----------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 5, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: CNN http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/05/yes.music/index.html Yes, in a word: Classic By Geneen Pipher ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Backstage at a recent concert, the members of Yes, elder statesmen of the 1970s progressive rock movement, cheerfully greet their adoring fans. "How are you, love?" keyboardist Rick Wakeman asks a female fan waiting for an autograph. Nearby, bassist Chris Squire sips bottled water and signs a miniature guitar. "You're not going to be selling this on eBay, are you?" he asks with a smile. For 45 minutes after the show, the British rockers indulge their followers -- talking, signing and posing for pictures. Despite more than 32 years in the limelight, the members still seem genuinely pleased to accommodate the fans. Perhaps that helps explain how Yes has managed to weather four decades in the music industry, while flouting musical trends and critics alike. The band gives the people what they want. And the people seem to want more Yes. The band recently wrapped the first leg of its Yes Tour 2002, in which "the classic Yes lineup" of Wakeman, Squire, vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Alan White and guitarist Steve Howe played to packed amphitheatres. In August, the band released "In a Word: Yes" (Rhino) a comprehensive, five-disc set, complete with 80-page booklet, that encompasses the group's entire career. (Rhino Records is a unit of AOL Time Warner, as is CNN.com.) 'A few dead-end roads' Wakeman said the collection provides a good overview of the band's high and low points. "It's got basically something on it from literally every lineup," he said, referring to the band's frequent personnel changes. "It covers not quite every album, but not far off it. ... You should be able to listen and sort of see how the band has evolved and where it went off the freeway and on a few occasions down a few dead-end roads and back again -- which happens to all bands." Yes took many roads less traveled -- roads that often led to the epic-length songs and arty concept albums their critics loved to hate. "They're good and they know it," a Rolling Stone reviewer wrote of the band in the early '70s. "So they tend to succumb to the show-off syndrome. Their music ... often seems designed only to impress and tries too hard to call attention to itself." White scoffs at the notion that Yes' music, with its layers of sound and unusual time signatures, is an exercise in self-indulgence. "I don't think it is self-indulgent to strive to do the best thing all the time -- whatever is current -- to look over the horizon instead of at it, and just try to be that different thing," he said. Indeed, Yes continues to succeed in spite of its critics and a lack of radio airplay, save for a handful of hit singles -- particularly "Owner of a Lonely Heart," which topped the charts in 1983. Wakeman said he sees a resurgence of interest in Yes' music, thanks in large part to word of mouth and two of the conventional music industry's biggest foes: Internet downloading and Internet radio. "The new generation is not coming from the media, from radio airplay or whatever because we don't get it," Wakeman said. "It's coming from the famous and I suppose the best advertising in the world, called word of mouth. "And the kids are going through their parents' record collections -- I say kids, but really it's everything from the age of 12 up to 20s -- and a lot of them are coming along, and they don't have the ageism thing that a lot of the press do." A 'colossal joke' As for downloading, Wakeman said the music industry missed the boat. "The colossal joke is that it needn't have been a big problem," he said. "Intel, for example, years ago already had the software and various things in place where people could download the tracks they wanted from any major company ... and make up their own CDs. They could do all of the things that people really would love to do and at the moment that they swiped their credit card to pay for [it] ... the person gets the music they paid for and the writer, the artist, the company gets their same little chunk that they always get from the sale. Very easy. "But no, the record industry refused to embrace the idea and so what happens is, people just go ahead and do it anyway, which means there is less and less money going into the industry."  While the music industry continues to grapple with the changes brought about by technology, White said Yes has remained focused on the future. "Right now feels very fresh because of the new generation of fans," he said. "And even though we do quite a bit of the back catalog of older music, with Rick it feels like a rejuvenation of the band. It feels very fresh onstage, like we are moving to another level in the year 2002." True to form, Yes is not standing still for long. The second leg of the tour will kick off in early fall. In the spring, Yes will tour Australia and the Far East, then return to the United States for a summer tour and the release of another boxed set, this time of live material. Of the rigorous schedule, White said simply, "Bring it on." Perhaps a fitting motto for this time-tested band. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com