ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE

It seems that the start of ABWH was an idea by Jon Anderson to record a solo album. His then wife (for whom there is a note in the C.D. booklet:"For Starting the Idea: Jennifer E. A.")suggested to Jon to bring former YES members Bruford, Howe and Wakeman to contribute, but as they went to record some demos, finally Anderson suggested the formation of this band. So, for me this album has a lot of Anderson`s influence from his solo career, with contributions by the rest of the band. For me it was interesting too to listen to an "almost YES`s album" without Chris Squire. As Squire was the only original member of YES who remained from the original line-up in all albums of the band, he was the owner of the name.So, this ABWH band couldn`t use the YES name. This album is interesting for me because it has a lot of influence of "World Music" and "New age" styles. It sounds like YES but adding new sounds like Bruford`s electronic drums, new keyboard sounds by Wakeman (and Matt Clifford, who is credited as "keyboards, orchestration"), and Howe`s guitars (with other guitars by Milton McDonald). It is also good to listen to Tony Levin in this album, as he plays stick and bass guitar, adding his influence to the main "New age/World music" sound of this album. I don`t miss Squire in this album, really. The best songs of this album for me are: "Brother of Mine" (with an "universal" 60s message in the lyrics), "Birthright" (with very good electronic percussion by Bruford), "The Meeting" (a very good religious song, full of atmospheres, with good lyrics, and very good keyboards), "Quartet" (which seems mainly a Anderson/Howe collaboration, with guitars, mandolins, keyboards and also fine percussion by Bruford), "Teakbois" (a very good latin influenced song, with marimba sounds), "Order of the Universe" (mostly a rocker), and "Let`s pretend", co-written with Vangelis, with very good guitars and backing keyboards. After 15 years of being released, I still enjoy this album very much, and for me it was good that this collaboration wasn`t released under the YES name, because it sounds "new" and a bit "different", and it was a good "experiment". As everybody knows, the "Union" album marked the end for ABWH, and this ABWH album is better than "Union", in my opinion.