----------------------------------------------- JULY 20, 2001 ----------------------------------------------- Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal http://12.9.217.5:80/plweb-cgi/ (abbreviated link text) Sound Judgement by Mike Weatherford Seeing Yes hook up with a 60-piece orchestra shouldn't surprise people the way Metallica did two years ago, since the British rockers have always sounded like at orchestra anyway. The veteran band, which helped define the term "progressive rock" in the 70's, is known for its long-form songs, classical structures and a majestic sound provided by a succession of keyboard players, most notably Rick Wakeman. Yes has toured with as many as eight members. But the version visiting Sunset Station's outdoor stage on Thursday is down to a quartet, with a local orchestra in each city replacing the keyboards and then some. "I suppose having a real orchestra is like getting it straight from the horse's mouth, really. It has its own kind of power," says guitarist Steve Howe. "It's a big palette of color to have onboard." And while the Yes Symphonic North American Tour was an idea pushed by the band's management, Howe notes "there is a logic to it. It isn't just a willy-nilly idea. Next year, Yes with clowns? I don't think so. I think this really fitted well into the scheme of things." The band has survived more than 30 years in spite of, or perhaps because of, what can be termed "creative chaos." It's reflected both in the circuitous music and in the group's history, which has been marked by turnover, infighting, and questionable decisions through the years. At one point, it got so bad that there were two different bands claiming the Yes repertoire. One featured bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White, and another was billed by the last names of its alumni: (Jon) Anderson, (Bill) Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe. Now, Yes has swung the other direction, with a streamlined lineup - lead singer Anderson, Howe, Squire, and White - that's shed two younger musicians, Las Vegas native Billy Sherwood and Russian keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, since it played the House of Blues in October 1999. Khoroshev was arrested last summer for sexual battery after allegedly making unwanted advances to a security guard in Virginia; decidedly un-Yes- like behaviour for the band of gentlemanly Brits. "What Igor did was on the edge of some very unfamiliar kind of problems," Howe acknowledges. "If somebody's got problems in the band there is a common purpose for trying to help. But some people don't listen or they're so sure that what they're doing is OK. ... There's no good having a guy in the band who isn't functioning properly." But instead of rushing to find a replacement, "we just felt that after (last summer's tour) Masterworks, that Alan, Chris, Jon and I were really holding this together. We are the writers and we were the musicians who kind of got this idea going." (Keyboardist Tom Brislin will join the tour as what Howe terms an "add-on musician", supplying those prog-rock sounds that only synthesizers can create.) While Howe says that the smaller group has made it easier to keep everyone happy, he tries to remember that "artistic friction often creates very good records." "You can't resist the friction for its own sake," he says. "We know that we can disagree, but we know that we have to find agreement. Like most bands, you have to get your head in some position that allows better communication. Most of the problems in bands is about communication." The diplomacy continues on the new orchestral enterprise. "It's maybe not even something the band all see the same way," Howe says. "Some of the band might see the orchestra as a complete luxury and (this) fascinating event. And some of us are more cautious about how it's integrating with the band and how we create a balance." In perhaps typically backward Yes fashion, the band is finishing an orchestral album of new material, "Magnification". But it won't be out until Sept.11, well after most of the tour dates. "We would have preferred to have the record finished but we were never convinced that it would," Howe says. The band will try to have a new song or two ready to perform in Las Vegas, which falls in the first week of the tour. "We know what (the album) is maybe more than what the orchestrations for what the older music are," How said last week from Reno, where the band was rehearsing. The live shows will be arranged and conducted by film composer Larry Groupe ("The Contender"), who did the orchestral arrangements for the album. "The older material is so established in people's minds, it's going to be fun to have it orchestrated," How says. "But it's not as revolutionary, if you like, or new or different as what we're bringing out in September." The whole undertaking has been challenging, to say the least. "It's work, basically," Howe says. "It doesn't just happen overnight and it doesn't just happen with any single person's vision. "When you're in the middle of it, you thin, 'Can the rest of my life be like this?' And then you wake up and say to yourself, 'No, this is just an album.' It's not like Yes will never play again without an orchestra. That would be very difficult for us to stomach. "But for the moment, it's a big direction swing to do this. It's mainly just to kind of create change, you know." And change is something Yes is used to by now. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com