Prog-rock giants Yes are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, but one person isn’t feeling festive: Lead singer Jon Anderson, who’s on doctor-ordered bed rest for the rest of 2008 after suffering “acute respiratory failure” in June. Anderson’s illness resulted in the band canceling its milestone-celebrating jaunt earlier this summer, but as the leaves turn, so does the membership of Yes: The remaining members have announced that it’s recruited Benoit David, lead singer of the Montreal-based Yes tribute band Close To The Edge (tagline: “It wont be Yes playing, but if you close your eyes, you might think twice…”), to serve as Anderson’s replacement for a North American tour that kicks off in November. So how will David sound? Well, since Yes is apparently flogging the “we found him on YouTube” story that worked so well for other band’s lead-singer swaps, I figured the time was right to go right to the source. Clip of David performing with his now-former band after the jump.
Well, uh, at least his new band will be a bit tighter on those harmonies. Yipes.
Close To The Edge [YouTube]
Rock band Yes to tour with replacement lead singer [AP]
As a Yes obsessive, I … have no idea how to feel about this.
@Chris N.: Agreed. Is that tagline for real?
His Jon Anderson is pretty good, until he gets to those high notes in the “I Get Up I Get Down” section. Then, not so much.
If you want to hear/see an impressive tribute band front man, check out Martin Levac, former drummer for The Musical Box, and former lead singer of Turn It On Again. His Phil Collins imitation is mind-blowing. Even has all of the between-song patter down with the voice.
When I retire, I plan to spend my golden years creating a chart showing all the incestual relationships between Yes, Asia, King Crimson, ELP, GTR, Genesis, and so on and so forth. I expect never to complete said diagram.
@Rob Murphy: …chart, diagram, whatevs…
And Maura, you are way too young to make, much less understand, that brilliant joke in the lede tag…
Wasnt Trevor Horn available? Who wouldnt want a full 10 1/2 minute version of MACHINE MESSIAH?
Rob,
There was one included in the first King Crimson box set…really well done in a family tree way…
There is a breakdown on the KC fan site ELEPHANT TALK that isnt nearly as visually appealing but chockful of info…
[www.elephant-talk.com]
I would have thought that there would be an image out on the intertubes of the thing, but alas google cannot find it…
@Rob Murphy: Someone already wrote that book. It’s awesome.
[www.amazon.com]
@Rob Murphy:
Already been done by Pete Frame. There was one in the Yes box set from 1991, which has no doubt been expanded since then. (I don’t know if an updated one has been published.)
@Mick Kraut: When I saw Dream Theater open for Yes a few years ago they played Machine Messiah! It was very meta, and very awesome.
You know, as an indie rock fan, people stare in disbelief at the fact that I like Yes non-ironically and that my favorite band of all time is Pink Floyd.
But no Jon Anderson (even with his blessing, which this seems to be), I’m not interested. It’s only Squire and Howe from the classic line up, (Bruford and Wakeman aren’t on the Yes bus this time around) so why bother?
Although i’m interested into how this new guy would sing “Roundabout”.
@noamjamski:
Fantastic! That DRAMA record had some gems on it…TEMPUS FUGIT comes to mind…
I first saw them on the UNION tour which wasnt a bad as it could have been. I then saw them again on the TALK tour and that was as bad as it could have been. No Bruford, Wakeman or Howe and none of the pop charms of 90125…
As I posted on my blog yesterday ([isorski.blogspot.com]), no one is going to want to see this unless they play tiny venues and/or dig WAY deep into the catalog. Anderson would never to anything off of Drama. I might go see them if they did a bunch of that stuff. Musically, that is one of their best and under-appreciated records. The closest they got to heavy metal!
‘Drama’ is pretty awesome, but still …
OK, if they’ll agree to play “Siberian Khatru” I’ll buy a ticket.
Aww, yeah:
From the YT comments: “Now this is what I call extraterrestrial beauty!”
I have watched the YouTube vids of Mr. B. David and the CTTE tribute band, and while I applaude his efforts at covering the vocals in a Yes cover band, having this guy join the band for a tour “honoring the music of Yes” is an insult to all true Yes fans. Simply put, Yes does not exist without Jon. This is a cynical play by Squire, Howe and White, in a last ditch effort to keep the Yes fire burning. I am as big a fan of Yes as exists, but I wouldn’t go see the “In the Present” lineup if they were playing in my backyard and handing out $100 bills to all comers.
To Chris, Steve and Alan: Let it go, guys, please. For the sake of the memories of your truest fans, let it die gracefully.
I’m glad nobody’s hating on Yes in general…
They were amazing…and I will DIE with the first five of their records buried with me….
But…my stars…this isn’t good…
Anyway…I am lucky to have seen the ABWH tour…so I got to see Bill Bruford play his drum parts…
It was fantastic…
It is sad to me that these guys dont seem to have the creative spark which created all that great music to begin with. I would think that they would use this down time to write and make some thing new to present when the band can actually be a band again. This puts a big dent in my respect for them as musicians.
I will always love what they have done-but I cant support this move in any way. It’s not real.
I have seen over 30 YES concerts and I’ve met Jon numerous times.
Chris Squire is a sad old greedy sod. This is rude and pathetic and I
hope every true YES fan boycotts this tour.
From Jon’s website:
September 18, 2008
Disappointed, and very Disrespected
Disappointed that, with the exception of one phone call from Alan,
none of the guys have been in touch since my illness, just to find
out how I am doing, and how we will foresee the future for YES. And
disappointed that they were not willing to wait till 2009 when I’m
fully recovered.
And I feel very disrespected, having spent most of this year creating
songs and constant ideas for the band, spending time with Roger Dean
creating a stage design, also working with VH1 and Sirius and XM
Radio to help promote the welfare of YES.
Getting sick was not “on my radar”, and I thank my own angel Janeee
and my family for helping me through this difficult time, and the
many well wishers, friends and fans alike, for understanding that
”things happen”.
Of course I wish the guys all the best in their ’solo’ work, but I
just wish this could have been done in a more gentlemanly fashion.
After all YES is a precious musical band.
This is not YES on tour…
I send best wishes to one and all,
Jon Anderson
September 2008