ABWH - Yes, by any other name.
Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman And Howe – In Concert – 1989 – Nights At The Roundtable: Mini-Concert Edition
Click on the link here for Audio Player – Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe – Live At Birmingham N.E.C. – 1989 – BBC 6 Music
Yes were one of those bands who clearly shaped much of the diversity that defined the early 70s in music. Â Taking the Progressive form and extending on it to create massive musical landscapes, they became synonymous with a movement towards a cerebral and theatrical take on Rock, which also created a goodly amount of derision and labels of pretension by many critics and fans of straight-forward Rock.
But Yes were hugely popular despite whatever misgivings the press tossed at them, and they became the foundation from which a lot of bands later took their inspiration. Further evidence you can’t please everybody, so it’s pointless to try.
But even Yes were wanting to create a more commercial sound, and after some bitter differences, lead singer and co-founder Jon Anderson quit the band in 1979 to pursue a solo career, which saw a successful collaboration with Vangelis, another keyboard and electronics wiz, no doubt inspired by Yes.
In the mid-1980s, Jon Anderson re-joined Yes, only to leave again in the late 1980s, citing more creative differences, and formed Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe. Ostensibly Yes, but because of a threatened lawsuit from co-founder Chris Squire, decided to go as ABWH and record two very successful albums before morphing once again into Yes.
Tonight’s post is a concert during that period as ABWH, recorded at Birmingham N.E.C. in 1989 by the venerable BBC.
If the above seems confusing, don’t worry. Listening to this concert is a reminder of what the original band sounded like in 1972.
Some things don’t change – and more fuel to the adage, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.
Play loud – incense is optional.
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