Yes - Trevor Rabin interview 1992 (some interesting insights!)

[bondegezou]

Not sure what the chronology was, but wasn't ABWH also begun a solo album (Anderson's) before the others were called in? I know some collaborative writing was done, but thought there were also songs where BWH just replaced the studio guys' parts?

On 90125, I think the credits are mostly accurate, although a list of names can hide that one guy contributed 80% and the others contributed 10% each. But bear in mind that there may be financial arrangements not acknowledged in the credits. I understand Anderson gets a share of royalties from "Cinema", a piece recorded before he joined the band, and that Howe and Jobson both got paid off by the album.

On ABWH, the inclusion of all four names on every piece was a convenient fiction, a wholly financial arrangement. Bruford and Wakeman probably don't warrant co-writing credits on most of the album (with exceptions: e.g. "The Meeting" was a pre-existing composition of Wakeman's with vocal melody/lyrics from Anderson). Much of the album was originally developed by Anderson. However, I'm uncertain to what extent it's meaningful to say it began as a solo album. The history is unclear to me.

What is clear is that large chunks of the album were written by Howe, notably "Brother of Mine", "Birthright", "Quartet" and the non-album b-side "Vultures". "Fist of Fire", "Order of the Universe", "Teakbois" and "Themes" seem to be mainly Anderson. ("Let's Pretend" is a Jon & Vangelis left-over.) It appears Anderson approached Howe, got a bunch of ideas from him, developed those and recorded much of the album with session musicians, then BWH do overdubs, last minute decision to include "The Meeting", further mixing by Anderson + the producer (including cutting out some of what BWH recorded).

Henry

[bondegezou]

Let's Pretend was written by Vangelis and previously released

"Let's Pretend" was for an aborted late 1980s Jon & Vangelis album, but wasn't previously released. The J&V version has never been officially released AFAIK, but has been bootlegged.

"The Meeting" was "Nina" on The Family Album.

And, yes, Jacaranda is a fantastic album.

Henry

[Nearfest2]

On 90125I understand Anderson gets a share of royalties from "Cinema", a piece recorded before he joined the band, and that Howe and Jobson both got paid off by the album.

Henry, can you explain the reference to Steve Howe here?

[Scott Bails]

I hope someone (Panegyric?) one day does a big boxset re-release of 90125 with ... the various songs not used on the album (some released, but others known to exist and never heard, notably "Time", the 20-minute long thing that "Cinema" is the introduction of)

I'm dying to hear this one day.

"The Meeting" was "Nina" on The Family Album.

Ahh...yes, thank you!

[Scott Bails]

Henry, can you explain the reference to Steve Howe here?

Don't want to speak for Henry, but IIRC, Howe made a squawk about their using the "Yes" name without him.

[profusion]

That's a great interview. Thanks for posting it.

One interesting point: at about 23:00, Trevor expresses skepticism at doing a true 8-piece follow-up to Union. Interestingly, Howe personally told me at the time (I got to meet him in L.A. during the Union tour) that the intention WAS to do such an album. He seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea. In retrospect, it's obvious that it never would have worked.

I agree that this interview clarifies a lot of the Yes politics that occurred then and are still occurring. Trevor was refreshingly willing to discuss that stuff--including how Jon is willing to say whatever he needs to in order to advance a certain project. Most likely, the reality of the situation in Yes at any given time is at once different than any of us fans think and also more prosaic.

As for AWR project, I'd still like to see it happen. I thought the Anderson/Rabin writing team worked well on Talk, and it'd be nice to see them write together again.

[bondegezou]

Don't want to speak for Henry, but IIRC, Howe made a squawk about their using the "Yes" name without him.

Indeed, that's it. Howe co-owned the Yes name. There was an agreement signed, involving all of YesWest + Howe + Wakeman, over use of the name. Howe and Wakeman both got paid off for agreeing to this. As far as I can make out, Howe got money per copy of 90125. I don't know if that applied to Wakeman.

In fact, I think Howe got something for every YesWest album.

Henry

[Progatron]

In fact, I think Howe got something for every YesWest album.

No wonder he griped (in the Classic Artists DVD) that YesWest only made two albums in ten years.

[Scott Bails]

That's a great interview. Thanks for posting it.

One interesting point: at about 23:00, Trevor expresses skepticism at doing a true 8-piece follow-up to Union. Interestingly, Howe personally told me at the time (I got to meet him in L.A. during the Union tour) that the intention WAS to do such an album. He seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea. In retrospect, it's obvious that it never would have worked.

I'm surprised that Howe would have been that interested in working directly with Rabin. He's always seemed to think that there wasn't enough "sonic room" for the two of them at the same time in Yes.

As for AWR project, I'd still like to see it happen. I thought the Anderson/Rabin writing team worked well on Talk, and it'd be nice to see them write together again.

I'm much more interested in the Rabin/Wakeman collaboration.

[profusion]

I'm surprised that Howe would have been that interested in working directly with Rabin. He's always seemed to think that there wasn't enough "sonic room" for the two of them at the same time in Yes.

I agree with you, but I assure you that Howe seemed quite energized when saying he wanted to do such an album. I don't think he was BSing, either. This wasn't an official type of occasion or interview, but an actual long conversation we had. It may be that the tour made him more optimistic than he should have been, or that he was just that interested in being part of Yes again, in whatever form it took. He didn't have anything else in the works at the time besides solo projects.

I'm much more interested in the Rabin/Wakeman collaboration.

Not me. I've always considered Wakeman to be the weakest contributor in Classic Yes. His writing is all primary colors without a shade of anything ambiguous or interesting. Jon can go that way, too, but I think he and Rabin could whip up something interesting if given the chance. I'm happy to have Rick as part of the AWR project, as long as his writing is merely incidental to it.

I'm guessing this is a non-starter due to scheduling and geographic problems, not to mention Jon's seeming inability to stay focused on a single project for any length of time.

[Paulrus]

Not me. I've always considered Wakeman to be the weakest contributor in Classic Yes. His writing is all primary colors without a shade of anything ambiguous or interesting.

I generally agree, but he must have been drinking or smoking something special at the time he was making Six Wives cuz that album definitely shows a facility for harmonic and tonal complexity that quickly disappeared thereafter.

I'm guessing this is a non-starter due to scheduling and geographic problems, not to mention Jon's seeming inability to stay focused on a single project for any length of time.

I'm wondering if it's a case of Jon being gun shy about diving into a group project with no guaranteed payoff, so he prioritizes the paying gigs ahead of it. Plus it sounds like all three are OK with contributing creatively, but are waiting for someone else to manage the whole thing.

[profusion]

I'm wondering if it's a case of Jon being gun shy about diving into a group project with no guaranteed payoff, so he prioritizes the paying gigs ahead of it. Plus it sounds like all three are OK with contributing creatively, but are waiting for someone else to manage the whole thing.

That could be. In fact, all three of them have paying jobs that necessarily have to take priority. That's where the problem of logistics comes in. If it were simple for them to get together for a few hours a week and trade ideas, it'd be doable as a side project. They can still trade sound files online and such, but then it becomes a matter of someone playing project leader and traffic cop, and that might be where the politics get a bit sticky.

[Paulrus]

That could be. In fact, all three of them have paying jobs that necessarily have to take priority. That's where the problem of logistics comes in. If it were simple for them to get together for a few hours a week and trade ideas, it'd be doable as a side project. They can still trade sound files online and such, but then it becomes a matter of someone playing project leader and traffic cop, and that might be where the politics get a bit sticky.

And as Chris Squire and Steve Hackett learned finding a label willing to help deal with and pay for distribution and marketing isn't easy these days. But you'd think someone would look at the names involved and figure there's a payoff there.

So yeah, I'm sticking with the "I'm too busy with things I know I can make money from" story.

[Scott Bails]

So yeah, I'm sticking with the "I'm too busy with things I know I can make money from" story.

This would work for Rabin and presumably Wakeman, but I doubt that the few projects that Anderson turns out these days is generating much income for him. This would be a lead project for him, I'd think.

[bondegezou]

Here's a Jon Anderson interview from 1992 for comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UfJ2WPEmPU

Henry

[Paulrus]

Here's a Jon Anderson interview from 1992 for comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UfJ2WPEmPU

Is that the one where he says laser light is a gift from the faerie kingdom?

[Nearfest2]

Indeed, that's it. Howe co-owned the Yes name. There was an agreement signed, involving all of YesWest + Howe + Wakeman, over use of the name. Howe and Wakeman both got paid off for agreeing to this. As far as I can make out, Howe got money per copy of 90125. I don't know if that applied to Wakeman.

In fact, I think Howe got something for every YesWest album.

Very interesting. I wasn't aware that paying off Howe for the name was tied directly to the per copy royalties of those albums.

[profusion]

This would work for Rabin and presumably Wakeman, but I doubt that the few projects that Anderson turns out these days is generating much income for him. This would be a lead project for him, I'd think.

I wouldn't be surprised if JA makes more money off of his solo acoustic tours than he did touring with Yes. He doesn't have to split the fees, and the overhead is non-existent. It's true that his haphazard music releases can't be making him much money, but almost no artist actually makes a profit off of recorded music anymore unless it's a soundtrack to something.

Also keep in mind that JA likely earns far more in royalties than either Rabin or Wakeman do.

[Scott Bails]

I wouldn't be surprised if JA makes more money off of his solo acoustic tours than he did touring with Yes. He doesn't have to split the fees, and the overhead is non-existent. It's true that his haphazard music releases can't be making him much money, but almost no artist actually makes a profit off of recorded music anymore unless it's a soundtrack to something.

I dunno. Maybe. They're so sporadic, and I wonder how well-attended they are. But you're right - the overhead would make it pretty profitable, I'd think.

Also keep in mind that JA likely earns far more in royalties than either Rabin or Wakeman do.[/QUOTE]

Right, but that wouldn't preclude him from doing other work.

[profusion]

JA was touring pretty regularly for awhile, but he seems to have slowed it down a bit. To be honest, I don't keep up with his activities that much anymore. His solo work never interested me very much.

[Innerviews]

I asked Howe a lot of hard questions discussed here:
http://innerviews.org/inner/howe.html

[JIF]

Brother of Mine started as an Asia song as I recall

So, that's why Geoff Downes gets a co-writing credit on that song?

[bondegezou]

I dunno. Maybe. They're so sporadic, and I wonder how well-attended they are. But you're right - the overhead would make it pretty profitable, I'd think.

His two recent UK shows sold out; one had a capacity of 550. On the other hand, New Zealand shows early last year were cancelled because of poor ticket sales. A Dec 2012 Brazilian date was reported to have sold 526 tickets, grossing $59,364. US dates earlier that year had sales of ~200 in one case, ~400 in another.

Henry

[Brian Griffin]

I prefer to go with Jon's version of the events, as always

BG

[JIF]

I prefer to go with Jon's version of the events, as always

BG

No offense, Brian, but it seems like Jon over-exaggerates sometimes. As with anything, if you ask five different people the same question, you'll get five different answers.