------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 30, 1980 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Billboard Magazine Denny Somach Producing 3 Hours Of Yes Pegged For NBC By Doug Hall NEW YORK -- Denny Somach, who produces the daily "Rock Report" on NBC's Source Network and handles the midday shift on WYSP-FM in Philadelphia, has returned from London where he interviewed the newly reorganized Yes for material for the first of a new music series from the Source beginning in August. The three-hour special on Yes will coincide with the release on Atlantic of its first new album since Rick Wakeman and John Anderson dropped out of the group and Buggles members Trevor Horn and Geoff Downs joined. Somach, who will host the show, expects to premiere two tracks from the album as well as two tracks from never-released live recordings that were to be part of a now-scrapped two-disk album once planned last year. The show will be followed by a tour by the group of the U.S. and Canada that is set for three weeks, but may be expanded. Somach says the special will "not be your typical interview and music special, but will follow a magazine format." In addition to interviews with Yes members, done between recording sessions for the new album, Somach interviewed Atlantic chairman Ahmet Ertegun, Yes manager Brian Len, Frank Barcelona of Premier Talent and promoter Harvey Goldsmith. Somach is scheduled to do five specials before the end of the year. All will not necessarily be three hours in length. He expects to travel abroad for some of these shows. In preparation for this show Somach listened to 30 hours of previously taped interviews including the group's first radio interview from 1971 on WMMR-FM Philadelphia. This interview was conducted by then WMMR staffer Ed Sciaky, who is now with WIOQ-FM in Philadelphia. Somach, who sat in on a number of the recording sessions, says the new album "is the best thing they have done in several years." He reports that the new Yes does not sound like the Buggles, even with Horn singing lead vocals. "Horn sounds more like John Anderson than John Anderson," he says. Horn and Downs contributed two songs to the new album: "I Am A Camera" and "Machine Messiah," Somach reports. Somach also says the new group has a sound that goes back to the "Close To The Edge" and "Fragile" albums of several years back. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com