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Sonicbond Publishing Limited
www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk
First Published in the United Kingdom 2018
First Published in the United States 2019
Reprinted 2019, June 2020, December 2020
This digital edition February 2021
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright Stephen Lambe 2018
ISBN 978-1-78952-001-9
The rights of Stephen Lambe to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Sonicbond Publishing Limited
Typeset in ITC Garamond & ITC Avant Garde Gothic
Printed and bound in England
Graphic design and typesetting: Full Moon Media
For Chris Squire and Peter Banks
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following people for their help, encouragement or simply hard work in this project, which was the catalyst for something rather larger – Sonicbond Publishing itself:
Huw Lloyd-Jones, Andrew Wild, Steve Pilkington, Mike Goode,
Chris Walkden and Jay Slater.
Thanks to Jez Rowden, Ken Fuller and Mike Cruse for proof reading.
Special thanks also to Oliver Wakeman and Bill Bruford
for occasional moments of face-to-face insight.
Thanks to Rich Greene for the 1974 photograph and particularly Bruce Strickland for sharing his ticket stubs and Yes programmes.
Thanks, as ever, to the Prog Widow – my gorgeous wife Gill.
Contents
Prologue. Barclays Centre, Brooklyn. 7 April 2017.
Introduction
Cast of Characters
Yes Cover Art
Yes (1969)
Time and a Word (1970)
The Yes Album (1971)
Fragile (1971)
Close to the Edge (1972)
Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973)
Relayer (1974)
Going for the One (1977)
Tormato (1978)
The Paris Sessions and related tracks (1979)
Drama (1980)
90125 (1983)
Big Generator (1987)
Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe (1989)
Union (1990)
Talk (1994)
The Keys to Ascension (1996) / The Keys to Ascension 2 (1997)
Open Your Eyes (1997)
The Ladder (1999)
Magnification (2001)
Fly From Here (2011) / Fly from Here – Return Trip (2018)
Heaven and Earth (2014)
From A Page (2019)
Epilogue – Yes turn 50 in 2018
Compilations and Video Biographies
Live Recordings – on CD and DVD
Twelve unsung Yes tracks you should revisit
Paying Tribute
Bibliography
Prologue. Barclays Centre, Brooklyn. 7 April 2017.
Yes are inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Finally. This is a big deal in the USA, less so in the UK, but it’s still a major event, as there had been the growing feeling that the band had been snubbed for many years. The hall is huge, and absolutely packed. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush give a gracious – almost star-struck – introduction, and then the band themselves come on stage. This is interesting, as it is the 1991 eight-piece Union version of the band that is to be honoured. In recent years, some of these musicians have been involved in two different ‘versions’ of Yes, and while they are hardly ‘sworn enemies’, there appears to be no love lost between the two factions. Additionally, the line up chosen by the Hall Of Fame means that three current, full members of the band – Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison – are not invited to take part. The event is made all the more poignant by the fact that one of the inductees – Chris Squire – has died almost two years previously, and is represented by his wife, Scotty and daughter Xilan.
Anderson, taking sips from a bottle of water, dedicates the award to Yes fans everywhere, and gives a rambling but gracious tribute to Squire and Peter Banks, plus Bill Bruford (who, he forgets, is standing behind him). Trevor Rabin gives a dignified speech, and an ill-looking Alan White gives a rather touching tribute to Chris Squire. Steve Howe gives a more cerebral, quietly funny speech, paying tribute to his current band mates. Rick Wakeman does some of his risqué stand up comedy set.
Later, Anderson, Howe, Rabin, Wakeman (with cape) and White play ‘Roundabout’ with a thrilled Geddy Lee on bass, and ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ with Howe playing a Rickenbacker bass, a nice touch that, and while there’s not a lot of inter-band eye contact, it is a joyous, if slightly uncomfortable occasion.
Joyous and slightly uncomfortable. If you want a phrase to describe Yes’ career, what could be more perfect than that?
Introduction
Was there ever such a complex band as Yes?
By that I mean structurally complex. I can think of few groups that have had so many line up changes, and yet so many members that have left the band and later rejoined; a band that have had so many different methodologies and motivations for creating music; a band that has been so divided by inter-band politics and squabbles over money. Yet Yes are a group of musicians that, at their best, have made some of the most spectacular and uplifting music ever created. It makes for a colourful story, and – amazingly – the band has lasted for over 50 years in one form or another. Only for a couple of barren years in the early 1980s was there no band called Yes at all, and while other years have seen the band dormant, someone – somewhere – was holding the torch. Musicians were planning or talking or writing. And their fans were waiting.
One of the crucial factors that made Yes the band it was, happened before they formed in London in early 1968, from the ashes of Mabel Greer’s Toyshop. Aside from drummer Bill ‘Tubs’ Bruford – who found his way into the band by the sheer weight of his talent as an eighteen year old – the band that formed was made up by relatively seasoned musicians. Tony Kaye was 22. Chris Squire and Peter Banks – who had already played together in the band The Syn – were both twenty but had played in professional groups since 1965. Jon Anderson – who had survi...
