[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
In 2018, which legendary band celebrated 50 years<\/strong><\/span> pushing the boundaries of rock by touring as two hostile entities under the same name? Yes.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-main” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Words by Mike Barnes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-74301633-cropped-scaled.jpg” alt=”Chris Squire, Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Alan White of the rock band %22Yes%22 in an Atlantic Records publicity still in circa 1976″ title_text=”GettyImages-74301633 cropped” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n When MOJO arrives at Yes guitarist Steve Howe\u2019s north London home he is friendly and welcoming but initially subdued. The house is near the end of a gated road and inside it is almost completely silent. \u201cIt feels like being out in the country\u201d, Howe says. We chat awhile before the he quietly disappears into the kitchen to make some tea. Following the sudden and unexpected death of his drummer son Virgil, aged 41, in September last year, Howe cancelled the final seven dates of Yes\u2019s American tour and halted in-person interviews. \u201cIt was a respite that we desperately needed,\u201d he says, before adding, with crushing understatement, \u201cwe are really cut up about all this.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In recent years Howe has also lost singer and bass guitarist John Wetton, who played with him in Asia, and another bass guitarist, Yes founder Chris Squire. Last November, Howe released Nexus, the album he and Virgil had recently completed, as a tribute to his son.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cWe love these people and want to move on with them in our minds. It\u2019s a holistic healing process that we are all going through.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n And when he takes the stage again with Yes, there will surely be a lot of positive emotion shown toward him.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI think so\u2026 that will be lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n IN 2028 YES WERE CELEBRATING THEIR 50th anniversary and their long history is more complicated than most. The Yes revolving door has seen 19 musicians come and go \u2013 usually more than once \u2013 with Squire the only constant until his death in 2015. But what further complicates matters is that there are now two revolving doors, as there are effectively two Yeses.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Howe\u2019s latest stint with Yes has been unbroken since 1995. Also in the group\u2019s current line-up are Jon Davison on vocals, Billy Sherwood on bass, Alan White on drums and Geoff Downes on keyboards.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Another group, officially announced in 2016 as Anderson Rabin Wakeman, or ARW, features original Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, guitarist Trevor Rabin and keyboard player Rick Wakeman. They are now known as \u2018Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman\u2019. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t make it up,\u201d sighs Howe.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In April 2017, Yes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony held in Brooklyn. Anderson, Wakeman, Howe, White and Rabin \u2013 with Rush\u2019s Geddy Lee on bass \u2013 played together on Roundabout and Owner Of A Lonely Heart. Many Yes fans would have been praying that this heralded a unified line up of Yes, but Howe\u2019s advice could be summarised as \u2018don\u2019t wait up\u2019. \u201cWe did it at the Hall of Fame,\u201d he says, \u201cand that\u2019s going to be the only time.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n At the start, it all seemed so straightforward. On November 26, 1968, Cream waved goodbye to their brief and somewhat tempestuous career with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Supporting them were a hot young London-based band called Yes. Melody Maker\u2019s Chris Welch was instantly impressed.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cThey brought together such an unexpected range of influences from folk to jazz and rock and made it all sound so new, fresh and attractive,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHere were songs that stopped and started with nerve-shattering suddenness, paused for reflection, and then stormed back with all guns blazing.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t the only convert. Both Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegun (who\u2019d recently signed Led Zeppelin) and Cream\/Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood (who had a deal with Polydor) were chasing Yes\u2019s signatures, and when Ertegun saw them at London\u2019s Speakeasy club he made his move. Both parties initially agreed on a very long contract for low points. But Atlantic appeared oddly indifferent to the group, with some people at the label\u2019s New York office thinking that they had signed a folk act.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Yes then comprised singer Jon Anderson, Peter Banks on guitars, keyboard player Tony Kaye, Chris Squire on bass and Bill Bruford on drums. They had been trading under the name Mabel Greer\u2019s Toyshop since late \u201966 [see panel], but had settled in 1968 on a new line-up and name. Two albums for Atlantic followed: 1969\u2019s self-titled debut and 1970\u2019s Time And A Word, the latter recorded with an orchestra, to mixed reviews and Banks\u2019s chagrin. Steve Howe from UK psych pioneers Tomorrow replaced him.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cWe were all trying to move up a gear,\u201d Howe recalls. We were looking for songs with depth. Any intro that was under two minutes we thought, That can\u2019t be long enough! So we enjoyed that sort of flamboyance and reckless turning away from convention. We didn\u2019t want to be ordinary or similar or bluesy or rocky. We always used to try to deny that we were a rock band.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Released in 1971, The Yes Album demonstrated the group\u2019s potent new chemistry and reignited Atlantic\u2019s enthusiasm. Gone were the cover versions and strings, and in came a batch of striking all-original compositions, with pop melodies and harmonies set in expansive and exploratory structures. It came with an unusually vivid sound for the day, courtesy of engineer\/producer Eddy Offord. \u201cThe idea,\u201d says Howe, \u201cwas that you should be able to hear everybody all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n But creative success did not translate into line-up stability. After friction between himself and Howe, Tony Kaye was asked to leave \u2013 a move initiated by Squire that irked Bruford. Kaye was replaced by Rick Wakeman, who\u2019d made his name as a session player (notably on Bowie\u2019s Space Oddity) and with the Strawbs. His work on Heart Of The Sunrise, a key song on Yes\u2019s next album, Fragile, shows the group\u2019s growing mastery.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d written Heart Of The Sunrise, then I heard Chris [Squire] and Bill [Bruford] weaving a great riff in the studio,\u201d remembers Jon Anderson. \u201cI suggested they modulate to a different key, then do a jerky stop\/start idea, very Stravinsky-ish, then play in another key. By then Steve had joined in, and I suggested to Rick to create an orchestral sound [on Mellotron] rising out of the riff, then join in. We had so much harmony at that time. The song expanded and that became the key to real Yes music.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n LOFTY AMBITIONS WERE BECOMING Yes\u2019s trademark. A booklet that came with Fragile included a short poem by Anderson: \u201cMusic\u2019s chosen words (move the feeling)\/Directed to our soul\/War music Peace music Love music\/We move to it all\u201d; inside, Wakeman thanked Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart alongside Brentford Football Club. Their artwork, which from Fragile onwards was created by fantasy artist Roger Dean (1972\u2019s Close To The Edge was the first to bear their classic \u2018bubble\u2019 logo) implied that their music was of another, more rarefied world. The aesthetic would come to define the phrase coined by Chris Welch to describe Cream: \u201cprogressive rock\u201d.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the music grew ever more astonishingly complex, exemplified by the high-speed section of Close To The Edge\u2019s side-long title track.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cThat was influenced by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Zappa,\u201d Howe says. \u201cWe thought, Let\u2019s go bang! Let\u2019s be right up there as soon as it starts. And if it was a 20-minute song, you needed to really take the listener on a journey. It\u2019s about the up and down, the drama, the release, the excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n But if the band\u2019s long-form, multi-section pieces seemed painstakingly planned, the reality was more chaotic, with marathon tape-splicing and mixing sessions at Advision in London, and much prevarication. During the making of Close To The Edge, a near disaster was averted when the group had decided on a take, but couldn\u2019t locate the particular section of tape. They found it in the bins, where it had been dumped by the studio cleaners.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The fevered atmosphere and finicky musical mosaic-building wasn\u2019t for everyone. \u201cEvery instrument was up for democratic election, and everybody had to run an election campaign on every issue,\u201d recalled Bill Bruford later. \u201cIt was horrible, it was incredibly unpleasant, and unbelievably hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Bruford would leave, to be replaced by Alan White (ex-Plastic Ono Band), but Yes\u2019s journey towards a kind of prog gigantism was not hindered. Driven by Howe and Anderson, Tales From Topographic Oceans spread four songs over four sides of vinyl. Anderson\u2019s lyrics were based on a section of the 1946 book Autobiography Of A Yogi by Hindu mystic Paramahansa Yogananda, but were open to accusations that he was boiling down complex philosophical ideas to the point where they\u2019d become largely incomprehensible.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Released in December 1973, the album reached Number 1 in the UK charts, but serving it up live in its entirety before it had been released \u2013 with Anderson sharing his views on the nature of God with the audience from the stage \u2013 was a challenging gambit. Meanwhile, Wakeman complained that Tales\u2019 percussion-led sections amounted to padding. Understandably, Alan White is more generous.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of experimental percussion work,\u201d says the drummer today. \u201cThe rhythm section got very inventive and Chris was a fantastic bass player to play with. He was very adventurous and articulate and would do things that no one would expect.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Wakeman\u2019s protest was to hang out with Black Sabbath, who were recording Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the studio next door, drinking beer and adding keyboards to their album. He left shortly after the album was released.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Commercially, Yes were riding high (Tales From Topographic Oceans peaked at Number 7 in the US) but the press were lining up a backlash, using the fact that all but Wakeman were vegetarian to reinforce the image of a namby-pamby bunch divorced from the pie and chips reality of rock\u2019n\u2019roll. \u201cIt seemed logical to us that you weren\u2019t in a rock band to destroy yourself,\u201d says Howe today, laughing. \u201cBut that isn\u2019t necessarily the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Yes followed with Relayer in 1974, featuring Patrick Moraz on keyboards. It remains their most aggressive album, with Howe\u2019s playing jagged and angular, and Anderson and White playing a rack of car parts on the turbulent The Gates Of Delirium that they had salvaged from a scrap yard. But Yes\u2019s toughened-up sound wasn\u2019t washing with the press. \u201cAt one time NME called us \u2018The People\u2019s Band\u2019,\u201d Howe recalls. \u201cThat was in 1973, but three years later we were rock dinosaurs.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n INDEED, THE WHOLE IDEA OF progressive rock appeared to be losing currency and momentum. In autumn 1974 Robert Fripp mothballed King Crimson (now featuring ex-Yes drummer Bill Bruford), not to return to that well for another seven years. The following spring, Peter Gabriel\u2019s departure left Genesis in crisis. Punk loomed, and although the punk-prog antithesis has been overplayed (Keith Levene, guitarist with the prototype Clash and later Public Image Limited, admired Steve Howe and had roadied for Yes in his teens) Yes were obliged to respond. The return of Wakeman added oomph to 1977\u2019s Going For The One (\u201cIt was a joyous experience,\u201d says Howe) but for 1978\u2019s Tormato, the band made the mistake of entering the studio with insufficient material. And from the irreverent tomato-spattered sleeve designed by Hipgnosis, distancing it from Roger Dean\u2019s mythical landscapes, to the shorter songs, it seemed to be signposting a need for change without knowing how to achieve it.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n This time it wasn\u2019t just Wakeman who left, but \u2013 shockingly \u2013 Jon Anderson too. \u201cThe band was fragmented by then,\u201d says the singer. \u201cNo real direction, no harmony, a tired energy, too many tours.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Yes chose two of the least likely replacements imaginable: Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, aka The Buggles. Their arch, synthetic-sounding UK Number 1 single Video Killed The Radio Star (1979) seemed the opposite of Yes\u2019s mystical rock symphonies. Howe recalls Chris Squire playing him the Buggles album The Age Of Plastic.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI just ignored the single, \u2019cos it drives you crazy in a way,\u201d says the guitarist. \u201cBut when I heard the album I could see what he meant. Those guys were talented, very progressive, so I said let\u2019s get them in.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that weird from our own perspective because Trevor and I were big Yes fans,\u201d says Downes today. \u201cI think that Drama, the album we came up with, is very strong. Yes were probing for direction and probably needed something like that to take them into another generation.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n But it was in concert that the new Yes \u2013 or \u2018Yeggles\u2019 as wags had it \u2013 came unstuck.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t so bad when we took it out to the States because everyone was stoned at that point,\u201d Downes says. \u201cI don\u2019t think that anyone really gave a fuck who was in the band; it was more a case of, \u2018We\u2019ve got Yes and it\u2019s the brand.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n But UK audiences were less forgiving, especially of the funny-looking bloke with big glasses who was the new lead singer.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it was a complete disaster, but at a break in one of my keyboard solos, someone shouted out \u2018Rick Wakeman!\u2019 at the top of his voice.\u201d Downes recalls. \u201cBut Trevor was the focal point of the complaints \u2013 not because of his vocal performance but because he wasn\u2019t Jon Anderson.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/GettyImages_184801663russ2-scaled.jpg” alt=”Steve Howe, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman of Yes perform on stage at Wembley Arena, on October 28th, 1978″ title_text=”Yes Perform At Wembley Arena in 1978″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Steve Howe, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman of Yes perform on stage at Wembley Arena, on October 28th, 1978<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The remains of Yes split in 1980. Howe reconciled himself to the fact that it would be \u201cgoodbye Yes\u201d and focused his attention on GTR with Steve Hackett and then formed Asia with John Wetton and Carl Palmer, with Downes on keyboards. Anderson and Wakeman did their solo projects, and the Squire and White rhythm section made some recordings for XYZ, a project with Jimmy Page which remains unfinished. But the Yes name \u2013 the brand \u2013 proved to have a power of its own.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n White recalls the uncertainty of the time. \u201cChris and I looked at each other and said, \u2018What do we do now? I guess we are still Yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n London-based, South Africa-born guitarist Trevor Rabin had signed to Geffen Records but, having fallen out with them, was shopping a demo around other record companies, including Atlantic. The label brought it to the attention of Squire and White and soon the three of them began working on Rabin\u2019s musical template, under the name of Cinema.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cThe band was fine with it being Cinema,\u201d says Rabin. \u201cBut suddenly a whole load of bands emerged as having been called Cinema \u2013 [angling] for money, obviously. We thought, \u2018Why go through this?\u2019, and the record company were pushing to put \u2018Yes\u2019 on it, because the album was strong and it would be a good way for them to re-establish the name and regenerate their back catalogue, because Drama and Tormato had done bad business and that tainted the band. There was no attempt to bring back some past Yes; it was just us trying to do some new music.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Even so, \u201csome past Yes\u201d was intimated by Yes\u2019s choice of \u2018new\u2019 keyboard player and singer. Back came Tony Kaye after 11 years away. And here, again, was Jon Anderson.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cIt was perfect timing. I\u2019d had a break and written a couple of albums with Vangelis,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cThen on a trip to London, Chris played me the tracks. Totally blew me away, and it was very well produced, perfect in every way. So Chris asked if I would join the band and I immediately said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n With Trevor Horn returning to produce, the album 90125, released in November 1983, was a greater stylistic shift even than Drama, turning away from the extravagances of the past to focus on more mainstream melodic songs. Some fans were shocked, but it became the group\u2019s best-selling album \u2013 strongly supported by Atlantic and Ahmet Ertegun \u2013 and gave Yes a huge worldwide hit single with Owner Of A Lonely Heart.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n As Rabin rightly notes, \u201c90125 re-established the name Yes. And helped regenerate their back catalogue.\u201d But the same team toiled for two years over a follow-up, with clashes between Kaye and Horn \u2013 who eventually quit as producer \u2013 meaning that Rabin finished Big Generator (1987) with Paul De Villiers. Unsurprisingly, Yes ground to another halt (although the line-up reconvened to record the quixotically-titled Talk in 1994).<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n YET ONE OF THE STRANGEST twists in the Yes tale was due. Anderson claims that the Big Generator line-up was \u201call about finding hit records \u2013 great fun to be in, but I felt very confused\u201d. His next step could hardly have been a more transparent claim to Yes\u2019s pre-Yeggles, echt prog legacy.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Convening Bill Bruford, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, along with Bruford\u2019s former King Crimson bandmate Tony Levin on bass, they recorded an album, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe in 1989.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Calling their concert tour \u2018An Evening Of Yes Music Plus\u2019 drew the attentions of Chris Squire\u2019s legal representatives. Their argument \u2013 that musicians leaving Yes of their own volition forfeited claim to the name \u2013 is not one that Howe cares to engage with in 2018. \u201cThis is where it does get private,\u201d he says. \u201cCompany structures and company rights.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Though the dream of a harmonious Greater Yes was not dead, some will argue it should have been. With Yes\u2019s management and Anderson aligned for once, 1991 saw the Union tour and album, which featured material from Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and new songs supplied by Rabin, with some session musicians drafted in to overdub parts. Wakeman preferred to call it \u2018Onion\u2019, because it made him cry, and only Anderson doesn\u2019t consider the whole episode a debacle.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cTouring the Union show was a blast for me,\u201d he says. \u201cEight musicians on-stage, a glorious version of Awaken [from Going For The One] to end every show. All our hits, very happy fans\u2026 Who could ask for more?\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Howe, on the other hand, regrets ever getting involved.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d just established a terrific group with ABWH,\u201d he says. \u201cWe knocked America sideways. You couldn\u2019t compete with this band, it was incredible, and to be honest [Union] fucked it all up rotten, because by the time we morphed with Yes and made this record that was a hodge-podge of different people who didn\u2019t know what they were doing, it was like we\u2019d lost the plot. We had a really good thing going and we lost it chasing the bigger chalice.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In 1995 Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman and White reconvened as Yes to record Keys To Ascension, a live album including two lengthy studio songs that hark back to what could be called the group\u2019s classic \u201970s sound. And with the customary comings and goings Yes have continued with Howe, with White a constant since 1972, and Squire ever present until his death in 2015.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Anderson left for the last time in 2008 after a lengthy respiratory illness grounded the band. He was replaced by Canadian Benoit David, who had sung in a Yes covers band, and though at the time Squire didn\u2019t rule out Anderson\u2019s return, the singer has gone on record as being unhappy with the way it was handled and didn\u2019t think the group should have been regarded as Yes. David was in turn supplanted by Jon Davison from the American progressive rock group Glass Hammer in 2012. Geoff Downes rejoined the group in 2011 after having been away for 30 years. Then, in 2016, Anderson Rabin Wakeman introduced a whole new bone of contention.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cFor years and years we had been talking about Jon, me and Rick getting this band together, and every time it came about someone was busy,\u201d says Trevor Rabin. \u201cRick was in a good place time-wise and Jon had come around to some of my orchestral dates, and I went to see him do his solo stuff. It was gradual and very natural. Not a bad word or disagreement, except for creative ones, have been associated with this new Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n And how about there being two Yeses now?<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of awful,\u201d Rabin says. \u201cBut luckily for me I really don\u2019t think about it and I concentrate on what we\u2019re doing. Someone asked Rick, \u2018What do you think about the other Yes?\u2019 and he said, \u2018The same way I think of the Dave Clark Five\u2019. The guy looked at him in a puzzled way and said, \u2018What do you mean?\u2019 Rick said, \u2018It means I don\u2019t care.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Anderson, meanwhile, appears unquenchably upbeat: \u201cI\u2019m just happy there are many bands performing Yes songs out there in the world, that I helped to create all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/01\/GettyImages_84840816-scaled.jpg” alt=”YES and Alan WHITE and Bill BRUFORD and Trevor RABIN and Jon ANDERSON and Steve HOWE and Rick WAKEMAN and Tony KAYE and Chris SQUIRE, Union Tour Line Up – L-R: Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Rick Wakeman, Alan White, Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe” title_text=”Photo of YES and Alan WHITE and Bill BRUFORD and Trevor RABIN and Jon ANDERSON and Steve HOWE and Rick WAKEMAN and Tony KAYE and Chris SQUIRE” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n L-R: Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Rick Wakeman, Alan White, Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n PERHAPS THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF looking at Yes\u2019s extraordinary saga of line-up turmoil. While the fall-out has often been undignified, it\u2019s forced the band (or bands) to keep changing. Maybe it\u2019s even fuelled this institution\u2019s longevity, and what Anderson describes as its \u201cadventurous musical energy\u201d.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cYes\u2019s music has always been about five people in the band,\u201d says Downes. \u201cSo each person at any given time has made a contribution to continuing Yes music, and so you have all these different influences.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n But with both Yeses touring in this anniversary year and planning to release new material, the situation \u2013 as Howe describes with yet more understatement \u2013 is \u201cdefinitely awkward\u201d. He doesn\u2019t want to say too much more except that Yes will remain \u201cpassive\u201d and carry on regardless of his former bandmates\u2019 plans.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cYes thought that they could stop ABWH,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we weren\u2019t silly enough to think we could stop ARW, so we didn\u2019t bother.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n But haven\u2019t recent events \u2013 specifically, the deaths of Chris Squire and Virgil Howe \u2013 proven that life really is too short? Couldn\u2019t they all just kiss and make up?<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cOf course we all thought of it,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cBut outside influences were always in the way. Life is full of ups and downs and not everyone gets on with each other. It\u2019s very normal.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Ultimately, there is too much history here. Scrunch two unwilling sets of musicians together and you might get Union Part Two.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t put it out of my mind, let\u2019s put it that way, and neither did Chris [Squire],\u201d says White of a full reunion. \u201cIt\u2019s a possibility in the future, but at the same time I\u2019m carrying on with what I\u2019ve done for the last 46 years and I\u2019m enjoying it. The music\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t knock anybody who wants to see us back together again,\u201d says Howe. \u201cBut if I was to go to their house and ask them to go back to live with their ex-partner for five years, I\u2019m sure they would say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry Steve, but I don\u2019t want to do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Howe laughs at the analogy, but while he remains as composed and even-handed as he has been all afternoon, you can\u2019t help but detect a note of exasperation.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not overdressing this,\u201d he says at last. \u201cI\u2019m only saying that, unless you\u2019ve got really excellent communications, you can\u2019t go back.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n This article originally appeared in Issue 294 of MOJO<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Images: Getty<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2018, which legendary band celebrated 50 years pushing the boundaries of rock by touring as two hostile entities under the same name? Yes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mojo-presents"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"akindell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3794"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3824,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3794\/revisions\/3824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}“<\/span>We didn\u2019t want to be ordinary or bluesy or rocky. We used to deny that we were a rock band.“<\/span><\/h2>\n
Steve Howe<\/span><\/h3>\n
“<\/span>In 1973 NME called us The Peoples\u2019 Band. Three years later we were rock dinosaurs.“<\/span><\/h2>\n
Steve Howe<\/span><\/h3>\n
“<\/span>Someone asked Rick, \u2018What do you think about the other Yes?\u2019 and he said, \u2018The same way I think of the Dave Clark Five.“<\/span><\/h2>\n
Trevor Rabin<\/span><\/h3>\n
“<\/span>At a break in one of my keyboard solos, someone shouted out \u2018Rick Wakeman!\u2019 at the top of his voice.“<\/span><\/h2>\n
Geoff Downes<\/span><\/h3>\n