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Set your clock to the start of a brand new year
Shine your heart to the universe and get the news
Not alone never have been, never will be
See the truth, not the mention the promise made

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"The Ladder is the album I've wanted to make for
twenty years." says Jon Anderson with a contented smile.
Indeed, Yes has found that the key to ascension is something
as practical as a ladder - a ladder whose songs are made of
inspiration, collaboration, and perspiration.

Yes gathered in Vancouver, Canada with producer Bruce
Fairbairn in late 1998 to begin working on the follow-up to
Open Your Eyes. "We made an agreement to rehearse
together, to write together, to record together, and to
really feel good together about creating an album that is
the best that we, collectively, were capable of making"
Anderson says. "The fact that we'd been on the road
together for a year-and-a-half really molded the band, and
shaped the individuality of each member, so by the time we
came together to rehearse, we were already bonded on many
different levels." Co-founder and bassist Chris Squire picks
up the story, "Bruce wanted to re-capture the idea of us
playing tracks live in the studio. That was really a good
thing. We enjoyed doing that. It's more of a challenge to
record that way, but ultimately, it's more satisfying."
This turned out to be an eye-opening experience for keyboard
player Igor Khoroshev. The majority of Khoroshev's
keyboards were kept from the original takes, and Fairburn
discouraged any re-working, over-dubbing or reparations of
those flashes of inspiration. "He said, 'Listen to this!
There is so much life in it! I don't want you to try to
modify it, or try to make it so perfect that it gets boring.
Don't worry about what you think is a screwup here or there.
That's what makes it live and interesting to listen to!'.
It was quite a lesson for me." Khoroshev explains. "Bruce
was really perfect" says Jon Anderson. "He reminded me a
lot of our producer in the seventies, Eddie Offord, who was
almost like a member of the band. Bruce was very musical.
He just made everyone work to the best of their ability."
"He was a great producer for Yes." agrees guitarist Steve
Howe. "he was a collaberator and a friend. He helped bring
out the best in all of us.

The Ladder contains all of the hallmarks of the best Yes
albums. From the opening track, the epic "Homeworld (The
Ladder), " Yes connects seamlessly with the rich heritage of
progressive, classically inspired rock - a genre which the
band virtually defined early in their career. And yet the
track manages to sound contemporary and fresh. The track
grew slowly, built up from ideas from all corners of the
band, and was gradually molded and intergrated in a
coheasive whole under Anderson's watchful eye. "It was a
difficult song to figure out" he admits. "But I had the
complete structure in my head. Once we realized that we had
this piece of music that Steve had put on tape earlier, we
used Steve's tape to connect the opening section to the big
chords and solos from the keybords, guitars and the chorus
at the end. I just had this feeling of how each track would
mold into one another. I knew that starting with a
large-scale piece was the way to go. It sets you up. From
there, you can't turn back. It takes you on the journey."

While long-time fans revel in the scale, the complexity, the
warmth, the sheer Yes-ness of "Homeworld," it's the radical
move into uncharted territory for hte band that has Chris
Squire most excited, "I'm really happy about the way
'Lightning Strikes' turned out," he says. "I think that
that's really a good thing because it a different angle of
Yes that we haven't explored before." The direction
surprised even the band, says Billy Sherwood. "But we were
all digging what people were playing, so we just said,
'Let's go with it!' We didn't sit around thinking, 'Let's
write something that sound kind of Afrikaans.' but that's
how it ended up. The good thing about where the band is at
these days is that there's no real p

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Ladder. "Jon's come up with a beautiful potpourri of
his lyrical history with Yes. The lyrics on this album
encompass a lot of his stylish writting for Yes - things
that Jon does which are very intriguing. He puts a great
deal of work and enthusiasm into the whole album, and it's
particulary evident in the lyrics." "The lyrics that I wrote
on this on are very simple, " Anderson says. "But very
effective, 'Golden forest/golden lake/sanctuary/state of
grace.' To get to that point is really nice. You're always
homing your lyrical content, and telling the story more
effciently. I'd written a song for my wife, Jane, called
"She Caught Me When I Was Falling," which became "If Only
You Knew." I started detailing the lyrics into a love ballad
when we started doing this album. That song is all about
what Jane brought into my life - it is a beautiful sense of
the realization of love."

"Bruce would always encourage me to write stories, I wrote
'Nine Voices, '" which is a true story about nine tribesman
in Africa singing a new song at the time of the Harmonic
Convergence." Anderson sings the story accompanied by what
appears to be a team of guitarists. It is in fact, only one
guitar, played live and without augmentations, by Steve
Howe. "It is the first time I've ever played such an
intricate thing on the Portuguese guitar. In the past,
I've used it more as a support instrument, maybe with a
little featured role now and again. You've heard it on
"Wonderous Stories" and "I've Seen All Good People." But
here, I improvised. It takes on a almost sitar type of
approach in spots. I'm very pleased that it sounds like
there are many people playing. In fact, it is just me and
that one Portuguese guitar, playing live, with Jon singing
the shape of the song. We got it in a wonderful take. I
think the scale of it is really nice. It's not a big song."

"Igor and Billy are new, young, fresh blood in the band,"
explains Alan White. "They've really brought new ideas, and
inspired us to push into new directions. There's new energy
here. Maybe in part, it's due to this millennium thing. We
know now that the band is going to carry forward into the
new millenniun, which has always been a goal. Everbody has
really consolidated, and is feeling really good about doing
that. The new album marks a good step toward that." Steve
Howe agrees. "We certainly made this album as a joint
project and group effort that we all could be proud of. It
has been a long time since there has been such a
collaboration record from Yes. It's more collaborative, and
really, it's a celebration of the fact that we're still
here!"

Yes have done what many though impossible. They've released
their strongest studio album in decades, and are poised to
move forward into the dawn of the new millennium with the
momentum and energy of a brand new band. "What a way to end
the century! With an album like this," says Jon Anderson.
"We all feel so proud of what we've done over the past
thirty years. We've gone through the highs and lows of
trying to survive. And here we are, on what I think is a
very good high. We've gone the full cycle and made an album
that I know all Yes fans, around the world will just
rejoice."

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From the fourth of August, 1968, the day they first stepped
on stage together, Yes were ahead of their time. they had no
interest in being followers. Sure, in their infancy, they
played their share of covers. But even these were not
rehashed version of the same old song. Yes saw the world
through their oen unique perspective, and what no one else
had previously seen seemed perfectly natural to them. they
dissaembled their musical world much in the way Picasso
broke down the visual world, and reconstructed it just as
eloquently. Yes was not just another rock band born out of a
flourishing musical climate. Even as teenagers, when youth
and inexperience was the only thing that kept them from
reaching their dreams, they had a clear vision of what a
rock band could achieve. They came from diverse backgrounds
musically and culturally, and each member brought unique
elements to the music that made it radiate with energy and
enthusiasm. They were born out the hazy naivete' of
psychedelia, the alternating coolness and explosiveness of
jazz, the brash, lost innocence of rock and roll, and the
sophitication of classical. They were innovators, who were
at the forefront of a new sound which became known as
"progressive" or "art rock." Yes has proven time and again
that if you remain true to your dreams, true magic can
happen. The unmistakable Yes magic would touch countless
millions over the next thirty years, and beyond. But it is
unlikely that even Yes themselves could have foreseen the
scope of the impact they would have on modern music when
they begain their journey.

Chris Squire recalls his first meeting with Jon Anderson.
"It was early 1968 when I met Jon. He was doing some
part-time work in this bar, call La Chassie Club, helping
out there. It was the bar I used to go to, because it was
next to the famous Marquee club. We just started talking
about our musical tastes, and we both realized that we liked
Simon and Garfunkel and The Association. We leaned towards
vocally-oriented bands. We decided to get together and do
some writing, and we went back to my apartment and wrote
'Sweetness.' That was the first song we wrote together."
Chris recruited a band mate from his days prior to Yes,
ex-Syn guitarist Peter Banks. Bill Bruford joined the band
on drums after being discovered through a classified ad in
Melody Maker; London's weekly music newspaper. Keyboardist
Tony Kaye, already a sesioned veteran of the London club
scene, was the fifth addition to the origianl Yes.

Yes immediately began playing the thriving London club
scene. They became regulars at the Marquee Club, supported
such bands as The Who and Cream, and quicly gained a loyal
following of their own. People were immediately drawn in the
unique quality of Yes music. The complex arrangements and
overlapping vocal harmonies were fresh and innovative.

The band's self-titled 1969 debut was a strong one,
establishing a style and approach from the opening notes of
"Beyond And Before." The band's cover of McGuinn and
Crosby's Byrds classic, "I See You." is a highlight, and the
Anderson/Squire origianl, "Looking Around," is a powerful
post-psychedlic rocker that presupposes "Parallels." The
album debut was not a commercial success, but it was
critically acclaimed.

"The thing I remember most about making our debut album was
the fear of

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a microphone and the studio." Jon Anderson recalls. "I knew
that we were just starting off on a journey. My early lyrics
were pretty abstract and my early writing was very simple,
yet I was aiming for a more poetic approach. If you listen
to "Survival." I am just telling a simple story about how
nature is an amazing thing that surrounds us. 'Dear Father'
is about the Christ within, And all these things. I still
carry on writing about over the years. I set up the stle of
writing very early on, and started to refine it as I went
along. Getting more abstract at times, while keeping very
simple at other times."

By the second album, Time and a Word, a clear musical
direction was emerging. The young band was still reaching
for the goals just beyond its grasp, but there was marked
improvement all around, particulary on the original
compositions. The Anderson-penned "Astral Traveller" is
signature Yes, while the album's title track formed the
band's see spirit without the heavy syrup. The band's
maturation was rapid. Yes and Time and a Word
provided the group with a solid foundation - a necessary
base from which to build skyward.

Striving to achive a richer, more dynamic sound, Time and
a Word featured an orchestra. "Jon was alays really into
orchestral sounds, he was always talking about them." says
Chris. "I suppose we were always trying to reporduce them on
the early keyboard technology that we were working with. We
did not actually have the ability to produce the sounds yet
because synthesizers had not been invented, so we got some
real orchestal strings and brass. We got the real thing."
Jon envisionsed where Yes could go in thsoe early days, "We
were trying to bring a real an orchestral feel into the
group," he says. "I started believing that symphonic sounds
could really encompose the band."

One of Yes' trademark sounds also emerged on Time and a
Word - quite by accident, in fact. Chris Squire tells
the story. "it is an interesting story, about how I got a
little bit of fame. The producer, Tony Colton decided that
he was going to mix the album on headphones and not listen
to the speakers. So he was stitting at the engineering desk,
and the headphone socket had a real 'tinny' sound coming out
of it. I remember sitting there in the studio, and Tony had
these headphones pressed to his head, and he kept waving
over to the engineer saying. 'more bass, more bass!' Eddie
Offord, the engineer on that album looked unsure, because he
was listening through good speakers at the same time, not
the headphones. The guys said, 'That's a lot of bass isn't
it?' I just said, 'well, he is the producer. How
would I know!' So the bass is really loud on Time and a
Word because the guy mixed it on tinny headphones, and
he could not hear any bass. And then, when the album came
out, all the audiophile magazines gave it five star reviews.
So of course, my future was set. The next Yes album came
along, it was mixed the same way. In a way, that guy with
his tinny headphones had a lot to do with my career. So
thank you, Tony Colton!"

With The Yes Album, the band moved from rapid
maturation into full evolutionary overdrive. The first
personnel change occured, and it was the addition of
guitarist Steve Howe that provided the final element that
allowed Yes' music to catch up to their dreams. "A Venture"
hearkens back to the first two releases, but the remaining
five origianl compositions all pointed toward the future.
"Perpetural Change" took "Astral Traveller" deeper into
space, while "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "Starship Trooper"
fianlly achieved the grandeur to which the band had aspired.
"The Clap" introduced an eclectic and delightful bit of
country picking, and "I've Seen All Good People" introduced
the approach of melding divergent pieces of music into a
cohesive whole - a Yes trademark for years to come. The
Yes Al

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much what I wanted - to get calls from bands and to be
invited to go and see what they were like. Because although
I was pretending not to be desperate, things were getting a
little bit difficult! But I wanted to go to the right band,
and not just the first band that came along. Fortunately,
Yes was the first band that came along, as well as the right
band. And I was moved and motivated by the whole band, the
way they played, the way they had so much musicianship. I
think what attracted me most was the instrumentation. The
fact that Bill and Chris were so profoundly individual and
that Jon's writing and voice were so individual. This was a
team that worked well together. There was definitely
something creative going on unlike anything I had ever heard
before."

Until this time, Yes had been cultivating the hometown
market on London, but had failed to make an impact in the
States, and the record label was getting anxious. "By The
Yes Album, there where getting nervious about whether to
go on financing us," says Chris. The band's fortunes changed
with The Yes Album. It would reach number 6 in the
U.K. and made a mark in the U.S. charts as well.

"Yes had a three-album deal, and The Yes Album was
the last of these three albums," says Steve. "So if The
Yes Album had bombed, there may have not been another
deal for Yes. It was a very tightly made record. We were in
and out of studios. We were doing gigs, and going back to
the studio for a few days. It was the only album I have ever
done with a band that we played before going into the
studio. That was quite a luxuary, because we rearranged it
in the studio after performing the songs live. I distinctly
remember finishing and thinking, I did not have any idea
whether it was any good. I had made a few albums before
this, but I had not made an important record. But when it
came out, I realized what people were saying about it. It
was like a big reward. We did make a serious progression
through Yes' career by The Yes Album."

After nearly three solid years of touring in Europe, Yes
made their U.S. debut in April, 1971. "We had dreams of
performing all over Europe, but never thought we'd get to go
to America," Jon remembers. "But, all of a sudden a tour
popped up and we were ready to venture into the great
beyond, which was known as America. And we were luck to get
on the tour with Jethro Tull. That was a great major
experience.

In August of that year, Yes made their second personnel
change, Rick Wakeman had been heralded by Melody
Maker a few months earlier. The paper ran a photo of
Rick wiht the headline, "Tomorrows's Superstar?" The article
raved about Wakeman, then with The Strawbs. When he joined
Yes for thw recording of their fourth album. Fragile,
he was a highly sought-after session man. His pioneering
approach to synthesizers and flamboyant stage presence
helped propel the group to super-stardom.

"Rick "Wakeman was our first major keyboard player in the
modern world," Jon recalls. "I think he was about twenty
years old. He played three keyboards on stage when we saw
him with The Strawbs. He handled them with with great
dexterity."

The Yes Album had introduced the world to Yes.
Fragile solidfied their place. Written and recorded
on the run between gigs. Fragile stands as one of the
most diverse and brilliantly disjointed Yes albums ever
recorded. The potpourri of disparse compositions is held
together as a unique and spectacular album by a combination
of virtuoso and highly stylized playing, and some very
clever production by Eddie Offord. From the meticulously
orchestrated thunder of "Heart Of The Sunrise" to the
intricate perfection of "Roundabout." Fragile manages
to simultaneously highlight the abilities of five distinct
players without sacrificing the notion of a synchronized
"band" as a whole. The album stands amoung Yes' finest
ac

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you're making music and you're touring, it is a very fragile
state, as we later learned.

Fragile gave Yes their most recognizable song and
biggest single of the seventies, "Roundabout." It remains a
classic-rock staple to this day. With Fragile, Yes
also established a relationship with artist Roger Dean,
whose fantastic images would provide the perfect visual
accompaniment for Yes music. Roger Dean ca almost be
considered an unofficial member of Yes, so deeply entwined
are his images with the music.

Following the Fragile tour, Yes returned to the
studio to begin work on the follow-up project. If ever there
was a definitive example of the seventies progressive rock
movement, it is the resulting album, Close To The
Edge. From the day the band was formed and every day
that preceded it, all points seemed to lead to this
masterpiece. It was the ultimate destination for this
constantly striving, constantly reaching group of young
musicians. The title track in the definitive Yes recording.
While clocking in at over eighteen minutes, its brilliance
lies not in the length of the track, but in the quality and
depth that Yes achives. "Close To The Edge" is a legitimate
rock symphony. It is at once powerfully sweeping and
relentless, yet remarkably agile and precise. The album
contains but two other tracks, the commanding "Siberian
Khatru," and another Yes classic, the hauntingly beautiful
and majestic "And You And I."

Close To The Edge is a truly flawless collection. It
is Yes' definitive statement - the work of a band playing
and composing in a unified direction, at the height of its
creativity. While Yes' creative power and vision would
continue to grow, it would be years before all five members
would move so perfectly in sync.

The scope of Close to the Edge seemed perfectly
natural to Steve. "By the time we reached Close To The
Edge, it seemed like we were really putting a stamp on
writing and fefining the scale of the music. It just seemed
like a natural progresion at that time. We were vigorously
arrogant, in our own way. We did not want to conceived as
just an ordinary group that just does the same old thing. We
made our mark with these long pieces. "Close To The Edge"
was really the first one of that scale. And it is a pretty
hard epic to beat."

"The recording sessions for Close to the Edge were
really dream-like, and very clear in some ways," Jon says.
"It was as though we knew we were expanding our musical
horizons. We were not being told what to do. We had an open
book of musical information. Our producer, Eddie Offord, was
very, very strong on that project. He was constantly
creating beautiful sounds for the group to try. And Steve
was really using a log of his guitars at that time, which I
thought was perfect. Rick brought in modern equipment. It
just seemed like the epitone of modern music at that time. I
think that we were trying to expand musical horizons and see
if an audience would listen to twenty minutes of constructed
music. Much like a symphony. But at the same time, we knew
we were trying something very different. ANd I remember when
we first performed "Close To The Edge" on stage, we were
doing a show wiht the Mahavishma Orchestra at the Crystal
Palace Bowl in England. Performing that piece of music for
the first time seemed to take an eternity. The audience had
never heard it. It was the birth of a piece of music. One of
the things that I really enjoyed was learning that modern
music generally does not have to be created and written by a
classical composer or a jazz player. It can be rock and roll
musicians that create modern music. I think that is one of
the great experience of being in Yes."

Just as Yes reached its musical peak, Bill Bruford decided
to leave the group. Chris remembers when he heard the news.
"It was weird, because in the middle of making

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Close to the Edge, Bill told me that he was going to
leave to play with Bob Fripp, I said, 'Why on earth would
you want to do that right now?' He just said that he was
more in tune with the music and style of King Crimson. bill
was always a jazz fan at heart. But he was also an
economics student at Leeds University. I said,
'Surely your teaching has shown you that this is working.
You're making money! Why do you want to go play jazz now?
Can't you just give it a couple of years and see how things
turns out?' but he was pretty determined, so he upped and
left. But we finished the album together. We never played it
live with him. That's when Alan White came in. We literally
had about three days of rehearsal with Alan before we had
our first show in Dallas."

Jon recalls his first meeting with Alan White. "We met Alan
through Eddie Offord, who was producing at that time. Alan
just came in one afternoon when we were rehearsing and he
got behind the drums, and the band just moved into another
notch of rock and roll. It was like, really heavy. This guy
was seriously laying down the the best. Bill had more of
jazz feel to him. Alan was real rock and roll. We felt good
about him."

"I was sharing an apartment with Eddie Offord," says Alan.
"The first time I met Yes was when they were having a
rehearsal in a basement of this tiny garment shop down in
Shepherds Bush, in England. I went down there with Eddie and
they were rehearsing, and there was obviously some problems
with Bill. He had to leave early, and Eddie said, 'Well, let
Alan play the song,' The song was 'Siberian Khatru.' I had
been working with my own band at the time. I was playing a
lot of alternate time signatures and different things like
that. So I was kind of into that area of drumming. So I just
sat in there and played a bar of eight and a bar of seven
the whole time, and it worked for the band. And two weeks
later, when bill officially left, they asked me to join
them, because it felt good. They asked me to join them. but
the forgot to tell me that three days later, we were laying
in Dallas in front of ten thousand people. Well, there was
a lot of music to learn. So basically. I listened to albums
for three days constantly, and was pretty nervous going on
stage at first. The first night was great, but then it
deteriortated for about a week, before I finally found my
place.

The tour surrounding the release of Close To The Edge
yielded an elaborately packaged, three-record live album
entitled Yessongs, and a concert film of the same
name (though the film would not be released until 1975). The
film went on to become one of the most successful concert
films of its day, while the concerts and album established
Yes as one of the world's hottest live acts. Yessongs
features White's remarkable drumming, which remains an
anchor point for Yes right up to the present.

Jon knew that recreating the increasingly complex music
before a live audience would not be an easy task. "the music
we were writing in the studio was at times very
sophisticated, and to perform them on stage took a heck of a
lot of work, and recreation to make it sound equally as good
as that recording. So we were very fastidious during this
period of time, learning the music to perform on stage. In
the studio, you are okay. You can always edit together
pieces of music to make it work. But on stage, you've got to
perform it, and that is what Yessongs explained to
the audience - that we were good at performing this music."

Following the Yessongs tour. Yes returned to the
studio to lay down the ideas for an album that they had
begun to formulate while on the road. Tales From
Topographic Oceans is the most ambitious recording in
Yes' career. The double album set, based upon Shastric
scriptures, contained just one epic track on each of the
four sides. Tales remains one of their m

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Jon explains the genesis of the project. "Steve Howe and I
wrote a lot of music around that time. I think when Steve
joined the group. I was very attracted to his style of chord
sequence. He would play certain chords, and I would start
singing ideas. He was the first real musician that I had
actually spent time with, and became friends with, who was
really interested in song writing on a large scale. So that
is why we could put together 'Close to the Edge.' And then
after that, all we could think about was another piece of
music. We toured all over the world for Close to the
Edge. We were writing all the time, and I think it was
in a place in South Carolina where we sat down all night and
stuck together all these musical ideas we had been working
on as a frame work for Togographic Oceans."

Steve Howe speaks of the immensity of the album, "If
Close to the Edge was lunch, Topographic was
dinner. It worried the group. It scared the group. It
worried Rick more than anybody else that what we were doing
was gratuitous. It could have been Yes' Titanic. Would it
sink or not? I think that was the real challenge. That if
Yes did not have a challenge, then we would slip into a
place where we did not want to go."

"Topographic was a difficult album to make." says
Chris. I remember just driving home from the sessions at
four a.m. in the morning, getting home, going to bed, and
getting up, getting in the car, and driving back to the
studio. For two, three months, everyday. It was definately a
bit hard work."

But as with every Yes album that preceded it, the challenge
yielded a monumental artistic achievement. Steve explained
the obstacles that they had to ovecome before they could
enjoy the rewards. "Topographic was a quest, a
mission, that Jon and I conceived of. Was it viable, was it
do-able, was it reasonable, was it musical, was it going to
strangle the audience or was it going to enlighen them? I
think that vastness was one of the wonderful things about
it, because sharing that time, we had temendous scope, and
the freedome to dabble with all sorts of music."

Following the tour for Tales, Rick Wakeman left Yes
to pursue a solo career. The highly acclaimed Patrick Moraz
was recruited prior to the Relayer album. Second only
to Close To The Edge in continuity, Relayer
stands in brittle and icy contast to the band's previous
body of work. But Yes' newfound edge suited them well. "The
Gates Of Delerium" is definative Yes - as powerful as
anything they've ever recorded. "Sound Chaser" leads them
into new and exotic territory, while "To Be Over" reminded
us that the band could still sound plush and warm. As a
ballad, "To Be Over" ranks right along side of "And You And
I" and "Turn of the Century" as one of Yes' best.

Steve remembers when Relayer jelled for the band, and
credits Jon for seeing the vision through. "For Jon it was
similar to when we were both pushing Topographic. He
was shaping 'The Gates of Delirium' almost out of thin air,
out of some basic structure. And we would embellish these
structures, Jon charged on, and on, and on. It was probably
his most succesful movement of leading the band towards a
goal that he had in his mind."

Jon concures, "Relayer was very much like the album
cover - it had a lot of gray areas. We were jumping like
crazy to make music, as you can hear on the tracks. I
actually went in and banged "The Gates Of Delirium" out on
the piano, to the group. Not totally, but I have them all
the pieces of music that were sort of flying around in my
head. I had this idea, so I banged it out on the piano - it
must have sounded really bad, because I could hardly play
the piano in those days. And Patrick Moraz was very, very
consistent at that time, very interested in doing something
very modern. I was very interested in

page 12

doing something really modern. I wanted to do more
electronic music, very much like Stockhausen or Mimaroglo,
something very radically different. In fact, I used to go
crazy with the band about doing free-form music without
thought, and everybody thought I was just going a little too
far on that side of things. I just felt after
Topographic, the structure being so tight, why not do
a piece of music so outageously different? It became
Relayer.

Relayer is a unique album, and one of Yes' best. "I
think that Relayer stands out in a very big way. In a
very noisy sort of way," says Steve. "It is hard to sum up
what is so dense about this record, But it was a very smoky,
denise, jazzy, very nice right turn for us at the time. I
was adding a much more brittle sound. When you think about
the melllowness and gentleness of Fragile, as opposed
to the in-your-face heaviness of Relayer, it is
really quite contrasting, and most probably still very
rewarding.

Relayer remains one of Alan White's favorites. "I
think both 'Sound Chaser' and 'The Gates of Delirium' were
steps forward in the rhythm sections. We were being pretty
adventurous rhythm section-wise on that whole album.
Relayer was a good step forward in breaking ground
and coming up with new ideas. Eddie was at the controls
again, and we got really adventureous. One of the
interresting things about some of 'The Gates of Delirium'
was the percussion. Jon and I used to travel together. He
would say 'Let's stop at that junk yard.' We would stop at a
junk yard on the way, and pick up parts of cars, and stuff
like that. So we built a framework with sprints and lots of
car parts. So a lot of what you hear comes from a junk
yard."

In 1975, Yes released Yesterdays, a compilation that
nicely skims the cream from the band's first two albums and
throws in the early b-side, "Dear Father," and the essential
cover of Paul Simon's "America." Steve feels that "America"
was an important recording for Yes to make. "'America' was a
golden time for me. That was what I call Yes' heyday,
because we could twist in a lot of different ways. I think
we were showing our prowess - our ability to arrange someone
else's really great song. And I think that is a talent that
Yes had better not forget or under appreciate.

Going For The One marked a return to the marmer
musical stylings of the band, and the return of Rick
Wakeman. There is a celebratory feel about the album.
"Wonderous Stories" and the title track, bubble with good
vibes while the sweet sadness of "Turn of the Century"
plumbs new emotional depths, and "Awaken" provided the band
with a latter-day masterpiece.

"'Turn of the Century' is always going to be an important
track for me," says Steve. "I love the warmth of Jon's
story. It is a wonderful story to take on, about a scultor,
loving a woman and wanting to make a model of her. And then
she dies, but he has the model. He finds that the sculpture
contains her life and her soul. Jon has written some great
songs - this is one of his best. 'Awaken' was a very
different piece. It had that sort of New Age feeling - that
high vibration. It stands nicely alone. It does not marry
itself too much to 'Close to the Edge,' Tales From
Topographic Oceans, or 'The Gates of Delirium.' It is
set apart from the other epics in it's stylistic approach."

Tormato again saw Yes moving along divergent courses.
The album has some shining monents, "On the Silent Wings of
Freedom" is a mini-epic, "Madrigal" revisits the nostalgic
beauty of "Turn of the Century" with great success. "Don't
Kill the Whale" is a funky, uncharacteristic romp, strangely
upbeat given its message. "Arriving UFO" and "Circus of
Heaven" take the band in new directions. Yes toured "In the
Round" carrying an innovative revolving stage that was
placed in the center of the arenas, bringing greater
intimacy to the hu

page 13

Yes album. Drama was the end of an era - the last Yes
studio album to bear that unmistakable classic Yes imprint.

Chris Squire oversaw the production of Yesshows,
which was released in 1980. The double album featured
concert recordings from 1976 through 1978, and includes the
definite version of "The Gates of Delirium."

A great hits package, Classic Yes, was released in
1982 while Yes was in limbo. It is mainly comprised of
studio cuts but includes previously unreleased live versions
of their biggest hits at the time, "Roundabout" and "I've
Seen All Good People."

In the early eighties, Chris Squire, Alan White, and
original keyboard man Tony Kaye hooked up with an young,
South African born guitarist/songwriter named Trevor Rabin.
Trevor, who was well known in the musical community, but not
known by the public at large, hit it off with Chris Squire
immediately. The four mucicians were going to call
themselves Cinema. When Chris Squire played the rough mixes
for Jon Anderson, Jon fell in love with the music and was
drawn into the project. He built on the material that Cinema
had begun, and when they were finished, the band had created
Yes' biggest selling album ever, 90125. Yes' legions
of fans eagerly welcomed the band back. And the number-one
single, "Owner Of A Lonely Heart," introduced scores of new
listeners to the group. The energy of the 90125 shows
was captured on an EP and a video called 9012Live - the
Solos.

In 1987, Yes followed with Big Generator. The album
featured the singles, "Love Will Find A Way" and "Rhythm of
Love," Following another dizzying world tour, Jon realized
that he needed to further challenge himself. He took leave
of Yes, and reconnected with some old friends.

The idea behind Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe's
self-titled debut album was a sensational one. The band
hoped to reconnect with it's seventies roots, but in a
modern way context, ABWH was a welcome
acknoweledgment of the band's heritage.

When Jon speaks of Yes and making music, he speaks of
dreams. But Jon has a way of turning those dreams into
reality. Jon had always dreamed of a concert that included
Yes members, past and present. That dream came to fruitation
with Union. Union combined Anderson Bruford
Wakeman Howe with the remaining Yes men, and resulted in an
album and triumphant world tour.

The 90125/Big Generator lineup seceded from the
"Union" and released Talk, in 1994. the result was a
cohesive collectin of high-gloss power pop. "Endless Dream"
was a highlight, and a nod to epics past.

The classic lineup of Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman, and
White regrouped in early 1996, for a series of concerts in
California that would be recorded for Keys to
Ascension. The elabarate double album set contained two
wonderful new studio recordings as well. "Be The One" and
"That, That Is" teased a loyal audience with what they were
cabable of. The follow-up, Keys to Ascension 2, was a
strong one, with "Mind Drive" one of the high points of both
sets. But this reunion would be short lived, as Rick Wakeman
left the band.

In 1997, an energized, new Yes emerged that combined the
principle architects of classic Yes with masterful new
musicians. Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan
White bring a lifetime of experience and wisdom that lies at
the heart and soul of the band. Billy Sherwood, who has been
associated with Yes since Union, has emerged as a
multifaceted talent, whose song writing, production, rhythm
guitar, and backing vocal contributions have become as
integral component in Yes. Igor Khoroshev continues in the
Yes keyboard tradition of superiour musicianship, and has
created a unique place for himself within Yes on The
Ladder. The new Yes, a Yes for the new millennium, is a
tapesty that can only be woven out of the fusion of these
six distinct voices. The individual personalities<

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THE LADDER

THE NEW ALBUM
Produced By Bruce Fairbairn

FEATURES THE SINGLE

"LIGHTNING STRIKES"

AND ALSO CONTAINS THE SONG

"HOMEWORLD"

FROM THE NEW PC CD-ROM,

REAL-TIME STRATEGY GAME

HOMEWORLD

WWW.YESWORLD.COM

page 29

HOMEWORLD

3D Real-Time Strategy

Your Past Is A Lie
Your Future Is In Jeopardy,
And Your 35,000 Light Years From Home.

Kharak, a barren wasteland orbiting an insignificant star,
has been our home for ages. It is a planet as old as our
memory.

But recent genetic research suggest that we are different
from all other forms of life on Kharak. then comes the
discovery, an ancient tablet long hidden in the Great Barren
Desert buried within the wreckage of a half-destroyed
spacecraft. We must now acknowledge the inescapable truth -
we are aliens in this world. The ancient ruin set our
civilization on a path leading straight into the heart of
the galaxy.

Construction began 60 years ago on the giant Mothership that
will carry thousands of our new race into the unknown. In
the depth of space, our enemies await our return. The
journey begins now...

The journey begins now...

"Home world is set to explode the RTS genre like a fiery
supernova"
- CNN.com

Prepare to adjust your strategy as you navigate your Armada
through an infinate 3D battlefield where the enemy can
attack from any point in space.

Unparalled ship detail and unified artificial intelligence
bring each dogfight to life, as turrets track their targets
independently and pilots adjust their fight tactics
mid-battle.

Featuring "Homeworld" an original song from YES from their
new album THE LADDER.

page 30

Mangagement...........................Left Bank Organization
Booking Agency.........................William Morris Agency
Business Management.............Gudvi, Chapnick and Openheim
Travel Agency..............................Starflight Travel
Sound Company...........................Clair Brothers Audio
Lighting Company.......................Lighting Technologies
Trucking....................................Stage Call Corp.
Busses..................................Four Seasons Leasing
Tour Manager......................................Bob Quandt
Road Manager...................................Paul Silveria
Production Manager.................................Ken Kaler
Lighting Director/Designer......................Ben Richards
FOH Engineer..................................Dave Wilkerson
Monitor Engineer...........................Jacques Von Lunen
Guitar & Bass Technician.......................Richard Davis
Guitar Technician.......................Ron "Shooz" Matthews
Keyboard Technician...........................Will Alexander
Drum Technician...................................John Walsh
Sound Technician.................................Frank Lopes
Lighting Technician................................A.J. Penn
Lighting Technician............................James Poeping
Lighting Technician............................Randy Garrett
Merchandiser....................Winterland, Richard Halstead
Passes...........................................Otto Priest
Itineraries...................................Tourbooks. Inc
Bus Driver..........................................Ken Bane

Yes would like to acknowledge and thank:

JON ANDERSON
Audio Technica, Rainsong Guitars, Takamine Guitars,
Procussion

STEVE HOWE
Martin Guitars, Tech21, Gibson Guitars, Fender Amps

IGOR KHOROSHEV
Yamaha Keyboards

BILLY SHERWOOD
Carvin Guitar and Amplifiers, Ernie Ball Strings

CHRIS SQUIRE
Rickenbacker Basses, Carvin Basses and Ampeg Amplifiers

ALAN WHITE
Ludwig Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Gibraltar Accessories, Remo
CONCERT PROGRAM
Written, designed, photographed & produced by Gottlieb Bros/
Yes Magazine. Text, photos, memorabialia photos,
interviews & design © Copyright 1999 Doug & Glen
Gottlieb/Yes Magazine.

Individual band portraits by Michi Sherwood © Copyright
1999 Michi Sherwood

Drawings, paintings and logo © Copyright Roger Dean.
Historic stage photographs © Copyright Roger Dean and
Martyn Dean.

Group portait (page 5) by Kharen Hill

Caricature (page 31) © Copyright 1999 Milton Trajano

Printed in Canada

page 31

Yes Resources

The Yes Online Service
Yesworld.................................[Link]
Mike Tiano, Jeff Hunnicutt, Bryan Jensen, Paul Second,
Doug & Gen Gottlieb
Web Hosting by Chris Spell - WISE
Join Yesworld, Send email to yes@yesworld.com with
"Subscribe" as the subject.

Yes Magazine
12 Chelsea Place, Dix Hills, NY 11746 USA
email: yesmag@yesmag.com

Notes From The Edge
[Link]
email: nfte@nfte.org

Official Band Member Web Sites
Jon Anderson..........................www.nfte.org/Opioworld
Steve Howe.................................www.stevehowe.com
Billy Sherwood...................www.nfte.org/Billy.Sherwood
Chris Squire.......................www.nfte.org/Chris.Squire
Alan White...........................www.nfte.org/Alan.White
Igor Khoroshev.............................www.khoroshev.com

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