Jon Anderson on current Yes lineup

[Rarebird]

^^ In the ancient Roman Empire, "dictator" was an honorable title.

Yes, but in those days a dictator was choosen to solve some problems and leave after some time.

I would love to see another Anderson Ponty album. Basicly because of Jean Luc Ponty.

[Paulrus]

They came out with five side-long pieces in a row right afterwards and didn't come up with something like CTTE. Now, I like the Topographic songs and Gates of Delirium but they are their own thing. If they wanted to or were capable of doing more lengthy pieces they would have. I mean, they did long tracks on the Keys to Ascension albums but frankly they were not very memorable or anything I'm ever clamoring to listen to.

Don't mistake me -- I'm not saying they CAN do it. I'm just saying I understand why some people are keepin' the faith.

[progmatist]

I would love to see another Anderson Ponty album. Basicly because of Jean Luc Ponty.

If it's just another rehashing of old Yes music, count me out.

[Rarebird]

If it's just another rehashing of old Yes music, count me out.

Yes with added violin is an extra.

[Rarebird]

If it's just another rehashing of old Yes music, count me out.

Yes with added violin is an extra.

[bondegezou]

If Howe/Downes are interested in going into the studio and recording something then I'd be fine with that. Otherwise, step aside and let the young ones take the torch.

Yes are currently writing a new album. I presume studio recording depends somewhat on pandemic.

Henry

[bondegezou]

Yeah, one gets the sense that ARW scratched the "touring rock star" itch for Trevor the way the various reformed UK lineups did for Eddie Jobson. Neither seems to be longing for it much anymore.

Rabin's talked about doing some solo touring, so...

Henry

[bondegezou]

I switched the video off after hearing him say the things that got this conversation rolling. I love the guy, but he has nothing new to add to what he's already said again and again over the years, and really, I don't need to hear him talk ever again. On the other hand, I'll always love to hear him sing. Regarding who he plays with, he'll just have to make do with all the other extremely talented musicians out there who are also much younger (and certainly less constrained by internal band politics) than some of the current Yes members are.

The interview moved on to other topics. There was a nice discussion of writing "Close to the Edge".

Henry

[bondegezou]

This is true, I think we all know Yes of whatever line up is never going to produce anything much better than Heaven & Earth

A lot of people like a lot of recent Yes releases a lot more than Heaven & Earth, so no, we don't know that. Yes albums are often a surprise: I think the new album could be very good, and I think it could be very bad. We'll have to wait and see.

Henry

[Top Cat]

I think the new album could be very good, and I think it could be very bad. We'll have to wait and see.

Henry

This ^^^^^^^^^

[floyd umma gumma]

Anderson is a great talent and there would be no Fragile or Close to The Edge, etc without him. If I had to rank one ingredient as most valuable to Yes it might be Anderson. But he seems, to me, the most passive agressive of all Yes members with his public comments. I'd be impressed if Anderson would call Steve Howe and actually talk with him - and perhaps agree to have a relationship - or not. But it seems (to an outsider) much or all of their communication in recent decades has been though managers, emails or public comments. No wonder they can't work together.

[Steve983]

Its strange, I discovered Yes in '77 when I was 14 just as they made their last great album. I realised that all my adult life I've been hoping for a return to form and while I've bought every album along the way I've been mostly disappointed or worse. I think I know by now not to get my hopes up!

[MudShark22]

Part of the problem is no other band has come up with another Close to the Edge either, so it's natural to look to the old farts who created it in the first place to come up with something like it!

Thats because IMO Eddy Offord 'wrote' CttE with his manic and brilliant stitching together of the song. Its his shining moment.

IIRC the band never actually played it thru in the studio, having to actually learn it from the album to play live.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

[Paulrus]

Rabin's talked about doing some solo touring, so...

Henry

With a full band? Or solo acoustic at the Baked Potato type of things?

[calyx]

Thats because IMO Eddy Offord 'wrote' CttE with his manic and brilliant stitching together of the song. Its his shining moment.

IIRC the band never actually played it thru in the studio, having to actually learn it from the album to play live.

This is an exaggeration of the actual story that Bill Bruford did a lot to get in people's heads as fact - that "Close to the Edge" was constructed in the studio as they went along, based on the first 6-7 minutes which would be all they had when they entered the studio. What actually happened was, by the end of the writing sessions at Una Billing's Dance School (same place where "Supper's Ready" was assembled just a few weeks later, btw), the entire structure had been finalised. But what they then did at Advision was record it in, I thikn, four separate segments for convenience's sake. It was reassembled at the mixing stage - which is where the famous incident with the 'weird' mix for the last segment took place. The bit about having to learn it from the record makes a nice story (and Bruford is a specialist of nice stories that are, to varying extents, contradicted by fact), but again that's wild exaggeration - probably that was referring to some of the finer details of the piece that did get added in the studio.

[bondegezou]

With a full band? Or solo acoustic at the Baked Potato type of things?

With orchestra: conducting and/or playing with. (Whatever discussions there were were presumably curtailed by the pandemic.)

Henry

[happytheman]

This is an exaggeration of the actual story that Bill Bruford did a lot to get in people's heads as fact - that "Close to the Edge" was constructed in the studio as they went along, based on the first 6-7 minutes which would be all they had when they entered the studio. What actually happened was, by the end of the writing sessions at Una Billing's Dance School (same place where "Supper's Ready" was assembled just a few weeks later, btw), the entire structure had been finalised. But what they then did at Advision was record it in, I thikn, four separate segments for convenience's sake. It was reassembled at the mixing stage - which is where the famous incident with the 'weird' mix for the last segment took place. The bit about having to learn it from the record makes a nice story (and Bruford is a specialist of nice stories that are, to varying extents, contradicted by fact), but again that's wild exaggeration - probably that was referring to some of the finer details of the piece that did get added in the studio.

I've got a boot from very early in the CTTE tour where they only play the first half of the song.. I think Jon mentions something about how they haven't learned the whole song.

[Mister Triscuits]

Bruford is a specialist of nice stories that are, to varying extents, contradicted by fact

Very interesting. I always thought that was Wakeman's specialty.

[calyx]

I've got a boot from very early in the CTTE tour where they only play the first half of the song.. I think Jon mentions something about how they haven't learned the whole song.

Of course, this may have been as a result of Alan White replacing Bill Bruford.

[calyx]

Very interesting. I always thought that was Wakeman's specialty.

My issue with a lot of Bruford's stories is that they don't square with the dates and chronology. He seems to often conflate different stories into one for effect. The genesis of UK (the band) is a case in point. Eddie Jobson's account in the UK boxed set is, as far as I can tell, accurate, but contradicts many of the things Bill has said in interviews. I'm not saying Bruford is consciously distorting facts, I think it's more like he favours the overall significance of a story over strict factual accuracy.

Wakeman is more of a professional storyteller, where effect on the audience is the most important thing. I haven't noticed major discrepancies in the chronology like I have with Bruford, but there are obvious exaggerations, and instances where he's probably still not able (or willing) to tell the whole truth (his return to Yes in 1976, the ABWH and Union sessions etc.)...

[bRETT]

Wakeman is more of a professional storyteller, where effect on the audience is the most important thing. I haven't noticed major discrepancies in the chronology like I have with Bruford, but there are obvious exaggerations, and instances where he's probably still not able (or willing) to tell the whole truth (his return to Yes in 1976, the ABWH and Union sessions etc.)...

Also, he never got a good review for having the band play two different songs at once.

[godbluff75]

I've got a boot from very early in the CTTE tour where they only play the first half of the song.. I think Jon mentions something about how they haven't learned the whole song.

What show would that be from? I have not found any evidence that this is true.
The information from Forgotten Yesterdays, http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/date...70&qdateid=247 , suggests that Saturday, September 2, 1972 was the first known performance of Close to the Edge, which they played its entirety. See http://www.yessongs.nl/04-CTTE.html.

The recording of the next show in Glasgow on September 4 fades during the beginning of the I Get up I Get Down section. This is likely due to a flip where the rest of the song was not recorded.

Here is Jon's intro to CTTE before 'Close To The Edge' from the Glasgow show, transcribed by: Jonathan Babcock:

Actually..uh Yeah, we're gonna, actually we're gonna play for a long time hope you, be around. We'd like to try something we haven't played before. Well, we played it, a couple of days ago. It's a new, a new song for us and..uh hope you'll sing along 'cause we need a bit of help. It's..uh a song from..uh the new album. It's..uh it'a very, yeah. Okay I'm just waiting for him to get in tune. And it starts off. If you listen very, very closely, it starts off..uh with the sound of a river and..uh it relates, it relates to a lot of things about Herman Hesse and things like the fact that we all come from the sea. The sea is alive. And we should look after it when we're not doing what we're gonna do. I hope. And..uh the song is called 'Close To The Edge'. I forget the words I'm lost.

[arturs]

Also, he never got a good review for having the band play two different songs at once.

No Shit!? That was probably my favorite story from his solo show that I saw in the early 00s. I've even repeated it several times...

[happytheman]

What show would that be from? I have not found any evidence that this is true.
The information from Forgotten Yesterdays, http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/date...70&qdateid=247 , suggests that Saturday, September 2, 1972 was the first known performance of Close to the Edge, which they played its entirety. See http://www.yessongs.nl/04-CTTE.html.

The recording of the next show in Glasgow on September 4 fades during the beginning of the I Get up I Get Down section. This is likely due to a flip where the rest of the song was not recorded.

Here is Jon's intro to CTTE before 'Close To The Edge' from the Glasgow show, transcribed by: Jonathan Babcock:

Actually..uh Yeah, we're gonna, actually we're gonna play for a long time hope you, be around. We'd like to try something we haven't played before. Well, we played it, a couple of days ago. It's a new, a new song for us and..uh hope you'll sing along 'cause we need a bit of help. It's..uh a song from..uh the new album. It's..uh it'a very, yeah. Okay I'm just waiting for him to get in tune. And it starts off. If you listen very, very closely, it starts off..uh with the sound of a river and..uh it relates, it relates to a lot of things about Herman Hesse and things like the fact that we all come from the sea. The sea is alive. And we should look after it when we're not doing what we're gonna do. I hope. And..uh the song is called 'Close To The Edge'. I forget the words I'm lost.

That must be the show I'm talking about.. it's been quite a while since I listened to it..
Setlist :
Firebird Suite
Siberian Khatru
I've Seen All Good People
Mood For A Day
Clap
And You And I
Heart Of The Sunrise
Close To The Edge (through the beginning of "I Get Up I Get Down" only)
Wakeman Solo
Roundabout
Yours Is No Disgrace

[vmartell]

I hope I am not derailing the conversation, but there are two things that want to put out....

1) Anderson/Stolt put out one of the best albums for Yes (or Yes-Like) Music in years - this is all a pipe dream but some kind of lineup with Stolt and Wakey... or any undeniable keyboardist will definitely capture my attention... or maybe I should wait/hope for a second from Anderson/Stolt...

2) Undeniable? Yes - my second point - this is something I got from the videos Dream Theatre put out of their drummer auditions... Petrucci said their new drummer should be undeniable - and that made a lot of sense... if replacing an important member, the new one should make EVERYONE say OK, yeah, that will work.. that makes sense... etc.. which brings me back to Yes. Jay Shellen - certainly a capable drummer. Undeniable? probably not... would love to see a more distinctive drummer replace Alan when he retires (which seems imminent) - maybe this is the chance to bring Michael Giles ! all a pipe dream I know... btw that is my same opinion of Billy Sherwood... talented? yes capable? of course. Undeniable as a member of Yes... not sure... probably not...

Just ranting/pipe dreaming here...

v