What does 2025 hold for Yes fans?

I believe 7 Yesmen have releases or live dates announced for 2025: Jon Anderson (Band Geeks live album and tour), Bill Bruford (Pete RothTrio shows), Rick Wakeman (solo shows), Geoff Downes (Asia live), Trevor Horn (onefestival appearance announced), Billy Sherwood (on Dave Kerzner’s Genesistribute album), and Jon Davison (at John Lodge live shows).

Although without announced dates, there are various other projects expected in 2025. How confident we can be of these actually happening varies, but I think we can have strong expectations for: a new Yes album and tour, a new Downes Braide Association album, and a new Rick Wakeman solo piano album.

More up in the air, but possible, is plenty more. There are three albums with Billy Sherwood that look like good bets for 2025: exo-X-xeno’s (also with Patrick Moraz); a new CIRCA: album (also with Tony Kaye and Jay Schellen); and an album with Dave Kerzner and Fernando Perdomo. There is a whole suite of Jon Anderson projects that might appear, with various follow-up albums (Anderson Stolt 2; 1000 Hands: Chapter 2; and a second studio album with the Band Geeks) and maybe the eventual realisation of some very long-running projects, Zamran (dating back at least to 2000) and Chagall (from 1980!). Other projects we could see include a new Asia album and more touring; maybe another Trevor Horn album; and various projects with Oliver Wakeman (maybe a tour, but more probably a release).

Can we put any firmer timelines or expectations on some of those? We know Yes have been working on a new album for a while and it is now expected in 2025. Can we narrow down that window? Probably not! An announcement early in the new year wouldn’t surprise me. There is a report that DBA are looking at a summer release for their next album. Management and everybody else will want some space (months) between releasing the new DBA and Yes albums, I’d guess. If DBA think a summer release is viable, that would fit with a Yes album coming in spring and an announcement in the new year.

On the other hand, the Yes Music Podcast in December said Paul K Joyce is "currently working on the next Yes album". If we interpret that literally, that means recording sessions haven’t finished, but are nearing the end. There were two orchestral recording sessions for Mirror to the Sky, held on 29 April and 11 May 2022. The album’s first single came 10 March 2023, with album release in May 2023. If Joyce was doing recording sessions in December 2024, that implies a release deep into the second half of 2025. If DBA think the summer is clear, does that mean a winter Yes release?

I don’t know. Yes run a tight ship and there are few leaks. If I had to bet, I’d guess spring, but time will tell if that’s wishful thinking.

Do we have any idea what the album might be like? It’s the same team as on Mirror to the Sky, including Joyce and I presume Schwartz. The band rushed straight from The Quest into Mirror to the Sky, leading to the shortest gap between two Yes albums since the odd circumstances of Keys to Ascension 2 and Open Your Eyes. But album number three in this series has taken longer. That’s partly to do with touring returning to normal levels after COVID-19. Does that mean something obviously a continuation of the previous two albums, or has more time meant more evolution? Howe has talked of writing six songs in late 2019 that were then all used over The Quest and Mirror to the Sky. With that body of work used up, does that imply something different for the new album?

Another Yes tour is almost inevitable. There have been rumours of a US tour in the first half of 2025. It may depend on when the album comes out.

We also have that new DBA album to look forward to. Before then, we’ve had a scattering of Asia dates already announced across two continents. I presume we will see more substantial touring; new singer/bassist Harry Whitley has talked about a West Coast US tour. Whitley has also said that the new line-up will be working on a new album, although his comments suggest they have not started writing yet, so that implies a release is going to be late 2025 or, more likely, into 2026.

Anderson has announced the release of a live album with the Geeks, Live – Perpetual Change, out in March 2025, and an associated US tour leg. They are clearly eager to make it over to Europe, but we’ve not seen any dates yet. While Anderson had initially spoken of not doing another album with the Geeks, the positive artistic and commercial reaction to True seems to have changed his mind and he has started on a second studio album with them. That might be out before the end of 2025 if they get their skates on, although again I expect 2026 is more likely. But Anderson also has multiple other projects in play. Before True’s success took over his plans, he had seemed more focused on Zamran, hoping to release a Chapter One in 2025, and staging “Chagall” as a musical. Work has been continuing off and on towards a second Anderson/Stolt album and Anderson has mooted a 2025 release for that too. 1000 Hands: Chapter Two appears close to completion. It’s an extraordinary flowering of creativity to have so many projects lined up. The albums all seem plausible for 2025, although the finances of stage musicals are much harder to arrange.

Most obviously missing from this list is Trevor Rabin. He had talked of another solo album to follow Rio and possible touring, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything.

All the above does presume a certain degree of geopolitical stability. In recent years, COVID-19 was world-changing, while the Russian invasion of Ukraine impacted some eastern European touring plans (although of course the effects on the music industry were minor compared to the wider tragedies of both). Hopefully 2025 won’t bring anything similar, but if Donald Trump actually went through with a US invasion of Panama or Greenland, that would probably mean no UK-based bands visiting the US, while his tariff proposals and any retaliation by other countries could also hit touring plans.

REV: Pete Roth Trio, 1 Nov 2024

I happened to be looking straight at Bill Bruford the moment he started playing, kicking off the Pete Roth Trio’s evening at the Hampstead Jazz Club. He had a huge smile on his face. That, I think, is the story of the night.

For over a decade, Bruford had put down the drumsticks. However, in 2022, he started playing again, working with guitarist Pete Roth, who many years before had been a drum tech for Bruford in Earthworks. That was just in a rehearsal space. The band, with basically no publicity, then started playing in front of audiences in 2023. It is only now that the band are doing any serious promotion, and playing a short tour in England. More dates follow in 2025, in the UK and possibly Europe.

The Hampstead Jazz Club is a cramped basement below a pub, with a capacity of 50 people. The trio were squished into the performance space, Roth’s guitar banging against the ceiling when he took it off. Nothing about the performance context would have let on that Bruford once played to packed arenas. And that's how he wants it. Reading his autobiography, it is apparent how unhappy he was before his retirement with all the stuff around the performance, the organisation, the repetitive interviews, the endless business paperwork. But here the band are having fun. (Before the final piece, Roth was talking to the audience: “as you can hopefully see, this is a fun project. We are enjoying ourselves.” Bruford then interjected, “I’m here for the money!”)

The earlier part of the set suggested that Bruford was picking up where he left off: a small acoustic drum kit, playing jazz. This was an improvisational set, using standards plus themes from classical music as a starting point, including Charlie Parker’s "Billy's Bounce", Gershwin’s "Summertime", Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 and Bruford’s own "If Summer had its Ghosts". I keep talking about Bruford, because, let’s face it, that’s why you’re reading this, but this is a trio. All three were intent on each other’s playing. Roth leads the band with dextrous guitar playing, using a variety of effects to go from cleaner playing to something much more fuzzed out. Mike Pratt on bass took solos too and could lead the groove.

Halfway through and we got the first piece by the band, “Trio of 5”. (Roth explained this was the first piece they wrote together. They decided to write a blues, with Bruford suggesting using 5 time.) Two more band pieces followed in the latter half of the set: “Full Circle” (Roth: “at the beginning, Bill had this absolutely killer groove, and the two of them grooving, and I did something probably rather ‘nice’ to it, and Bill said, ‘No, we need a crazy chord there,’ so I hope the chords were crazy enough”) and “Looking Forward to Looking Back”, interspersed with more standards, like Wayne Shorter’s “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum”. It was with “Full Circle” and “Looking Forward to Looking Back” that other elements in the music became more apparent. Roth’s playing became more aggressive. “Looking Forward to Looking Back” is a multi-part piece with echoes of progressive rock to it. Roth in conversation after the show was explicit about how they incorporated prog and other elements as well as jazz.

Roth likened them to a “garage band” and said the group was very new and they were still working out what to do, but that there is “lots of laughing and joking at rehearsals”. They are having fun, and you will to if you go see them.

I saw the show with Simon Barrow: check out his review for Edinburgh Music Review.

The Pete Roth Trio, with Pete Roth (electric guitars), Mike Pratt (electric bass) and Bill Bruford (drum kit). Set: "Billy's Bounce" (originally by Charlie Parker), uncertain (possibly something by Chopin), "If Summer had its Ghosts", "Summertime" (originally by Gershwin), improvisation on the largo movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "Trio of 5", another Charlie Parker piece, "Full Circle", "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" (originally by Wayne Shorter), "Looking Forward to Looking Back", unidentified.

2023 in review: Yes, solo projects and more

I wanted to look back on 2023, a surprisingly busy year for Yes, its current and past members. But I wanted to do something different, so I thought to review the Yes members/alumni on four dimensions: workload, nostalgia, commercial success, and quality.

Some rules first. I'm just looking at new releases. I'm not considering archival releases here. I'm only considering active Yes members and alumni. Bruford has retired from musical performance. He did play on one song at the John Wetton tribute show, but that's all, so I'm not covering him. Tony Kaye is semi-retired. He is reportedly working on a new Circa album, but he's released nothing this year and done no live shows, so I’ve omitted him. Igor Khoroshev, last we knew, remains active doing sessions, but I’ve not seen anything from him this year, so he’s also excluded.

This is just looking at 2023, a snapshot. A musician may surprise us with their 2024 output, or be resting on their laurels after a successful 2022.

WORKLOAD

For workload or productivity, I'm considering live shows and releases.

Album releases in a year aren’t the best indicator of productivity in a year given the lead times to release. For example, Downes released Celestial Songs this year, but recording was completed in April 2022, with the release delayed. Likewise, Rabin released Rio, but he had been working on that for some years. He did very little work on it in 2023. Others (e.g., Oliver Wakeman, Jon Anderson) have been working on recordings this year that won't be out until later. Nonetheless, releases are the easiest thing to count, so that's what I've counted!

NOSTALGIA

A recurrent discussion around older acts is the tension between playing the old songs and making new music. Thus, I suggest a nostalgia quotient. This is based on two factors. Firstly, did live set lists focus on old songs or new material. Secondly, did the artist release new material, or at least new versions of old material, or nothing at all. 

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

We sometimes pay little attention to commercial success. It can even be seen as shameful, a distraction from true art! And if you like an album or show, why does it matter how many other people do? Except it does matter. At least, if not enough other people like something, there won't be another album or tour.

I would like to consider album and ticket sales, but those are rarely available. We don't get data on album sales, but we can look at chart statistics, if the album charted. Likewise, we don't see ticket sales data, but we can at least track the size of venues booked.

QUALITY

This is, of course, wholly subjective, but I'm going to give you my opinions. You may have your own, of course. 

OK, everyone clear what we're doing? Then let's start. 

WORKLOAD, approximately from least to most

Patrick Moraz: 1 show, no material released. Moraz played a solo show at ProgStock 2023.

Oliver Wakeman: 1 show, 3 songs released. Oliver organised and played at the Other Coronation Concert with his dad Rick. He appears on 2 tracks of Carrie Martin's Evergreen and the "Lost in the Wild Wood" single by Rodney Matthews and Friends. I don't think this reflects a lack of work ethic on Oliver's part. He has recorded a new album, out in the new year, and I expect his live schedule reflects a lack of opportunity! He is not as well established a musician as others on this list. I suspect he would have been happy to play dozens of shows this year, but he’s not getting those kinds of offers.

Jon Anderson: 24 shows, 2 songs released. Anderson had two tours this year, a US leg with the Band Geeks (12 dates) and a European tour with the Paul Green Rock Academy (11 dates). There was also the Chagall student show, making 24 dates in total, but three different set lists. He had no album releases, but he did share some songs on social media. I think there were two new in the year: "We Are We Are" and "Realization Morning Temple". It appears he has been working on new recordings, on 1000 Hands: Chapter Two earlier in the year and an album with the Geeks later in the year, but I'm not counting chickens that haven't hatched yet.

Rick Wakeman: ~28 shows, 3 songs released. I'm counting A Gallery of the Imagination as a late 2022 release as it was available on a limited scale in 2022, albeit general release only came this year. In terms of 2023 releases, he's just got a few guest appearances: one track each with Ann-Margret, on Meddle Reimagined, and with the Fusion Syndicate. In terms of live work, he played two nights with the English Rock Ensemble (with different sets). He had one-off shows in April, May, July and November, and two in December, and appeared at the John Wetton tribute show. He had a US solo tour with 17 dates + a cruise appearance.

Jay Schellen: 27 shows, 1 album released. Schellen played 26 dates on Yes's tour (excluding the two cancelled shows) and played on Yes's Mirror to the Sky. He also appeared at the John Wetton tribute show.

Trevor Rabin: no shows, ~2 albums and 1 additional song released. Rabin released Rio this year. There was also National Treasure: Edge of History (Original Series Soundtrack) released back in January. That contains 30 tracks: 15 are credited to Rabin and 1 to Rabin and Paul Linford. He also did the theme tune for "Digman" and some string arrangements for a Joe Bonamassa live show in August. You can debate how to weight releases versus live shows in this list. Rabin is top 3 in releases for the year, but at the bottom for live work. One can also account for musician's roles in a project, e.g. Rabin doing almost everything on Rio, versus Schellen just drumming on Mirror to the Sky.

Billy Sherwood: 27 shows, 1 album and an additional 6 songs released. Sherwood's tally tracks Schellen's but with the addition of some guest appearances: 3 tracks on Kurt Michaels' Stones from the Garden, two standalone tracks with Cameron Carpenter, and 1 track on Laughing Stock's Songs for the Future.

Steve Howe: 26 dates, 2 albums released (plus a remix album). As well as his work in Yes, Howe also released Motif, Volume 2. While I'm not including archival releases, Howe did also lead on the Tomorrow release, Permanent Dream, that involved substantial remixing.

Jon Davison: ~61 shows, 1 album and an additional 3 songs released. As well as work with Yes, Davison also toured (33 dates + cruise) and recorded (2 tracks on Days of Future Passed – My Sojourn) with father-in-law John Lodge. He also guested on 1 track of Anyone's Miracles in the Nothingness. So, over twice as many live dates as anyone else yet in our list. You can see why he wrote "Circles of Time" now.

Trevor Horn: ~68 shows, 1 album and a production collection of sounds released. [EDIT: In a Jan 2024 interview, Horn says he did 80 shows in 2023.] Surprisingly, the busiest live player among the Yes members is Trevor Horn, the guy who gave up live performance after being in Yes. He did 28 North American dates as The Buggles opening for Seal and then playing with Seal as musical director and bassist. That was followed by 13 European dates with Seal, but no Buggles. There were also 39 dates with Dire Straits Legacy scattered over the year, which I think were all with Horn, but I'm not 100% certain of that, as the line-up can vary from show to show. (Horn is not on 2024 DSL live shows.) Horn also had a live TV appearance in Sep in Italy. He released Echoes – Ancient & Modern and there was also the 45Gb+ Jupiter production collection from Spitfire Audio.

Geoff Downes: 27 shows, 3 albums + 2 additional songs released. Downes played with Yes and co-organised the John Wetton tribute show. He was on Mirror to the Sky, he had another Downes Braide Association album in Celestial Songs, and he produced The Cold Blooded Hearts' The Cold Light of Day, on which he also performed on all but 3 tracks. He also did a song with Aaron Emerson and 1 track on Meddle Reimagined. So he didn't play as many live shows as Davison or Horn, but given 3 album releases in a year, I am declaring him the busiest Yes member of the year.

In terms of do-we-count-them-as-former-members, a note also for Tom Brislin, who played 52 shows with Kansas this year, although he wasn’t on any releases.

Tony Levin played 22 dates with Peter Gabriel and performed on his new album i/o. He has 5 Levin Brothers shows in Dec. He had 23 dates with Stick Men over the year and they also released a new live album. He was on 1 track of MEMEmusic by Unquiet Music Ltd. There appears to have been session work with various others (Tina Arena, Tania Doko, Marco Machera), but I've not checked the details. So, that's 50 dates and 2+ albums.

NOSTALGIA, approximately from most to least

Patrick Moraz: very nostalgic. I haven't seen a full set list for his one show, but it seems to have been familiar material.

Trevor Horn: very nostalgic. His live work was all old material. His album consists of covers.

Jon Anderson: very nostalgic. His live sets consisted purely of old material, although a few of the Rock Academy arrangements were newer. The Chagall show was a premiere, albeit all of the material dates back a varying number of years.

Rick Wakeman: very nostalgic. His live work mostly consisted of old material, although the US tour included one piece from A Gallery of the Imagination. 2/3 of his recorded work were covers, but he co-wrote a new piece, "IO", for The Fusion Syndicate.

Jon Davison: fairly nostalgic. On the anti-nostalgia side, he's got Mirror to the Sky and a song with Anyone, but the live Yes sets were mostly old material, and his 2023 work with John Lodge, live and studio, was all old material, although there may be new Lodge material coming.

Steve Howe: fairly nostalgic. Yes released a new album, but on most nights only played 1 song from it. Motif, Volume 2 includes 4 new pieces, but the rest of it is re-interpreting older songs, while the Tomorrow release was all remixing old songs.

Jay Schellen: middling. Live Yes (nostalgic) versus new Yes album (anti-nostalgic).

Billy Sherwood: fairly anti-nostalgic. Same as Schellen, except with a few more recorded tracks of new material.

Oliver Wakeman: fairly anti-nostalgic. I haven't seen a full set list for his one show, but I believe it was mostly familiar material. However, he has also been on releases of new material.

Geoff Downes: fairly anti-nostalgic. While his live sets were nostalgic, being involved in three albums of new material puts him high on this list.

Trevor Rabin: very anti-nostalgic. Almost everything Rabin did this year was new material.

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS, approximately from least to most

Based on what chart data I could find, I think the albums go in a decreasing order of sales as follows: Mirror to the Sky > Echoes – Ancient & Modern > Rio > A Gallery of the Imagination > Celestial Songs, and then maybe Days of Future Passed – My Sojourn and Permanent Dream, with others not troubling any charts. In terms of touring, I think Horn's tours with Seal and DSL probably constitute the most ticket sales when combined, then Yes and John Lodge are maybe about equal, followed by Anderson, and then R Wakeman. So, overall, my ranking of commercial success, from lowest to highest, would be…

Moraz, O Wakeman: nothing of note.

Jon Anderson: Both tours were relatively short, which affects total ticket sales. Venues with the Geeks were of moderate size. Those with the kids seemed to have been bigger. But no releases for sale limits his commercial success.

Rick Wakeman: I think Wakeman was playing to smaller audiences than Anderson or Yes in the US. Gallery didn't make the main UK album chart when it received its general release in 2023, but it was #11 on the UK Progressive albums chart, #18 on the indie chart, #37 on the physical albums chart, #39 on the album sales chart, and #97 on the paid download chart. It made #35 on the UK iTunes chart.

Trevor Rabin: Rio made #52 in Switzerland and #90 in Germany. It didn't make the main chart in the UK, but was #7 on the UK Progressive albums chart, #19 on the physical albums chart, #16 on the album sales chart, #52 on the paid download chart, and #5 on the rock & metal chart. It was also on various iTunes charts: US #24, UK #30, Australia #51, Germany #52, Canada #53.

Trevor Horn: Horn was the musical director for a significant tour by Seal, with good audience sizes in Europe and North America. Dire Straits Legacy also play surprisingly big venues. Horn also got an Italian TV appearance. Echoes made #81 in UK. It also made #47 in Germany and #68 in Austria. It was also on various iTunes charts: Brazil #3, Italy #8, UK & Germany #11, Australia #12, US #85. In addition, "Relax" made #81 and "Steppin' Out" #65 on Spanish iTunes, while "Slave to the Rhythm" made #51 in Italy and #63 in Germany.

Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen: Both Sherwood's and Schellen's notable sales were just from Yes. Mirror to the Sky charted around the world: Switzerland #9, Germany #12, Japan #24, UK #30, Hungary #31, Portugal #35, Austria #53, Wallonia (Belgium) #55, Italy #61, Poland #62, Netherlands #84, Flanders (Belgium) #93, France and Spain #99. It did not make the main US chart, but was #4 in rock & metal and #22 in sales. It was also on various iTunes charts: Spain #3, Brazil #7, UK #10, Canada #13, US #17, Germany #18, Italy #19, Australia #23, France #36. Yes played to good audience sizes in the US. 

Jon Davison: As well as his work in Yes, Days of Future Passed – My Sojourn made #42 on Italian iTunes.

Steve Howe: As well as Yes, Tomorrow's Permanent Dream made #16 in the UK independent album breakers chart (albums of the week by an artist who has not yet reached the Top 40). It was also at #55 on French iTunes.

Geoff Downes: As well as Yes, Celestial Songs made #27 on the UK indie chart, #60 on the physical albums chart, #63 on the album sales chart, and #7 on the rock & metal chart. It did not chart on iTunes.

Among not quite Yes alumni, Tony Levin stands out. Peter Gabriel's i/o went #1 in the UK and #99 in the US. It was also top ten in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Switzerland. The tour, meanwhile, was in very large venues. You would think that would win, but, no, former ABWH keyboardist Matt Clifford was the runaway success of the year as he played on The Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds, which made #1 in the UK, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. It made #3 in the US. It has gone Gold in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Austria. It was the best-selling album of the year in Germany.

QUALITY

Of the various projects mentioned above, my favourite was Mirror to the Sky. Was it the best album? Was it consistently good? Maybe not, but it's the album that has stayed with me the most. My next favourite project, as I am always a Trevor Horn fanboy, was Echoes – Ancient & Modern. I'd put Rio third: I think it is a really strong album, possibly in some sense better than the previous two. Horn is 'cheating' because his album is built around a bunch of pre-existing great songs, whereas Rabin wrote his material. But if you asked me which album I'd rather listen to right now, Echoes or Rio, I would choose Echoes.

I am enjoying Celestial Songs: it's not clicked with me in the same way as Halcyon Hymns, but it's still a good one, so I'll put it fourth. Those are my standouts. Of the rest, National Treasure: Edge of History is not bad for a score album. The Cold Light of Day is a surprisingly good rock album, certainly the best album by a football player I've listened to. I like Motif, Volume 2, it does exactly what you would expect, no more, no less. I'll go with Cold Light fifth, Motif 2 sixth and National Treasure seventh.

In terms of the various guest appearances, Miracles in the Nothingness, Songs for the Future etc., nothing really jumped out at me, not that I have heard everything. Maybe "One of These Days" with Downes on Meddle Reimagined is the best of the lot.

I thought A Gallery of the Imagination was terrible, but if I'm counting it as a 2022 album, I can't blame Wakeman for it here! Days of Future Passed – My Sojourn was unimpressive.

In terms of live work, I loved the Jon Anderson + Paul Green Rock Academy show I saw. I was in the wrong country for the Geeks tour, but the recordings I heard were great. Likewise, Yes were playing the wrong continent for me this year, but I enjoyed the boot I heard and loved them last year. I saw the Seal show in the UK and had a great night, and I enjoyed listening to recordings of The Buggles set from the US. I also loved the stream for the John Wetton tribute show.

Put that all together and I think my personal ranking would be: Anderson (best live work), Horn (me = fanboy), Howe (for leading on Mirror to the Sky and Motif 2 is solid), Rabin (great work in Rio and not bad score output), Downes (3 albums and they are all good), Schellen, Sherwood, Davison, R Wakeman. (Insufficient data for Moraz and O Wakeman.)

In all, a great year for Yes-related music. I'm loving this late flowering of Trevor Horn's career. I hope he can get back to new music and not just nostalgia, but it appears he is constrained by record label interest and they want the nostalgia. Jon Anderson's recorded output was disappointing, hopefully 2024 will rectify that, but he has been performing fantastically. I am full of praise for Trevor Rabin's 2023. My highlight is a very enjoyable Yes album, but Downes and Howe deserve praise for so much work beyond that as well.

Rick Wakeman works hard, but it's been a while since he's done much of interest to me. Patrick Moraz does little and it's been a while since he's done much of interest to me. I hope we hear more from Oliver Wakeman and from Khoroshev in 2024.

Possible highlights for 2024? It is both exciting and somewhat worrying that Anderson has several projects that could be released next year: an album with the Geeks, 1000 Hands: Chapter Two, Zamran (or part one, at least). Maybe a bit more focus on finishing projects wouldn't go amiss? I look forward to seeing Yes live. I wonder how work on a new album is getting on? A new Circa album could be interesting. Might we get the new John Lodge project with Davison and Downes? Could the hinted-at Dave Kerzner/Jon Davison project come to fruition? Horn is touring with his band, but also, it appears, with a reunited Producers. Horn has said he's got another solo album recorded. Braide says another DBA album is already written.

Poll: What was the best Yes-related release of the second half of 2022? Final

Voting in the final round for best Yes-related release of the second half of 2022 was way down, with just 29 votes (ignoring a test vote). I don't know why voting was so low. Was it fatigue over a four part vote, the decline of Twitter meaning people didn't see the vote, the new polling widget? Anyway, the final results were:

1. Rick Wakeman: A Gallery of the Imagination - 31% (9 votes)

2. Virgil & Steve Howe: Lunar Mist - 28% (8 votes)

3. Bill Bruford's Earthworks: Live at the Schauburg Bremen 1987 - 24% (7 votes)

4. Carly Rae Jepsen: The Loneliest Time (w/ Rabin) - 10% (3 votes)

5. Prog Collective: Seeking Peace (w/ Sherwood, Downes, Davison, Moraz) - 7% (2 votes)

6. Seal: Seal Dolby Atmos mix (w/ Horn) - 0% (0 votes)

So, a very close result between the top three, but congratulations to Rick Wakeman for winning.

Immersive world premiere of The Yes Album

To promote the new super deluxe edition of The Yes Album, a small audience - whoever saw the social media announcement and answered quickest! - were treated to the world premiere of the immersive mix at L-Acoustics in Highgate, London (very close to where I went to school). There was a 6pm and an 8pm "performance" and I was lucky enough to get into the 6pm.

The venue is a lovely demonstration studio for L-Acoustics, who do speakers for venues and high end clients. They had earlier done one of the listening events for Steven Wilson's The Harmony Codex here. They welcomed us with a nice selection of complimentary beverages. The listening room is equipped with 18 speakers in the walls, 12 in the ceiling and (playing the same channel) 24 subwoofers. There was seating for, I estimate, a bit over 30. Also present were some people from Yes management and YesWorld, Jerry Ewing and others from Prog magazine, and a special guest in the form of Bill Bruford. Steven Wilson had been meant to be there, but a last minute problem kept him away. (We saw Nick Beggs on the way out, there for the 8pm slot.)

We were plunged into darkness for the playthrough of the album, start to finish. Afterwards, Wilson had been to interview Bruford, but instead the lady from L-Acoustics chaired and Bruford took questions from the audience.

Bruford was delightful. He talked about enjoying listening to the album, but he wasn't certain whether that was the music, or the memory of its creation, or the memory of its performance. He talked about recording the album, but stressed how long ago it was and that his memories were vague in places.

He talked of recording on 16 tracks, of which Howe got seven, when he only got three! He talked of still being very new to the recording process, and of how the recording seemed to take so long, although he wasn't certain whether his memory of the time taken was of this album, or the one after, or the one after. They were aware that the recording was costing significant money. He described how the first two albums had flopped, so The Yes Album was both a new start and a last chance. Thus the presentation of The Yes Album, as if it were a debut. He said he had to record the drum parts first, as was the drummer's situation then, not knowing, having to guess, what would be recorded on top of that drum part later.

I asked a question about the very simple drum part on "Your Move", compared to what he plays on the rest of the album. He said he couldn't remember the decision making behind that, but he was glad he had chosen to do that as it left space for Colin Goldring's (four) recorder parts. He said they had initially tried a Mellotron and how in another band, they probably would have left it there, but Jon Anderson  was always pushing and so instead they got a real person. 

Bruford also talked of Keith Emerson recording downstairs, so there is a bit of Emerson's Moog used on one song. (I think he said it was on "Perpetual Change".) He talked about Kaye not speaking up and fighting his corner as Wakeman later would, and so his role in the music was more in the background.

In terms of promoting the new release, with its Atmos and 5.1 mixes, I don't know how useful an event like this is. Unless you have a room with 54 speakers in it, I presume the album is not going to sound the same at home! It definitely sounded fantastic for us. If we can presume that you get a reasonable approximation with a home set-up, then, yes, I can recommend the immersive mix. The instruments, the different tracks, are super clear. What the immersive mix brings is separation. That meant I was hearing details I had never heard before.

At the same time, the separation can also make the music sound less connected. For example, in "Yours is No Disgrace", Kaye's organ was to the side, which felt wrong to my ears, like it wasn't part of the music in the same way. Bruford commented similarly. He felt the drums sounded distanced from the rest of the performance, whereas he prefers a live jazz recording where you can hear the drums tight in with the other instruments.

As Bruford also commented, the mix would sometimes shoot the different guitar parts around the room. In places, I felt that gave an "impossible" effect. It makes you conscious that this can't be a live performance, because Howe can't be in two places at once. But one can always quibble over mixing choices. Overall, it's amazing how good a recording from 1970 can sound and I applaud Wilson's work. If you don't have a surround sound set-up, I'm not certain the boxset has enough new to justify the price tag, but there is a cheaper digital version that will be available.

Poll: What was the best Yes-related release of the second half of 2022? Round three

There were 20 Yes-related albums released in the second half of 2022, so instead of a single poll, we're going through them in three rounds, with the top 2 from each round going through to the final. The final round covered everything remaining after the first two rounds. 33 of you voted, but because of a logistical problem, only the first 25 votes recorded! So the (partial) results were:

1. Bill Bruford's Earthworks: Live at the Schauburg Bremen 1987 - 9 votes (36%)

2. Seal: Seal Dolby Atmos mix (w/ Horn) - 7 votes (28%)

3. Dave Kerzner: The Traveler Singles (w/ Sherwood, Davison) - 5 votes (20%)

4= various artists: Synthesizer Classics (w/ Downes, Wakeman R, Moraz) - 2 votes (8%)

4= Flash: Live in the USA (w/ Banks) - 2 votes (8%)

6= Fernando Perdomo: Frost Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (w/ Wakeman R, Downes) - 0 votes (0%)

6= Munroe's Thunder: The Black Watch (w/ O Wakeman) - 0 votes (0%)

That means Live at the Schauburg Bremen 1987 and the Dolby Atmos mix of Seal join Rick Wakeman's A Gallery of the Imagination, Carly Rae Jepsen's The Loneliest Time, Prog Collective's Seeking Peace and Virgil & Steve Howe's Lunar Mist in the final, which will be held once I work out the problem with recording votes!

Poll: What was the best Yes-related release of the second half of 2022? Round two

There were 20 Yes-related albums released in the second half of 2022, so instead of a single poll, we're going through them in three rounds, with the top 2 from each round going through to the final. Round 2 covered releases by or with Steve Howe, Billy Sherwood or Jon Davison. We had 59 votes, as follows:

1. Prog Collective: Seeking Peace (w/ Sherwood, Downes, Davison, Moraz) - 23 votes (39%)

2. Virgil & Steve Howe: Lunar Mist - 12 votes (20%)

3. Arc of Life: Don't Look Down (w/ Sherwood, Davison) - 8 votes (14%)

4. Glass Hammer: At the Gate (w/ Davison) - 6 votes (10%)

5= David Paich: Forgotten Toys (w/ Sherwood) - 4 votes (7%)

5= Dave Kerzner: The Traveler (w/ Sherwood, Davison) - 4 votes (7%)

7. Life on Mars: Shadows in a Jar (w/ Sherwood) - 2 votes (3%)

A clear win, then, for Seeking Peace, which out-polled the more high profile Arc of Life sophomore release. It's joined by Lunar Mist, Steve's collaboration with his late son. I voted for Forgotten Toys, a wonderful debut EP from Toto's David Paich, but I nearly voted for Dave "Squids" Kerzner's The Traveler. However, I can see most of you don't agree with me!

On to Round 3, which are all the remaining releases (including an alternative version of The Traveler as it seemed sensible to put it in a different roud). You can vote on the news website front page.