Customer Reviews

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The late 80s saw strange events in Yes, bizarre even for this band's wild and wacky history.

Singer Jon Anderson left the band in 1988, tired of tension with co-founder bassist Chris Squire, and power moves by guitarist Trevor Rabin. Rabin, while the newest member of Yes, was determined to seize control of the band, intent on spending the "political capital" he earned being the main writer of the 1983 #1 comeback hit, "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

Anderson then recruited three former Yes cohorts, reuniting 4/5 of the classic Yes line-up that recorded such early 70s milestones as "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge." He even tried to take back the Yes name, but this was blocked by Squire, the hold-out 1/5 of the classic line-up.

Thus Anderson's rival Yes was forced to trade under the band members' names, "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe." Their first and only album, a Yes album in all but name, is a very good, but not perfect, return to Yes' early 70s glory years.

On the plus side, while 80s Yes produced music with standard pop structure and length, ABWH returns to the template of 70s Yessongs. A number of tracks are mini-epics, up to 10 minutes in length. Further, they're adventurous and divided into different movements - you never know what's going to happen next.

Anderson's lyrics are once again mystical and spiritual. Finally, the expert guitar work of Steve Howe and prodigal keywords of Rick Wakeman bring back expert musicianship with a force.

On the downside, Squire's presence is sorely lacking. Many consider him the greatest and most innovative bassist ever, and while Tony Levin is an excellent replacement, he's no Chris Squire. Also, Anderson's vocals are sometimes shrill without Squire's great backing vocals to anchor them. Finally, Squire is a determined perfectionist, sort of a quality control expert; he could have focused the album into a classic.

There are five solid songs on the album: three groups efforts and two quasi-duets. "Quartet" is the best of the group songs, a magical, serendipitous journey, which opens with acoustic guitar and climaxes in a heavenly orchestral swirl. Reminiscent of the Yes classic "And You and I," it easily sits along the band's all-time best.

"Brother of Mine" is a solid, muscular prog excursion, with expert musicianship and multiple segments. The opening track "Themes" is exciting and adventurous; the four Yes men are having fun experimenting with musical variations.

The piano-drive "The Meeting" is delightful and etheral, while the acoustic guitar/vocal "Let's Pretend" is pure brief, magic, floating like a butterfly in summer.

On the downside, certainly the worst track on the album is heavy-handed, ugly "Fist of Fire." Thankfully it's short. "Birthright" is a leftover from Howe's mediocre GTR band, and should have stayed as such. "Teakbois" is ok, but do we really need calypso from Yes?

It's a shame Squire wasn't part of ABWH. ABWH could have been called Yes, and with his input, the album could have joined the all -time Yes classics of the '71-'77 era. Nonetheless, it's a very solid album of progressive rock, and well worth adding to your collection.

I remember hearing this album the first time in the summer of 2001 in my friend's father's car. At this time I was a big fan of eighties Yes; 90125 and Big Generator. The song that really stuck my attention this first time was Brother Of Mine which I thought was a really nice structured and beutiful harmonized song.

One year later when I had become a big fan of both seventies Yes music and the eighties part I borrowed the CD from my friend's dad, listening to it more seriously. I realized it was an album you should listen to pretty loud to appreciate while it has a lot of ingrediens of different sounds and arrangements that you miss otherwise. At the same time as it's complicated music, it's not complicated to prove the skills of the musicians but to make the music sound very "much" music in terms of many notes of music hitting you ears frequently. At the same time that the music has a fresh approach it has a lot of ingredients that make Yes music from the seventies so special and good. It's pompous, creative, emotional, beutiful, interesting, powerful, it has a new approach and the musical skills of the members from the seventies Yes. Can it be better?

They say music can heal illness, and I think the music that Anderson and company gives us here is a good example of that. The music always makes me think about sunlighted fields of grass with a blue heaven and it makes me feel delighted and happy and in love (especially Quartet). So as you can see it's an album that means very much to me and that I feel a personal connection to. Maybe you will get it as well..

Recommended if you like the seventies Yes and don't discard everything of the music that was delivered in 80's music as crap ;).

I would like to base my review on a more historical perspective. New so-called 'prog-rock' converts tend to compare the album flat against the better YEs albums of the 70s without experiencing the sense of rejuvenation that ABWH unleashed that one would have felt back in 1989.

For anyone who got lured into Yes in 1983 through 90125, and dug up the even better history of classic Yes albums, the period 1983 to 1989 would equal as The Great Music Depression (generally speaking).

Prog-rock albums were just so hard to find. Vinyl versions were mostly out of print, and only a marginal number of prog albums had been converted to CD format. Everything on radio (let alone the internet that wasn't WWW yet) was dominated by Bon Jovi - Bananarama - Whitney Houston types. In short, it was the hardest period to find anything good - let alone prog', past or present at that time. It was in this context of sissy 80s glam rock oppression (Big Generator wasn't that inspiring either) - that suddenly ABWH was released. It was the greatest liberating moment after such a decade of boredom.

ABWH sounded fresh considering that the members hadn't played together for 17 years, and also fresh in terms of hearing classic 'prog' structures played with current technology. Sure, there are moments on the album that would sound dated today (particularly Rick's array of plastic-sounding Korg digital keyboards, and Bill's dabbling in Simmons drums), but overall the musical quality shone through - one aspect that Trevor Rabin's Yes sorely lacked on 1987s Big Generator (Big Generator just sounded too dull and repetitive).

Gave it 4 stars for lacking Squire's irreplaceable backing vocals.(Tony Levin on bass/stick is OK, though)

Many posts have sufficiently reviewed the tracks - so nuff said.

The opening track has moments, and non-moments. Some of Wakeman's synthesizers are quite good, and the drums match his synthesizers well. Jon Anderson's vocals are fair, with the lyrics being average. However, one amazing thing is that the music does owe more to progressive rock than the 80s pop that Yes was playing up to this point, accomplishing the quartet's intent of moving back to their musical roots. "Fist of Fire" similarly has its moments, with lyrics that are more interesting and challenging than the opening track. However, this track also reminds me that Wakeman's keyboards have a tendency to overwhelm the other musicians. This track could have been called Anderson and Wakeman.

The third track is the longest on the CD. While "Brother of Mine" has elements of traditional progressive Yes, the third part of this song, "Long Lost Brother of Mine," has portions where the song sounds like it belongs to the soundtrack of the Disney movie "Brother Bear." I like the opening portions, "The Big Dream," which is the best part of this track, and the middle portion, "Nothing Can Come Between Us," but the third part has too many non-Yes elements to be a winner.

The beginning of "Birthright" reminds me a lot of the Yes CD "Union." The song then changes to a unique Yes style. This song is a great combination of lyrics and instruments, and is one of my favorites from this CD. The song is also political, documenting the explosion of an atomic bomb by the British government in 1954 at Woomera. Many aborigine people were not contacted prior to the explosion. The instruments have their turn in this song, with guitars and drums taking the lead early on, and Wakeman's synthesizers blasting to the forefront in the final third of the song. The aboriginal flavor added to the end of the song by the drums is excellent. This song is a winner.

"The Meeting" is a beautiful, uncharacteristic Yes song that worked for me. This song is pretty, staid, and lovely. I know the song really fits poorly on this CD, but I still enjoy this song. The bulk of the music focuses on a piano, with some synthesizer in the background, but the piano is such a lovely instrument when played as it is in this song that the piano alone makes this song a very good song.

Yet another song with a style similar to that of "The Meeting" is "Quartet." Once again the music is quiet and mellow, with occasional moments that sound similar to traditional Yes. I was also reminded at points of the music that Jon Anderson sang for the soundtrack of "Legend." There are references to Yes's songs, such as "Long Distance Runaround" and "Gates of Delirium." However, the song seems like a retrospective rather than self-congratulatory. At the time I reviewed this CD I was feeling somewhat mellow, and this elegant song struck a chord with me (no pun intended).

The next song falls flat. "Teakbois" is the first Jamaican flavored song I recall having heard from Jon Anderson, or Rick Wakeman, or Steve Howe, or Bill Bruford. I hope it is the last. There were places in the song where I was wondering if the music was part of the Disney Main Street Electrical Parade, or part of a CD by members of Yes. This song is the weakest on the CD. However, I did like the lyric, which was repeated a little too often, that went "some of you didn't get it." I think that holds true for many of the people who dismiss Yes.

While the following song, "Order of the Universe," also has moments that I describe as Disneyesque, this song also has some good moments. Overall the song is interesting with similarities to several eras of Yes. The song is somewhat better than most of the songs on this CD, but less than the better songs in Yes's portfolio.

This CD ends with another lovely song, "Let's Pretend." Perhaps this song should be the song of all our lives. Often we take things, including reviewing and reviews, far too seriously. While this music stays away from the cutting edge music of Yes's past, it is such a pretty little song that it is easy to like. Yes is best when they are singing of the more ephemeral subjects of life, and pretending smacks of fantasy and the X-Files and late night B-science fiction movies. Sometimes I need music like this to remind me that life should be fun.

I have mixed feelings about this CD. There is stuff on it that I like. There is stuff on it that I think is too derivative. On the other hand, these four gentlemen decided that they had a musical statement to make independent of Yes, and it was their musical right to try to recover some measure of the style of early Yes.

Every day that goes by makes me more wistful of days gone by when music was better. Of course, it is not true; music today is just that, it is today's music. Twenty years from now my children will be wistful for music of today, and wonder why the quality is not as good as it was. So when Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe make a good attempt to regain what they thought made Yes unique from twenty years earlier, let's pretend they made it.

This is a great recording. WITH OR WITHOUT CHRIS SQUIRE and sans any negative comments from Bill Bruford about this or that. NOTHING EVER HAPPENS THE WAY BB WANTS IT. I love BB, but I can't ever remember him saying anything positive in like 20 years. Good drummer, permanent cynic. -which, in all fairness makes him the artist that he is. Although, a little dab will do you reading interviews.

Chris Squire. I wish he was on this recording, but did anyone listen to the BIG GENERATOR bass work that CS did? Barely bass on that recording. So, the absent bass player wanted to keep on NOT playing bass in the Trevor Rabin configuration of YES. I love Chris Squire (and if you check out the Bass Playing on the new YES release MAGNIFICATION, you really can see how he can still play) but he was absent in the 80's. No wonder JA went out to find some folks to play with.

Most of the negative reviews are pretty amusing... people will say... 'this is not a YES recording' or the classic statement... 'This cd has a couple of good tracks like 'birthright Fist of Fire and Brother of Mine but the other tracks are horrid.'

Look folks. If indeed the only three good tracks were BIRTHRIGHT FIST OF FIRE AND BROTHER OF MINE this album would be great anyway. Rick Wakeman getting bashed about for the wonderful recording of THE MEETING is totally baffling.

Yes fans are neurotic, but the inability to enjoy a good recording because someone is not in it that you like or you think it is not CLOSE TO THE EDGE PART SIX is pretty interesting.

Yes is a soap opera, every line up is a new season. Watching people getting booted out of this band has provided me with a lifetime of enjoyment, music aside.

Grin.

I bought this album the day it came out in 1989. It still gets played fairly often today! As you would guess, there are certainly shades of classic Yes here, but I always thought of ABWH as their own unique band. The choice of instrumental sounds, as well as the production style, is more modern and almost "electronic" than what you would hear on most Yes fare, but this is just something that gives Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe their own identity. Actually, Bill Bruford's creative use of electronic drums is particularly exciting on this album, and he always keeps the rhythms moving forward in an interesting way. Also, Jon Anderson seemed to write some of his best lyrics during this period, taking on such serious topics as the muder of Aboriginies by the British government in the song "Birthight". There are several tracks on this album that make it well worth owning, but "Fist Of Fire" (perhaps one of the most intense and overlooked pieces of music that these musicians have ever done!) "Brother Of Mine", "Order Of the Universe" and "Birthright" have always rated as my personal favorites. If you are a Yes fan looking for something unique and different, or just a curious prog fan, give Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe a shot!

"ABWH" leaves a fresh feeling in its wake. These relatively short songs have a "poppy" and "80s-sounding" quality, executed with energy and tight musicianship. A few twists and turns in the arrangements make this a sometimes quirky, yet highly listenable, album.

Jon Anderson's vocals are strong, one if his best efforts IMO, up there with Keys to Ascension. The record as a whole is quite keyboard-oriented, sometimes leaving you wish for more of Steve Howe's trademark guitar - the parts where he DOES solo are very tasty however (and such a great guitar sound too!). Bruford's electronic drums were at first a bit annoying but grew on me with more listens and don't take away anything from the music, although they really don't add much either! Yes, it's easy to miss Squire's distinctive bass playing on this one - Levin's style is too vague for me and he could also have been more prominent in the mix. The production is otherwise good, albeit a bit sterile and "studio-ish".

Quite a few moments on this recording makes one recall Yes "The Ladder" (1999), although the approach is overall lighter here. Just like in the aforementioned album there's a slight touch of world music and brass (if not genuine at least imitated), with light & airy arrangements and some quieter "romantic" moments. Altogether there's an upbeat feeling to the music, with lots of catchy tunes and great melodies!

No, not the heavyweight quality of good Yes music, but nonetheless an enjoyable project worthy of attention.

This is quintessential YES, despite the fact the Chris Squire is not present. As the only band member to appear on every YES album, Chris Squire had kept the name YES, and had formed a new band. Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe reestablished communication lost over the years since the FRAGILE and CLOSE TO THE EDGE albums. They found that there was still great music yet to be created. This recording is a fantastic fusion of Anderson's mystical vocal stylings, Wakeman's frenetic keyboards reminiscent of SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII, Howe's masterful guitar work, and Bruford's electronic drum experimentation. Regrettably, ABWH only produced the one album before recombining with Chris Squire's YES and making the UNION album. Much of what made ABWH so great, was lost in that shuffle.

Indeed, this album deserves your attention... for it sounds like real Yes, the closest to the "old times" you may hear after Tormato... Quartet is a very nice composition, Brother of Mine reminds you of other long epics Yes did in the 70s... Themes is a great opening song, Let's pretend is a very good closing... I believe you should definitely find and listen to this.. there is no guarantee that you may like it, for you have to have an open mind for this album, some probably would dislike the absence of Chris Squire despite the best replacement available Tony Levin... I like this album and it always brings me pleasure and nice emotions. 4.5. stars definitely!

Ok, I'm no Yes afficianodo and I'm not going to pretend to be. About all I've heard from the band is this, 90125... I think and some of the albums Jon did with that guy who did the music for that forgettable movie about the olympics.
To be honest I won't even try to reflect on what the songs were about, from the few Yes songs I've heard I get the impression that it's all about fairies and wonderful lands like from some fantasy tale. Or did I get that from their album covers.
But this album is a fine example of musical perfection. Forget the lyrics, just get into the music. The album is vibrant and colourful to listen to, especially with headphones. These guys may seem like they have their heads in the clouds when it comes to the stories they're trying to tell but their musicianship is nothing short of perfect.
My advice is to get this album, the best equipment you can afford and just get swept away.