YES - Before and After They Were Famous

Starting with a long line-up of YES members over the last fifty years and the bands they were in Before They Were Famous:-

JON ANDERSON     Jon Anderson began his career in local Lancashire beat band, The Warriors, before joining  Chris Squire in Mabel Greer's Toyshop, up until guitarist Peter Banks suggested YES would be a far better name for a prog band, and who are we to disagree.  Mabel Greer's Toyshop was later reformed in 2013 with Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood together with  two of the original founder members: Clive Bayley and Robert Hagger. Jon Anderson (born 1944) is one of the most acclaimed singer/songwriters/storytellers in the progosphere, And You and I know he's the songwriting genius and frontman of YES, having written such epic Wonderous Stories as Tales from Topographic Oceans, despite the album coming Close to the Edge of breaking up the band. Time and a Word has it that Rick Wakeman was driven to The Gates of Delirium during the making of the album and he couldn't wait for the album To Be Over and done with. In fact, the tortured recording process of Topographic Oceans was the reason for all of the members of YES deciding to take a collective break from touring and recording with the band to pursue various solo projects, resulting in Jon Anderson's first solo album, Olias of Sunhillow (1976). Yours is No Disgrace if you haven't yet heard this magnificent masterpiece, but it's still generally regarded as Jon Anderson's best solo album by far. The album tells the story of the inhabitants of a dying planet, where one of them (Olias) decides to Leave It all behind and become a Starship Trooper, embarking on a Tour of the Universe as an Astral Traveller to begin a new life elsewhere, so, in a Roundabout way, it's really a story of Survival, rejuvenation and hope for the future. 

Jon Anderson's long career has been one of Perpetual Change, which Parallels the constant Changes of line-up in YES. Jon has worked with some of the biggest names in music, forming a musical Union with Vangelis, as well as recording songs with King Crimson, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream, Roine Stolt, Rick Wakeman, Jean Luc Ponty, Milton Nascimento and Kitaro, and even including a brief stint as a backing singer with Iron Butterfly! Just like the rest of us, Jon has had his personal ups and downs, having been the Owner of a Lonely Heart when he broke up with his wife of 26 years back in 1995. He married his new love Jane in 1997 and they even recorded an album together - The Promise Ring - just before the Turn of the Century. Sadly, Jon's health was in a Fragile state in 2008, which led to his permanent departure from YES - the band he'd formed with Chris Squire back in 1968 - which came as something of a Shock to the System for YES fans. One thing's for sure though, Yesterday and Today, Everyday's a good day when you Awaken to the songs of Jon Anderson, some of which will be featured  here Soon. 

 1968: Mabel Greer's Toyshop - Mabel Greer's Toyshop - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfj7fKMYTP6nAd12_hmFsZ6A8rNqBPRA1

 2013: Mabel Greer's Toyshop - New Way of Life - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lslTrnrG90KcMU_DYTVvCJlC0-fRq2Th0

 2017: Mabel Greer's Toyshop - The Secret - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lJmhAL49v66pexHTMgqrx0wo7r6-EFBiI

STEVE HOWE       Guitar legend STEVE HOWE (born 1947) is best-known as a long-standing member of the Prog-Rock supergroups YES and ASIA. He began his illustrious career in the 1960's, firstly with The Syndicats and The In Crowd and then with Psychedelic Rock bands Bodast and Tomorrow before joining YES in 1970 for their third studio outing "The Yes Album" (1971). He appeared on the following seven YES studio albums up to and including the "Drama" album in 1980 before leaving to form ASIA together with keyboard player Geoff Downes. In 1985, he formed the supergroup GTR with Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and they recorded one self-titled album together in 1986. Steve Howe featured on the "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe" album in 1989, which was a YES album in all but name, and he returned to YES for the "Union" album in 1991. He didn't feature on the following YES "Talk" (1994) album, due to the age-old band problem of "artistic differences" over the recording of the preceding "Union" album. You can't keep a good musician down though and he returned to YES in fine form for the "Keys to Ascension" album in 1996. He's appeared on all of the following six YES studio albums, up to and including the most recent album "Heaven and Earth" (2014). Steve Howe launched his solo career with the "Beginnings" album in 1975, after the rigours of recording the YES "Relayer" (1974) album, when all of the YES members were taking a well-deserved long break from the band to each record a solo album. He followed the "Beginnings" album with "The Steve Howe Album" in 1979, which was generally well-received by critics. Altogether, Steve Howe has recorded twelve studio albums throughout his long career, as well as six albums of re-recorded material released as the "Homebrew" series. He even found the time to form a Jazz group in 2007, imaginatively named "The Steve Howe Trio", and they've so far recorded three albums together. Steve Howe wrote all of the music and lyrics for his first solo "Beginnings" album and he bravely takes on lead vocal duties, although Steve Howe's not normally noted for his vocal abilities. The album featured some of Steve Howe's YES bandmates, Bill Bruford & Alan White on drums and Patrick Moraz on keyboards.

 1965: The In Crowd - The In Crowd - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtq7w1z3bh8hMX_wN-H0YtuTtQh8AHVCV

 1968: Tomorrow - Tomorrow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCIVQjOLLGl57dp6y5dPy37ArH7-UtqXB

 1990: Bodast - The Early Years: Steve Howe with Bodast - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP5mbU3AhqU

TREVOR RABIN       South African-born singer and guitarist Trevor Rabin already had the Beginnings of a solo career before joining YES for their 90125 album in 1983, but long before that, he was in the most popular band in South Africa at the time. They were the band who everyone was talking (or rabbitting) about. 

 1975: Rabbitt - Boys Will Be Boys - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwBAVklFLIWO0tI7mU1JPFZsRdhitW56w

 1977: Rabbitt - A Croak and a Grunt in the Night - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_maSsmuVlOMAhS8VmAcZcMZK1FDSZlERA0

CHRIS SQUIRE      It's been eight long years now since Chris Squire gained the Keys to Ascension and ascended The Ladder between Heaven & Earth. He's now up there somewhere in Prog Heaven performing Yessongs with his Swiss Choir of angels. Chris Squire's legendary bass-playing has featured on all 21 Yes albums, from the first self-titled Yes album in 1969, right through to the final Heaven & Earth album in 2014, recorded just a year before his untimely death from leukemia at the age of 67. During his time with Yes, Chris Squire was often known for his lateness in turning up for recording sessions and gigs, and on his commemorative plaque, it reads: "'The Late' Chris Squire."

 

The Yes Album that's been the subject of the most Talk and controversy over the years is of course the fabled Tales from Topographic Oceans album, recorded in 1973. During the ensuing Drama surrounding the recording of the album, Time and a Word has it that strained relations between the various Yes band members were in such a Fragile state that the band came Close to the Edge of splitting up. Rick Wakeman left the Yes line-up temporarily and Patrick Moraz was brought in as a replacement for the recording of the following Relayer album in 1974. Rick Wakeman had a re-Union with Yes for the Going for the One and Tormato albums in 1977 and 1978 respectively. It was decided after the rigours of recording and touring the Relayer album that each Yes member would record their own solo album to give the band members a much-needed break from the constant pressure of touring and recording with Yes. And so, the stage was set for Chris Squire to launch his solo career whilst still remaining with Yes.

 

Chris Squire may have been like a Fish Out of Water with the recording and release of his first solo album away from his Yes band-mates in 1975, but the album was generally well-received by Yes fans and was a Big Generator of album sales too, reaching No. 25 in the U.K albums chart. If you Open Your Eyes and ears and examine this wonderful album closely with some degree of Magnification, you'll realise it has the trademark Yes sound of Chris Squire's thunderous bass featuring prominently throughout the album, giving it the distinctive sound of a Yes album in all but name.

 

In the later stages of his solo career, he recorded the Chris Squire's Swiss Choir Christmas album in 2007 and formed a temporary musical Union with Steve Hackett of Genesis for the album A Life within a Day in 2012, under the cunningly-titled band-name, Squackett.

 

Although Chris Squire is now up amongst the Prog Gods in Heaven, the marvellous music of Yes transcends Heaven & Earth  and it'll live on forever in our hearts, attracting new generations of Yes fans who haven't yet been born. 

  

THE SYN       The original band of Peter Banks and Chris Squire, so it'd be a Syn not to include them here.  

And finally, After They Were Famous.....

TONY KAYE    A keyboard player extraordinaire who's been with more bands than I care to mention, most notably with Detective, Badger and Badfinger and a member of YES from 1968 to 1971 and then again from 1982 to 1994. Tony Kaye's long-awaited solo debut "End of Innocence" is a heartfelt 20th anniversary tribute to the victims of 9/11. This powerful and emotionally uplifting album is a musical tour-de-force, sounding like no Symphonic Neo Prog album you've ever heard before or will ever hear again, so why not sample some tasty special Kaye today. 

  1973: Badger - One Live Badger - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUU4TFRPEsA

  1974: Badger - White Lady - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmdWvstAYFs

  1977: Detective - It Takes One to Know One - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo2aaBamFnLQBnyx63yQxnzKxk-KBz27R

  1977: Detective - Detective - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjNH51OJ6_4

  1979: Badfinger - Airwaves - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mmtyq85Usg7YpZskaiWKWiRGZ81apWj9k

  1981: Badfinger - Say No More - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lxlkKSlABxJsSPYNcH6ucpoToPWfauFqo

Feel free to mention your own lists of artists and bands and the bands they were in Before and After They Were Famous.