{"id":14962,"date":"2018-08-09T05:30:07","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T09:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=14962"},"modified":"2023-05-25T04:26:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T08:26:42","slug":"chasing-the-sound-of-yes-50-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/09\/chasing-the-sound-of-yes-50-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing the Sound of Yes, 50 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Howe laughs when asked what it is that keeps playing in Yes fresh and interesting for him. The guitarist has been a member of Yes for most of the years since 1970; he’s the closest thing the British progressive group has to an original member. The band has embarked on dozens of tour, released a long string of highly acclaimed albums, and endured more than its share of personnel changes, break-ups, fractional reunions and reformations. One might suggest that Yes has endured a great deal of drama (its 1980 album even bore that title).<\/p>\n

But Howe has an answer at the ready. \u201cMy enthusiasm, mainly,\u201d he says. \u201cMy determination to keep immersing myself in this great music. It\u2019s very popular and it\u2019s got a lot of my bits that I wrote in it.\u201d And in recent years, Yes has made a point of changing up its set lists, sometimes building entire concerts around starchiness readings of its classic albums. Recent tours have showcased The Yes Album<\/i> and Fragile<\/i> (both 1971), Close to the Edge<\/i> (1972), Going for the One<\/i> (1977), Drama<\/i>, and half of the 1973 double-album Tales from Topographic Oceans<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Yes, 2018 edition. L-R: Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Alan White, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOur recent album series was great,\u201d Howe says. \u201cIf there wasn\u2019t purpose behind [each tour], if there wasn\u2019t an idea, it might be rather flat. But for me, there\u2019s always an idea in my head that we\u2019re doing Yes in a certain way, to a certain level of perfection \u2026 maybe a new level of perfection. And all those things interest me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe readily admits that when he joined the group \u2014 replacing original guitarist Peter Banks \u2014 in 1970, he had no idea how long Yes would remain together, much less how long he would be in the band. \u201cThat could have been pure guesswork, anyway,\u201d he says. \u201cNobody knows the future.\u201d He admits that after the release of Drama<\/i>, he felt that the group had run its course. \u201cI felt it was kind of over,\u201d Howe says. \u201cI walked away from it, thinking, \u2018That’s it.\u2019\u201d In fact, that album \u2014 the first Yes made without its original vocalist Jon Anderson \u2014 did, for a time, mark the end of Howe’s involvement. Yet the group continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut things happen,\u201d Howe says. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have predicted it, but the band kept evolving, and I re-joined in 1995.\u201d He\u2019s been on board ever since, and with the 2015 death of founding member and bassist Chris Squire, Howe has become the de facto leader of the group. The current lineup features longtime drummer Alan White (a member since 1974), plus longtime members Geoff Downes (keyboards) and bassist Billy Sherwood. Vocalist Jon Davison is in his seventh year with Yes.<\/p>\n

As to where the group might go from here, Howe is characteristically circumspect. \u201cWe\u2019ve already got plans,\u201d he allows, \u201cbut we can\u2019t really divulge those because they\u2019re not solid enough.\u201d He does promise that Yes views its set list as \u201cnot a static thing, but a very mobile, flexible and ever-changing course.\u201d Howe provides further hints to the future by referencing the recent past. \u201cAfter doing this summer tour on our own, we might think about special team-ups,\u201d he says, mentioning 2017\u2019s triple bill with Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy and Todd Rundgren as an example of the kind of lineup the band might pursue.<\/p>\n

Yes has already committed to a 2019 tour of Japan, as well as hosting its popular Cruise to the Edge \u201cfloating festival\u201d next February. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about being fairly busy, but not strenuously busy,\u201d Howe says.<\/p>\n

Asked what he views as the source of Yes\u2019s enduring popularity for a half century, Steve Howe gets a bit philosophical. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought that the listeners have got a certain bent in their ear,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a certain sort of approach to music where they\u2019ve got a space big enough \u2014 or maybe small enough \u2014 for Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these words and all these ideas that we put together end up being \u2018a sound,\u2019\u201d Howe explains. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s the most enduring thing: People like the playing, the craftsmanship, the record sleeve. But fundamentally, they have to like the sound.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Howe laughs when asked what it is that keeps playing in Yes fresh and interesting for him. The guitarist has been a member of Yes for most of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,56,62],"tags":[2050,2413],"class_list":["post-14962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-prog","category-rawk","tag-steve-howe","tag-yes","cat-41-id","cat-56-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25400,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14962\/revisions\/25400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}