This is a transcript of an interview of Yes on CNN Showbiz Today 09-20-99. I have copied this from another board in case anyone here may not have heard about it. This may be shown again on CNN this weekend on Showbiz This Week.
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MORET: Most people wouldn't say no to music by Yes. The legendary band has sold million of albums through the years. It's out with a new one now.
Dennis Michael talked with the Yes men in Hollywood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do it.
JON ANDERSON, LEAD VOCAL: OK, let's do it guys.
DENNIS MICHAEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Never mind testimonials, and forget the lifetime achievement awards. The progressive rock band Yes is celebrating 31 years of transcendent musical existence in the best possible way: with a new album, "The Ladder," a tour, and a new single, "Lightning Strikes."
ANDERSON: When we started, we thought we'd get -- two or three years is like the life span of a rock 'n' roll band, so we were happy after five, ecstatic after 10, exhausted after 15, and we're now surviving.
MICHAEL: But not without changes. The group has gone through nearly 30 members in three decades. Bassist Chris Squire is one of the few who have been with the band from the earliest days.
CHRIS SQUIRE, BASSIST: In the '70s, it was like the big time with Steve Howe, who's now back with us with the band, but of course with Rick Wakeman, that was, like, I suppose the most identifiable version of Yes that people remember. But then when we moved into the '80s and Trevor Rabin joined the band, it became a different Yes, but, you know, still, you know, it sounded like Yes.
BILLY SHERWOOD, GUITAR: When you have John singing the way he does, it instantly has a sound. And Steve's playing and, you know, Alan and Chris's definitive style of working together the way they do, creates a definite soup that is Yes.
MICHAEL: Yes doesn't have the problem of keeping up to date: They were always ahead of their time. The band is right at home with the '90s, having provided music for the Sierra online video game, "Homeworld," which is being released on the same day as "The Ladder," an album with which the veteran band is
particularly pleased.
STEVE HOWE, GUITAR: The band liked the record at the end of it. That's what's important. It doesn't matter how many records you make, but if you make records with bands and you collectively like it, it's a wonderful feeling.
MICHAEL: Yes is currently on tour in South America, preparing for a series of dates this fall in the U.S. After 31 years, the question may be, will this band continue to thrive in the new millennium? If so, the answer is Yes.
Dennis Michael, CNN entertainment news, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYDNEY: And that's about it for now. In New York, I'm Laurin Sydney. So long until next time.
MORET: And I'm Jim Moret reporting from Atlanta. For everyone here at SHOWBIZ TODAY, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
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Check this out.........Yes in MB (a day early) will do a live webcast with Q&A.
Too bad we won't be there till the next night!
hob.com - Yes Upcoming Cybercast
Yes concert (video) on Nov. 4th. will be broadcast on the HOB web site by Pay Per View. Does anybody is planning to record it?
Exclusive Review from VH-1
The word "Yes" can strike fear into the heart of anyone who prefers their songs under the three-minute mark and unsullied by musicianship. But in their various permutations, the persevering prog rockers have become a guilty pleasure. It can only get guiltier with The Ladder's steadfast ignorance of trend. "Homeworld (The Ladder)" weighs in at nine minutes of scary Chris Squire bass runs, Steve Howe's intellectually wracked picking - demanding a graduate thesis behind every note - and Jon Anderson's Jon Anderson, which hasn't met a lofty sentiment it didn't smother with love. By "New Language," another nine-minuter (nine songs later - spooky!), he's pondering, "People get lost just waiting for history." And that's only after Igor Khoroshev's keyboards do their best "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." You may have to wait four minutes for the chorus, but it's a goodie, and Yes pop harder on The Ladder than at any time since the "Owner of a Lonely Heart" days, with Anderson's choirboy beatitude undiminished by the years. "Finally" is but one hard-driving example of their faith in themselves, and "If Only You Knew" makes the power ballad a most respectable thing. The Ladder calls for a Molly Bloom's-worth of positivity.
-A9 1999 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.
I'm not sure if this has been publicised but check the enhanced version of The Ladder in Windows Explorer or similar. As well as the Homeworld screensaver, you should find a themes subfolder containing two zipped themes. Nothing too spectacular however.
Found via
http://www.yeshoo.com/yeshoo_misc.html#COMPUTER, try http://www.trancetrip.com/yes/.
At 1:00 A.M. last night "Bill" Sherwood and Chris were on local television in South Florida. They were on a channel which broadcasts various South American channels and they happened to be on a Venezualen news type show during the entertainment segment. Of course the piece was overdubbed in Spanish and my wife was not home to translate but it was still nice to see the
boys getting some exposure.
Published 09-26-1999
Can a bunch of skanky British geezers really write a radio-ready pop anthem begging for a cover by Britney Spears?
In a word, Yes.
"If Only You Knew" is one of 11 tunes on Yes' new album, The Ladder, and represents the art-rock pioneers' best shot at top-40 status since 1987's "Love Will Find a Way." Plus, it's a better song.
"If Only You Knew" features one of those irresistible hooks that often come from one-hit wonders. That a longtime band such as Yes managed to eke this beautiful tune out of its collectively frayed consciousness is nothing short of a miracle.
Even more surprising is that the album surrounding it resembles classic Yes - which means grist for the mills of all those rock critics who hate it when bands try to escape the surly bonds of verse/chorus/verse/chorus.
But Yes fans burned out on "Roundabout" should run out quickly - or go online as quickly as their modems will allow - and snap The Ladder up. Many of the old, familiar names are back: Jon Anderson on vocals, Steve Howe on guitar, Chris Squire on bass and Alan White on drums. Filling out the lineup are guitarist Billy Sherwood and keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, whose organ playing might have you asking, "Rick who?"
The songs include numerous instrumental breaks featuring virtuoso playing, with a nod to Rush ("New Language"), as well as to the band' s own past ('80s Yes in "Finally"), which, OK, the album could have done without.
As usual, however, these are not lyrics to be taken seriously. Even "If Only You Knew" goes around the bend in that regard ("Cannot live without your truth/And be the true me, to be the true you.").
Elsewhere, Mr. Anderson's still-pure castrato-style vocals touch on everything from healing stars to speaking "from sort of protection of learning" to tribesmen in North Africa singing songs on the shore.
There's also an anti-technology undercurrent, which is ironic coming from a band that depends on high-tech gadgets for its success just slightly less than Texas Instruments.
So let the lyrics drift on by, and enjoy some surprisingly fresh music from a band that seemed to have left fresh behind years ago.
Yes return to classic form on THE LADDER, an album that features the kinds of chord changes, technical virtuosity, and vocal harmonies that brought the band to prominence. Bruce Fairbairn (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Cranberries), who passed away in May, 1999, made his last production job a memorable one.
Billy Sherwood and Igor Khoroshev join the classic lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan White. "Homeworld (The Ladder)" is a 9-minute opus that changes from straight-ahead rock to a piano melody, and is reminiscent of the band's early-'70s progressive work. "Lightning Strikes" has a ska feel to it, while "Can I?" is a world music reworking of the band's own "We Have Heaven." "Face To Face" is a fantastic classic rock
tune, and "If You Only Knew" is a wonderfully commercial ballad. Like the title track, "New Language" is another epic track featuring the keyboard talents of Mr. Khoroshev. Yes is a band that recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and has never stopped experimenting. THE LADDER is proof of this, with the group sounding as fresh as ever.
YesWorld updated the tour schedule this morning.
11/26 New Brunswick, NJ State Theatre
11/27 Mashuntucket, CT Foxwoods
11/28 Wallingford, CT Oakdale Theatre
12/1 Pittsburgh, PA Palumbo Theatre
12/2 Mt. Pleasant, MI Soaring Eagle Casino
12/4 Toronto, ONT Massey Hall
12/7 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
12/8 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
12/9 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
I just wanted to pass this along to everyone. My son just received his monthly Computer Gaming World magazine (November 1999, issue #184) and he said to me "Guess what mom? On the ad for Homeworld it says An Original Song from YES". The game is advertised on page 24 & 25 and at the lower left hand corner of page 25 there is a 3" x 4" ad for YES and it even has a picture of the new CD. Looks like a cool game.
from amy:
From: A.N.Other [no6@portmeirion.freeserve.co.uk]
Sorry I haven't got all the details, but Yes have been featured in the October issue of "Record Collector" in the UK. There's various bits...
A full page advert for The Ladder near the front.
Mention of zone 2 DVDs of Yes material from Castle Communications(?).
Details of the proposed publicity campaign for "The Ladder" including painting logos on trains and hot air balloons.
Hints of a UK Yestival next year with the band potentially attending.
Sorry I can't be more accurate, but I couldn't copy the articles out in the middle of Smiths.
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From: "Eddie Lee"
The "Keys To Ascension" and "Live in Philadelphia"[are the two DVD's]. I thought they were supposed to be released this month.
The new compilation from AMP Records entitled "Music for the 3rd Millennium" featuring unreleased tracks from Patrick Moraz, Rick Wakeman, Richard Pinhas, Steve Jolliffe, Isao Tomita, Keith Emerson, Synergy (Larry Fast) and 7 others is superb!!... one of the best compilations you will find for keyboard enthusiasts. The CD was released on August 11, 1999 at 11:11am BST, the moment of totality for the European Solar Eclipse (the "Millennium
Eclipse"). Most of the tracks are quite progressive, although some lean towards ambient-techno and electronic-classical. Mark Jenkins did a fine job in collecting this diverse set of keyboard-based tracks which celebrate the eclipse and the new millennium in grand fashion. There is more information at www.ampmusic.demon.co.uk
http://www.dotmusic.com/charts/top75albums.asp
Subject says it all. :~)))
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From: Roy DeRousse [roylayer@yahoo.com]
Very cool. I just read another report that says it's #25 on the Tower chart. Let's hope that it can sustain some chart action rather than fall off rapidly.
Music for the 3rd Millennium
From: Mark Fonda [markfonda@setarnet.aw] - Sept 26The Ladder enters UK charts at 36
From: brian_neeson@solectron.co.uk - Sept 27
I am soooo pleased for the guys.Back to main September Yes News - click here
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