----------------------------------------------- JULY 29, 2001 ----------------------------------------------- Source: Orange County Register http://209.67.139.200/show/yes00729cci.shtml The sonic world of Yes is still in lush orbit  Rock: The band lands at the Hollywood Bowl for an orchestra gig.  By Tom Roland  Special to the Register  "You create your own world," Yes' Jon Anderson says. "So why not create a beautiful one?" The value of the sonic world created by Yes depends on the listener's viewpoint. Formed more than 30 years ago, the progressive rockers, who perform Monday with the resident symphony orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, have been hailed by a loyal following for their musical virtuosity, ethereal lyrics and risky textures. Critics have not always been so kind, often labeling them pretentious and bombastic. One Rolling Stone review called their music "regressive rock," while sonicnet.com notes that "the 22-minute 'Gates Of Delirium' was once jokingly assessed as the reason punk became necessary." "I don't think anybody gets through this business without a few tomatoes on their face," Anderson says, from a hotel in Reno, where Yes rehearsed for the current tour. "We're not perfect. Give us a break, we're just trying to do our best." Anderson, despite the critics' labels, sounds anything but pretentious in this conversation. Intelligent, positive, spiritual and child-like, but not pretentious. Those traits, should they reflect the rest of the band, go a long way in explaining the music and persona of Yes, whose lengthy pieces mix classical bravura with complicated passages and heady topics, packaged on album with fantasy cover art. At the group's commercial peak, in the early '70s - when bigger was always better -- Yes joined bands such as King Crimson, (Peter Gabriel-era) Genesis and Emerson, Lake & Palmer in turning what was once simple, rebellious rock 'n' roll into majestic, complex art rock. "For some reason," Anderson says, "this is what we do. We'd like to have a hit record, shall we say, a hit single sort of thing, but we don't necessarily know how to do that." In fact, only once in its 34-year history did it make the Top 10, when "Owner of a Lonely Heart" - a decidedly un-Yes-like entry - rode an almost-danceable hook to No. 1 in 1983. "Roundabout," a more representative eight-minute trek of virtuosity and non specific images, became the band's only other Top 20 single, in 1972. The very thing that has kept Yes off the radio dial, however, may also be the element that's brought the band its longevity. Despite a lineup that's in constant flux, the group's ability to mesh classical sensibilities into rock arias with multiple movements has created a music form that's always had a following, although it's never quite been fashionable. "I think the best part of Yes music is when we create music without any boundaries," Anderson suggests. "We don't say, 'Well, it's four minutes, we gotta stop.' We just make a piece of music, and you hope that there's some radio somewhere here in this world that'll play it." The group's current symphonic tour follows the completion of "Magnification," recorded with the San Diego Symphony, and has its roots in the earliest days of Yes history. Anderson, bass player Chris Squire and percussionist Alan White constitute the current lineup, along with guitarist Steve Howe, who originally joined the group in 1970, replacing Peter Banks, a Pete Townshend disciple who was troubled by Anderson's desire to use an orchestra. Banks "liked the idea of major, major sort of noise," Anderson says, "and it was only a year later Pete Townshend was on tour with 'Tommy,' doing full orchestra and chorus, and actors and things. Who knows what's next?" Yes and its members have often been more concerned with what's next - or, at least, what's not been tried. Longtime keyboard player Rick Wakeman, for example, once staged an extravaganza that featured an orchestra, a 50-voice choir and figure skating. Excessive, to say the least. He lost a ton of money, and the concept did not take off. Yes itself conducted a tour in the mid-'90s in which the band encouraged the audience to wear headsets, enabling listeners to tune to a low frequency band for a crisper, cleaner sound. Nice idea, but it didn't change anything: Concerts still require earplugs, not personal stereos. The current outing, Yes' first full-fledged tour with a symphony, puts the band in a trendier position. Metallica and the Scorpions have each employed symphonies on albums in the past two years, and even Kid Rock performed with an orchestra on the MTV awards. And despite those critics' barbs about Yes being too grandiose, Anderson insists the group is quite conscientious on this tour about not going over the top. "We're going for a very subtle approach," he notes. "That's the reason for a very simple stage setting, a subtle approach to how the orchestra will look, and colorizing them." Of course, it's tough to know exactly how a band such as Yes defines the word "simple." Regardless of the lighting, the music still employs swirling rhythmic shifts and complicated solos that supporters call brilliant, and detractors term self-indulgent. Then there is that little matter of Anderson's lyrics: cerebral, wordy, spiritual, mystical, shrouded in the psychology of self-help and self-motivation. "Rick Wakeman had the best line about me," Anderson offers. "He said, 'Well, Jon's the only guy I know who's trying to save this planet while living on another one.'" That underscores the whole point of Yes. You do, in fact, create your own world. It can be highly intriguing to some, but not everyone needs to be part of it. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com