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.

Looking ahead to 2023

Steve Howe likes to run a tight ship with Yes: no leaks. But enough has come out to say we expect a new Yes album in 2023, with Howe, Downes, Sherwood and Davison, with White maybe having recorded drum parts before he passed away, with Joyce and the FAMES orchestra back. Rumour has it out in the first half of the year. Presumably they will want it out before or not too long after touring begins on 7 May 2023. This will be the long-awaited, many-times-delayed Relayer tour. European dates from Portugal through to the UK have been announced and the tour is then expected to move to North America and maybe Japan.

Meanwhile, Jon Anderson also has a new album and tour due in 2023. Producer Michael Franklin was planning to finish recording for 1000 Hands: Chapter Two in December 2022; they’re aiming for an April 2023 release in time for Jon’s US tour with the Band Geeks in April/May 2023 playing Yes classics. Album guests are expected to include Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin.

Also due is the new Downes Braide Association album, Celestial Songs. This was finished back in April 2022; a release date of March 2023 is rumoured. Downes also leads Asia, who had a tour planned in late 2022 with Carl Palmer, Billy Sherwood and Marc Bonilla. This was to be with the Alan Parsons Project, but Parsons has had health problems, causing delays. What happens next is unclear, but it appears Asia are keen to tour some time in 2023.

There’s a pattern here. Yes will have a new album, but the tour will focus on an old one, Relayer (1974). Anderson will have a new solo album, but tour focusing on old Yes songs. Promo hasn’t mentioned anything from later than 1977. Downes has a new album with Chris Braide, but plans to tour with Asia, focusing on Asia (1982) and possibly Alpha (1983). That’s the world we live in. Ageing rock musicians make more money touring the old songs than they do from recording new ones. Yes will probably play a song or two from their new album and Anderson might include something new, but audiences want the classic tunes. Rick Wakeman’s new album, A Gallery of the Imagination, has already been on sale on his Christmas tour dates; it receives a full release in 2023. But, likewise, his sets focus on the 1970s.

In just the last few days, we’ve had news about Trevor Rabin’s new solo album, expected some time in 2023 and entitled Rio. He’s talked of a rock album with vocals, so something more in the style of Can’t Look Away than Jacaranda. In terms of former band members releasing solo albums, we also have Oliver Wakeman saying Anam Cara is due this year.

I expect those to be the big events of the year. Most of those are expected earlier rather than later in the year; we will have to wait and see what late 2023 brings. I’m sure there will be plenty more Yes-related releases, but what is less clear.

Trevor Horn has a body of material, strange covers done in collaboration with musicians from Tori Amos to Toyah Willcox, from Rick Astley to Robert Fripp, but it is unclear if he has a record deal or a release date.

Billy Sherwood is always busy. I’m sure we’ll get plenty from him. Both he and ARW’s Lee Pomeroy may be on Dave Kerzner and Fernando Perdomo’s multi-disc Genesis tribute. Jon Davison may be guesting on United Progressive Fraternity’s Planetary Overload Part 2: Hope. Steve Howe will probably give us Homebrew 8.

Schellen has mentioned a possible archival Badfinger release with him and Kaye. Michael Franklin has mentioned a possible archival live Patrick Moraz release. There may be a Jazz Sabbath live release from the 2022 tour, with Adam Wakeman and Dylan Howe in the line-up, plus dad Rick guesting. We should get more archival releases from Rick Wakeman’s Caped Crusader Collector Club.

Cleopatra Records will undoubtedly have some all-star tribute with a couple of Yes members. There should be one or more Zorbonauts releases with Downes. Downes has also produced an album by Gareth Ainsworth and The Cold Blooded Hearts that might be out in 2023.

In the less certain but possible category, we could have a third In Continuum studio album with Davison. Maybe a John Lodge project with Davison and Downes? Maybe the Rick Wakeman/Tim Rice/Alfie Boe project?

What are you looking forward to in 2023?

Poll: What was the best Yes-related album of the first half of 2021?

I asked you what was the best Yes-related album of the first half of 2021. There were 115 votes, which were as follows:

1. Downes Braide Association: Halcyon Hymns - 44% (50 votes)

2. Arc of Life: Arc of Life (w/ Davison, Sherwood) - 20% (23 votes)

? Mike Tiano: Creétisvan (w/ Sherwood) - 15% (17 votes)

3. Jon Anderson: Sunlight - 6% (7 votes)

4. A Tribute to Pink Floyd – Still Wish You Were Here (w/ Downes, R Wakeman, Moraz) - 5% (6 votes)

5. Rick Wakeman: Return to the Centre of the Earth deluxe box set - 4% (5 votes)

6. Nolan & Wakeman: Tales by Gaslight (w/ O Wakeman, R Wakeman, previously released material w/ Banks) - 3% (4 votes)

7. Fear Factory: Aggression Continuum (w/ Khoroshev) - 2% (2 votes)

8. Beth Patterson: Singles (w/ Sherwood) - 1% (1 vote)

There were no votes for Deckchair Poets' The Crop Circlers' Guide to Abstract Expressionism (w/ Downes), Badfinger's No Matter What – Revisiting the Hits (w/ R Wakeman) or John Holden & Friends' charity album Together Apart (w/ O Wakeman). All 17 votes for Creétisvan came in a clump in the last 2 days of the poll and mostly from just two IP addresses, so I don't think that represents an organic expression of feeling.

A clear win for Halcyon Hymns with over double the votes of the second place Arc of Life. Sunlight does well considering it was rapidly withdrawn from release!

Arc of Life make it real

We first heard about Arc of Life back in summer 2019, but details were sparse and it was just in December 2020 that we discovered the full line-up: Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison, Jay Schellen, Jimmy Haun and Dave Kerzner. So, three members of the current live Yes band, someone who played on a Yes album, and a prominent figure in the modern prog scene who recently did a Yes tribute album.

To a degree, the news acted as an excuse for the usual arguments in present day Yes fandom to be recycled, but there was a good amount of interest in the new band. People couldn't help but talk about Arc of Life as a possible precursor of a next generation Yes, as with Simon Barrow’s piece.

Then the debut single, "You Make It Real", came out.

I've rarely seen the enthusiasm for a project drain away so fast. Sounding (and looking) like a forgotten pop song from 1990, even many of those who were looking forward to the new band seemed taken aback. iTunes samples for the full album suggest something more 'proggy', perhaps akin to CIRCA:, so I don't want to judge the album by the single. But someone chose to lead with that song.

There are two (separable but intertwined) issues here. The style of the song, and whether it's a good song within that style. The latter is subjective, so I want to start with the former: the style and its fit with the marketing of the new band.

When Yes-adjacent musicians go out and say they are deliberately making an album in a '70s prog style – as with Rick Wakeman's The Red Planet, CIRCA:'s own Valley of the Windmill, or Kansas's The Absence of Presence – it tends to go down well with the fans. Deviate from that style (as perhaps with Steve Howe's Love Is) and you get a muted reaction.

I'm not saying musicians should stay in their lane for fear of fan rejection. Levin Torn White is getting a re-release on vinyl and there's an album that surprised people with its style very successfully. Nor do I have anything against pop: I love pop (Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia would be my pick of the year). The point I want to make is about marketing. Arc of Life must have realised that people will see them through the prism of Yes. They have definitely been marketed that way by Frontiers: Yes are explicitly mentioned 7 times in the video's blurb, including saying "that YES would be a clear point of influence". Promo talks of a "progressive rock philosophy, to craft creative, challenging, and ear-pleasing music that pushes boundaries" and a "grandiose and epic approach to music". So, if people are going to see you in those terms, if you are presented in those terms, wouldn't it make sense to pick a lead single that plays to that angle? Or, if nothing on the album does, to make sure the marketing feeds the message that this is a project in which the band members are doing something different from what you might expect. 

Kerzner online has pushed back on expectations of something Yes-like. He said on Facebook: "It's Billy and Jon's new tunes with a new line up. [...] I arrived late in the game after the songs were already written. If someone came to me and said "Dave what would you do IF you were wanting to make a sort of next-generation Yes album" that would be different. That was never mentioned whatsoever. These are just my pals from the latest Yes line up who asked me to join their side project band". Musicians should follow their muses: if Erato whispered in Sherwood and Davison's ears the words to "You Make It Real", I'm not saying they shouldn't record such a song. But maybe don't release that as your lead single while your label declares that "YES is clearly the main point of comparison".

Just before the release of the debut Arc of Life single, we had the single for the new Downes Braide Association album, "Love Among the Ruins". Here is a Yes member with a successful side project with a different sound to Yes. DBA offer something much closer to mainstream pop than Yes normally do, and do so successfully. But then Chris Braide is a massively successful songwriter/producer in modern pop music. I ran a quick Twitter poll of "Love Among the Ruins" versus "You Make It Real": DBA are ahead 11:2. We're into subjective territory here. Any song, some people will like it, some won't. I'm not a fan of "You Make It Real", although most of the iTunes samples for the album sound more interesting.

So, what were you expecting from Arc of Life? What did you think of "You Make It Real"? Are you looking forward to the album, Arc of Life, or indeed to the new DBA release, Halcyon Hymns?