Yes - making it last...IT IS something of a rarity to see a band really break through these days. British music now seems to have a quality of holding on to its stars and it's maybe only once a year that anyone manages to surface on the horizon and be awarded real accolades Yes, then, are something special.
In 12 months --and says Jon Anderson -- almost entirely based on one album -- Yes have gained a fitting reputation for damn hard work, incredible drive and honesty, and a really new and fresh outlook. They have brought a bright spark onto the British rock scene and have delighted audiences both in Britain and America -- on stage and on record. A fact borne out by SOUNDS Poll results, where not only is the "Yes Album" winner of the British section but all five members of the band -- including the newly signed Rick Wakeman -- are heavily featured in each section.
Anderson, the lead singer and general driving force behind Yes, just out of an exhausting studio session for their next album, says that this past year has certainly been tremendous and has certainly been the year in which they gained recognition: "It was almost totally based on the Yes Album' - musically. Making it we suddenly realised in the first two weeks that we were producing it ourselves, and we got really frightened . But three-quarters of the way through we realised that for the first time we were making something that might possibly last.
" I'm never sure that the things I've written are going to last any kind of time, so much music seems a momentary thing. We were only talking the other day about the possibility of rock music -- in the next 10 years -- really developing into a higher art form. Building up the same way classical music did into huge works that last and stand the test of time. Rock musicians will make music that will last a hell of a lot longer in the future".
JON ANDERSON: "we're in an odd position at the moment."The album the band are now working on -- the first on which Wakeman has played -- has since the "Yes Album", become increasingly important. A factor that must cement everything the band have built up over the past year.
"I don't feel we've got a lot to live up to in that sense" says Anderson. "But I do feel we should produce an album now that will really make our position firm. I still feel that we're not really as established as we could be -- we've been able to play better places, we've been able to make our first tour of the States and all this has contributed to us becoming better known -- but this album now is something of a responsibility.
"It's been a very hard time now getting it together because we know we've got to aim for something that is right. Before we did the 'Yes Album' we had two months to really sort out the basic ideas. This time there just hasn't been that time and we're still getting over the obstacles of making an album that will entertain.
DANGER
"There is always a danger with any band where the musicianship is so good, that you do things that are basically showing off and lose track of the people that are going to hear an album and get satisfaction from important things they did to music and want to do those same things and yet often we feel we'll never be able to break through and stand for something in that way. We called the last album something very personal like the 'Yes Album' because it was the first thing we'd done we were totally satisfied with; now we have to follow it with something we're equally satisfied with."
HONEST
Do the band ever worry about the sudden rise to popularity being followed by a drop into the shadows -- something that rock music has a habit of doing to its well loved brothers?
"I think we've always had this very honest outlook that you can be up one day and down the next. I just feel that my security lies within the music and the people I make it with. Of course we all argue like hell because we've all got our own ideas and plans for music but then it's very difficult getting five people into a room and saying 'look get on with it!' If one person in the band isn't happy about something we'll always do the number his way to see if it works out.
It seems almost impossible, despite the band's acceptance of the possibility, that Yes will do anything but rise to even greater heights from now on in. They are, as Rick Wakeman has said, the most dedicated people he's ever worked with or met, and with their first really big tour of Britain looming at the end of this month it seems that success is assured.
COOL
"I don't know why the only acceptable songs about England have only been folk songs. I wrote another song about Accrington, which is near where I come from, and everyone cracked up about it. Somehow it's all right and very romantic to write a song called 'Cincinnati' - that sounds cool - but not a song about Bolton."
PENNY VALENTINE
*Entry* Cover* 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* 6* 7* 8* 9* 10* Photo 1* Photo 2*
