Simpson and Simon McCorry, with "Squiggle Zipper" being accompanied by an effective abstract grid flashing blue and white with the music. "Ebb Cast", the second Skin & Wire piece, followed and was much more successful. An evocative mood piece, it went beautifully with Simpson/McCorry's soothing yet bizarre 'tentacled' cows video. This showed cows slowly grazing in the early morning, or perhaps late evening, yet the video was heavily processed. In particular, there were multiple echoes of every movement, so as a cow lifted its head, a succession of superimposed cow heads went through the same action. As the cows ambled past, this gave the impression of a mass of tentacles flowing below.

Ending the first half was the world premiere of Riley's "Double Trio". For this piece, two pianocircus members played grand pianos, each with another member standing and reaching into the piano's innards. The remaining two were mostly on synths. The first movement saw the standing performers drumming away on the piano's bass strings, this percussive element working well against the keyboard play for a dynamic opening. In the second movement, the standing performers instead banged on the struts of the piano soundboards, which gave a change in sound compared to the first movement, but they struggled to achieve sufficient volume. The last movement was slower, with a range of manipulations of the piano strings, holding them to shorten the vibrating length when played, or plucking them directly. The visuals were lightly processed views, generally looking straight down into the piano. An interesting piece overall, visually exciting, but I felt we'd had a weaker second movement.

Part two of the evening saw the ensemble in its more familiar arrangement, six synths-as-pianos in a circle, facing inwards. The programme was drawn from Graham Fitkin's post-minimalist works of 1989-90. These fast, dynamic, interlocking piano pieces are what pianocircus are perhaps best known for. Well-performed, exciting and sometimes almost trance-like; a much enjoyed second set.

What will 2011 bring?

2011-02-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

Yes's calendar for the year is becoming clear. They're currently working on the new album, with a release in the second quarter expected (German magazine Eclipsed is saying April). After finishing the album, there's time off for other projects, including Asia touring in April/May, before Yes repeat their recent pattern of a summer North American tour with another act – Styx is reported to be the partner this year. [3 Feb: YesWorld have just announced some March dates for the US, so looks like Yes are squeezing an extra leg before Asia tour.]

Touring in South America may follow, before already confirmed Europe dates in the winter. Towards the end of the year, Asia may gather for studio sessions further to their next album being released in 2012, the 30th anniversary of the band's debut album.

But the current Yes line-up aren't the only game in town. Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin are working on a band project, which Wakeman says will happen this year, although Anderson recently said it would be this or next year. So, will 2011 be like 1989 all over, with two rival bands in competition? Unlike 1989, we may even have rival albums within months of each other, and rival tours at the same time. Fandom has already been polarised by the schism in Yes and Anderson's and R. Wakeman's continued absence. Will the online arguments heat up, or will the discussions calm down when there's actual output from both sides to compare? Some are already looking to the Anderson Wakeman Rabin project as the rightful Yes, and they stack up well against Squire, White and Howe:

Anderson v. Squire: Squire has been on every album released under the Yes name, but he wasn't on ABWH. Anderson has been on every album save Drama, but as the frontman and the main composer/lyricist, that could be round 1 to AWR.

Wakeman v. White: White has been on many more Yes albums than the in-again-out-again Wakeman, and he's contributed more to the songwriting, yet Wakeman is perhaps the best-known Yes member. Round 2 to AWR as well?

Rabin v. Howe: Rabin's three and a bit albums + "Owner of a Lonely Heart" against Howe's thirteen and a bit albums + "Roundabout"? Round 3 to HSW.

The current Yes do also have another former Yesman on board with Trevor Horn producing + Roger Dean doing the art + control of the name, but then Anderson Wakeman Rabin have yet to finalise the rest of their band. For me, the possible Achilles heel for Anderson Wakeman Rabin is that the three of them were never together in Yes (barring on the Union tour), which curtails the nostalgia factor. Anderson has hinted at a set list focusing on the YesWest period, but how does Wakeman being along fit in with that? (See previous blog post.)

To complicate matters further, Anderson and Wakeman as just a duo are also touring in 2011, while Anderson and Rabin (without Wakeman) appear to have done some film score work together.

And if the current Yes and Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin isn't enough for you, there's already a third 2011 project featuring three Yesmen. This is John Wetton's forthcoming new solo album, Raised in Captivity, produced, co-written and co-performed by Billy Sherwood, with guest appearances by Geoff Downes, Tony Kaye, very brief Yes member Eddie Jobson and others, including Steve Hackett. Expect release in the first half of the year.

Speaking of Hackett, another much anticipated release for 2011 is his album with Chris Squire. Now complete, we await release details, but again first half of the year seems likely. The album is already generating a buzz among those who have heard it.

Billy Sherwood, as ever, remains busy with plenty of other projects. A new CIRCA: album is expected, and he's been progressing with his own next solo album. A duo tour with Tony Kaye of Japan for April has been announced. New US prog band Mars Hollow made something of a splash with their debut album in 2010, produced by Ronan Chris Murphy, and they return in 2011 with a second album produced by Sherwood.

Other potential highlights of the year? We're still waiting for the Trevor Horn/The Producers concept album and for Trevor Rabin's new solo album. Jon Anderson's latest, Survival and Other Stories, is expected to get general release after having been available only on the Anderson Wakeman Project 360 tour in 2010. Rick Wakeman has floated possible projects with Keith Emerson and with Jon Lord, making his a busy year.

And there's still a few more Yesmen team-ups on the cards, with Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn back writing together and intriguing reports of a David Torn/Tony Levin/Alan White project (Alan there stepping into Bill Bruford's shoes).

What are you looking forward to most this year? Leave a comment below!

Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin - what might they play live?

2011-01-29T03:15:00.000-08:00

From the latest Grumpy Old Rick's Ramblings, it looks like the Anderson Wakeman Rabin project is seriously gearing up for activity, both an album and tour. But what is the set list of the live shows going to look like? Presumably a new album will be featured, but what else?

When Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe appeared, what they would play on tour seemed obvious from the start. Here was (most of) the band that gave us Fragile and Close to the Edge, and (apart from the opening solo sections), everything they played came from those two albums or ABWH. Moreover, given Bruford had left before the Close to the Edge tour, there was the added irony of this being the first time he had played "Close to the Edge" and "And You and I" live.

Will an Anderson Wakeman Rabin tour have any iconic moments to compare to ABWH playing "Close to the Edge"? The big difference is that Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin never recorded an album together, and they've only been on stage together on the Union tour. They either have to play YesWest songs - which Wakeman didn't originally perform on, has occasionally been rude about, and has rarely played live - or they play "classic" '70s Yes - Rabin's performances of which were often criticised in the 1980/90s.

Anderson/Wakeman/Rabin is an intriguing combination of Yesmen, a more interesting line-up than the current 'official' Yes for some. They have the potential to surprise us in all kinds of ways, but nostalgia is the driving force behind ticket sales and what kind of nostalgia does a band that never existed before offer?

Union Live is here

2011-01-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

The long-awaited and much-delayed "Union Live" boxset is now out, and I have a copy in front of me now. Much to my surprise, Rob Ayling of Gonzo/Voiceprint kindly sent me a copy. I say much to my surprise because I've frequently been rude about the quality of Voiceprint releases before now!

The Union tour was an iconic one for fans generally (and my first time seeing Yes). The surprise was that a live release did not straight away. However, one did emerge, albeit one only available in Japan, first on LaserDisc (if you remember those) and then on DVD. This was taken from the final North American date (8 Aug 1991) on the Union tour, and the sixth to last date of the whole tour: the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, California. However, the bad news, apart from the release only coming out in Japan, was that this wasn't a full show (only about two thirds of the set) and far from being their best performance.

Nevertheless, the Japanese release was much sought after and Internet ordering thankfully made it reasonably accessible if you knew where to look. I've had a copy for many years and I know many other Yes fans have too. Still, one can understand why there were long plans mooted for a more general re-release of the recording.

Meanwhile, there were two other video recordings going around in trading circles, both full sets of better shows. The 9 May Denver show was professionally shot, rumoured to be at Rabin's behest, although the bootleg version is some way from being pristine recording quality. Then there's a video of the opening tour date (9 April, Pensacola, Florida) shot from the audience.

Gonzo have now re-released the Mountain View material, and if you've got the Japanese release, this is exactly the same. This limited edition 2DVD/2CD boxset has a 1 hour 58 minute DVD with that material, with the two CDs containing the same again in audio-only form. Release details are unclear, but it appears that a single DVD release and a 2CD release will follow at some point.

But it's the second bonus DVD where all the interest lies. Gonzo have included both the Denver and Pensacola shows. I don't know what attempts were made to get master tapes or to clean up the source material, or how the versions here compare with the versions circulating in trading circles. But what we get, as the Gonzo ordering website makes very clear, are very much bootleg-quality. It would be difficult to release these two shows on their own, so Gonzo have sensibly combined the Mountain View show with these two bootlegs as bonuses.

So, what does bootleg-quality mean? Well, both are watchable. Denver (2 hours 43 minutes) is like a second-generation copy of an off-air VHS, if you can imagine that. It was professionally filmed, although the video editing isn't always great – perhaps suggesting not many cameras were involved. The sound is OK: there are occasional glitches, but the main problem is a mix with very little bass. The amateur camera work on the Pensacola show (3 hours) makes it look very different, shaking all the time as it does, yet actually the audio quality is a bit better than for Denver. Both Denver and Pensacola are also 'in the round' compared to the normal stage arrangement of Mountain View.

The bonus DVD also has a selection of audio tracks. There are three Mountain View songs omitted from the video, but here as 5.1 mixes: "And You and I", "Shock to the System" and "Lift Me Up". Then there are also stereo soundboard recordings of "And You and I" and "Shock to the System" (from 29 Jun 1991 London) and the drum duet and "Changes" (from 24 Jul 1991 Burgettstown, US). These are some real gems and make you wonder if all of these shows exist in audio form.

The boxset also includes a reproduction of the tour programme, which is nice but, having been shrunk in size, fairly eye-straining to read. You also get a replica stage pass and stage crew sticker, which sort of rattle around and you'll spend forever worrying you're going to lose them!

The multiple shows mostly had the same set, but there are some differences, as the table below tries to summarise.

Track	Mountain View (video) - DVD 1	Mountain View (audio) - CD tracks, or audio on DVD 2	Pensacola - DVD 2	Denver - DVD 2	additional DVD 2 audio tracks
Intro: Firebird Suite	1	1/1	1	1a
Yours is No Disgrace	2	1/2	2	1b
Rhythm of Love	3	1/3	3	2
City of Love	-	-	4	-
Heart of the Sunrise	4	1/4	5	4
Howe solo (usually Clap/Mood for a Day)	5	1/5	6 ("Leaves of Green"), 7 ("Concerto in D/Clap")	5
Make It Easy/Owner of a Lonely Heart	6	1/6	8	6
And You and I	-	bonus DVD	9	7	29 Jun 1991
Drum Duet	-	-	10	8	24 Jul 1991
Hold On	-	-	11	9
Shock to the System		bonus DVD	12	3	29 Jun 1991
I've Seen All Good People	7	1/7	-	10
Solly's Beard	8	2/1	13	12
Saving My Heart	9	2/2	-	-
Changes	-	-	14	11 (inc. Kaye solo)	24 Jul 1991
Take the Water to the Mountain	-	-	15	-
Soon	-	-	16	-
Long Distance Runaround	-	-	17	13
Whitefish	10a	2/3a	18	14a
Amazing Grace	10b	2/3b	19	14b
Lift Me Up	-	bonus DVD	20	15
Wakeman solo	11	2/4	21	16
Awaken	12	2/5	22	17
Roundabout	13	2/6	23	18
Starship Trooper	-	-	24	-

What was the best-selling Yes-related album of 2010?

2011-01-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

Most albums mentioned on the Where Are They Now? site probably only sell in the thousands and we rarely get to hear any definitive sales figures. I was told Survival & Other Stories sold about 1500 copies on the Anderson Wakeman tour, but that has not yet been available anywhere else. Thus, in the absence of data, it's hard to know which albums have sold better.

However, we can probably say that one of the best-selling of 2010 was Asia's Omega. That's because Omega made various national charts: #29 in Japan and the top 60 in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, plus #13 on the UK indie chart. It also did well on the Amazon (US and Canada) and CD Universe sales charts. So, Omega, the best-selling album by a Yesman... well, it would be were it not for Trevor Horn.

Robbie Williams' In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 includes 3 songs from 2009's Reality Killed the Video Star produced by Horn and two new tracks, one of which, “Shame” with fellow Take That member Gary Barlow, was also produced by Horn and released as a single. "Shame" went #2 in the UK, #1 in Hungary, #4 in Europe, #7 in Italy, #11 in Germany and so on. It was certified Silver in the UK (i.e. 60k). In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 made #1 in the UK, Germany, Austria and Europe; selling 120k copies in the UK in its first week (the second fastest selling album of 2010 in the UK). It also made the top five in Italy, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland, Croatia. It was the 40th best selling album of 2010 in Europe. It has now gone Platinum in the UK (300k), and Gold in Austria (10k), Belgium (15k), Germany (100k), Italy (30k) and Portugal (10k). So, that's at least 465,000 certified sales.

That's the highest sales for a project by any Yesman, but not for any project featuring a Yesman. To explain... "In High Places" was a song by Mike Oldfield with Jon Anderson, and a section of Jon singing has now been sampled by Kanye West for his latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That album made the US #1, selling 496k copies in its first week, and 822.5k in its first five weeks. It made #1 in Canada with first week sales of 29k. It made #16 in the UK, and went Silver. It made #6 in Australia, and went Gold (35k). It also made the top 20 in the Germany, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland and New Zealand. So, that's at least 886,500 sales, 886,500 people hearing Jon sing!

However, if we talk about audience rather than sales, then Trevor Rabin probably wins. He did the music for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The film has grossed $225,363,077 at cinemas and in DVD sales. I don't know exactly what that means in terms of the number of people seeing the film, but perhaps something of the order of 10 million have heard his score.

Poll: what were you most looking forward to in 2010?

2011-01-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

A final catch-up on old poll results... I'd asked you, "2010 sees several projects outside Yes itself involving multiple Yes men: which interests you most?" 66 voted with the following results:

Anderson Wakeman Project: 40 (61%)
Asia: 14 (21)%
Yoso: 5 (8%)
Mystery: 2 (3%)
CIRCA:: 1 (2%)

invalid votes: 4

Seems to me that there's a strong relationship there between the number of classic Yes members involved and interest in the project -- perhaps that's not surprising.

Anyway, did the year live up to your hopes for it?

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the first half of 2010

2010-12-31T15:25:00.000-08:00

And continuing a theme... the best Yes-related album of the first half of 2010, as voted by you.

1. Omega (Asia, w/ Howe, Downes): 55 (45%)
2. One Among the Living (Mystery, w/ David, O. Wakeman): 25 (20%)
3. Oneirology (Billy Sherwood): 11 (9%)
4. Past, Present and Future (Rick Wakeman): 6 (5%)
5= Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree (Rich Goodhart, w/ Anderson): 5 (4%)
5= Homebrew 4 (Steve Howe, w/ Downes): 5 (4%)
5= Emotion & Commotion (Jeff Beck, w/ Horn): 5 (4%)
8. Travelling (Steve Howe Trio): 4 (3%)
9. Palatza Delo Sports, Udine, Italy, March 19, 1974 (King Crimson, w/ Bruford): 2 (2%)
10= Once in a Blue Moon—The Lost Album (Rod Stewart, w/ Horn): 1 (1%)
10= San Diego State Univ, San Diego, CA, June 08, 1984 (King Crimson, w/ Bruford): 1 (1%)
10= Tarrant County Convention Centre, Fort Worth, TX, June 06, 1974 (King Crimson, w/ Bruford): 1 (1%)

There were 123 votes, including 2 invalid votes. There were no votes for two World Cup-related albums with some Horn production work or for Top Musicians Play Queen (w/ Sherwood).

A clear winner for Omega there, and interesting to see the album with the two newcomers, Benoît and Oliver, coming a good second. I think I voted for Travelling myself, although these days I think it's third placed Oneirology that I'd support.

Poll: Best Yes-related album of the second half of 2009

2010-12-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

Another catch-up on an older poll's result... I asked you all what was the best Yes-related album of the second half of 2009.

1= Steve Hackett: Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (w/ Squire)     18
1= Rick Wakeman: The Six Wives Of Henry VIII - Live At Hampton Court Palace [Eagle Rock release]     18
3. King Crimson: Live in Zurich, November 15, 1973 (w/ Bruford)     4
4= The Strawbs: Dancing to the Devil's Beat (w/ O. Wakeman)     3
4= Rick Wakeman: Always with You     3
4= Moraz-Bruford: In Tokyo     3
4= Trevor Rabin: G-Force OST     3
4= Eureka: Shackleton's Voyage (w/ Sherwood)     3
9= pianocircus feat. Bill Bruford play the music of Colin Riley: Skin & Wire     2
9= Jim Ladd's Headsets: Chapter 2: Sides (w/ Sherwood)     2
9= Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs: Under the Covers, Vol. 2 (w/ Howe)     2
11= King Crimson: Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA, June 16, 1973 (w/ Bruford)     1
11= King Crimson: The Town Hall, New York, NY, June 03, 1995 (w/ Bruford)     1

Several Horn productions (for Aviv Geffen, Robbie Williams and Kid Harpoon), several further archival live Crimson releases, Sherwood's An All-Star Salute to Christmas and Jerusalem's Escalator received no votes.

The voting was dominated by two albums and ended in a dead heat. The initial Concert Live release of Rick's Hampton Court show won the poll for the first half of 2009, and the subsequent general release Eagle Rock version ties here. Rick Wakeman's model of how to celebrate the past clearly worked for fans. The other leading album was Steve Hackett's Out of the Tunnel's Mouth, featuring Chris Squire on the opening two tracks -- a good omen for the Squackett album now finished and expected in 2011?

Personally, I think you're all wrong! Skin & Wire, Bruford's final studio recording, stood out for me in its experimentalism and the quality of playing. Not perhaps an easy album at first, but one that rewards repeated listening.

A poll for the best Yes-related album of the second half of 2010 will be on the main site soon. How will key releases like Anderson/Wakeman's The Living Tree, Yoso's debut, Elements, fare?

Poll: Best previously unreleased Yes song to come out in the '00s?

2010-12-29T07:40:00.000-08:00

Catching up on some older poll results... I asked you all what was the best, previously unreleased Yes song to be officially released in the last decade. There were 119 votes, and the results were...

The Big Medley [on The Word is Live]     26
We Can Fly from Here [on The Word is Live]     23
Some are Born [on expanded Tormato]     11
Golden Age [on expanded Drama]     10
Richard [on In a Word]     6
Countryside [on expanded Tormato]     6
It's Over [on expanded 90125]     6
(Have We Really Got to) Go Through This [on expanded Drama and The Word is Live]     5
It's Love [on The Word is Live]     4
Vevey (Revisited) [on expanded Going for the One]     3
Days [on expanded Tormato]     3
Everybody's Song [on expanded Tormato]     3
Children of the Light: Lightning [on Keystudio]     2
You Can be Saved [on expanded Tormato]     2
High [on expanded Tormato]     2
Song No. 4 (Satellite) [on expanded Drama]     2
Picasso [on expanded Tormato]     1
In the Tower [on expanded Drama]     1
Friend of a Friend [on expanded Drama]     1
Hello Chicago [on The Word is Live]     1
invalid vote...     1

"Tango", "Never Done Before" and "Crossfire", all from In a Word, received no votes. Apart from the medley, the most popular individual song was "We Can Fly from Here", so it's interesting that the current band are planning to record a version of this for the new album.

Anderson Wakeman Project 360 at IndigO2, London, 15 Nov 2010

2010-11-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

I'd expected the Anderson Wakeman Project 360 to be pretty similar to their 2006 tour.

It wasn't.

Based on this performance, Anderson's voice has not recovered. I have only the utmost sympathy for what he went through in 2008 and I hope his voice does continue to recover, but right now, it hasn't. I've described before the nasal quality you hear with Anderson's voice on The Living Tree and Survival & Other Stories, and that was present, but more apparent was when Anderson would slip into a throaty rasp. He is still distinctively Jon and his pitch control is fine. His mid-range is reasonable, particularly on the songs he knows well, but he struggles on some of the higher and lower notes. He has no sustain, and erratic volume control, often no volume. In the second of two one-hour sets, they had turned the volume of his microphone way up, which helped but had the effect that you could hear his sibilants hissing. This was the last show of his longest tour since his 2008 health problems, so perhaps he was better earlier in the tour; some reviews suggest so. However, I can't imagine Jon, with this voice, making it through even one Yes show.

Plenty have commented on Anderson's guitar playing. He's pretty poor, and while that sort of works in his one man show, it was often a distraction here. But I expected decent playing from Wakeman and he was dropping notes and demonstrated no fluidity.

This relaxed approach, Wakeman's cheap-sounding synths and Anderson's basic guitar playing, worked some of the time. Songs like "Time and a Word" (an odd mishmash of styles that surprisingly worked, their enthusiasm coming through) or "Wonderous Stories" suited the format, but others, like an abbreviated "Starship Trooper" and a lacklustre "Yours is No Disgrace", did not work at all for me. We got a horrible, dirty mush of electronic keyboard sounds that sucked any potential out of "Turn of the Century" and "Soon", whereas the clear piano setting for Wakeman's synth for "The Meeting" was much better. The performance made me appreciate what a wonderful instrument the grand piano is! On just piano in 2006, Wakeman was able to conjure up the majesty of the great Yes pieces, but on two electronic keyboards here, we got too many cheesy burps and tinkly notes.

The set list seems to reflect Jon's choices with its similarity to his solo sets. Thus, the oddity of so many songs that Wakeman didn't play on originally ("Sweet Dreams", "Time and a Word", "Yours is No Disgrace", "Starship Trooper", "Soon", "Owner of a Lonely Heart"). Anderson "royally screwed up" (his words) "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and they had to re-start it.

The epic feel and dynamics of the classic Yes songs, that the pair surprised me by capturing on their 2006 tour, was largely lost in these karaoke versions. The exception was a great "South Side of the Sky" (barring some poor keyboard sound choices in Wakeman's closing solo) and perhaps parts of "And You and I". Much more than 2006, the absence of the other three Yesmen was very apparent.

The new songs were close to the album versions, and the same praise and criticism applies. "Morning Star" was an up-tempo highlight. Anderson's explanations of his lyrics was interesting, although they sometimes only seemed to emphasise how little work had gone into some of the material, like his description of the random numbers in "23/34/11". (So, if it's 23 days, 24 hours and 11 minutes, isn't that actually 24 days and 11 minutes?) Anderson seems to feel an instant response matters more than working on something.

The humour, the shtick, mostly worked. There was a certain welcoming bonhomie, like a friendly club act. The pair dealt well with an annoying heckler in the first set. Some of the jokes were quite funny, although one was appalling. Jon, on occasion, seemed uncomfortable at the bawdiness, and sometimes just rather lost.

Compare the Steve Howe Trio, another reduced line-up playing plenty of Yes covers. The Trio breathes new life into the music, Howe attacks the music with more vigour than in Yes, new angles emerge. Not like here, not like this night. This was two old men relaxing on a big fluffy cushion of nostalgia. The Anderson Wakeman Project 360 felt like an epilogue, a winding down. The audience cheered and applauded the pair for what they'd done in the past, but there was little in the evening's performance to warrant the reaction they got, or the high ticket price.

There are those who criticise the current Yes, saying that seeing Yes in a reduced state, without Jon, playing to smaller crowds, the slower tempos, is damaging the legacy. I've argued against that view before but find myself more understanding of it as a certain melancholy descended on me in the Anderson Wakeman show. This is a pale imitation of what they once achieved, even compared to 2006: Jon's voice gone, both of them playing poorly, songs stripped of their magnificence. There were highlights, and we had a pleasant evening out, but this was a huge disappointment.

(For those of you awaiting my review of Survival & Other Stories, it will be along soon!)

The Living Tree, by Anderson/Wakeman

2010-10-15T04:18:00.000-07:00

That was Monday night. Tuesday night, I was at a work do, but my friend Simon Barrow brought me back copies of The Living Tree (by Anderson/Wakeman) and Survival and Other Stories (by Jon Anderson and a suite of collaborators). Both are on sale at dates on the Anderson Wakeman Project 360 tour (no, no-one knows why it's called "Project 360"), but general release is not expected for some months.

We've had a few digital singles, a few guest appearances and a lorry load of online samples, but these are the first two full-length albums from Anderson since his acute respiratory failure and other health problems in 2008, and thus also the first since his departure from Yes. The Living Tree has had to carry huge expectations, for many it has had a totemic status, representing everything missing from the current Yes line-up. In comparison, Survival and Other Stories snuck under the radar and was not expected on this tour.

So, first up, The Living Tree. I've only had this album a short time, but some preliminary thoughts follow. Anderson and Wakeman toured as an acoustic duo in 2006 with some new material and began work on an album, but that stalled for some years. Now, a new tour and this eventual album release. The music was recorded over recent months by Wakeman in England, while Anderson recorded his vocals while on the road during his latest solo tour. Until recently, plans for this album included some of those Yes numbers, but the actual release is 9 new songs, a fairly short album in modern terms at under 43 minutes. (Well, some were new in 2006 but not released before now.)

This is a CD where you get what it says on the cover. This is not a Yes album by another name. It is just Anderson on vocals and Wakeman on piano and occasional synths. It's a stripped back format that puts Anderson's voice and Wakeman's piano playing on display, exposed. If you liked their duo performance of "The Meeting" during the 2004 Yes tour, if you liked their 2006 tour, you'll like this.

Highlights for me are the pairing of "Morning Star" and "House of Freedom" at the beginning of the album and "Anyway and Always", one of the 2006 pieces. Although the album all consists of fairly short pieces (most 4-6 minutes long), the likes of "Morning Star" and "House of Freedom" are still structured like a classic prog number, with contrasting moods over the course of each piece. With mostly just vocals and piano, the pair still manage to achieve the dynamism of a larger instrumentation. Yet it's sometimes difficult to escape the feeling that these pieces would benefit from a larger band, or, to be blunt, from being Yes songs. The occasional poor choice of keyboard sounds, like some particularly cheesy ones in "House of Freedom", only strengthens that response.

The only weak song for me is "Forever", a trite love song with an obvious arrangement. But generally, and to my surprise, it is Rick's piano playing and compositions that make this work rather than, and sometimes despite of, Jon's singing and lyrics.

Let's start with the lyrics. Anderson is often accused of being too explicit in his modern lyrics compared to the expressive, if not always comprehensible, convolutions of rearranged livers in the 1970s. The same criticism will re-emerge here. The lyrics are also often very spiritual, appealing if you share Anderson's faith opinions, but possibly off-putting otherwise. One might interpret "Just One Man", the album closer, to be a Christian song about Jesus. It would not sound out of place on a Christian rock album. But any interpretation must be viewed in the context of Anderson's syncretism (cf. "Big Buddha Song" on Survival and Other Stories) and his devotion to religious guru Audrey Kitagawa. [UPDATE: On tour, Anderson has been explaining that "Just One Man" is about Jesus and Muhammad and Buddha.] Anderson thanks Kitagawa in the liner notes here (and on Survival and Other Stories) and the title track appears to be a paean to her.

Having said the lyrics are more obvious, I have to ask what is "23/24/11" about? No idea there. [UPDATE: Also on tour, Anderson has said the song is about about a soldier in Afghanistan who has 23 days, 24 hours and 11 minutes left to the end of his tour.]

The keystone to any project like this is Anderson's voice. This is mostly the Jon we know and love, but his voice often sounds fragile, weak or rough around the edges. My first thought was that this reflects the problems he has had with singing since his acute respiratory failure in 2008. Yet reports from many recent concerts have suggested Anderson is often singing strongly these days. When I listened to Survival and Other Stories, which seems to have been recorded before The Living Tree, the mystery deepened as his voice is much stronger there too. I wonder whether the fragility of Anderson's vocals here does not represent what he is capable of, but is rather to do with what seems to have been a rushed recording process done without using a proper studio?

Listening to The Living Tree and Survival and Other Stories (of which more later), one change to Anderson's vocals that crosses both of them is a more nasal quality. Listen to "House of Freedom", "Anyway and Always", "Forever" or "Just One Man" and it sounds like Anderson has a bit of a cold and a congested nose.

The final track, "Just One Man", has a completely different vocal sound to the rest of The Living Tree. This song alone was not written by Wakeman, but by Jeremy Cubert. It also appears in a different version on Survival and Other Stories, performed by Cubert and others. I wonder whether it is actually the same vocal track on both performances? The comparison between the two versions of the song is interesting, because the larger band on the Survival and Other Stories version, with 'soundscape' by Christophe Lebled, orchestration by Ryan Fraley and viola by Daniel Reinker, works better, I suggest, than Wakeman alone. One is again left with the impression that while the material here is good, it could have been great with more musicians involved.

Likewise, with "House of Freedom", it's a lovely song, a nice composition, well-structured by Wakeman, and Anderson's lyrics work well with the music. Yet the vocals and some of the keyboard sounds mean the piece does not live up to its potential. More musicians, a better production, a bigger production, would these have realised that potential that bubbles under the surface of The Living Tree?

Leaving such hypotheticals aside, this is a good album, one of the best releases we have had from either musician for over a decade. It is the best Wakeman album I have heard in a long time, and I only don't say "the best" about Anderson because of Survival and Other Stories... but that will be covered in the next blog post.

Yoso at the Jazz Cafe, 11 Oct 2010

2010-10-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few days with Yoso and the Anderson Wakeman Project 360 both playing London a day apart. I saw the Yoso show. I'm seeing Anderson Wakeman at the end of their tour, so did not catch the 12 October show, but a friend picked up for me the two new albums on sale at gigs: Jon Anderson's Survival and Other Stories and the Anderson/Wakeman album The Living Tree. More on those later.

Yoso, on the final date of their tour, put on a strong and enjoyable show. My partner and I briefly met the band beforehand and they all seemed in good spirits. We had opted to sit upstairs at the Jazz Café with food, including a very good sage and butternut squash risotto (complete with deep-fried sage leaves - yum), so I had a great view of Tony Kaye in particular and the rest of the band, except for Scott Connor on drums, largely hidden behind a speaker. Also upstairs were Keith Emerson and Asia manager, Martin Darvill, although whether for some particular reason or just a good night out, I could not fathom. Turnout seemed a bit disappointing to me, perhaps somewhere around 120 in total, but the crowd were enthusiastic. [Update: Yoso report they sold out the venue, which would be 350. I wonder whether, what with it being a school night, a number had left before the end.]

Yoso put on a long and packed set. The Yoso material worked well live, often better than on the CD. The live atmosphere suits the material's rousing, anthemic nature. "To Seek the Truth" was the surprise standout, as a piece that had not attracted my attention in studio form. However, the Yoso pieces did not attract the same level of dextrous playing as elsewhere in the set and the highlights for me were (predictably?) the Yes numbers, particularly the medley of early Yes pieces/"Cinema", a showcase for Kaye's playing. Similarly, compared to some straightforward right-hand keyboard solos on the Yoso songs, it was great to hear and see Kaye's playing on the opening of "Changes". An extended "Open Your Eyes" also worked very well, although the new, middle section in "Owner of a Lonely Heart" seemed a bit pointless.

We also got an acoustic solo from Bruhns, a nice Howe-like piece entitled "First Light", and a lengthy rhythm section feature with a good drum solo from Connor followed by Sherwood's bass feature, which had some great moments. Billy's bass playing was strong throughout and he was on good from with his vocals. Connor drummed well. Bruhns coped well with the range of guitar styles covered (Rabin, Howe, Banks, Lukather) and kept the tempo up through numbers which Steve Howe often plays that bit more slowly these days.

Kimball was an exuberant frontman, belting out numbers as if he had to fill a whole auditorium rather than a small room, and handling the occasional technical problem with humour. He also played keys on several numbers, particularly the Toto pieces. However, at times his vocals were the weak element. The lowest spot of the show came with their second number, Toto's "Girl Goodbye", with Kimball off-key and a boring rock sound that did not fit the venue. But the other Toto songs were better, and I spent much of the next day humming "Hold the Line"! That was for me perhaps the other big mistake. "Hold the Line" should have been the encore. Instead, we got "Louisiana Blues", an uninteresting 12-bar blues song that struggled to stay on course despite its simplicity.

In all, a great night. Sadly, we couldn't stay to hang out with everyone afterwards. Now the tour has ended, it's a bit late to recommend you catch a show, but hopefully we will see the band back in action soon.

Set list (as far as I remember it): "Yoso", "Girl Goodbye", "Hold On", "New Revolution", "Yes Medley" (with "Looking Around", "Harold Land", "Every Little Thing", "Survival", "Something's Coming", Yours is No Disgrace", "Starship Trooper", "Cinema"), "Where You'll Stay", "Open Your Eyes", "First Light", "Africa", "Changes", "Walk Away", "Burn Down the Mission" (Kimball solo), "Owner of a Lonely Heart", drum solo, bass feature, "Path to Your Heart", "Rosanna", "To Seek the Truth", "Hold the Line", "Roundabout"; encore: Kimball piano/"Louisana Blues".

Yes vs. The Living Tree

2010-10-10T02:25:00.000-07:00

It's been an exciting week for Yes fans. Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman have begun their joint tour, and their album The Living Tree is expected any day now; multiple tracks can already be previewed online (see here). Meanwhile, Yes have gathered in Los Angeles to record their new album, with Trevor Horn producing.

These two projects, while both hugely anticipated, sit either side of the fault line in Yes fandom. Their first album is a defining moment for the new Yes line-up, while those critical of Howe/Squire/White's decision to move on with David and Wakeman jnr. have The Living Tree as a rallying cry. Comparisons between the two albums are inevitable.

While we await the chance to actually hear both, what struck me is that the two albums are being made in very different ways. Anderson/Wakeman have adopted what one might call a very agile, or (depending on your perspective) a very cheap, approach. There's just the two of them on the album and they weren't ever together in the studio. Rick recorded his parts in England, while Jon... Jon wasn't even in a studio, recording his vocals while on the road touring. Contrast that with Yes's more traditional approach: the whole band together, with a producer, in a fully-equipped studio (see here for details).

Other comparisons spring to mind. The two albums have a very different relationship to the Yes back catalogue. The Living Tree is expected to have a number of re-recordings of old Yes classics. [UPDATE: In the end, those plans were abandoned and the album is all new material.] The new Yes album is expected to have one re-recording of a rather obscure old Yes number ("We Can Fly from Here", played live on the Drama tour but never released as a studio recording by Yes). The new Yes album is expected to have a Roger Dean cover, while The Living Tree has a somewhat Roger Dean-esque cover.

Here's to both albums being available in the shops and a proper comparison of the music being possible!

Why will Yoso make a fraction of the amount CIRCA: did on each CD sold?

2010-06-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

Having been around for over a year, and already on their fourth drummer(!), Yoso's debut album, Elements, is now available for pre-order. Release comes in July, the exact date depending on format and where you live.

It seems the delay has been, in part, because the band sought a different business model than its predecessor (and ongoing sibling) band, CIRCA:. While CIRCA: self-released material, but have had to largely abandoned live work, Yoso are aiming at a bigger market, with a CD released through a regular record company (Frontiers Records, who also have Asia on their books), and a tour planned.

As such, this is an appropriate time to direct you to this entry from the fantastic Information is Beautiful blog. It illustrates how a band might get ~80% of the sale price of a self-released CD, but a mere 3-10% on a standard retail CD. And forget being an artist and making money from Spotify or Last.fm plays!

So why not always self-release? Because a record label and selling through mainstream retailers means you can reach a much bigger market. But you need at least 8 times as many sales to make the same amount of money. Thus, the difficult decision for a band like Yoso.

New Jon Anderson interviews

2010-03-30T03:27:00.000-07:00

There's a couple of new Jon Anderson interviews accompanying his short solo tour. The MusicStreetJournal one has this fantastic quote that may, or may not, explain many a pet cat's behaviour in the garden: "Flowers – we give flowers as a gift – for love, for remembrance, for harmony. And flowers have three components: They smell, like a perfume, they color, and they also make sound. But, you know we’re not cats, so we can’t hear it. But, they do make a sound. And it’s been pretty well proven on many levels…."

What's particularly interesting about that interview and a local US newspaper one is that Anderson's attitude to Yes continuing without him appears to have mellowed from a few months back. Whereas previously he was saying he was fit and ready to re-join the band, now he talks about not being capable of doing the sort of big tours Yes are doing: "Those guys [Howe/Squire/White] like to be on the road, they're like journeymen. I'm not like that. My body would never be able to do what they do. I can't do four or five shows a week, or all this hotel travelling. My body just wouldn't take it." And he appears more accepting of this: "I had to let the past go. I had to just let go of the band. Let go of that energy that I’ve been working with for many, many years. Now I’m working on a new sort of energy".

Anderson also makes a couple of tangential comments about his final period with Yes and writing music: "About four years ago I just put in an ad on my website: "Musicians Wanted" because I wasn't getting much feedback from my close people, which was the band. So I thought, "hey I'll just reach out to people who want to work with me." And then, talking about large-scale pieces: "They're exciting to do, because they are like climbing mountains. And I used to drag the band up the mountain half the time, and sometimes a couple would stay with me all the way. And of late it just became "Well, if you want to do that, Jon, you're going to have to do it by yourself.""

ABW... R?

2010-03-16T11:23:00.001-07:00

Online fan discussion continues to be dominated by Rick Wakeman's announcement of a project with Trevor Rabin and other ex-Yesmen. Wakeman seems to have confirmed Jon Anderson as the third man, as widely predicted. Now, the March 2010 issue of Classic Rock Presents... Prog claims Bill Bruford will come out of retirement as the fourth member of this group.

I like Prog magazine, but my gut feeling is they're wrong. It would be a dramatic volte face for Bruford, who has so firmly retired and who has so often made clear a complete lack of desire to ever re-join Yes. That said, it wouldn't be the most surprising turn of events in the story of Yes...

[18 Mar update: Bruford has now denied his involvement.]

The possibility of ABWR has seen comparisons drawn to the original ABWH, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, the rival Yes line-up formed in 1989. The pull of the historical parallels is so strong that fans seem almost to presume that the bass player will be Tony Levin (or Jeff Berlin) again, that Bruford will play electronic drums again, that there will be a tour of Yes music plus again and an almost inevitable new Union with the current Yes line-up.

Stop! Do not be taken in by these fantasies. ABWH was 21 years ago. 21 years is as long as the time between Yes's first album, Yes, and ABWH! We're in a completely different context now and there's little reason to expect this to unfold in a similar way. I wouldn't be surprised to see Anderson and R. Wakeman back on stage with Howe/Squire/White at some point - the nostalgia will always exert a powerful gravitational pull - but I expect an ABWR, or AWR, in 2011 to be a very different beast to ABWH in 1989. Let's wait for a new story to unfold rather than trying to force it into the shape of an old one.

Henry

First half of 2010

2010-03-05T01:46:00.001-08:00

In January-June 2010...

Musician : gigs played or announced : albums announced

Trevor Horn : 1 gig : 1 album
Jon Anderson: 5 gigs : 0 albums
Rick Wakeman: 11 gigs: 1 album (but it is 3 CDs)
Steve Howe: 67 gigs : 2 albums

Steve Howe is playing more than one gig every 3 days in the first half of this year!

Is May a possible date for recording a new Yes album?

2010-03-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

I see Alan White is doing the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp in London at the end of May. Nothing odd about that, you might imagine, what with Alan having done multiple previous Camps in the States.

But London is a bit further to travel than previous Camps. Might Alan be over in the UK for anything else around that time? Chris Squire is based in London now, and Steve Howe and Oliver Wakeman are both in the south of England. It would make sense to record a new Yes album in the UK. Squire has talked of recording in March-May. They'll need to work around Howe's touring plans (with his Trio in March and with Asia in April/May), but could plans be firming up? Could Alan be doubling up a stay in the UK to do both the camp and record with Yes?

Yesmen together outside Yes

2010-02-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Apparently, on last Saturday’s Rick’s Place (Rick Wakeman’s radio show on Planet Rock), Rick announced that he is working on an album with Trevor Rabin and two, as yet unnamed, other ex-Yesmen. Cue furious speculation at Yesfans.com about what this might be and the identity of the two others. Billy Sherwood posted a non-committal message that would seem to imply he wasn’t involved. If I had to guess, I’d say the other two will be Jon Anderson and Tony Levin (whether you consider him an ex-Yesman or not), but we know so little, it could be almost anyone.

Perhaps more important than who the other two Yesmen might be is the question of what this project is going to be. Is this basically a solo album with guest appearances, or is this a full-blown collaboration? What many want is a rival Yes, a second ABWH. Given Rabin and Wakeman both seem averse to large-scale touring and given both appear to remain committed to their many other works, I get the impression that we’re not looking at the genesis of a rival Yes band.

So, presuming reports are accurate and this project comes to fruition, what might four Yesmen working together sound like? The Yesmen have often worked with each other outside the band: e.g. Asia, The Buggles, CIRCA:, Moraz/Bruford, White, Turbulence, 1984 and so on. Three Yesmen working together is less common, but there are still a fair few examples: Ramshackled, Fish Out of Water, Adventures in Modern Recording, Conspiracy, In the U.K., Criminal Record, All to Bring You Morning, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, Esquire, Jabberwocky and more.

But four or more Yesmen on an album, we’re down to a fairly short list. I can think of 13.

1. ABWH (1989) – of course! I almost didn’t include it here as I just think of it as a Yes album
2. The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Rick Wakeman, 1973) – Wakeman, Squire, Howe and Bruford together on “Catherine of Aragon” plus White on other tracks
3. Beginnings (Steve Howe, 1975) – Howe, White and Moraz together on three tracks, plus Bruford on others
4. The Steve Howe Album (Steve Howe, 1979) – Howe, Bruford and Moraz on “All’s a Chord” plus White on other tracks
5. The Classical Connection II (Rick Wakeman, 1992) – includes a Six Wives era recording called “Farandol” with Squire, Howe and Bruford
6. Tales from Yesterday (various artists, 1995) – Howe, Sherwood, Banks and Moraz appear, but all on separate tracks
7. Pigs & Pyramids—An All Star Lineup Performing the Songs of Pink Floyd (various artists co-organised by Sherwood, 2002) – Sherwood, Squire and White together on “Comfortably Numb” plus Kaye and Levin on other tracks
8. Back Against the Wall (various artists organised by Sherwood, 2005) – recycles “Comfortably Numb” and Kaye’s track from Pigs & Pyramids, plus new appearances from Sherwood, Levin, White, Wakeman, Howe and Downes, but mostly apart (“Hey You” unites Sherwood, Downes and White)
9. Return to the Dark Side of the Moon: A Tribute to Pink Floyd (various artists organised by Sherwood, 2006) –Kaye, White, Wakeman, Howe, Bruford, Banks, Downes and Levin all guest but often separately: “Speak to Me” unites Kaye and White with Sherwood producing; “The Great Gig in the Sky” unites Sherwood, Howe and Wakeman; “Money” unites Sherwood, Bruford and Levin (seemingly recorded entirely separately); “Eclipse” unites Kaye and Banks with Sherwood producing
10. CIRCA: 2007 (2007) – Sherwood, Kaye, White and writing contributions from Rabin
11. From Here to Infinity (Jim Ladd’s Headsets, 2007) – includes a cover of “Starship Trooper” organised by Sherwood with him, Kaye, Wakeman, White and Howe all performing
12. Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute to Led Zeppelin (various artists co-organised by Sherwood, 2008) – Sherwood, White and Kaye are all on “All of My Love”, with Wakeman and Downes appearing on other tracks
13. Abbey Road: A Tribute to The Beatles (various artists co-organised by Sherwood, 2009) – with Sherwood/White/Kaye on “Get Back” and Sherwood/White/Downes on “Let It Be”

Most of these don’t actually have the four Yesmen playing together and there’s no guarantee that this new Wakeman/Rabin project won’t be the same, with just scattered guest appearances. When do we actually get four Yesmen together on the same track? Apart from ABWH, there’s “Catherine of Aragon”, “Farandol”, “Lost Symphony”, “Beginnings”, “Will o’ the Wisp”, “All’s a Chord” and “Starship Trooper” (2007 cover), plus CIRCA:’s “Don’t Let Go” and “Look Inside” if including Rabin’s writing contribution.

I like all those albums (some more than others) as I like most of the albums with three Yesmen, but there’s clearly a huge variation between them. With some, additional Yesmen make guest appearances that amount to little more than curios. Others are good, but just completely different from Yes. And then sometimes, there is something of the Yes magic and an almost-Yes piece emerges. That list of 9 individual pieces with 4+ Yesmen would make a pretty good lost Yes album.

In terms of who’s most collaborative, across the 13 albums listed, White is on 10 (confirming his reputation as being easy to work with), Howe 9, Sherwood 8, Wakeman & Kaye 7 each, Bruford 6, Squire & Downes 4 each, Moraz & Levin 3 each, Banks 2, and Anderson & Rabin 1 each.

2010: A preview

2010-02-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

Yes have just begun their February tour leg and we're into the second month of 2010. So what will the year bring?

Plans for the first half of the year are becoming clearer. Chris Squire has finished recording for his collaboration with Steve Hackett, with Hackett expected to complete work on the album this month. Steve Howe, likewise, appears to have finished recording for the new Asia album, Omega, with Wetton and Downes completing work on it also this month for a release in April. No release date has been given for 'Squackett' but around April seems plausible.

Yes, as I said, are back on tour, and that takes up most of February. There has been much fan angst about when they might record their promised new album. Howe is busy most of March touring with his Trio (and we can make a guess that an expected live release will come out around the same time) and then he's back touring with Asia April-May and July-August. We know Asia are taking time off from September (with Wetton talking of doing a solo album then), so the fear was any significant progress on a Yes album would be delayed until then. However, in a couple of recent interviews, Squire has said that they have been individually working on ideas after his, Howe and O. Wakeman's preliminary meeting in October 2009, and that they will start serious work, seemingly studio work, in March, straight after February touring. In one interview, he talked of taking "a good shot at it" in March/April/May and a possible release before the end of the year.

This clearly clashes with some of Howe's touring commitments. That said, Howe does not need to be present at every day of recording. There's not much of March free, but his announced Asia commitments are not until near the end of April. Depending on what further Asia touring is announced, he may also have more than a month between Japanese and North American dates. That could mean an album is finished before summer gets going, leaving the latter half of the year for Yes to tour in support. On the other hand, it is perhaps wise not to be too optimistic about progress: Howe has previously described Squire as speaking too early on plans.

If Yes are busy through the first half of the year, that ties up White, David and O. Wakeman too. If there are breaks in activity... well, David has talked of a new Mystery album, while O. Wakeman has a backlog of solo projects and other collaborations. There have been hints of some kind of re-launch for the White band, who have been mostly inactive since their 2006 debut.

Away from the current band members, Rick Wakeman has announced some solo dates for the year. He's had two recent new release (Always with You and the 3CD Past, Present and Future), but live work remains focused on nostalgia and he continues to try to organise big extravaganzas like last year's The Six Wives of Henry VIII at Hampton Court.

Yoso, albeit not with that name, was to have begun at the beginning of 2009 with the planned Bobby Kimball/CIRCA: tour of Italy, cancelled at the last minute. The band gestated through most of 2009, but an album is now recorded and expected early this year, and three lives dates were played with the obligatory DVD also expected early this year. Sherwood is optimistic about substantial touring, a breakthrough CIRCA: never managed.

Some indications of the long-awaited new Trevor Rabin solo album emerged last year. Will it finally come to fruition in 2010? Can we detect a slight slowing down in his film score work, which would fit with solo album activity?

2010 will be the first year without a new Bill Bruford release and the second year of his retirement. Futher lectures have already been announced, as have further re-releases.

The biggest question mark over what 2010 might bring is around Jon Anderson. Talk last year of a possible reconciliation with Yes did not last long, but it remains a possibility. Rick Wakeman has talked of doing a US tour of his duo show with Anderson and an album release, which has been on hold since 2006.

Following a band closely, one comes to a conclusion that musical talent is not enough. Any act or solo artist needs more than talent, more than the music, to be able to reach a substantial audience. For example, while I think Peter Banks retains the talent, I am not expecting him to do much in 2010 given these last few years he has struggled to find a context in which he is able to play to an audience, live or on record.

Is Jon Anderson in a similar position? Multiple collaborations keep popping up on MySpace and the occasional new solo piece appears as a digital single or bonus track, but the major statement album that fans want, like the long-awaited Zamran sequel to Olias..., remains elusive. Other projects get mentioned and never appear; for example, the Dream Dancing collaboration with Fritz Heede was expected on Voiceprint in 2009 but appears caught in limbo, as do further volumes in The Lost Tapes series.

The music business is in a poor state at present, with sales dropping year on year and still few effective models for the digital age. The music business also remains largely hostile to prog. Are those conditions and, of course, Anderson's own health problems holding him back? On the other hand, occasional grumbles from his numerous online collaborators suggest perhaps the lack of releases has more to do with Anderson's temperament.

What Anderson has released of late has been pretty poor to my ears. "Music is God" and "Never Ever", both available on iTunes, are some of his worst work for me. Yet some recent collaborations appearing on Facebook and elsewhere sound much stronger, and the flurry of activity around these perhaps suggests that 2010 will finally see some major projects appear.

Henry

Constructing a lost Yes album of the '00s

2010-02-01T09:12:00.001-08:00

We were having a discussion on Yesfans.com about whether one might construct a lost Yes album of the last decade by considering the best solo and other band work by the Yesmen. So, here's a suggestion, all available to buy digitally on Amazon.com for a total of $8.71. Most of these pieces were never intended for Yes, it isn't a "lost album" in that sense, it's just a bit of fun of what perhaps might have been.

1. Where Do We Go from Here? (4:21) [from Dream and Variations by Don Harper's Oceana Orchestra; featuring Trevor Rabin] http://tinyurl.com/yaozus2
2. Wish I'd Known All Along (4:05) [from Phoenix by Asia; written by Howe] http://tinyurl.com/y923u7t
3. Buddha Song (6:09) [from Live from La La Land by Jon Anderson; once intended to be recorded by Yes on The Ultimate Yes] http://tinyurl.com/yzy7sm4
4. City of Dreams (9:38) [from Syndestructible by The Syn; co-written by Squire] http://tinyurl.com/ygmvmf6
5. Ghost in the Mirror (4:37) [from Silent Nation by Asia; co-written by Geoff Downes/John Payne/Billy Sherwood] http://tinyurl.com/yf96t6f
6. Beyond the Void (9:06) [from Retro 2 by Rick Wakeman] http://tinyurl.com/yghnebv
7. The Golden Mean (2:50) [from Motif Vol 1 by Steve Howe] http://tinyurl.com/ykefgno
8. Lonesome Trail (6:38) [from Conspiracy by Chris Squire & Billy Sherwood] http://tinyurl.com/ye98ht3
9. Starship Trooper (8:36) [from Rock Infinity, a re-named version of the abortive Jim Ladd's Headsets album From Here to Infinity made before Chapter 1: Alone Out Here; this track is credited to Mickey Thomas, but also features Billy Sherwood, Steve Howe, Alan White, Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye] http://tinyurl.com/ygbymm8

I think the song titles nicely suggest a theme of yearning, which is how Yes fans often felt in the decade...

And here's a UK version using Amazon.co.uk (total £6.51), with one substitution given different availabilities in the two countries:

1. Where Do We Go from Here? (4:21) [from Dream and Variations by Don Harper's Oceana Orchestra; featuring Trevor Rabin] http://tinyurl.com/ylzxvhp
2. Wish I'd Known All Along (4:05) [from Phoenix by Asia; written by Howe] http://tinyurl.com/ygh2jyp
3. Buddha Song (6:09) [from Live from La La Land by Jon Anderson; once intended to be recorded by Yes on The Ultimate Yes] http://tinyurl.com/yl6jf9a
4. 1/2 a World Away (5:47) [from The Unknown by Conspiracy] http://tinyurl.com/yfrkvf4
5. Ghost in the Mirror (4:37) [from Silent Nation by Asia; co-written by Geoff Downes/John Payne/Billy Sherwood] http://tinyurl.com/ylz6e2j
6. Beyond the Void (9:06) [from Retro 2 by Rick Wakeman] http://tinyurl.com/yj3hjsq
7. The Golden Mean (2:50) [from Motif Vol 1 by Steve Howe] http://tinyurl.com/yzmyqnm
8. Lonesome Trail (6:38) [from Conspiracy by Chris Squire & Billy Sherwood] http://tinyurl.com/ykary2k
9. Starship Trooper (8:36) [from Rock Infinity, by Mickey Thomas with Billy Sherwood, Steve Howe, Alan White, Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye] http://tinyurl.com/yln3gzv

Henry

Poll: Best new Yes song of the '00s

2010-02-01T03:50:00.000-08:00

I asked you to vote on the best new Yes song of last decade and, after 150 votes, the results were very clear:

In the Presence of: 67 votes (45%)
Magnification: 22 votes (15%)
Give Love Each Day: 21 votes (14%)
Dreamtime: 15 votes (10%)
We Agree: 7 votes (5%)
Can You Imagine: 6 votes (4%)
Time is Time: 4 votes (3%)
Aliens are Only Us from the Future: 3 votes (2%)
Show Me: 3 votes (2%)
Spirit of Survival: 1 vote (1%)
Other answer (Homeworld, which was from the previous decade): 1 vote (1%)

So, with a band setting out to write a new album without Jon Anderson, it is perhaps reassuring that by far the most popular piece of the last decade originated from Alan White. On the other hand, in the next two places are "Magnification" and "Give Love Each Day", both of which seem to have been from Anderson originally. Only two Magnification tracks got no votes at all (Howe's "Soft as a Dove"; and the shot at airplay, "Don't Go").

As remarked previously, the tragedy of the noughties is that there was just the one new Yes album. However, a smattering of further '00s Yes songs did emerge. Not that these were very popular! "Show Me" (on the US version of The Ultimate Yes) and the 2008 live piece "Aliens are Only Us from the Future" (now destined for the Squackett project) got 3 votes apiece, and I suspect some of those for "Aliens…" were joke responses judging by the online reaction to the song.

While the '00s didn't bring much in the way of new Yes material, the archives were flung open by a series of released on Rhino: In a Word: Yes, The Word is Live and the expanded and remastered re-releases. I count about 23 Yes pieces that were not previously officially available that came out last decade, and several of these hadn't even been bootlegged before. So, that's our next poll: which was your favourite?

Poll results: Desire for a new album

2010-01-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

2010 holds the promise of a new Yes album, but the exact timetable the band have in mind remains unclear. It's been eight and a quarter years since the last new album, Magnification. The longest gap between Yes albums before was half that (between 90125 and Big Generator). So the most recent Where Are They Now? poll asked when people wanted a new album.

The results were clear: 188 out of 273 (69%) said the sooner, the better. Another 13 (5%) said the first half of 2010, while 5 (2%) said the second half of 2010. No-one picked the option after 2010.

So, that's three quarters of respondents supporting an album this year, and sooner rather than later. The main alternate view was the 39 (14%) who supported the option 'Never: they should get back Jon Anderson or disband'. That compares to the quarter of respondents in the last poll who felt this line-up shouldn't be called Yes at all.

24 (9%) went with 'Whenever they feel they're ready'. 3 voters said 'Never: they should just keep touring', and there was 1 'other' response.

The replacement poll is the first in a series looking back at the last decade. We begin asking what was your favourite new Yes piece of the decade. That there's only 15 songs to choose from probably explains the above feelings!

Poll results: Is this Yes?

2010-01-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! The last few months of last year saw some strong condemnation from Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman towards the current line-up of Yes that has continued without them. I ran a poll on the site to see what you, dear readers, made of the competing claims.

Option 1 was Chris Squire's now well-known quote that "This is Yes". Option 3 was a quote from Rick in which he claims Jon "does not think it is Yes unless Rick Wakeman and himself are in that band". So that leaves an option 2 for any other views, the obvious one being that you need Anderson but not R. Wakeman.

The results... "This is Yes" got 199 votes (74%); other (e.g. Jon essential, but Rick isn't) got 38 votes (14%); Jon and Rick essential got 27 votes (10%). 3 votes put their support of the current line-up as Yes as being dependent on new material, and 1 vote was ambiguous.

So, at least those Yes fans who come to Where Are They Now? are mostly accepting that this is indeed Yes. I don't presume those votes to mean they're all happy with what has come to pass, but they're not questioning the basic use of the name. On the other hand, a significant minority remain opposed. To lose a quarter of your fan base is a difficult position for a band as they embark on a new year...

Give us the old songs...?

2009-12-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

Online fan discourse can be critical of the classic prog bands touring their old material. New music is seen as an essential for a band to stay relevant. Yet crowd response at gigs is nearly always biggest for the old songs, so are fans out of touch with most of the paying audience?

Consider this recent review of a Fleetwood Mac show: "How heartwarming it is when a band of a certain vintage recognises that another new album would be about as welcome as rheumatism and heads out to play everyone’s favourite songs with no ulterior motive."

Gong @ Kentish Town Forum, Friday 27 November 2009

2009-12-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Gong have played scattered shows since most of the classic line-up re-united in 2006, but they have stpped up activity this year with a new album, 2032, the first to bring together Daevid Allen and Steve Hillage since 1974's You, and then a supporting tour.

I saw the band last year at the South Bank Centre and tonight's show was much the same. Everyone impressed me: the rhythm section of Mike Howlett on bass and Chris Taylor on drums was powerful and drove the music on. Allen was the same as ever, and in good voice. Gilli Smyth has slowed down a fair amount, as she glid across the stage, but her vocals are undiminished. Miquette Giraudy was clearly having lots of fun, dancing around, air-guitaring behind Hillage. They were having fun, and we were having fun in the audience. And I've not mentioned Theo Travis yet: another strong performance, covering Didier Malherbe's parts well as needed, more than capable of being the lead instrumentalist in places.

The big difference on last year was the inclusion of new material in the set. I quite like 2032 as a CD, and I thought the 2032 material worked very well in context. It was a thoughtfully constructed set, with plenty of classics later in the set, and a nice wind-down encore.

The Steve Hillage Band, i.e. 4/7s of Gong, opened with some classic Hillage solo tunes. I first saw Hillage and Giraudy live as System 7 at Glastonbury Festival, some time in the 1990s. To be honest, I preferred that set to this one. It was certainly well played tonight (and Howlett/Taylor impressed again) but I'm just not as much of a fan of early solo Hillage.

The main downside of the evening was the Kentish Town Forum. It's architecture and lack of seating downstairs tends to produce a very crowded area in front of the stage, and a terrible view further back. Maybe I wouldn't have minded that 10 years ago, but I'm getting old. I wanted a nice relaxing seat!

Age affects bands as well as audiences, and Gong make for an interesting comparison with Yes here. Yes fans regularly lament their band's age, with Howe, Squire and White all in their early 60s, yet Gong are performing with Smyth age 76 and Allen, 71. OK, the other band members are all under 60 (Hillage and Howlett are late 50s), but Gong show that prog rockers can perform into their eighth decade. Meanwhile, while some of the band members are older than Yes, many of the audience members are much younger than for Yes. While the Gong crowd had their share of middle-aged, there were youngsters too, far more than I saw at the recent Yes show. There's something about the Gong cult appeal that seems to keep bringing a steady trickle of new fans.

Yes @ The Hammersmith Apollo, Tuesday 17 November 2009

2009-11-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

It's been about 5 years since I last saw Yes... and this was my girlfriend's first Yes show. I've seen Steve Howe numerous times of late, with Asia and his Trio. I've seen Squire with The Syn. I've seen Jon Anderson solo and a show with Rick Wakeman. I've even seen Trevor Horn's band The Producers playing “Owner of a Lonely Heart”. But not Yes and not the controversial new line-up.

I've read hundreds of reviews of shows by the new band, hundreds of screens of online discussion about whether they should be called Yes, whether they should have taken this route, who's to blame for this or that… I've listened to a few boots too, but this was my first opportunity to actually judge for myself.

The last time I saw Yes, sort of, was a line-up with Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Trevor Rabin and Geoff Downes at the Produced by Trevor Horn event. I very much enjoyed the performance, but what I was seeing did not feel like a real band. It came across as it was, a line-up assembled for a charity performance. This new line-up, with Benoît David and Oliver Wakeman, they felt like a real, viable band. I don't know quite how to describe it, but whatever the (many, many) arguments online, they convinced me that they are Yes. And they gave us a performance that is comparable to the Yes shows I've seen in the past (my first live Yes experience having been the Union tour).

Not only did they feel like a real band, but they looked happy. Like Howe on recent Asia and Trio shows, like Squire in The Syn at their 2005 London show, and unlike the 2004 Yes shows with Jon and Rick, the band at Hammersmith looked pleased to be there and to be there with each other.

I can, in theory, worry about the lack of new material (there was nothing played that was written since my girlfriend was born), or that for most of the set only two of them had played on the original recordings (for only three songs was the majority of the recording band now on stage), but we enjoyed a great night with great music. And the audience cheers were biggest for the much-played oldies.

On boots, David sometimes sounded quite like Anderson to me, yet oddly live he didn't sound at all like him. He was hitting the notes, but with a distinctive voice. And I just do not get the critiques that he looks or acts like Anderson on stage. His stage moves could be a little hokey at times, but they were all his own. That distinctive voice, there's a certain Quebecois squeaky quality that comes out on occasion, but he sang well and he shined on “Heart of the Sunrise”. My girlfriend argued he was closer to early '70s Jon Anderson than Jon Anderson is now.

The other new boy – if I call someone in his late 30s that! – was Oliver Wakeman. He impressed me, particularly after several negative reviews. Ignore the complaints you've heard about his stage presence. Oliver is not an ostentatious player, but he was mostly a good player, more so perhaps on material not originally played by his father. He brought Downes' parts on the Drama tracks to life, he was great with Kaye's part on “Astral Traveler”. And he's got better sounds than Rick. I'd reserve some criticisms: I felt he didn't get Kaye's feel on “Yours is No Disgrace” and the girlfriend complained he made mistakes on “South Side of the Sky”.

Again, ignore the negative reviews about Alan White. Maybe the band took several dates to get into their stride on this tour, but White's playing was fine in Hammersmith. Where you should listen to the reviews is with Steve Howe. Like they all say, he is on fire: passionate, inspired playing throughout. He is even enjoying “Owner of a Lonely Heart”; at the previous show in Birmingham, he described 90125 as “a great album”!

That leaves Chris Squire, who was... well, Chris Squire. He plays so many complex bass parts effortlessly, even the likes of “Machine Messiah”, a piece he's complained was difficult to re-learn. His singing was to the fore. That said, the biggest thing that would have improved the whole evening would have been a ban on alcohol! There was a bit of stumbling and slurring from Chris that I'm guessing was connected to whatever was in his cup. And no booze would have made for a better viewing experience without half the audience constantly getting up and down to buy more beer, or to piss away the previous batch!

Overall, this was comparable to other Yes shows I've seen. A friend at the show said this was the best he'd seen them play in 10 years. I wouldn't say that: I'm going to stick with Masterworks (2000) as my favourite tour. But I've seen weaker Yes shows than this. My occasional flatmate and I were sitting in almost the same spot in the Hammersmith Apollo on the Open Your Eyes tour (March 1998), and this was the better show. That might just be down to the mix, which was mostly good this tour, although I'd echo the common complaint that David and O. Wakeman could be a bit higher.

To be honest, yes, I would prefer Anderson's vocals. However, despite some comments Anderson has made in interviews, I just do not believe he is fit enough to sing at that volume, for that long, on this sort of tour schedule. Maybe some compromise arrangement would have been possible if the parties were getting on better, but the reality still appears to me that a tour like this just is not possible without a replacement singer. To be honest, I would prefer Igor Khoroshev's keys, but Oliver impressed me more than I expected. This is Yes; this show convinced me.

(But I can't see how they could lose Howe or Squire and keep going.)

Yes @ The Hammersmith Apollo, Tuesday 17 November 2009: Part 2

2009-11-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

The show song by song:

Siberian Khatru: As always, and this is a perennial complaint, the band took a song or two to get going. The mix was still improving through “Siberian Khatru” with David far too quiet. The performance was so-so.

I've Seen All Good People: It feels like an odd position to be playing “I've Seen All Good People”, second on the set. “All Good People” works well as a closer or an encore, but as a way of introducing the band? And I still wasn't quite convinced by the new line-up at this point, worried my girlfriend would not enjoy her first Yes experience.

Tempus Fugit: here was the first “new” song, “new” only in the sense of not being a regular in the set and new to me, I've never heard it live before. By now, things had come together. The band were in good spirits and they played tightly.

Onward: “Onward” feels odd in this context; its balladry makes it quite unlike the other songs in the set. The Drama songs fit in very well with the Fragile material; even “Owner of a Lonely Heart” is not as different. Still, it was a good performance; Howe most of all.

Astral Traveller: A great performance, Howe and Wakeman both shone. However, the drum solo did nothing for me; it just seems pointless!

And You and I: The band were well in their stride by now: another strong performance.

Yours is No Disgrace: As ever, a good excuse for Howe to go crazy!

Steve Howe solo: A fantastic performance of “Corkscrew” began Howe's solo slot. I think of the piece as “Countryside” (released as a bonus track on Tormato) and Howe's performance made me wish for a full band version of this song. Next was “Sketches in the Sun”, another lovely performance.

Owner of a Lonely Heart: Howe introduced this tune explaining the band had done it “while I was away doing something else”. With his Trio and the cover versions in Asia's set, Howe is becoming a keen interpreter of other people's material, and he does it well, with gusto. Howe was having fun at being an 1980s guitar god with some great solos.

Machine Messiah: Another highlight, even if they had to extend the intro when Squire was late to come in.

South Side of the Sky: Those great songs, they just keep on coming. Oliver Wakeman was good on the piano section. However, as in the early '00s, I'm not convinced by the trading solos at the end and here Wakeman's work was disappointing.

Heart of the Sunrise: The opening remains effectively a Squire solo spot. Overall, another highlight.

Roundabout: A good performance, but forgive me if I find it too familiar.

Starship Trooper: A good closer and a rousing finale.

The show, as with most on this leg, is available to buy on MP3. I got it at the venue straight afterwards (with the last few songs available for download afterwards). It's a nice souvenir, if no Yessongs. Like the show, it suffers from an uneven mix at the beginning (Squire's vocals are almost louder than David's on “Tempus Fugit”), but it's good to have some of these performances preserved, like Howe's take on “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and “Astral Traveller”.

Poll results: What albums are you looking forward to?

2009-10-25T02:23:00.000-07:00

Our most recent poll asked which album you are most looking forward to, from a list of forthcoming releases expected soon. I left the poll up for a while and it's amassed the most votes of any of the polls to date (239 votes).

After about 70 votes, Steve Hackett's new album (on which Squire guests) was ahead, followed by Wakeman's Henry VIII - Live (which has now actually been released) and Yoso. The Steve Howe vote was split three ways, but the votes added up to be comparable to these other releases. However, by the time of the final tally, there had been a substantial surge for these Howe albums.

Final results:
1. Steve Howe Trio live album: 59 (25%)
2. Steve Hackett: Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (w/ Squire): 46 (19%)
3. Steve Howe: Motif, Vol. 2: 42 (18%)
4. Steve Howe: Homebrew 4: 38 (16%)
5. Yoso: Yoso (w/ Kaye, Sherwood): 23 (10%)
6. Rick Wakeman: The Six Wives Of Henry VIII - Live At Hampton Court Palace [Eagle Rock release]: 19 (8%)
7. iCon: Urban Psalm (w/ Downes): 5 (2%)
8. Robbie Williams: Reality Killed the Video Star (w/ Horn): 3 (1%)
9. Billy Sherwood: Xmas songs tribute album (w/ Downes): 2 (1%)
10. Other answer: 2 (1%)
11. Kid Harpoon: Once (w/ Horn): 0 (0%)

So, that's a whopping 59% for Howe!

Note that this was the second release for Henry VIII - Live after the Concert Live edition earlier this year, which itself won the best release of the first half of 2009 poll. That prior release may have suppressed its performance here.

Guest appearance poll

2009-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Interest on the Where Are They Now website and discussion online is, unsurprisingly, on the band mostly, and then on solo albums. But I also cover guest appearances by band members and I wondered how much interest you, my readers, had in them. So the previous poll asked, "Think about your favourite Yes member. Were he to be making a guest appearance on an album, would you...?" There were 72 votes.

Definitely buy it: 13 votes
Probably buy it: 12 votes
Be interested, but it would depend on how much of an appearance he made: 17 votes
Be interested, but it would depend on other factors, like what I thought of the act, what reviews said etc.: 21 votes
Would take a look at a news item, but probably wouldn't make any difference: 4 votes
Not interested at all: 2 votes
Other: 3 votes

So, that's 92% who would at least consider getting such an album. OK then, coverage will continue.

Money

2009-09-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back from an enjoyable holiday in Italy, doing romantic things like sitting in a boat going around Venice... trying to read a newspaper over someone's shoulder after my partner has pointed out an article about Yes's upcoming Italian shows... (Not knowing Italian, I couldn't decipher much, but they got Benoît David's name the wrong way around!)

Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was the latest Rick Wakeman Communication Centre newsletter. It makes for interesting reading, including some damning criticism of the current Yes line-up. Wakeman also talks about plans for future live spectaculars after 6 Wives at Hampton Court, and it's here he says some revealing things about money.

To some extent, the commercial success of music is irrelevant to the listener. If I enjoy a piece of music, I enjoy a piece of music, regardless of whether only 10 or 10 million others share my view. Some of my favourite albums have sold in tiny numbers (e.g. Biota's Object Holder or Andrew Booker's Ahead) and I've seen great live music with single-figure audiences. However, generally speaking, some degree of commercial success is needed to fund musical projects. If too few people are buying, projects simply don't happen, and many interesting ideas have foundered through lack of investment (e.g. the proposed Steve Howe/Annie Haslam album and the proposed Rick Wakeman/Keith Emerson live shows).

And this isn't just about the musicians making a decent wage. Musical acts need a throughput of money, where the income from the last covers the up-front costs of the next. Or, as Wakeman explains in his case:

"Negotiations are quite far advanced as to putting on Journey to the Centre of the Earth and possibly Return to the Centre of the Earth as well at the O2 next May [2010].

"To be brutally honest, a lot will depend on how well the DVD and CD of Hampton Court does as income from this would have to go straight into the production of the potential O2 show and also would hopefully help to attract investors and sponsors"

It's this cycle of money, one project paying for the next, that is often forgotten by fans.

PS: Watched 5 minutes of music television in Italy, and saw two videos for songs produced by Trevor Horn (from forthcoming albums by Robbie Williams and Kid Harpoon). He's one Yes alumnus with few money worries, I'd guess.

Virgil & models

2009-09-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

So Virgil Howe, Steve's son, the one who did Yes Remixes, he's married to Jen Dawson, a model who's worked for lingerie company Agent Provocateur. And last year, he made an album with Mareva Galenter, former Miss Tahiti and Miss France. How does he do it? (You may want SafeSearch "on" before doing a Google image search on either of those names. Or you may not!)

By the way, I'm away on holiday in a few days so there won't be any updates to the Where Are They Now? site then for about a week. But keep sending me news for when I get back, and you can also leave comments here on the blog!

Asia set list poll

2009-08-31T02:08:00.000-07:00

Asia have just played their last show of the year, but there are plans for new studio and live work in 2010. Since their reunion, touring has focused on their debut album, understandable given its their best-selling and most favourably received. The band have made a few changes to the set list along the way, notably introducing a few tracks from new album Phoenix, but it's still largely the same show. Come 2010, will that still work or do they need to vary the set list?

That was the question that motivated the latest WATN poll, what would you most like Asia to play live on their next tour? 80 of you voted. First off, 11 of you admitted to no interest in Asia (I presume others uninterested in the band didn't vote at all!).

So, out of the remaining 69... overwhelmingly (51%), you want new material to be played live, with 21 wanting more from Phoenix and 14 wanting the band to play material from their next album. The decision to play "legacy" material, songs from their previous bands, has gone down well and 15 (22%) of you want more.

Asia have something like 11.5 studio albums to their name, but the original line-up are only together on three of those, Asia, Alpha and Phoenix, and they've made clear they're not huge fans of Alpha. Even settling for just three of them together only adds Astra, half of Then & Now and bits of Aqua. This line-up has more band members in common with Drama or Wetton/Downes' iCon than it does with the many years John Payne was in the band. So, how should this Asia handle their back catalogue?

17% of you want later Wetton-era material played. That's 5 saying more from Alpha and 7, more from after Howe left the band (Astra, Then & Now). Just 3 (4%) wanted Payne-era material (and no-one selected the option saying they had no interest in this line-up and preferred the continuing Asia Featuring John Payne).

That leaves another 3 wanting the band to stick to the focus on Asia. And there was 1 vote for iCon material.

So, Asia, if you're listening, the people who read the Where Are They Now? site, who may be a bit more hardcore than much of the paying audience, but anyway... they'd like lots more new material live in 2010, but chuck in a few songs from Alpha, Astra and Then & Now too. (Me, I'd love "Rock and Roll Dream" and "Days Like These".)

The next poll is rather different. I report on the news page about all these guest appearances the Yes guys make, but does anyone care? Me, I'm liable to pick up all sorts of random stuff because Bill Bruford played on a track, or Trevor Horn produced it, but what about you?

Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute to Led Zeppelin

2009-08-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Billy Sherwood has been involved with a large number of tribute albums over the years, and has been honest that some of these were to pay the bills. Along the way, he's recruited an extensive set of guest appearances including multiple Yes men. Most recent was Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles, and before that, the subject of today's blog, Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute to Led Zeppelin. 10 tracks here are produced by Sherwood, with other tracks by Bob Kulick and, on the US release, some recycled from an earlier tribute album.

The challenge for any tribute album is the inevitable comparison with the original work. When covering bands like Zeppelin or The Beatles, you not only have the originals but umpteen previous cover versions with which to compete. One approach is to stick close to the original form, but it can be hard to play the song better than the familiar original. At the other end of a spectrum, one can turn in a radical re-interpretation of the piece.

With much of Led Box, as with earlier Sherwood projects like Back Against the Wall (a tribute to Floyd's The Wall), Sherwood and guests mostly stick to faithful versions. I think that's a mistake. I like some tribute albums that are fairly close to the originals, like the Magna Carta Rush tribute Working Man, but by and large I prefer it when artists take songs in different directions. For example, Tales from Yesterday (Magna Carta's Yes tribute) has some strong, faithful covers, like Steve Howe and Annie Haslam doing "Turn of the Century", or Kevin Gilbert, Mike Keneally et al. doing "Siberian Khatru" (although the latter succeeds in part because of a fantastic twist in the middle). But many of the best tracks are radical reinterpretations ("Don't Kill the Whale", "Release, Release"). I'd recommend as a good model Encores Legends and Paradox, the 1999 Magna Carta tribute to ELP. (Lousy title, I know, but great album.) It's half arranged by Robert Berry and half by Trent Gardner, both working with various guests including Igor Khoroshev, Peter Banks, Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Pat Mastelotto and half of Dream Theater. Here is a project that really lets its guest musicians loose. Khoroshev and Mastelotto in particular shine. Similarly, in the realm of Led Zeppelin tributes I'd recommend Kashmir, the orchestral Zeppelin project by Jaz Coleman with Martin "Youth" Glover producing. Very different sound to Zeppelin, yet still distinctively Zeppelin. Perhaps it's that balance that's the secret: similar enough to evoke the original, different enough to stand on its own.

So that's a rather long preamble, but now back to Led Box. For me, the stand out track is "Black Dog" by Keith Emerson, with Sherwood and Alan White in support, and tribute band singer Michael White (no relation) on vocals. Given you can pick the album up fairly cheap, I'm tempted to say it's worth it for "Black Dog" alone. That's because it's distinctively Keith Emerson and distinctively "Black Dog". It's not a radically different reading of the song, but it's full of Emerson's personality. Likewise, it's Rick Wakeman's "Nobody Home" on Back Against the Wall that I return to because it's distinctively Wakeman. What's the point of having, say, Dweezil Zappa play "Stairway to Heaven" on Led Box if it doesn't sound like him?

Leave aside my difference of opinion over how to approach a tribute album, and there's perhaps a more fundamental problem for me with the Sherwood-led tracks here: the lacklustre performances. It's the Bob Kulick-led numbers on Led Box that work better. There's a spirited "Houses of the Holy" from Pat Travers, for example. In comparison, we've got three quarters of CIRCA: doing "All My Love" and it just sounds lifeless. This is Zeppelin: it's big, powerful, growling music and I hear no verve in most of the Sherwood-led renditions. I know these people can play with passion and emotion, but I'm not hearing it on these tracks.

Cambridge Rock Festival

2009-08-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Cambridge Rock Festival on Sunday 9th August. Plaudits should go to the organisers for a pleasant affair. "Pleasant" may seem an odd word for a rock festival, but these days, gatherings like these with an emphasis on classic or prog rock, are family affairs with all ages present. The location was good, the food pretty good, the toilets OK. I spent a while in the obligatory juggling space. What you want from a festival experience. Of course, we'd come for the acts, and three in particular: Karnataka, Focus and Asia.

Karnataka are a relatively recent prog band. On keyboards is Gonzalo Carrera, who also plays with Whimwise and dB-Infusion and may be known to Yes fans for working with Peter Banks. Unfortunately, Karnataka didn't get to play. Some never-entirely-explained problem saw the schedule for the main stage re-arranged to allow more setting-up time. While Simon McBride (3rd billing for the evening) got moved to a second stage, Karnataka (4th billing) were just dropped, through no fault of their own. I met the band who were still seemed shell-shocked by the experience. I hope to see them somewhere else soon.

No Karnataka left a long gap between up'n'coming prog band Touchstone and old favourites Focus on the main stage, so we bagged a sweet spot in front of the mixing desk and ate festival food. Despite all that extra setting up time, when they started, Focus were plagued by microphone/monitor problems, and a broken guitar string. Still, that didn't stop them or us having a good time.

Yes fans complain about a band with only three 'classic' members, but Focus is down to founder Thijs van Leer plus drummer, Pierre van der Linden, with two new members. Long gone is guitarist Jan Akkerman. The two new players are very competent and the two Focus fans I was with, my partner and her Mum, were happy enough to see van Leer. Perhaps because he's the other 'classic' member explains why van der Linden got three drums solos, which is about three too many.

As a band I don't know so well, I was happy for Focus to play their greatest hits with only a little new music, yet the next act I know so well that I don't want the greatest hits and would rather have new material. This is, of course, what bands have to deal with, an audience mix of some casual listeners and some hardcore fans.

That next act, headlining and closing, were Asia. Again, the extra setting-up time earlier seemed to no avail as they were over half an hour late, but a festival in a field out of town doesn't have to worry about a curfew so much and the band played their full allotted time.

Of course, Asia were coming off the back of 24 North American dates supporting Yes, and Steve "the hardest working man in rock" Howe was coming from 24 dates playing with both bands, but there was no sign of tiredness in their performance. The set, which was professionally recorded, concentrated on the debut album, although we got two Phoenix pieces and "Fanfare for the Common Man". I was sorry not to hear "In the Court of the Crimon King" and "Video Killed the Radio Star", which I thought would have gone down well with the festival crowd.

It was a good show, but it was a good show I've seen twice before and I was conscious that they will need to start varying the set more to keep audiences interested in 2010. See the poll on the Where Are They Now? front page for your thoughts on that.

Skin & Wire

2009-08-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Skin and Wire: pianocircus featuring Bill Bruford play the music of Colin Riley, the last album of new music with Bruford given his retirement earlier this year, has just been released and is available at Bill Bruford's online store before a general release on 7 Sep. I interviewed Colin Riley about the project last year: you can read that interview here. I've not got the album yet, but I've been looking forward to this release since seeing the ensemble's first and only live outing in 2007.

The show was poorly advertised, possibly deliberately for what Riley described as an open rehearsal and Bruford as "under-rehearsed". The venue, upstairs at a private club, was swish. Yumi Hawa Cawkwell was taking photos. I keep bumping into Yumi at numerous Yes-related gigs around London, but she's also a great musician in her own right and has worked with pianocircus before, as well as Hugh Hopper and David Cross.

pianocircus did an opening set of a couple of minimalist pieces, before Bruford and Riley came on to a cramped stage. The music was... well, hard to describe, which isn't very helpful for you, dear reader! Fortunately, there are audio samples on both the collaboration's and the album's MySpace pages. The music was often marked by contrasts. Much seemed composed, but there were also clearly passages where Bruford could improvise. Parts were quite industrial, vaguely reminiscent of later King Crimson, but by and large the material was as far from, say, Yes or Earthworks as those two are from each other. This was Bruford coming into Riley's world rather than being much like anything he has done before. And not always doing so successfully: parts of the evening didn't work for me, and yet the whole was a fascinating experiment. Around the time of the show, Bruford (then aged 58) did an interview in which he asked, "Has anyone over 60, outside maybe of Picasso, really offered fresh directions?" Here was a fresh direction for his own career, in its early stages, but exciting. So I'm looking forward to hearing what happened next now the project has matured into an album release, and also saddened that the project has now been curtailed by Bruford's retirement.

Poll results: Best Yes-related album of first half of 2009

2009-08-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make the Where Are They Now? site more interactive, so I've started running polls. First one's been up there a few weeks and has had 79 votes. It's on a fairly obvious topic for the site: what's been the best Yes-related album of the first half of 2009? And the results:

1. The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Live at Hampton Court Palace (Rick Wakeman): 25 votes
2. HQ (CIRCA:, w/ Sherwood, Kaye): 20 votes
3. Live In Milwaukee, 23rd April 2008 (Asia, w/ Howe, Downes): 16 votes
4=. 3 (iCon, w/ Downes): 6 votes
4=. Race to Witch Mountain OST (Trevor Rabin) [digital only release]: 6 votes
6=. Change of Space (Patrick Moraz): 1 vote
6=. Live in Tokyo Japan 12th May 2008 (Asia): 1 vote
6=. Overflow (CIRCA:, w/ Sherwood, Kaye) [digital only release]: 1 vote
6=. From Brush and Stone (Rick Wakeman & Gordon Giltrap): 1 vote
6=. Escala (Escala, w/ Horn): 1 vote
6=. Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles (w/ Sherwood, Kaye, White, Downes): 1 vote
12=. Live in Barcelona 19th May 2008 (Asia): 0 votes
12=. Live In Sao Paulo, 23rd March 2008 (Asia): 0 votes

Calls for new material are commonplace on fan forums, yet the albums in first and third place are mostly about playing the old stuff. Henry VIII - Live gets 25 votes but From Brush to Stone gets just one. Asia's Live in Milwaukee gets 16 votes, while iCon's 3 gets 6. Wakeman's approach with the Henry VIII show is almost like the live version of a remastered re-release, complete with bonus tracks: is that what people want? Asia's Live In Milwaukee is all old material, recorded before they started including material from new album Phoenix. (Why was Live in Milwaukee so much more popular than the others in their Official Bootleg series? Because it was the only one recorded in the US maybe?) Do most fans prefer re-exploring the old songs to new material, or is the problem that the new material just isn't as good?

New material in the form of CIRCA: HQ was in second place, and that was my own choice. Concert Live kindly sent me the Wakeman release and it's nicely done, well put together, but I've never been as much of a fan of his work. I'll do a proper review of HQ at some point: I think the second half is stronger than the first, but certainly worth hearing with some great work in particular from Tony Kaye.

Squire's been calling Howe the hardest-working man in rock, but look at Geoff Downes' output too. Apart from the four Asia Official Bootlegs, there was the iCon album with John Wetton, and time to appear on Billy Sherwood's Beatles tribute.

I was surprised the Moraz album didn't do better. But what did you all think? Meanwhile, next poll is going to be on what you'd like Asia to be playing live as they go forwards.

Welcome

2009-08-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the new Bondegezou blog. I've got the website, the other website, the MySpace page, the Twitter account, the Last.fm account, and the RSS feed, and I post regularly to Yesfans.com, ProgressiveEars.com and alt.music.yes, but still I felt the world wasn't getting enough of my musings on things Yes and prog related! :-)

Oh, and I've got the other blog, but that's for work stuff (work being health informatics).

Anyway, hope you enjoy what follows...