Yes: When Eight Was Enough

Yes have dug into their back catalogue (again) to release (another) live DVD. This one is from the 1991 "Union" tour, which featured the band's largest line-up, a "Mega-Yes"!

Mega-Yes. (l.r.) Tony Kaye, Bill Bruford, Trevor Rabin, Steve Howe,
Jon Anderson, Alan White, Rick Wakeman, Chris Squire

Y'see, in the late '80s, the '90125' lineup of Yes had fallen apart after the Big Generator tour. More precisely, Jon Anderson had taken his countertenor and gone home, leaving his bandmates without a singer. He then joined a group called 'Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe'. While not allowed to use the name Yes (it's owned by bass player Chris Squire) ABWH put out a decent record and did a tour (which ended at Madison Square Garden, my first Yes concert.)


ABWH (a.ka. "Yes East") ran out of gas while working on their follow-up. Meanwhile, the Trevor Rabin-led lineup of Yes ("Yes West") was working in an L.A. studio, trying to record without Anderson. Eventually, the diminuitive, distinctive vocalist agreed to sing on the Rabin tracks. To make a 'complete' album (and cash in on the band's legacy), 'Union' was released, a patched-together compilation of the tracks from both sets of sessions.

It's the worst album in the Yes catalogue, an incoherent mess. There's a few flashes of inspiration, but it does not hang together as a listenable album. Following the tour, egos and tempers flared again, and Jon Anderson rejoined the "Yes West" lineup, recording and issuing the equally unlistenable 'Talk'.

That said, the DVD should prove to be interesting. Rights to the filmed concert are finally available, and below you can watch all eight guys playing 'Roundabout' and trying not to step on each other's toes. Enjoy.