If XYZ had happened?

[Rufus]

There's no doubt this proposed supergroup of Page, Plant, Squire & White would have sold bucket loads, but what vision musically would they have had? Personally I think they would have been more rock than prog. I think we could have got a hybrid of something similar to 90125 & The Firm, in a more AOR style.But what intrigues me would have been their live set list. They would have only have had an albums worth of material so no doubt they would have had to 'tap into' their respective bands catalogue. I'm really struggling to think of any YES songs that would suit the singing & playing style of Page & Plant? And surely they would have had to use a keyboard player on tour?

Which YESSONGS do you think they would have played & would they have worked?

[Sean]

It probably would have lasted about as long as the Firm did and be about as important, in the footnotes of rock history (not very).

[Paulrus]

It probably would have lasted about as long as the Firm did and be about as important, in the footnotes of rock history (not very).

Yes-related threads are like weeds, eh Sean?

[Sean]

Shame you can't twist them up!

[dpt3]

There's no doubt this proposed supergroup of Page, Plant, Squire & White would have sold bucket loads, but what vision musically would they have had?

I can imagine them sounding something like this, but with Plant on vocals:

[Rufus]

I can imagine them sounding something like this, but with Plant on vocals:

^^^Cool, never heard thad demo before & not a demo from the XYZ sessions of that quality. Who was playing keys?

[dregsfan]

It's possible Squire or White added the piano as an overdub.

[TheH]

Guess what the first track is called. (only the first 4 tracks are XYZ)

[trurl]

It probably would have lasted about as long as the Firm did and be about as important, in the footnotes of rock history (not very).

Maybe... hard to say. It might have really taken off, but then the timing for that music was likely all wrong. 90125 hit because they had a far more modern guitarist and production style than XYZ would have brought to the table.

[calyx]

Didn't it surface recently that Dave Lawson (formerly of Greenslade) played keys for them ? He went on to play on Squire & White's Xmas single later that year and had some involvement with the resurrected Yes around the time of "90125" (we briefly discussed that when I interviewed him a few years ago but he seemed reluctant to go into details - he made no mention of the XYZ however, but that wasn't the focus of our discussion anyway, which was Web/Samurai/Greenslade).

[trurl]

Who was playing keys?

Probably Chris would be my guess.

[profusion]

Page was so far into his habit at the time that I don't think much of any worth would have resulted, no matter how much of Atlantic's money they spent. I agree that something like The Firm was probably the best-case scenario.

If 90125 hadn't happened, I would like to have seen Chris Squire step out front more in a sort of "Beatle-esque prog pop" setting, which is where his strength is as a writer and singer.

[PeterG]

Who were The Firm?

[GuitarGeek]

If XYZ had happened, it'd be the XYZ record, not The Firm, that everyone points to in saying that Page has "lost it". Owner Of A Lonely Heart probably wouldn't exist anywhere close to the form we know it, and it's quite possible we wouldn't have Cinema or Make It Easy (Make It Easy is kind of a tacky pop song, but I love that instrumental intro).

What was The Firm? It was Page's big "all star" band that made two albums in the mid 80's. You had Jimmy Page, him you know, you had Paul Rodgers of Free fame (yeah and he was in that other band, the one that had the King Crimson bass player in it) on vocals, you had former Manfred Mann/Uriah Heep/David Gilmour/future AC/DC drummer Chris Slade (he of the shaved head), and probably the best fretless bass player in rock, Tony Franklin (unless maybe you count Pino Palladino).

There were some good songs on the Firm albums, particular Radioactive (never could figure out what Page was doing during that guitar solo), Midnight Moonlight (largely salvaged from a leftover from the Zep days), Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tear Down The Walls, Live In Peace, and....what was the other single? All The Kings Men!

(notice how I just named the stuff that got played on MTV, except Midnight Moonlight, no I never actually owned either album, but the singles I thought were really strong)

The other really cool thing about The Firm was that Page traded his Les Paul for a brown string bender equipped Telecaster. I think it's actually the guitar he used with Zeppelin when they'd play Ten Years Gone live.

[Reginod]

It would have been cool. It would not have lasted long. It would have been ruined by rekkid company politics, internal band strife, and the personal problems of the individual members (OK, Page). The trajectories of the careers of each member would have been different thereafter.

The Firm had its value. They weren't the best band in the world, but I've always thought of it as the opportunity that Page needed to get out and play and clean his act up a bit and get his shit together. Tony Franklin's "Dreaming" from Mean Business was always a really nice track to my ears, very different from all the other Firm material.

[Trane]

Shame you can't twist them up!

if there is a will...

[Poisoned Youth]

It could still happen. Let's start a petition. Who's with me!

[dpt3]

It could happen to you, it could happen to me...

Wasn't there talk of releasing the material in some form? Has anything ever come of that?

[JKL2000]

Guess what the first track is called. (only the first 4 tracks are XYZ)

Tales from Topographic Mullets?

Open Your Ass?

[JKL2000]

It could still happen. Let's start a petition. Who's with me!

Send a PM to Geoff Downes and ask him to ask Squire.

[Dan Roth]

Didn't it surface recently that Dave Lawson (formerly of Greenslade) played keys for them ?

Yes he did - according to Lawson's bio on his website: "He also recorded some tracks with Chris Squire and Alan White, who at the time were taking a break from Yes. Jimmy Page also jammed with this set up and had managerial matters been resolved this line up would have been one hell of a band!" (from http://www.davelawson.org/pages/biography5.htm )

[Adm.Kirk]

Plant was on a far different path than the other principles of XYZ. I think this is why he bailed very early in the proceedings. I don't think he wanted to get tied down to any band and I think that path is the one he is still on today. He's turned down millions to do Zep again so I doubt he had more than a passing interest in XYZ. He probably only had that because of the quality of the musicians involved. Page was too deep into heroin I believe to be of much use to anyone at that point. Had he been more functional at the time I think they could have come up with some interesting material. The Firm albums were both solid albums. I am quite fond of both of them. Had Page, White and Squire hooked up with Paul Rodgers I feel like it would have been closer to what the Firm did. With Plant it would have gone off in an entirely different direction. Plant is far more whimsical than Rodgers which would have served them better. White, in my opinion, is a far better drummer than Chris Slade. Squire and Franklin are so different in styles it's hard to say who would have worked better with Page. As it is, I think it was a period for Page, White and Squire to figure out their next moves. Squire and White were obviously looking to put together a band and Squire noted in interviews that Page wasn't really up to it due to his drug problems which, or course, led to Rabin and the return of Yes. Page took a little longer to get going again with The Firm but the XYZ experience and the Death Wish II soundtrack at least helped him his feet wet again and he did get off drugs got back to work.

As far as what they would have played, I can't see any Yes material with Plant (or Rodgers) singing. That would have never worked. I suspect it would have been more like what the Firm did which was to play their entire album and a handful of oldies.

Bill

[Trane]

Who were The Firm?

A bunch of corporate rock musician decided to found a new merger... Thankfully they quickly went bankrupt, because not enough people bought shares in the venture


(I always thought this was the worst rock band name ever)

[GuitarGeek]

(I always thought this was the worst rock band name ever)

And then later in the 90's, it became the name of a gangsta rap act.

[TheH]

Tales from Topographic Mullets?

Open Your Ass?

Haha, I thought that should be an easy one looking at the masses of Yes disciples here.

OK it's "Mind Drive".