Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius, Joseph Cottrell and  Ken Fuller

This week we are back to the epic in-depth study of Tales from Topographic Oceans. We asked the ever-generous drummer of Yes tribute band Total Mass Retain Joe Cass to join us to talk about Alan White’s contribution to the classic album. You won’t be surprised to hear that Joe managed to help us to uncover a wealth of detail about the percussion on the album and the musical and personal character of the late deeply missed Yes stickman. Thank you to Joe for his insights.

I’ve had no time to do a proper update on all that’s happened over the past week but please do visit the YMP Discussion Group on Facebook and the X.com @yesmuispodcast feed for all the details. However, it’s worth wishing Jon ANderson a very happy 79th birthday and noting that Steve Howe’s damaged finger seems to be sufficiently healed to allow him to play again this evening after having to cancel some shows on the US tour.

• What did Alan White contribute to Tales?
• Is that him singing backing vocals?
• What do we mean by 'melodic' drumming?

Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius, Joseph Cottrell and  Ken Fuller

We had yet another lovely conversation with a relatively unsung hero of the Yes story this week. As you’ll hear, you have probably seen Jeff Cumins’ work, even if you don’t realise it. He has a long and distinguished career as an artist and illustrator and revealed fascinating insights that neither Mark nor I had heard before. I’m sure you’ll enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed talking to him. Do check out the images in this week’s shownotes to see why were so pleased to be able to speak to Jeff.

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to the YMP 6–th episode appeal for our 600th episode. We achieved our target in just a few days but don’t let that put you off - you can still donate by clicking the link on Yes Music Podcast.com. As we have now passed our goal, Mark and I are planning our first ever YMP Live episode. I do hope you’ll be able to join us for what promises to be an epic undertaking playing and talking about Yes music and lots more. Details to follow as soon as possible.

• Which items across Yes history was Jeff involved in?
• WHo did he meet first?
• Was this a dream come true?

Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius, Joseph Cottrell and  Ken Fuller

This week Mark and I returned to Tales form topographic oceans to consider Steve Howe’s guitars, based on Mark’s expert knowledge and thanks to Geioff Bailie kindly sending us photos of the Steve Howe guitar collection book.

After recording I also heard from Nick Kokoshis that he has assembled a set of photos on Facebook all about the guitars on Tales so please see the link in the show notes for this episode to see what he has found out. You may need to join the Facebook group to view the photos.

Thank you so much to all listeners who have donated to our charity appeal already. After only a week, we have reached 81% of our target which is amazing. If you possibly can, please click the link on Yesmusicpodcastcom and help us to raise at least 600 pounds to celebrate 600 episodes of the YMP by supporting prostate cancer UK.

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller 

Support the Fundraiser!

After more than 12 years, we have reached episode 600! It was a delight to welcome Yes legend, Trevor Rabin, onto the show to help us celebrate the milestone. We spoke about Yes, Cinema, his new solo album, Rio, and more. Trevor was a generous and amusing guest and Rio is a great, varied album.

Thank you to him for helping us to mark the special occasion.

As part of our celebrations, you'll hear that we have launched a charity fundraiser - see above for details of how to get involved.

• Did Trevor actually want to join a 70s band?
• Why is his new album called 'Rio'?
• What has he learned from soundtrack writing that influenced the new record?

Let us know if you agree with us!