Jon Anderson has been touring with the Band Geeks for quite a while within the USA, but this is their first tour of the UK.
Last night they reached London and the Palladium: a wonderful old theatre with great acoustics and sight lines. I was up in the Royal Circle.
The evening was excellent.
The band were great, and Jon's voice was as True as ever... timbre, range, accuracy and emotion. They started with 'Close to the Edge' and added 'And You and I' and 'Awaken' and the twists and turns of 'Perpetual Change'.
I'd heard of "10 standing ovations"... which was a little performative from some people....
I'd previously seen Yes (with all the classic members), the Union shows at Wembley when various versions got together, Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe several times, 'Drama' era Yes and various other solo shows....
Here's a review from someone else who was there...
And here's an official live video of 'And You and I'...
I also appreciated the staff who were stopping people from videoing... just watch the show with your eyes... Public Service Broadcasting definitely have this right... I hope they go back to showing this.
Another classic album released today.. and one of the very best... dense, emotional, complex and thrilling.It was the band's 5th album.
Here's the title track...
I saw some coverage of Jon Anderson and the Band Geek's first UK gig in Brighton a few years ago and apparently they opened with 'Close to the Edge'... I can't wait to see them at the London Palladium in a weeks' time...
In November 2024 I went down to the Barbican Hall to see Tangerine Dream perform their album 'Phaedra' live.
Or did I?
The band was founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese.
The best-known lineup of the group was its mid-1970s trio of Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann (who later formed the record label Private Music.) Froese has passed away, and the other two original members don't perform with the band.
I'm seeing them play in Norwich next year too.
How about Kraftwerk?
They have been touring all summer, but only Ralf Hütter is from the original band.
They were formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Wolfgang Flür joined in 1973 and Karl Bartos in 1975. Schneider passed away in 2020.
And Steve Howe's version of Yes is basically just him from the classic line-up from the 1970s - and they released a new album recently called Aurora - meanwhile, I have tickets to see Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks at the London Palladium - the closest you will get to seeing Yes today? I'm lucky to have seen the classic line up several times, plus the Union tour and various solo tours and other incarnations.
Here's Anderson and the Band Geeks playing "Counties and Countries".
How about Pink Floyd without Roger Waters?
They reunited for Live 8 in 2005, but Richard Wright has since passed away.
Genesis without Anthony Phillips or Hackett or Gabriel? Well, there's still a chance they might get together again I guess...
Rush without Neil?
Well, there's one that has plenty of fans talking... but the tour seems to be going very well with some epic shows, and they are heading for the O2 and Manchester next year.
Which other bands are still going despite having very few (or no) members from the original line-up?
From my Spotify Wrapped for this year, there were a few albums which I listened to the most during this year. I had a busy year working on writing projects, and other related consultancy work.
This was the album I listened to the most. The band has created the best option for anyone wanting to listen to the music of Yes.
There are some lovely instrumentatal moments on this album.
The final track is particularly good and is a love story to Jon's wife, who has been his supporter for decades.
Also in 2024, there was the release of new material from Clannad's 'Legend' album linked to the Robin of Sherwood TV series. I've blogged about that separately.
Public Service Broadcasting released 'The Last Flight': an album that ended on Howland Island - the final destination which Amelia Earhart was heading for when she disappeared. Here's a remix of that final track. It was particularly good when I saw it being performed live at the Barbican Hall, with an orchestra....
I also liked this album from 'The Cure' - not my usual music choice, but this has a good overall feel and got a lot of plays this year...
What were your favourite pieces of music from 2024?
Yes released 'Magnification'- an album with full orchestra which had some excellent individual tracks. By now I was married and living in a village on the North Norfolk coast and I remember listening to this while driving through the edge of the Sandringham Estate on the way to work in King's Lynn.
Also out in 2001:
Tenacious D were very popular, thanks to Jack Black's involvement. Their lyrics are vary sweary Mary and crude.
Parental advisory. Don't watch the following video... or enjoy it!
The Verve developed "Bitter Sweet Symphony" from a sample from a 1965 version of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time" by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra, adding vocals, strings, guitar and percussion.
After a lawsuit by the Rolling Stones' former manager, Allen Klein, the Verve relinquished all royalties to the Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who were also added to the songwriting credits. In 2019, ten years after Klein's death, Jagger, Richards, and Klein's son ceded the rights to the Verve songwriter, Richard Ashcroft.
I later heard the song being performed by Richard Ashcroft when he supported 'The Who' on the Sandringham Estate.
Pat Metheny Group released 'Imaginary Day'. This album has an intriguing cover where icons replaced letters and the CD provided the 'key' to working out what the symbols meant.
One track 'The Roots of Coincidence' was unlike most other Pat Metheny Group music and I played it to a friend on the way to a gig at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
Here it is being played live on the 'Speaking of Now' tour, which I also saw...
Via Wikipedia
The album won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. The song "The Roots of Coincidence" won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance; critic Richard Ginnell of AllMusic described the song as a dramatic departure for the group: "[an] out-and-out rock piece with thrash metal and techno-pop episodes joined by abrupt jump cuts."
Britpop was the thing, with Blur's 'Parklife' up against Oasis' 'Definitely Maybe'.
Neither of those were for me. Not my cup of tea...
Tori Amos released 'Under the Pink'.
Kurt Cobain's body was found on April the 8th that year.
In the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest that year, held in Ireland, was a dance performance called 'Riverdance'.
The music for this was by Bill Whelan and featured the top Irish musicians of the day.
I was fortunate to see a live performance of the stage show up at the Sheffield Arena.
Yes released 'Talk' - I remember playing this while heading for a holiday in North Wales.
REM released 'Monster' - a change of mood following a run of massively successful albums - I've already posted the ticket stub from the concert I saw on the Monster tour.
Pink Floyd released 'The Division Bell'. This has a link with my current place of work as the large metal heads on the cover
Back to 1994 and to an early album release from Francis Dunnery. The album was bookended by two songs I'm fond of...
A CD single which I have also featured some alternative versions.
What are your favourite musical moments from 1994?
The orchestra is conducted by Robert Ames. He conducted the orchestra that accompanied Sigur Rós on recent live tours.
Here's the programme for the evening:
Aaron Copeland, arr. ELP, orch. Robert Ames Fanfare for the Common Man 6’ Ian Anderson, orch. Sam Gale Living in the Past 4’ Mike Ratledge, orch. Sam Gale Out-Bloody-Rageous Pt 1 4’ Genesis, orch. Sam Gale I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 4' Michael Dunford, orch. Christian Balvig Northern Lights 5’ Justin Hayward, orch. Fiona Brice Nights in White Satin 5’ Peter Hammill, orch. Adam Dennis Refugees 7’ Yes, orch. Peter Riley And You And I 8’ Mike Oldfield, orch. Adam Dennis Tubular Bells Pt 1 – excerpts 5’
Keith Emerson, orch. Chester Tribley/Bronte Tucker Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Part 2 2’ Thjis van Leer, orch. Christian Balvig Sylvia 4’ Osibisa, orch. Christian Balvig Komfo 4' Frank Zappa, orch. Christian Balvig Peaches en Regalia 3' Focus, arr. Christian Balvig Sylvia 4’ King Crimson, orch. Fiona Brice 21st Century Schizoid Man - I Talk To The Wind - Court of the Crimson King 10’ Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, orch. Fiona Brice Entangled 7’ Kerry Minnear, Derek Shulman, Ray Shulman, orch. Sam Gale On Reflection 4’ Mike Heron, orch. Christian Balvig Maker of Islands 6’ Richard Wright, orch. Fiona Brice Great Gig In the Sky 5’ Rick Davies, orch. Christian Balvig Crime of the Century 6’ Modest Mussorgsky, arr. Keith Emerson, orch. Robert Ames The Great Gate of Kiev 5'
Other performers:
Guy Garvey vocals Jane Weaver vocals Gruff Rhys vocals Carl Palmer drums Peter Hammill vocals - I saw Peter Hammill live supporting Marillion back in around 1983.... Vanessa Hayes vocals
Stuart Maconie presenter BBC Concert Orchestra Robert Ames conductor
The highlight of course was this banger... a multi-million seller which spawned 50 years of music and a business empire...
Listen to Side 2, as Side 1 has already been posted...
I've blogged elsewhere about how this album has been in my life for 50 years, and single-handedly helped determine my musical preferences and taste, with its nods to minimalism, its changes of tone, wonderful guitar solos and emotional arc and final release... which was honed to perfection on 'Ommadawn' several years later.
Also out this year were a range of other classics.
In January, the Sweet released this classic from school discos of the time... and we all dressed like that in the 1970s....
John Martyn released 'Solid Air'.
I saw John perform many times, including at Sheffield Crucible theatre and Devonshire Green in a tent.
March saw the release of another perennial classic... I had this on a good vinyl version with the poster and stickers.
Jethro Tull released 'A Passion Play', Yes released 'Yessongs', Rick Wakeman released 'The Six Wives of Henry the 8th'.
An A-Z of bands suggested by the Spotify algorithm.
Coming to the end now... still chance to share yours.
I've been listening to YES's music since the late 1970s.
I've had the pleasure of seeing them play live quite a few times over the years too in various line-ups, and also seen some of the various incarnations of the band, and also some of the spin offs including Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford and Howe (with Tony Levin), the Buggles version, and solo sets as well, such as Steve Howe in a church in York and Rick Wakeman in a theatre in King's Lynn where Shakespeare also performed.
YES has had a number of line-ups over the years, but the classic line-up featured Steve Howe, Alan White, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson.
The last time I saw the band live was in Nottingham and it featured everyone apart from Rick Wakeman, who was replaced by Igor Khoroshev. I have my ticket stub from the gig which will feature on the blog too.
His parts are now played by Geoff Downes - which continues the Buggles influence.
The early albums included Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford.
For me, the classic album is 'Close to the Edge'. It features the most interesting musical arrangements of tracks, with real power and emotion.
Another great track is 'Soundchaser' from the album 'Relayer'. A great busy proggy song...
I'm a fan of the Rabin era albums with an 80s' feel... '90125' and 'Talk' (1994) - some good moments there. I remember playing it loud ...
Plus I like the fact that Eddie Jobson joined Yes. recorded the video for 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' and then left... and had to be edited out... although he can still be seen... Eddie will appear several times in the blog, as he's one of my favourite musicians.
One of their later albums which divides opinion with fans is 'Union', particularly as some of the playing was done by session musicians and not the band, and it had a lot of different producers and messing around, plus a lot of session musicians augmenting the sound. Rick Wakeman apparently referred to the album as 'Onion' because it made him cry.
Having said that, the tour they did to support the album was excellent. I remember their circular stage at Wembley - which is a bit of a shed. I had a decent seat and the sound wasn't too terrible - that was the only time I saw Trevor Rabin shredding - missing out on the later tour with Anderson and Wakeman.
Mid-song in fact. A chicken vindaloo, pilau rice, poppadoms, a stuffed paratha, Bombay aloo and a bhindi bhaji to be precise. All laid out atop the Hammond, keyboards and Mellotron in front of the audience and a band of vegetarians…
The central inspiration for Tales From Topographic Oceans was Paramahansa Yogananda’s (1893-1952) book Autobiography Of A Yogi.
Jon Anderson was deeply impressed by Yogi’s biography, which also inspired Apple’s Steve Jobs apparently.
This album was one of many that had Roger Dean's logo and artwork on the cover - often featuring 'impossible' topography, such as the classic cover for possibly their finest album - I played my vinyl copy of this album a lot:'Close to the Edge'. This was released in 1972.
They have had their geographical moments as well.
The album 'Tormato' , released in 1978, had an image of Yes Tor on its cover, and a map of the Tor and other landscapes nearby printed on the inner liner.
There's a disputed story about the creation of the cover:
Howe pitched the album's original title of Yes Tor, referring to Yes Tor, the second highest hill on Dartmoor, an area of moorland in Devon, England. During the development of the album, a tomato was thrown at the artwork resulting in its title and cover being changed accordingly. RickWakeman claimed to have done this as he recalled the band were disappointed with the initial artwork despite finding it expensive. Steve Howe claimed it was a Hipgnosis employee who threw the tomato, which insulted him. This was corroborated by Alan White, who stated that the band was unable to decide on a cover and the tomato was thrown by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey Powell - who I've already mentioned:
"I think Po ... put a picture of a guy with divining sticks on the front. Po took the artwork home one night and decided it wasn't working. So he threw a tomato at it".
More Yes-related posts to come as the year progresses.... such as the Trevor Horn / 'Buggles' era...
Tickets went on sale on Friday for the UK tour of Jon Anderson and his accompanying musicians 'The Band Geeks'.
I first heard Jon sing live in the 1980s with Yes.
I was able to see the classic line up, with Alan White, Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. I also saw a range of other musicians play in the line-up, including Buggles-era, and ABWH etc.
More to come when I reach 'Y' in my A-Z of music for February.
I had access to the pre-sale so purchased mine on Wednesday, and went for the classic venue which is the London Palladium.
Here's the band playing the Yes track 'Roundabout'.
For those in the know, the opening notes of this song were also the first part of the theme tune for the Brazil series I used back in the 1980s and into the 1990s.
This particular programme was used for years... called "Skyscrapers and Slums" - a term we would not use today as these are essentially people's homes.
It features Mauro "the show shine boy" who had dreams of being a pilot... one of the great mysteries of the geography world back then - in the days before the internet - was whether he made it...
