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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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!