Rick Wakeman: Current Yes is a "Tribute Band"

[Ehwmatt]

In an interview with Jeb Wright from ClassicRockRevisited, Rick Wakeman minces no words about Yes's current lineup:

Jeb: As a father, is it gratifying to have your son stepping in to fill your shoes as the new keyboard player for Yes?

Rick: I got him the job as it happens. But we don’t discuss it at all because I don’t have any respect for the current tribute band that is out there. You can’t have Yes without Jon [Anderson, vocalist].

http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/int ... akeman.htm

Interesting stuff. Wakeman is kind of a weirdo musically, but I respect him for speaking his mind and not taking the painfully obvious PC route that others take with stuff like this.

[Michigan Girl]

Wow, we see this controversy over and over again amongst the fans...it's always
odd to me when I see it coming from the musicians.
SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's, CS-a fixture,
A new lead singer and your son replacing you...Is it YES or NO?!?!

[StoneCold]

Wow, we see this controversy over and over again amongst the fans...it's always
odd to me when I see it coming from the musicians.
SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's, CS-a fixture,
A new lead singer and your son replacing you...Is it YES or NO?!?!

What he says does makes sense though.

Rush without Geddy Lee would not be "Rush".

Journey without Perry, well it IS a band called Journey but its not THE Journey in the same vein. Hasn't been that in 12 years.

List goes on and on. This is why bands lose their magic a lot of times. A lead singer "fits" and without him the "it" factor is gone.

[johnroxx]

SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's...

While Steve Howe has definitely hit the "revolving door" more than any other Yes member (except for maybe Wakeman), drummer Alan White has played on each and every recorded project and tour bearing the Yes name since he joined the band 37 years ago.

Just sayin'...

;^)

[verslibre]

Wow, we see this controversy over and over again amongst the fans...it's always
odd to me when I see it coming from the musicians.
SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's, CS-a fixture,
A new lead singer and your son replacing you...Is it YES or NO?!?!

Rick Wakeman wasn't in the band during the 1980s...as in the whole flippin' decade!

Rick has a lot more integrity than the other Yes guys (give or take). He's made no secret that Yes is not his crutch; he's got plenty going on in his own ball court.

[Michigan Girl]

SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's...

While Steve Howe has definitely hit the "revolving door" more than any other Yes member (except for maybe Wakeman), drummer Alan White has played on each and every recorded project and tour bearing the Yes name since he joined the band 37 years ago.

Just sayin'...

;^)

Hmm, I stand corrected. For some reason I thought BB returned for a brief period in the early 90's!!

[Glenn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLp7wzDk4M

[Rip Rokken]

Rush without Geddy Lee would not be "Rush".

For all the bands that can get away with lineup changes (even if barely), Rush is NOT a band I could EVER accept with a replacement member.

[johnroxx]

SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's...

While Steve Howe has definitely hit the "revolving door" more than any other Yes member (except for maybe Wakeman), drummer Alan White has played on each and every recorded project and tour bearing the Yes name since he joined the band 37 years ago.

Just sayin'...

;^)

Hmm, I stand corrected. For some reason I thought BB returned for a brief period in the early 90's!! :wink:

No, you just have a great memory!

While my main point was that Alan White has participated in all things Yes since he joined the band back in '72, you ARE right about Bill Bruford returning to Yes for a bit at the beginning of the 90's.

He played on the Union album and the ensuing tour, and just before that participated in the ABWH (Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe) CD and tour, which was basically Yes minus bassist Chris Squire. Squire had his own version of Yes in the studio at the time (essentially the 90125-era lineup minus Anderson), and held the rights to the Yes name. This prevented ABWH from calling themselves Yes, although they titled the subsequent tour An Evening of Yes Music Plus..., which pissed Squire off to no end.

Squire eventually relented, though, and joined back up with Anderson and the others for the Union project. The 1991/1992 tour in support of the album featured a revolving stage loaded up with two guitarists (Howe and Trevor Rabin), two keyboardists (Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye), and two drummers (Bruford and Alan White), along with bassist Squire and singer Anderson.

The Union show I saw here in SoCal was awesome; I have a couple of great soundboards from that tour. But it was definitely a "one off" deal. Too many personality clashes amongst that many players, and they ALL pretty much hated the Union CD, which included a lot of guitar, bass, and keyboard elements that were "farmed out" to studio musicians. Wakeman used to tell people that he called the album Onion, because he cried every time he thought about it, lol!

Sorry, that was rather long-winded, wasn't it? In case you can't tell, Yes has always been one of my favorite bands. I had the great pleasure of meeting all of them (and interviewing Anderson, Bruford, Kaye, and Squire) during the course of my 20 years as a music scribe.

;^)

[verslibre]

The Union show I saw here in SoCal was awesome; I have a couple of great soundboards from that tour. But it was definitely a "one off" deal. Too many personality clashes amongst that many players, and they ALL pretty much hated the Union CD, which included a lot of guitar, bass, and keyboard elements that were "farmed out" to studio musicians. Wakeman used to tell people that he called the album Onion, because he cried every time he thought about it, lol!

Wakey's issues with producer Jonathan Elias over Onion's completion are well-documented. Jonathan Elias published a retort in Keyboard Magazine way back when. Both made valid points, but I have to agree with Rick when he says it's not a "real" Yes album. You even have a Levin-Bruford instrumental on there...shades of B.L.U.E. to come.

I did see the tour "in the round" at the San Diego Sports Arena, as well as ABWH at the Greek Theater. Those shows rocked!

[Michigan Girl]

SH and AW, who have come and gone since the early 70's...

While Steve Howe has definitely hit the "revolving door" more than any other Yes member (except for maybe Wakeman), drummer Alan White has played on each and every recorded project and tour bearing the Yes name since he joined the band 37 years ago.

Just sayin'...

;^)

Hmm, I stand corrected. For some reason I thought BB returned for a brief period in the early 90's!! :wink:

No, you just have a great memory!

Not really, I just know someone like you!!

Sorry, that was rather long-winded, wasn't it? In case you can't tell, Yes has always been one of my favorite bands. I had the great pleasure of meeting all of them (and interviewing Anderson, Bruford, Kaye, and Squire) during the course of my 20 years as a music scribe.
;^)

Not at all...and this^^^is so cool!!

[Frontiers65]

Yes is my fav band of all time and I have seen them on every tour since 1988,except this one. No Jon,no Yes for me.