Peter Banks (Yes, Flash)...R.I.P.

Very sad to hear of his passing.

I will be spinning "Two Sides" this evening in remembrance.

 RIP Peter, Time has passed without so much as a word. You have traveled astrally along the loneliest sea and into the open sky, clearly survival was not in the cards for you, looking around, every little thing about Yes stemmed from your playing style. I see you as the starting point in Yes's career both beyond and before The Syn, you were destined to be a prog giant. From your humble, small beginnings you became an influential guitarist. To read the article announcing your passig, with my still foggy Monday morning eyes came as a shock to me. To see it written in black and white was too horrid to believe. You are immortalized in your music, you are gone but not forgotten. Farewell number one, may sweet dreams and clear days await you on the eternal plane.  

Edited by Astral Traveller - March 12 2013 at 21:05

cstack3 wrote: I'm very saddened to learn that one of my favorite guitarists, Peter Banks, apparently passed away on 10 March, 2013....

prog4evr wrote: cstack3 wrote: I'm very saddened to learn that one of my favorite guitarists, Peter Banks, apparently passed away on 10 March, 2013.... <span style="line-height: 1.2;"> </span> <span style="line-height: 1.2;">Yes, very sad news indeed... R.I.P.</span> <span style="line-height: 1.2;" ></span>

DITTO.........BRILLIANT post.

ProgMetaller2112 wrote: Astral Traveller wrote:  RIP Peter, Time has passed without so much as a word. You have traveled astrally along the loneliest sea and into the open sky, clearly survival was not in the cards for you, looking around, every little thing about Yes stemmed from your playing style. I see you as the starting point in Yes's career both beyond and before The Syn, you were destined to be a prog giant. From your humble, small beginnings you became an influential guitarist. To read the article announcing your passig, with my still foggy Monday morning eyes came as a shock to me. To see it written in black and white was too horrid to believe. You are immortalized in your music, you are gone but not forgotten. Farewell number one, may sweet dreams and clear days await you on the eternal plane. BRILLIANT POST ASTRAL TRAVELLER. The post above was a bit of a mistake....sorry..

Finnforest wrote: Love that first album and will be playing it soon.

Peter was a very different artist from the average prog guitarist.  While the vast majority of prog artists valued deftness, accuracy, subtlety etc., Peter wielded his axe... well, like an axe.  Exuberance, creativity, and a dash of over the top showmanship are his hallmarks.  He will be missed.

As you may know---^^^Anderson was the dictator and probably did push him out of Yes---Howe was a hot shot guitartist back in day and Anderson once said in Yes you have to pee or get off the pot---which doesn't sound like something he's say but he did---in the context of Wakeman replacing Kaye----but Howe and The Yes ALbum made Anderson see all the limitless possibilities of the group---so first Banks gets the boot and when Wakeman became available good bye Kaye--those were the days when they let only the best in the group---later on they let lot's of second rate guys and the music suffered.

Pete was working on a live FLASH recording never before released—mixing, I suppose—when he didn't turn up in the studio and was later found dead. The recording was to be released by Cleopatra Records (with the intention of NOT paying royalties to the rest of the band, as he also did with the Cherry Red reissues last year of FLASH'S original three albums.)  Pete was a talented piece of work!  

Edited by sherrynoland - March 15 2013 at 01:50