Yes Music Podcast

Produced by Ken Fuller, Jeffrey Crecelius and Wayne Hall

Mark and I had a great time speaking to photographer Rob Brimson this week. He was with Po from Hipgnosis when the photos of YES band members on the inner gatefold sleeve of Going For The One were taken and he took the shot of Yes Tor which adorns the cover of Tormato. He also did a bit of informal modelling work… Rob was open and generous about the days when he was based at Hipgnosis’ studios in London as well as his trip to Mountain Studios in Montreux and the story about the helicopter and the escape of the flying pig. Listen out for that one later. More Yes revelations are included in our conversation.

Also this week around the social media hotspots, I have been posting some adverts for my new website which is supporting the Tormato book I announced last week on the YMP. To keep it nice and simple, I’ve called it https://tormatobook.com and if you’d like to sign up to receive regular updates on the progress towards the publications of the book, then add your details to receive the email newsletter.

Direct download: ep548_rob_brimson.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:24pm UTC

Produced by Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius

This week Mark and I have enjoyed listening to Alan White in a rather different context to normal - adding his remarkable talents to John Lennon’s classic album, Imagine. We present our thoughts and then get together to have a chat about the music and the musicians involved. Please do add your own thoughts to the show notes and see if you agree with Mark and me.

We also found time to consider a two pence topic around Jon Anderson’s plans for live concerts next year with The Band Geeks. Stay tuned for our thoughts on that.

In other news, I’m excited to announce that I am part-way through writing a book about Tormato which will include all the aspects we’ve covered on the YMP as well as copious illustrations and a myriad of other things. It will be in paper and online format and I’ll be announcing all kinds of other news about it as we approach the publication date - which is still a long way off. However, you can already go to tormatobook.com to find out more and to sign up to an email newsletter to keep up-to-date with progress. The book will be published by Five Per Cent For Something Publishing (see what I did there?) and is to be called, ‘Too Close To The Edge? The surprising and instructive story of TORMATO, the final YES album of the 1970s’. Good title eh?

  • What does Alan's drumming on Imagine sound like?
  • Does he play appropriately?
  • Can you tell it's him?
Direct download: ep547_why_yes_want_alan_part_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:33pm UTC

Produced by Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius

While we wait for Yes to begin their tour in Japan in September and following the end of Jon Anderson’s Close To The Edge tour, it’s comparatively quiet in Yes world at the moment. That certainly doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to talk about, of course. So this week Mark and I have been thinking about why Yes wanted the late and already desperately missed Alan White.

We have discovered or perhaps rediscovered some aspects of Alan’s early career which made him the perfect fit for Yes following the departure of Bill Bruford, very shortly before the beginning of the original Close To The Edge tour. It was an excellent discussion reminding us just how multi-faceted Alan’s abilities were so do keep listening for that.

  • What about Alan White attracted Yes?
  • What did Alan spend his teenage years doing?
  • What recordings can we hear pre-Yes Alan playing on?

Direct download: ep546_why_yes_want_alan_part_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:02pm UTC

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