A vast amount has been written about the Yes of the 1970s, particularly the period 1971 to 1978 when what many people,including your author, believe the band were at their adventurous peak. But what happened next, and for the next ten years, is the subject of this book. It’s a fascinating period, both musically but also politically. A band that – despite a few lineup changes along the way – remained relatively stable in the 1970s suffered several severe shocks in the challenging decade that followed.
While Yes – the band - released just three albums during those years, there was some astonishing music from its members as part of other projects, not to mention a fair few that fall into the ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ category, as they attempted to find paths for themselves in a decade in which they often felt forgotten.
With the band on the rocks at the start of 1980, nobody could have predicted what would take place over the next decade. Taking as its basis the fortunes of the five members of the band as it was – officially at least – on January 1 1980, we’ll track the albums that Yes made during the decade, as well as the genesis of a fourth full band ‘almost-Yes’ album at the end of those years. We’ll also follow the other fortunes of those five musicians across the ten years, particularly as they were all to reconvene in 1990 as an eight-piece supergroup, and we will welcome four other musicians in and out of the fold during that time: Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, Trevor Rabin and a returning Tony Kaye. Other musicians that played a part in that era – like Eddie Jobson, Billy Sherwood, Tony Levin, Casey Young and another returning bandmate in Bill Bruford – will also get a well-deserved look in.
For some of these nine musicians – particularly Jon Anderson and Steve Howe – the decade was as busy outside Yes as it was for them within the band. Anderson enjoyed a stop-start solo career and a couple of big chart hits with Greek keyboard player Vangelis, while Steve Howe had success with both Asia and GTR. For Rick Wakeman, the 1980s were more difficult, but he emerged from it a stronger man and a more successful musician. Horn and Downes – although fleeting members of the band itself – remained associated with it one way or another for the better part of the decade. However, other members – particularly Chris Squire, Alan White, Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye – have careers within this ten-year period built rather more specifically around the fortunes of the band itself.
Most significantly, of the five musicians that began 1980 as members of the band, four were able to repurpose their playing for a more straightforward, but massively more lucrative age. Only Wakeman really struggled. After all, he was a virtuoso musician in an era that fundamentally distrusted such virtuosity. Where was he without that Wakeman ‘style’? Howe and Squire were able to play in a more simple fashion and still make it work, but simplicity just didn’t suit the beleaguered ivory tinkler.
A fair amount has been written about the decade by the members themselves. Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe have covered the period in their autobiographies, as has Bill Bruford, while Yes chroniclers Chris Welch, David Watkinson and Alan Farley have also discussed the decade in a bit of detail. The two Trevors – Rabin and Horn – have also spoken extensively about their involvement in the band during this time. Alan White discusses the period from t
