Yesworld confirmed the appearence on Rockline March 10. The site also has a couple new tidbits on the recording sessions and tour plans.
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From Dian [YesTor@aol.com] - March 4
Just checked out the Rocklinesite and they have Yes down for
next Wednesday evening, March 10, at 8:30 PST/11:30 EST.
The number to call in with questions is 1-800-344-ROCK.
In Philly it's going to be broadcast on 102.9 WMGK. The
Rockline site lists all the other stations nationwide.
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From Johnnie Beacham [pbeacham@ecu.campus.mci.net] - March 11
I caught Yes on Rockline tonight, and there were no great revelations. Out of the hour & a half show, there were lots of commercials, and plenty of the familiar Yes standards played, so there wasn't as much talk with the guys as I hoped for, but they did all sound very up and positive, especially Anderson. Good news is, the album is going really well. It's described as having a more live feel, with less of the overdub sound of OYE. Jon jokingly said the working title at the moment is "FANTASTIC".
Bruce Fairbairn seems to be working out great for the band, freeing up the technical side of things for them to concentrate on the music. There were several mentions that the album is planned for a fall release.
Other great news came out of a question about the inspiration for the KTA 2 studio tracks. Jon said they would love to do Mind Drive and some of the other tracks on the next tour. He also said they would like to do "Perpetual Change", and Steve mentioned "To be over". It sounds like the music they are making now is definitely tour worthy material, with the collaborative live method they are taking with the record, but they never said when the tour would begin.
Also when asked what their favorite albums were, Igor, Alan & Chris said Relayer, and Jon & Billy said the new one. I don't remember what Steve said. It was great to hear the guys joking around in such a good mood. I think we have a great album to look forward to.
The host, Bruce Coburn kept saying he had all 6 members of Yes in the studio, so does this mean Igor is an official Yesman? I hope so. Questions about Rick's departure didn't go much further than to say, he didn't want to tour as much as the other guys.
Also Steve announced his CD-ROM will be released next month. There was also talk of "The Lost Yes Tapes". Steve said their main concentration was the new album, so that was definitely on the backburner. The guys jokingly said "now available on Steve Howe Records". There was not the first question or mention of Trevor Rabin, which I thought was strange, although they played Owner & Love Will Find a Way.
Someone asked a really good question about their spiritual influences, which Chris turned into slag on the Catholic Church. It seemed even Jon didn't want to get into this subject saying something about Seinfeld, and 'Life is great". That was my only disappointment with the show, otherwise it sounds like the band is working like a real band again so maybe we'll get the real Yes album we've been waiting for.
I need your CD review!
Subscribe at:
http://www.homestead.com/yesbritprog/YesBritProg
From: Torbjorn Hk
There's plenty -- see recent posts on alt.music.yes, notably from Steven Sullivan, myself and Nic Caciappo. Also see the a.m.y. FAQ news page.
Torbjorn Hk: "Anything about the songs"
More in the style of the Keys... albums than OYE, but still with some pop sensibilities. If I may quote Steve S., from a post on 19 Feb:
"-- they're all working together in Fairbairn's studio (no parts
phoned in from England, etc.), and they seem to like this arrangement.
"-- at least one tune will have a 'pop-like' guitar intro but will then morph into a more 'classic' large-scale symphonic Yes song. Other songs may also have 'hooks' [...]
"-- some tunes feature Yeswest-style vocal trading (eg, Jon does one part, then Sherwood does a part, a la 'SHoot High Aim Low', I guess)"
Torbjorn Hk: "are they working well together or are there any problems? How about the colaboration with Bruce?? Divorces? Arguments?"
They are all working together and are happy with Fairbairn. All of them have been contributing to the compositional process, including Khoroshev. However, Nic reports some tension with Anderson and Howe concerned over how well the next albums sells.
Torbjorn Hk: "[...] what about this European summer tour?? Is there any substance in that rumour? If it's only some summer festivals, then Sweden might be left out - again!! Or have I just been reading my mails bad, lately? [...]"
Touring in Europe and North America in the summer is tentatively planned, but I don't know any details and I don't imagine anything will be confirmed for some time yet. I wouldn't hold your breath for any shows in Sweden...
For all you, I found this url Talk Concert. At that site you can download the entire TALK concert in MP3 format. You can hear there the instrumental version of Perpetual Change. I hope that this helps.
FWD: press realease from Rudolf Music
[SNIP]
Rudolf Music releases Independent CD produced by legendary rock music producer Eddie Offord. This is the second CD release for the independent Rudolf Music, and the second CD by the progressive rock group TIMMY.
The line up in this veteran five piece includes Andy West from the Dixie Dregs, along with John Harrison, Don MacLeod, Peter Penhallow, and Charles Tapp. The four song release is entitled "The Atlanta Project".
[SNAP]
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From: Rob [kudla@pobox.com] - March 5
Just the clips on the website which sound like an unfortunate cross between GTR and Boston. Still, the organ sound is typical of an Offord production and I always like West's bass tone. (Listen to the album he made with Mike Keneally, Henry Kaiser and Prairie Prince, "The Mistakes", for an example of what I think Crimson should have sounded like in the 90's.)
Bottom line, I don't think I can give a better description than this lyrical quote: "You were my baaaaaaybeh, now you're my laaaaaaaydeh!"
Since I came back home [Hong Kong], I stayed home most of the time - mainly to keep my Mom company. I watched a lot of local TV and guess what, I heard a portion of "The Calling" in a local TV commercial. The commercial is for a Chinese pop song contest, the section of the song was at the beginning when the bass starts to kick in. I recognised it immediately and I told my brother, since he didn't have the Talk CD, he never heard of that song before - he said it's pretty good.
I also remember watching a Chinese drama (back in Hawaii last year) that they played the acoustic guitar intro from "That, That Is" as background music (not the KTA version, some one here in Hong Kong played it). There is definitely people into Yes in Hong Kong!
Thought some of you might be interested to know that there's a short article on Igor by Tim Morse in the April issue of Keyboard Magazine. It's in the department called 411.
I've just noticed that 'No More Talk' by Dubstar has a sample of Alan White right at the start of the track. Thought some of you may be interested!
If this has any truth .....Yipeee!!!!!!
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From 2 reliable sources working closely with Yes and Bruce Fairburn in Vancouver comes this report:
After listening to some of the new tracks for the upcoming album (early rehearsal tracks, that is), Yes has gotten back to their progressive roots. The new music is not pop-oriented like OYE at all.
Two words come to mind describing the upcoming album: "It Rocks!!"
To let you all know, the song I got to listen to "Millineum Child", clocks in at about 20 minutes!!
It's like "Gates Of Delirium, part 2". It's very loose, has an interesting time signature and quite frankly is very Moraz-like.
In the middle of the song, Yes goes completely "ape-shit" wild.
Steve uses alot of wicked slide sounds and piercing, fuzzing noises.
The song also includes swirling samples of children singing "Children Of Light" and "Soon".
Also, Chris' vocals are turned way up.
Igor goes nuts and finally displays his free-style capabilities.
Believe it or not, it's better than "Mind Drive!!"
How's that for a Yes album update?
Speaking of "Mind Drive".... Yes boys and girls, they will be performing "Mind Drive" and "Foot Prints" on the next tour coming this summer.
So Yes will be touring before the new album comes out.
It looks like Billy has been relegated to just writing songs and playing rhythm guitar, no producing duties at all.
And now a side note as to why Yes played the same "oldies" set during the last 2 years:
Yes is booked by MCA management who book a lot of "oldies" bands around the country. They basically dictate the "play list", as Yes' hands are basically tied regarding what they want to play or should play. MCA only wants Yes to play songs that people are familiar with. A familiararity "quota" so to speak. MCA wants them to play "songs most identified with Yes". So that kind've explains that lack of variety in songs during Yes' last 2 tours.
That's it. I hope I've enlightened some of you as to what we can expect from Yes in the summer and beyond.
DrYes1970
I just put up a Q&A (question and answer) page to my website for Billy Sherwood,whom I was able to interview via email yesterday.
Billy Sherwood-Summer Tor's Unofficial Website
And...Thanks to Billy for taking time out of his busy Yes-schedule to answer some questions. :D
Cherie
Summer Tor's HomePage
Just got this email from Dave Gallant who runs the official Asia web site and is writing a book on Asia. I'm sure many of you will be interested in it. Here's what he said:
Greetings!
It's been almost three years, but I'm proud to finally announce that my book on the history of Asia, "The Heat Goes On", will be released this coming June through England's Northdown Publishing Ltd.
The book chronicles the band's turbulent career and the history of its individual members. It will also feature EXCLUSIVE interviews with members of the band, along with tons of live photos, ticket stubs, album covers, posters, etc. You'll read the book to find out:
** How Steve Howe *almost* joined Keith Emerson and the Nice.
Pricing for the book will be available shortly, although it is expected to be in the range of UK £11, or US $18 [plus postage]. More details, including instructions for pre-ordering the book, will be forthcoming as we draw closer to the June release date.
In the meantime, I'd just like to say a huge THANK YOU to all who have helped me with this project. It's hard to believe, but we're almost there.
A few tidbits about Billy and Igor that I haven't seen mentioned:
Sherwood has posted the track listing to his new album "The Big Peace" on his NFTE web site at Billy Sherwood News. Kind of intriguing to me, though I never cared much for World Trade. At least it doesn't look like an OYE.
Also, that Keyboard magazine interview with Khoroshev in the April issue is out, and in fact I got the last copy from my local Borders Books. Not quite a page long, the interview was done before the last leg of the tour was over and focuses mostly on Igor's gear and Yes' lineup changes. No real new info but enough for a Yessucker to buy Keyboard Magazine. ;)
Last week I arranged for Peter Banks to perform as "surprise guest" at a small London concert by Fragile, the UK-based Yes tribute band.
Although my spinal-cord injury prevented me from attending, I am delighted with public reaction to the event! Peter played Time And A Word and Starship Trooper and apparently really enjoyed himself! There was no prior rehearsal, and Peter told me it's nearly 30 years since he's played T&aW! Earlier, he mentioned to me that whereas he remembers performing it in 'C' for the Yes album, listening to the remastered CD it seems a quarter tone lower, probably to take the tempo down. So until the evening before the gig Peter didn't know what key Fragile use for the song, and only then could he start practising suitably!
The audience were very excited and paid their own tribute to Peter and his contribution to Yes history and the Yes legacy. Fragile tell me Peter is welcome to join them onstage again anytime. I among many have for years wished Peter could have more opportunities to perform live with high calibre musicians. Fragile certainly fit the bill!
Attending their debut concert earlier this year was my first concert attendance for a couple of years (due to my spinal injury). To date, I can't sit for longer than 7 minutes, so typical English concerts with formal seating aren't yet possible for me. Small scale, stand-up gigs are OK - though it takes about a week for pain levels to settle. For any disabled, or severely injured, Southsiders reading this ~ Fragile are the next best band to Yes for hearing healing sounds!
Tiz Hay
http://www.dotmusic.com/charts/top75albums.asp. Check out this link, and go to No 34..for some REEEEEEALLY good news.
Found this on AMY...........hope it's not too late for anyone who can tune this in!
Yes will be talking on Off The Record with Joe Benson tonite here in Los Angeles on Arrow 93 (KCBS FM 93.1) at 10 pm tonite. I haven't seen anyone post up any messages for it and it's only an hour and 45 minutes away. I can't wait to hear any news or conversations.
I will also be taping the show and would be glad to post it up in Real Audio or make a good size MP3 if I can find a person who would graciously have webspace for all fans of Yes to hear and enjoy. E-Mail privately.
Thanks and hope you are able to listen Los Angeles
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From: AYESMAMA@aol.com - March 23
I heard Off The Record with YES the Sunday after the Rockline show on a local radio station. Actually, we only heard part of it - because as Kathy was getting ready for bed, she was listening to the radio. I heard this shouting from her room, "Anne, quick, turn on your radio - Jon is talking on KUFX!!" So, of course I turned it on. We caught the last 35 min or so and I got some of it on tape. Most of the show that I heard was songs being played (old ones, not anything from recent cuts) with some comments from Jon and Chris between. Not a lot of info, but I love how Jon talks about the kind of music he writes. Everything else, I have pretty much heard. It IS pretty recent, though, because they speak of the most recent tour and announce at the end that YES are in Vancouver recording a new cd. I'd still love to hear the whole thing, so if you get a notice about it being put on the web, please let us know, so I can try (and try and try:) to download it.
saxlife@hooked.net writes:
Also, the trailer with HOTS is at the beginning of BRIDE OF CHUCKY released today. My 11 year old just put it on,and I nearly came out of my seat to hear YES on a current video. (CLASSIC YES at that!) When I told him "that's YES!" he seemed pretty impressed. Perhaps there's hope for the future after all!
Igor Fans -
Igor discusses the release of "Piano Works" and announces the follow-up, a collaboration titled "Culture of One". Check it out!
Go to "The Igor Khoroshev Web Site" .and click on the "Igor Interview" graphic.
From: Henning Schnoor [schnoor@cruise.de]
It is, indeed, a boot.
"Another thing, are there any details on the new Yes album? Last thing I heard was Yes went into the studio about January. Is there some kind of tentative release date?"
The latest information suggests the album won't be out until the autumn, but that the band will be touring in the summer anyway. For further details, see the alt.music.yes FAQ news page at Yes FAQ.
Apparently this book is now out. Here's a place where you can order.
"I ordered from Music Machine, 410-356-4567. It is 25.00. I think the book is excellent. It is not so much about the music but is more about the guys themselves and their relationships with each other and mgmt etc."
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From: RKauff7777@aol.com - March 29
FYI, you can order Close To The Edge from Gary Davis at The Artist Shop (The Other Road) for $17.95. I have no idea whether this book is being released in both hardcover and soft cover or just hardcover right now, and TAS doesn't say which this is. This price is about $6 cheaper than I've seen it listed elsewhere. The website for The Artist Shop is www.artist-shop.com.
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From: Eddie Lee [eddie_k_lee@hotmail.com] - March 29
Chris Welch's book is titled: "Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes". Below is a brief review that I got from A.M.Y.
There hasn't been a book like this since Dan Hedges' biography came out at the beginning of the eighties. "Melody Maker" journalist Chris Welch is the perfect person to have tackled the band's story anew. He was a fan at the band's inception and had even previously been plugging Anderson's prior two singles as Hans Christian. Coincidentally, he also played in a band with Geoff Downes before he joined Yes too. Welch has had the co-operation and assistance of all the past Yes members and many others from behind the scenes. At 280 detailed pages, this book is a joy for any Yes fan.
Yet, on the down side, despite all the details, there are some odd omissions. A quick skim through the relevant section failed to reveal any mention of Eddie Jobson, his brief involvement in the band or appearance in the video for "Owner of a Lonely Heart". Nor was there any mention of Bruce Gowdy and only passing reference to the activities of YesWest between _Big Generator_ and _Union_. Perhaps these seem like esoterica, but with so much space spent on other topics, I was surprised and disappointed that they were not covered. However, there's certainly plenty of new information elsewhere in the book.
I have a couple of other minor niggles. That Welch is a journalist shows in his writing style, which I found marginally annoying at times. The book lacks an index, although it does have some useful appendices.
One danger with band biographies is how easy they can turn into hagiography. There is much to the dark side of Yes. While it is clear that Welch is a huge fan, it is to his credit that he doesn't avoid discussing the more noxious events, although he still tries to present them in the best light. In all, a great work and a better purchase than _Open Your Eyes_!
And in the future? It is no complaint with this book that I say we still await a more interpretative history of the band. Yes has been crying out for a good biography since Hedges' book went out of print and became rapidly out-dated by the success of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and the subsequent umpteen line-up changes and Welch has filled that void. I'd also like to mention Tim Morse's "Yesstories": a wonderful book, although as a compilation of quotes, it is more a resource than a biography. However, after "Yesstories" and "Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes", I would like to see a book that goes beyond just a presentation of facts and events and which does more to consider the why's of Yes than just the what's and who's and when's. Welch begins to do this, but I think there is plenty more to do... so we'll just have to do it ourselves on the newsgroup for now!
-- Henry Potts
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From: Rkauff7777@aol.com - March 31
Here's an e-mail I got from Gary today explaining the price increase for the book. I'm sure everyone who ordered it from him did or will get this. I guess it was just too good to be true to be that much cheaper. It's still cheaper than Music Distributers which is listed on YesWorld as selling it at $29.95.
"Had to drop you a note about the Yes bio as my import distributor just informed me of a change in price. I asked why the change. They said that back in October when they'd originally be solicited for it, it had been described as a paperback book. It seems that it is now to be a hardbound book. The price will be $26.95. Do you still want it at that price?"
"Aren't there any details about how the work is going for our boys?"Perpetual Change during Talk
From: Ricardo F. Maurino [rfmauri@delta.com.ar] - March 6
Eddie Offord
From: [RedWrathe@aol.com] - March 5
1999:Northern California Yes music in Hong Kong
From: Eddie Lee [eddie_k_lee@hotmail.com] - March 7Igor in April Keyboard Mag.
From: RKauff7777@aol.com - March 7Alan White on Dubstar
From: Steve Young [syoung.ndif@gtnet.gov.uk] - March 8
Vancouver Recording Update
From: YESFAN1046 - March 13
YESFAN1046Interview with Billy
From: Summer Tor - March 14Asia's book
From: Eddie Lee [eddie_k_lee@hotmail.com] - March 16
** Who else besides Trevor Rabin auditioned for Asia in 1981?
** What really happened with the band in 1983?
** What events surrounded John Wetton's return [and Steve Howe's
departure] in 1984?
** How did Asia almost reform in 1987 *without* Palmer or Howe?
** What was the 'Ride The Tiger' project with Geoff Downes and Greg Lake? Here both men describe it in their own words.
** Why did John Wetton leave Asia in 1991?
** Why did the Buggles reunite for one concert appearance in 1998?
** What is happening with the band in 1999?"New Guy" News
From: Rob [kudla@pobox.com] - March 17Peter Banks performs Yes songs live in 1999
From: Tiz Hay [tiz@progress.freeserve.co.uk] - March 21
The Yes Music Circle
(international supporters club)"Return" on UK Album Charts
From: brian_neeson@solectron.co.uk - March 22Yes, on Off the Record in LA
From Sarah [Animation7@aol.com] - March 22Buffalo 66 & Bride of Chucky
From Michael McMillan [MLM6915841@aol.com] - March 23
"Also, you'll find HOTS included in the trailer for Buffalo 66 in the video for the George Clooney/ Jenifer Lopez movie 'Out of Sight.'"Igor Solo Music Announcements!
From John A. - Yeshoo [yeshoo@yahoo.com] - March 23
There are some very exciting solo music announcements to be found in an interview with Igor, just posted to "The Igor Khoroshev Web Site". Open Your Ears
From: Henry Potts [h.potts@ucl.ac.uk] - March 26
"I heard there is an official live release from the 97 tour called "Open Your Ears". Since I never read about this one anywhere, I assume it's probably just another bootleg - but certainly someone here has info about it?" New Yes Bio by Chris Welch
From Sarah [Animation7@aol.com] - March 27
=========
Although the official release was to have been in a fortnight's time, Chris Welch's new Yes biography, "Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes", is now readily available. I've flipped through the book and just begun reading it properly. yessng@aol.com | Moonrise Mountain | Yes
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