Singer Jon Anderson met bass player Chris Squire in 1968. Together they put together a group with Peter Banks on lead guitar, Tony Kaye on keyboards and drummer Bill Bruford. This team created their first album, simply called "Yes," and the follow-up "Time and a Word." Banks had been the one who came up with the band name, but then he was the first to go.
Perpetual Change
Virtuoso guitarist Steve Howe was recruited in 1970, and actually appears in the group photo that appears on the American version of the "Time and a Word" album cover, though he didn't play on it. Anderson, Squire, Howe, Kaye and Bruford formed the lineup for the next record, called "The Yes Album." It included a song called "Perpetual Change," which could well describe the band's personnel history ever since.
Moving on, the band and Kaye parted ways and the now-legendary keyboard player Rick Wakeman joined in 1971. This change brought about two of the most popular and critically acclaimed albums, "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge." The former included the hit "Roundabout" and the latter had the first of Yes's 20-minute epic songs as its title track.
But after "Close to the Edge," Bill Bruford dropped a bombshell and announced he was leaving to join King Crimson. Drummer Alan White, who had played with John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, came on board in 1972 and has been with Yes ever since. White, Anderson, Howe, Squire and Wakeman put together the double-album, four-track "Tales from Topographic Oceans."
Dissension Within the Ranks
"Tales" was a bit too much for the critics, who felt that it was bloated and pompous. Chief among its critics was Wakeman, who felt the songs had been padded to fill out the 20-minute album sides. He departed after the following tour, to be replaced by Patrick Moraz in 1974. With Moraz on keyboards, the band produced the album "Relayer."
Unfortunately Moraz never seemed to fit in very well and Yes management coaxed Wakeman into returning in 1976. The reunited lineup with Anderson, Howe, Squire, White and Wakeman created "Going for the One" and "Tormato." And while the recording sessions for "Going for the One" were a happy time for the group, for "Tormato" they were not so much. In conversation with Wakeman, Anderson described his frustration with what was going on with the group. Wakeman agreed, and they both decided to leave.
Meanwhile the members of a band called The Buggles, Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn, had offered to Yes some songs they had written. One thing led to another, and they joined Yes as a package deal in 1980, with Horn providing vocals and Downes on keyboards. They created the appropriately titled album "Drama."
Big Change and Big Hits
After "Drama," the band basically fell apart again. Steve Howe and Geoff Downes went off to form Asia with John Wetton and Carl Palmer. Chris Squire was about ready to leave the whole Yes thing behind and was putting together a new group, to be called Cinema, with Alan White and South African guitarist-songwriter Trevor Rabin.
They had just about completed an album when Squire decided to invite Jon Anderson to give a listen. Anderson liked what he heard and decided he'd like to be a part of it. With him on board it made sense to call the band Yes. Original keyboard player Tony Kaye was invited to come back, and the lineup of Anderson, Rabin, Squire, White and Kaye released "90125" in 1983. It included the No. 1 hit "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and other MTV-era favorites "Changes" and "Leave It." These were very pop-oriented songs, a departure from the progressive rock for which Yes had become known.
But Anderson became frustrated with how long it took to produce the follow-up "Big Generator" album, which didn't come out until 1987. He departed again, and that's when things became, if you can believe it, even more complicated.
Dueling Yeses
Anderson, seeking a return to the classic Yes sound, got together with former bandmates Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Bill Bruford. With Tony Levin on bass, they produced an album under the name "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe," often referred to as "ABWH," in 1989.
Meanwhile Squire, Rabin, Kaye and White were auditioning new vocalists for Yes, but didn't release any new albums.
As ABWH were working on a second album, Anderson asked Rabin for some songs. The various managements and producers of ABWH and Yes saw the money-making potential of bringing the two camps together. The resulting mess of an album, called "Union," thus had the eight-man lineup of Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Tony Kaye and Alan White. Even the band members weren't happy with the album, which lacked the cohesiveness that the title implied. However, the tour that followed went well.
Redepartures and Re-reunions
It was clear that the eight-man lineup could not be sustained. And although Wakeman intended to stay with the group for the next album, having got on well with the others during the tour, management issues got in the way. So the same lineup that had been on the 1980s albums -- Anderson, Rabin, Squire, White and Kaye -- produced the album "Talk" in 1994. By this time, however, many fans who had come on board during the "90125" era had moved on, and the album didn't do as well. Rabin decided to call it quits.
Recognizing that their most loyal fans came from the 1970s era, Yes reunited what was considered the "classic" (if not original) lineup of Anderson, Howe, Squire, White and Wakeman for a series of live performances in March 1996 in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Recordings of these live songs were combined with new studio tracks on two albums, "Keys to Ascension" and "Keys to Ascension 2."
But by the time the latter had come and gone, Wakeman had again become disenchanted and left. The next album in 1997, "Open Your Eyes," brought on board Billy Sherwood, who had provided backup vocals and guitar on the "Talk" tour, as a full-fledged member.
For the next album in 1999, "The Ladder," they brought in Russian-American keyboard player Igor Khoroshev.
In subsequent tours, Sherwood departed and then the band bid farewell to Khoroshev after he had created negative publicity with backstage shenanigans.
Finding itself without a keyboard player, Yes recorded an album with an orchestra, "Magnification," in 2001 and toured with orchestras supporting them as well.
Health Issues and a New Direction
Wakeman rejoined Yes once again for its 35th anniversary tours, but having had heart troubles, he could not maintain a constant touring schedule. Although the "Ultimate Yes" 35th anniversary CD collection in 2004 included new acoustic versions of some songs, this reunited lineup didn't release any all-new albums.
Then Jon Anderson also had a major health crisis with a collapsed lung. He was also unavailable for touring for an extended time.
Feeling the desire to get back out in front of fans, Squire, Howe and White went on tour with Rick Wakeman's son Oliver on keyboards and tribute band singer Benoit David filling in on lead vocals. After the first round of shows, Squire declared that this was now the Yes lineup and they toured under that name.
It had now been 10 years since the "Magnification" album. Finally returning to the studio, this new Yes picked up some pieces from the previous time it had been without Anderson. They revived a song they had originally performed on tour in the "Drama" era called "We Can Fly From Here," and built a suite around it with the help of a returning Geoff Downes on keyboards and Trevor Horn producing. With Downes taking over on keyboards, Oliver Wakeman got left behind. The new album, released in July 2011 and called "Fly From Here," features the latest lineup of Benoit David on vocals, Steve Howe on guitar, Chris Squire on bass, Alan White on drums and Geoff Downes on keyboards.
Sources: "Yes: The Authorized Biography," Dan Hedges, 1981.
"Yes: Perpetual Change," David Watkinson, 2001.
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