Thursday 21 April 2011

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

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.

3 comments:

  1. A pretty good showing from Geoff Downes, with Asia and his latest NDO release. Perhaps some of that support will end up benefitting the Howe/Squire/White line-up of Yes.

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  2. Too bad about Yoso. I thought it was an interesting group but I think maybe it needed more "named" players in the band. I thought Bobby Kimball did his best with the Yes stuff live but it definitely wasn't in his vocal range. He is still a great singer. Good luck to Billy and Tony with Circa:

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  3. Howe´s 43 minutes interview to Jason Saulnier -2011:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFISEGJ60SA

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