If you were a music follower in the early 70’s and happened to come across this new and stimulating sound, it’s almost guaranteed that you sat there transfixed for a few minutes just trying to comprehend it all. Chord progressions swirled around in vibrant colors while high-octave literature-worthy lyrics created a vibrant illusion of a world. And this was only the beginning, turning cosmically into the heyday of progressive rock featuring Yes as its crown prince. It was head music for the British intelligentsia that spread across the globe.
Formed in the UK in 1968, Yes has released twenty albums over its career yet surprisingly have scored only a single number one American hit, “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” from the 1983 album 90125. Although the band went through several changes in line-up throughout their history, bass player Chris Squire has been a solid mainstay, holding steadily in his position as keeper of the franchise and making sure the Yes name was never relegated to either a footnote or a joke within the music historical timeline.
With a new tour recently kicking off in the States, Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes and vocalist Jon Davison are bringing to life three of their most important albums of the seventies, playing them live in their entirety for the first time: The Yes Album, Close To The Edge and Going For The One.
Glide had the privilege to talk with the legendary bassist just prior to the tour’s kickoff on March 1st.
( note...in sad news, it was reported on this interview's publishing date that original Yes guitarist Peter Banks has died at age 65).
Yes has a new tour but it’s not a typical set for you. What makes this tour different than previous ones?
Well, we’re doing a tour with the three albums back-to-back: The Yes Album, Close To The Edge and Going For The One. We decided to do those three albums because they each mark a sort of a landmark in Yes’ career. The Yes Album, which was released in 1970, was the first album that really brought us to the attention of the general public back then. That sort of broke the band in the early days. Then Close To The Edge is an album that has the first time we attempted to do a long twenty-minute piece of music. It took up one side of the vinyl albums we had back in those days. So that was a new thing for a rock artist to attempt to do. Then in 1977, we did the Going For The One album, which was also a new thing for us. It was the first time we had recorded a record outside of England, where we all lived at the time. We made that in Switzerland in a place called Montreux, which is on Lake Geneva. So that was an interesting time for us. The memories of those three records are pretty strong in Yes’ past.
Yes has a new tour but it’s not a typical set for you. What makes this tour different than previous ones?Well, we’re doing a tour with the three albums back-to-back: The Yes Album, Close To The Edge and Going For The One. We decided to do those three albums because they each mark a sort of a landmark in Yes’ career. The Yes Album, which was released in 1970, was the first album that really brought us to the attention of the general public back then. That sort of broke the band in the early days. Then Close To The Edge is an album that has the first time we attempted to do a long twenty-minute piece of music. It took up one side of the vinyl albums we had back in those days. So that was a new thing for a rock artist to attempt to do. Then in 1977, we did the Going For The One album, which was also a new thing for us. It was the first time we had recorded a record outside of England, where we all lived at the time. We made that in Switzerland in a place called Montreux, which is on Lake Geneva. So that was an interesting time for us. The memories of those three records are pretty strong in Yes’ past.
Read on...
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