New music from Downes Braide Association

[Dan Roth]

From their forthcoming album being released in February:

[Scott Bails]

Nice song. Very different for them, with more guitar than usual and less focus on Downes' keyboards.

Absolutely love the artwork.

[luvyesmusic]

Can't wait. This song makes me happy! Some of the keyboards sounds a bit like Tangerine Dream from the movie Legend. Geoff or Sean very briefly mentioned album #4 was coming out. Both Geoff Downes and Chris Braide have more talent in their pinkies than the whole of most people.

Here's a little concert I caught recently on youtube with Chris and Marc Almond.
https://youtu.be/TuNpZbQPczE

[ChrisXymphonia]

Nice song. Very different for them, with more guitar than usual and less focus on Downes' keyboards.

Might be because they enlisted Dave Bainbridge (Iona, Celestial Fire, Strawbs, Lifesigns) to play on the album.

[progmatist]

I'm Downes with it.

[Paulrus]

Might be because they enlisted Dave Bainbridge (Iona, Celestial Fire, Strawbs, Lifesigns) to play on the album.

Now if they formed a real group (touring, etc.) with Bainbridge THAT would turn some heads.

[Rajaz]

It is very comforting knowing that Geoff Downes has found a worthy partner to continue creating great music. I am sure John Wetton would be very pleased to see that.

I agree, it would be fantastic if they would form a real touring band with Dave Bainbridge and amplify their potential as a live act.

I'm in for DBA. That could become DBB. Thanks for posting!

[bondegezou]

It is very comforting knowing that Geoff Downes has found a worthy partner to continue creating great music. I am sure John Wetton would be very pleased to see that.

I agree, it would be fantastic if they would form a real touring band with Dave Bainbridge and amplify their potential as a live act.

They seem very happy with the idea of touring more, but that depends on promoter interest and pandemic.

It's interesting how relaxed their writing partnership seems to me. It must involve a lot of trust. Downes appears to dump a bunch of ideas on Braide. Braide builds on those, adds lyrics, and sends them back. At least after the first album, they've not been sitting side by side writing as Downes used to with Wetton because they're on different continents.

Henry

[luvyesmusic]

https://youtu.be/FsoojN-2fJ8

Newest lyric video released. Your Heart Will Find The Way.
Contemporary song. Really catch chorus, nice guitar solo, keyboard textures in abundance of course, Chris Braide always great and nice ending.

[Aquatarkus]

What a lovely track. I look forward to listening to the entire album. Downes of course I'm familiar with, but I don't know Chris Braide at all. I'll have to check out their earlier albums. I'm not the biggest fan of Downes's style in Yes but his musical gifts are put to nice results here.

edit. I should rephrase. I like Downes's playing in Yes on albums where he is working as a composer so the Drama FFH and H&E albums. His playing on songs recorded by other Yes keyboardists I'm less happy with.

[bondegezou]

What a lovely track. I look forward to listening to the entire album. Downes of course I'm familiar with, but I don't know Chris Braide at all.

Braide is a successful songwriter. He's released solo works, worked with Marc Almond, was in the Producters with Trevor Horn and many other things, but he's best known, more widely, for work with Sia, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Paloma Faith etc. I think this might be his most commercially successful song:



Henry

[dregsfan]

Not a fan of the two tracks released so far and wasn't a huge fan of Skyscraper Souls (narration? ugh). I strongly prefer the vibe on the first two releases...a "retro" sound with Linn drum machine (or similar) more akin to the Buggles.

AFAIK, Braide said he wanted to combine DBA with This Oceanic Feeling (real drums and bass), so the "new" DBA does sound like a mash-up of the two. IMHO, the sound is different enough from the first two DBA releases and like an entirely new band. IMHO, they should've kept DBA and TOF separate entities. I've also read HH will again have narration/spoken word. Aarrggghhh! YMMV.

[Top Cat]

I really want to like DBA, love Geoff's keyboard/writing playing when not in Yes, and Braide has a really good voice, and the lyrics are well done.
But every sample I've listened to Braide's vocals are just a wee bit too loud in the mix to me. There should be a good balance, but I find with every song, his vocals are so upfront, I get distracted and can't hear the totality of the song and instruments.
But that's just me, and how I like to hear band's music.

[Aquatarkus]

Braide is a successful songwriter. He's released solo works, worked with Marc Almond, was in the Producters with Trevor Horn and many other things, but he's best known, more widely, for work with Sia, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Paloma Faith etc. I think this might be his most commercially successful song:



Henry

Thanks Henry!

[bondegezou]

Not a fan of the two tracks released so far and wasn't a huge fan of Skyscraper Souls (narration? ugh). I strongly prefer the vibe on the first two releases...a "retro" sound with Linn drum machine (or similar) more akin to the Buggles.

AFAIK, Braide said he wanted to combine DBA with This Oceanic Feeling (real drums and bass), so the "new" DBA does sound like a mash-up of the two. IMHO, the sound is different enough from the first two DBA releases and like an entirely new band. IMHO, they should've kept DBA and TOF separate entities. I've also read HH will again have narration/spoken word. Aarrggghhh! YMMV.

To date, the second album is my favourite. Yes, there's been some evolution in sound... but I wouldn't overstate that! It's still close to the band's initial sound.

Interestingly, Braide says the new song is the most Yes-like on the album!

Henry

[bondegezou]

This is one of Braide's songs for Producers, which began as him, Trevor Horn, Stephen Lipson, Lol Creme and Ash Soan. Braide left the band when he moved to the US, but is on a lot of the album, Made in Basing Street... on which Downes also played, and that's how they met. Braide is a big Buggles fan and got to work with both of them.

I actually think that's one of the weaker songs on the album. The best material is from Horn: there's a triptych of songs where he's coming to terms with the loss of his wife, Jill Sinclair, which are heartbreaking.

Henry

[bondegezou]

So, here's "Freeway", the lead single from the Producers album. This is the original single version, which is slightly different to the album version (or the deluxe album's 2nd version). All the Producers material was credited to Braide/Creme/Horn/Lipson/Soan, but this was a Creme/Horn idea. (The riff dates back to the Hotlegs album.)



Henry

[bondegezou]

This is from Trevor Horn's The Reflection score and has Horn here on lead vocals, but was a co-write with Braide and he's also on vox. (There's a Braide-sung demo on YouTube.)



(It's Friday evening. There's a pandemic and there's nothing to do, so I'm going to post Chris Braide songs.)

Henry

[bondegezou]

Braide released a solo album aged ~20 (produced by Thomas Dolby) in 1993, and then a second one in 1996 (co-produced by Dave Stewart -- not "our" one, the more famous one), but he didn't find success as a pop star and switched to songwriting, initially working extensively with the famous Cathy Dennis (who co-wrote Kylie's "I Can't Get You Out of My Heard", Britney Spears' "Toxic", Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl", and Galantis's "Runaway (U & I)"). So he's then writing songs for S Club 7 and 2 former Spice Girls. He meets Trevor Horn and is a founding member of Producers in 2006, and contributes to the Horn-produced Set the Mood by David Jordan.

At some point, he breaks into the US market. This might've been through Sia, who he starts writing with. So he goes from writing for Duncan James, Cheryl Cole and The Saturdays (big in the UK) to Christina Aguilera, Lana Del Rey and Beyoncé (big most places). It's around then that Downes Braide Association happens. Downes flew out to California in early 2011, called in to work on Yes's Fly from Here. Braide is now living there. So the first DBA album is made by Downes and Braide in the mornings, before Downes went over to Yes sessions in the afternoon. (Yes, with Chris Squire, did not record in the morning!)

So DBA has continued on in parallel to Braide having what I can only presume is a very lucrative career writing for big pop stars. Braide has also been able to do other projects with his musical heroes, like an album with Marc Almond. Downes and Braide seem to have a very trusting musical relationship. While that first album was written together, their more recent work has been done by email. Downes emails Braide a bunch of ideas, Braide turns them into songs. I'm not blown away by a lot of Braide's work. Here's one of his songs with Sia:



... but I think he works very well with Downes.

Henry

[Wil]

I only came to Braide through the first DBA album which I really enjoyed but I've found them a little blander with each subsequent release. I do like Braide's other 'prog' group - This Oceanic Feeling's first (and probably only) album, though and his 'let's make something very '80s' release - Hello Leo.

[Scott Bails]

The best material is from Horn: there's a triptych of songs where he's coming to terms with the loss of his wife, Jill Sinclair, which are heartbreaking.

Henry

Totally agree with this. Horn's songs are amazing, IMO. Wish he would do more like this, or with The Producers.

his 'let's make something very '80s' release - Hello Leo.

Not familiar with this one. I'll have to track it down.

[luvyesmusic]

Chris and family moved back to the U.K. in late 2020, as per the Downes Braide Association site. Here's some general info sent out/ used by Louder and Progradar about working on this newest album.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/dow...mong-the-ruins

[Sean]

Here's another new tune. Thoughts?

[Brian]

The Producers Made In Basing Street is one of my favorite cds of tha last 10 years at least! Love this!

[mozo-pg]

Here's another new tune. Thoughts?

It sounds quite decent.