The Official Yes Thread

[Kwyjibo]

But nowadays he looks more like Gollum 

[Setlist Scotty]

But nowadays he looks more like Gollum 

[Orbert]

[Nel]

I feel bad because when my friend and I went to see Yes in 2008 we kept calling him Skeletor. Man, we were some shitty teenagers. 

I remember when the intermission came on, he was the only band member who stayed on stage and played an acoustic piece until the others came back. Dude rocks. I just bought his new solo album.

[gzarruk]

 

[ytserush]

Random observation:  Am I the only one who thinks Elrond from the Lord of the Rings movies looks like Yessongs era Steve Howe?

My wife gets pissed at me every time he shows up on screen and I yell "Steve Howe!" But then again I yell "Rick Wakeman" at Christoper Lee in those movies. Guess who I yell Trewavas at in The Hobbit?

You might surmise I'm not much fun to bring to a movie.

[ytserush]

I prefer to remember him as Elrond.  Besides, I'm sure I'd even get sick of yelling "Steve Howe" every time Gollum is on the screen.

[chknptpie]

I always thought of him as the crypt keeper from Tales From The Crypt or even Iron Maiden's Eddie.

[Zydar]

Yeah I've seen some crypt keeper comparisons on the web throughout the years.

[pg1067]

But nowadays he looks more like Gollum 

Hilarious!

[Fritzinger]

He might look older than he actually is, however: I watched YES feat. ARW the other night and I realised that Steve's unique, spastic guitar style is so crucial for the Yes sound. As important as Chris' omnipresent bass and Jon's angelic voice. Trevor Rabin can shred, yes, but no one comes close to the magic that Steve Howe is doing in Awaken at 9:50 (original version).

[Eldomm]

Random observation:  Am I the only one who thinks Elrond from the Lord of the Rings movies looks like Yessongs era Steve Howe?

+1

[Stadler]

I always thought of him as the crypt keeper from Tales From The Crypt or even Iron Maiden's Eddie.

I would laugh like hell if the band kicked into "Iron Maiden", with all the fire and lights....   and Bruce Dickinson gets into a sword fight with perhaps one of the few musicians that is shorter than he is.      

[Kwyjibo]

He might look older than he actually is, however: I watched YES feat. ARW the other night and I realised that Steve's unique, spastic guitar style is so crucial for the Yes sound. As important as Chris' omnipresent bass and Jon's angelic voice. Trevor Rabin can shred, yes, but no one comes close to the magic that Steve Howe is doing in Awaken at 9:50 (original version).

Although I like Rabin's playing so much more on all levels than Howe's, I agree that Steve Howe is crucial for the classic Yes sound. But his soloing over everything, especially on later records can get a bit much.

[jammindude]

Now if we could only fix his tone.   

[Lupton]

One of the more recent interviews I saw in the last couple of years with Steve Howe he was showing his current touring rig. Seems like he's jumped on the Line 6 Helix bandwagon. I can recall last time I saw a cover band playing a dive bar here in Dallas BOTH guitarists had Helix's and were getting pretty faithful to the album tones for the tunes they were covering. I'm pretty sure if Howe wanted and edgier rockier guitar tone he could easily dial it up on the Helix. He probably just prefers the thin clean tone he seems to have been in love with since the '96 SLO shows.  It's pretty weak sounding IMO, and really does a disservice to his looser, fiery playing style. Makes him sound sloppy as opposed to edgy. I've always felt that Steve's best guitar tone in a live release is on Yessongs (not that we had much else to choose from until recently!). That's is a lovely crunchy (almost distorted) healthy rock'n'roll tone. I think Yes' music sounds better with more of this approach!
 

[pg1067]

I'm gonna give this question another shot.

In Close to the Edge on Yessongs (and I think every other video that features the song and every live show I've seen), Steve Howe starts playing one of his Gibson hollow-body guitars (ES-something or other, I think).  However, right before the vocals start, he switches to a different guitar mounted on a stand.  What is that second guitar, and why is he making the switch?

[Orbert]

He might look older than he actually is, however: I watched YES feat. ARW the other night and I realised that Steve's unique, spastic guitar style is so crucial for the Yes sound. As important as Chris' omnipresent bass and Jon's angelic voice. Trevor Rabin can shred, yes, but no one comes close to the magic that Steve Howe is doing in Awaken at 9:50 (original version).

But his soloing over everything, especially on later records can get a bit much.

I've seen this criticism before, and while I guess I understand where it's coming from, it's not accurate.  Steve is not soloing, and it's not "over everything".  His countermelodies are well under the vocals, and they are a huge part of the Yes sound.

[El Barto]

I'm gonna give this question another shot.

In Close to the Edge on Yessongs (and I think every other video that features the song and every live show I've seen), Steve Howe starts playing one of his Gibson hollow-body guitars (ES-something or other, I think).  However, right before the vocals start, he switches to a different guitar mounted on a stand.  What is that second guitar, and why is he making the switch?

The what is an electric sitar. As for the why, it's probably as simple as he liked the sound for that section, and that's what he recorded it with. Howe is very detail oriented, so he's going to do his best to match the various tones from the albums, even if nobody notices but him. Nowadays he's got a stand-mounted variax that does the sitar parts (and probably a few other odds and ends).

Interesting instrument, and we've all heard it a gazillion times without ever realizing it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_sitar

[pg1067]

I'm gonna give this question another shot.

In Close to the Edge on Yessongs (and I think every other video that features the song and every live show I've seen), Steve Howe starts playing one of his Gibson hollow-body guitars (ES-something or other, I think).  However, right before the vocals start, he switches to a different guitar mounted on a stand.  What is that second guitar, and why is he making the switch?

The what is an electric sitar. As for the why, it's probably as simple as he liked the sound for that section, and that's what he recorded it with. Howe is very detail oriented, so he's going to do his best to match the various tones from the albums, even if nobody notices but him. Nowadays he's got a stand-mounted variax that does the sitar parts (and probably a few other odds and ends).

Thanks.  That's what I thought (and the "what" also answers the "why").  I guess if the album had been recorded today, he'd simply click a switch on his pedal board and not have to play a second instrument.  This sort of stuff is what makes a lot of the 70s live videos so cool.  Howe switches back and forth between instruments (including the pedal steel) with little to no obvious effort (although I'm sure his roadies would disagree with my effort analysis).

[DragonAttack]

 

[The Letter M]

https://www.loudersound.com/news/yes-alumni-announce-new-band-arc-of-life-and-release-video-for-you-make-it-real

New band comprising old and current members of Yes (and CIRCA:) are set to release a new album next February!

-Marc.

[emtee]

That song was a struggle to get through. Nothing there to connect with.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Cool, so it's like OYE except now Billy Sherwood can't sing.

[HOF]

Random observation:  Am I the only one who thinks Elrond from the Lord of the Rings movies looks like Yessongs era Steve Howe?

My wife gets pissed at me every time he shows up on screen and I yell "Steve Howe!" But then again I yell "Rick Wakeman" at Christoper Lee in those movies. Guess who I yell Trewavas at in The Hobbit?

You might surmise I'm not much fun to bring to a movie.

It’s appropriate for The Lord of the Rings to have the most prog rock cast ever. Also, Boromir is Ray Wilson.

[romdrums]

https://www.loudersound.com/news/yes-alumni-announce-new-band-arc-of-life-and-release-video-for-you-make-it-real

New band comprising old and current members of Yes (and CIRCA:) are set to release a new album next February!

-Marc.

No. Just....No.

[Stadler]

I want to like that, I do, but....    I don't.   

I'm a fan of Billy Sherwood, at least I think I am, but everything he's on I don't really like.     

[Fritzinger]

I also found it quite hard to get through this song... I don't understand how these guys finish a song like this and then say "we can release this song like that" and all agree on it.

[romdrums]

It is legitimately terrible.  The only thing worse than the song is the video.  If Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison are the ones steering the good ship Yes going forward, I'm going to give them a hard pass.

[Orbert]

Steve Howe is (to me) the only "real" Yes member left.  Geoff Downes has earned some cred with me because I've always liked his keyboard work, even if he's not as fast and flashy as Wakeman.  And with Chris gone and Jon A not likely to come back, Steve is the closest thing we have to an original member.

Anyway, it's discouraging because I'm sure Steve would like Yes to continue, but he can't do it alone.  So he's recently put more effort into his solo and trio work, which I guess left Sherwood and Davison to go do this Arc of Life thing, which is generally disappointing.  Especially disappointing because I like Circa, and Arc of Life is like half Circa, so expectations were high.

Obviously I would have preferred Howe, Davison, and Sherwood to work together on new Yes music, but for whatever reason, that didn't happen and Arc of Life is apparently that's the closest we're gonna get for now.

[Architeuthis]

https://www.loudersound.com/news/yes-alumni-announce-new-band-arc-of-life-and-release-video-for-you-make-it-real

New band comprising old and current members of Yes (and CIRCA:) are set to release a new album next February!

-Marc.

Are these guys for real??         

[King Postwhore]

Kerzner is someone who I've loved his involvement in different projects and I always loved World Trade which Billy and Jay came from.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Holy shit. I thought you guys were exaggerating a bit. Then I listened to it. No, thank you.

[ytserush]

Random observation:  Am I the only one who thinks Elrond from the Lord of the Rings movies looks like Yessongs era Steve Howe?

My wife gets pissed at me every time he shows up on screen and I yell "Steve Howe!" But then again I yell "Rick Wakeman" at Christoper Lee in those movies. Guess who I yell Trewavas at in The Hobbit?

You might surmise I'm not much fun to bring to a movie.

It’s appropriate for The Lord of the Rings to have the most prog rock cast ever. Also, Boromir is Ray Wilson.

I had not thought of that.  Kind of makes sense.

[ytserush]

I want to like that, I do, but....    I don't.   

I'm a fan of Billy Sherwood, at least I think I am, but everything he's on I don't really like. 

I am NOT a fan of Billy Sherwood so there is no need for any further exploration from me.