Thursday, November 14, 2013

90125







Yes was reincarnated when several members came back together for this side project that became the biggest success of their entire career.   Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman had left after the poorly received 'Tormato'; and the most recent incarnation of the band had called it quits after the subsequent album 'Drama' in 1980; with Trevor Horn focusing on producing, Steve Howe and Geoff Downes formed Asia, and Chris Squire and Alan White started a new group called Cinema.  

White reveals:  "We played with Jimmy Page for about eight weeks and we wrote about eight songs and Jimmy wrote some parts with us; but mostly the writing was being done by Chris and myself...The music was great.  They were just demos that we were doing; but in the end management got into in and the whole thing dissipated and fell to pieces; which is when...someone from Atlantic Records called up and said we have this guy Trevor Rabin that you might be interested in; and they flew him in to England and we just had one jam in Chris' basement studio; and it was starting to sound really good; and that was the real birth of what was going to be called cinema...We were going to play new music, a new direction but you still had the rhythm section of Yes; so you're going to have overtones of the band anyway.  The idea was to create this new band and kind of switch gear as it were.  Only after we'd laid down three quarters of the tracks that you hear on '90125' - the backing tracks - and Trevor was actually thinking about starting to get into putting the vocals on and harmonies were being worked out...Chris met Jon - in a pub I believe somewhere - and Jon said 'I heard you're doing some really good work; maybe I could sing on a track.'  Jon came down and tried singing on a track...It sounded so much like Yes you couldn't call it anything else; so you really had to think about reverting back the other way and say well it sounds like a new Yes."

Rabin says:   "There was parts of it which I felt were a little peculiar.  'Cause I was just so unaccustomed to hearing Jon singing my songs, obviously.  And then he sang 'Hearts'...and I really liked it.  And we spoke; and he joined the band.  Only at that point - which out of nine months was the last month of the album - and was at which point we called the band Yes...The sound of Yes' harmonies is not Jon...it's Jon and Chris...and the others get involved...it's really Jon and Chris' voices that make the difference."

Anderson acknowledges:  "What I've always said is that Yes is something that hovers above the collective unit and keeps us in tow, keeps us working hard, and keeps our spirits in the right direction in order to make good music with a defined idea and not to just jump and try make a hit single.  The single market is very difficult to understand difficult to ascertain:  one minute you're made you're famous and the next minute you're nothing. I'd rather make ten good albums than one hit single.  It's one of those things that when the Yes idea first came we would talk only about making album music."

Kaye considers:    "I think in many ways we kind of stumble along...looking for an opening.  I don't think anyone really thinks about it.  It's not like the phone calls are made.  It would never happen like that.  It has to happen by stumbling along and...even if it's separately, to go through a period of writing music.  And then somehow at the end of that period just like it did in '90125' and probably before in certain ways - different ways - it stumbles along to the necessary, right conclusion."

Squire says:    "It’s ironic in a way, because Yes has had quite a few changes over the years. Every time someone new has come in they’ve obviously injected more energy or new energy into the band and changed the sound a bit, and the approach, etc., depending on how much input the new member has had.  Of course, there’ve been some notable people; Trevor Rabin was a big influence in the ‘80s. And I think because of the changing in itself has just allowed the band to be free to grow in different directions and then come back and change again and then come back and learn from every phase that we’ve been through, really. I’ve benefitted a lot personally from having been able to evaluate what the band has done with various different musicians, and I’ve been very lucky to have gained all the information from the many members there have been."






'90125' was recorded at Sarm Studios in London with Jon Anderson on vocals; Tony Kaye on keyboards; Trevor Rabin on guitars, vocals, and additional keyboards; Chris Squire on bass and vocals; and Alan White on drums, percussion, and backing vocals;  with Trevor Horn on production and backing vocals; J.J. Jeczalik and Dave Lawson on keyboard programming; Deepak Khazanchi on sitar and tambura on "It Can Happen"; and Graham Preskett on violin on "Leave It".   The album went to twenty-seven in Australia, sixteen in the UK, nine in Austria, eight in Norway, seven in Sweden, five in the US, three in Switzerland, and number two in the Netherlands.  '90125' became the band's biggest album, selling over eight million copies and going triple platinum in the US, double platinum in Canada, and gold in the UK.  The title comes from its Atco Records catalogue number.   







http://yesworld.com/












"Owner of a Lonely Heart" became the biggest hit of Yes' career, going to twenty-eight in the UK, twenty-five in Australia, eleven in Switzerland, nine in Austria, seven in the Netherlands, six in Norway, four in Sweden, and number one in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpmmeT69cE








"It Can Happen"  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koh0Ku9JUag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5W2IpVMw0E








"Changes" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6jAMwK-4QU






"Leave It"  








'90125'  full album


Side one
1. "Owner of a Lonely Heart"   Trevor Rabin, Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Trevor Horn 4:27
2. "Hold On"   Rabin, Anderson, Squire 5:15
3. "It Can Happen"   Squire, Anderson, Rabin 5:39
4. "Changes"   Rabin, Anderson, Alan White 6:16
Side two
1. "Cinema"   Squire, Rabin, White, Tony Kaye 2:09
2. "Leave It"   Squire, Rabin, Horn 4:10
3. "Our Song"   Anderson, Squire, Rabin, White 4:16
4. "City of Love"   Rabin, Anderson 4:48
5. "Hearts"   Anderson, Squire, Rabin, White, Kaye 7:34




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