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I speak to Steve Howe about Lunar Mist and the 2022 US Tour – 554

Produced by Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius

What a week it’s been in the world of Yes. Thanks to friend of the YMP Roie Avin, I managed to speak to Steve Howe about his new album with his late son Virgil, Lunar Mist as well as the US tour which began yesterday with a preview concert. (Don’t worry, I managed to slip in a question about Tormato as well.) YMP Producer Ken Fuller went along to the dress rehearsal and I’ve added his photos from the event to the show notes for this week. The gig took place at Mickey’s Black Box, part of long-time Yes collaborator Michael Tait’s empire also known as the Rock Lititz campus in Philadelphia. In fact Michael introduced the band and spoke about his connections with Yes. (Incidentally he is now retired.)

Also this week Doug Curran was at the wonderful Alan White tribute concert in Seattle which featured Trevor Rabin, Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison, Geoff Downes, Jay Schellen and a host of other stars. A truly moving event to remember a truly remarkable person.

Add to all this the announcement of concert dates for Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks in 2023 complete with a great video of the whole band in action together. Actually I think it’s a composite video using some clever remote recording but whatever the case, it all sounds fantastic. Fingers crossed they are able to visit the UK.

  • How does Lunar Mist complement Nexus?
  • Who decided what Tormato should be called?
  • How is touring?

Take a listen to the episode and then let us know what you think below!

Ken Fuller’s photos from the dress rehearsal:


Facebook has just changed how pages work which means that I’ve had to establish a new place for us to post and discuss Yes-related happenings. It’s a new group entitled, rather creatively, YMP Discussion Group. For the moment it’s open to anyone to join but I’ll be adding rules and joining requirements when I have time. One of the advantages of the new format is that all members of the group have the same ability to post content, so it’s a bit more egalitarian, or somesuch. Please do search for the group and join in.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3216603008606331/


Not final artwork or title – just me messing about with one of my photos

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up at tormatobook.com to the email newsletter. I’ve already shared 3 updates on the progress of the forthcoming book, TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE? (not the final title) complete with short extracts from some of the chapters. If you sign up now, for free, you can have access to the newsletters you’ve missed. It really helps to know people are looking forward to reading the culmination of my decades of Tormato obsession.



YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Ken Fuller
  • Jeffrey Crecelius and
  • Wayne Hall

Patrons:

Aaron Steelman

Dave Owen

Mark James Lang

Paul Tomei

Joost Maglev

David Heyden

Martin Kjellberg

Paul Wilson

Bob Martilotta

Lind

Michael O’Connor

William Hayes
Brian Sullivan

David Pannell

Miguel Falcão

Lobate Scarp

Chris Bandini

David Watkinson

Neal Kaforey

Rachel Hadaway

Craig Estenes

Dem

Paul Hailes

Mark ‘Zarkol’ Baggs

Doug Curran

Robert Nasir

Fergus Cubbage

Scott Colombo

Fred Barringer

Gary Betts
Geoff Bailie

Simon Barrow
Geoffrey Mason

Stephen Lambe

Guy R DeRome

Steve Dill

Henrik Antonsson

Steve Perry

Hogne Bø Pettersen

Steve Rode

Declan Logue
Steve Scott
Jamie McQuinn

Steven Roehr

Alan Begg
Terence Sadler

Michael Handerhan

Tim Stannard

Jim

Todd Dudley

John Cowan

Tony Handley

John Holden

Joseph Cottrell

John Parry

Keith Hoisington

John Thomson

Barry Gorsky


Robert and David

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Theme music

The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from: archive.org

3 replies on “I speak to Steve Howe about Lunar Mist and the 2022 US Tour – 554”

Very nice chat with Steve. He’s always a good interview, as I know going back to the 70s. He can be talkative, but it’s better than the very short answers opposite in some interviews!
I agree that the two Virgil & Steve albums do compliment each other nicely. I’ve been playing them for weeks as Steve suggests, the 2nd first then the 1st, back to back in one session. Try it!

I’ll be seeing Yes on Sat., Nov. 5 near Indianapolis, and plan on meeting some of the band before the gig & after also. I’ll give you a review & photos on the YMP Discussion Facebook page and on my own FB page.

FYI, the Trading Boundaries staff will be at each tour stop with an exhibition of Roger’s art, as they did on the last US tour in ’19 with Roger. So I’ll be able to catch up with Tracy, Michael and/or their sons.

Kevin, what a fascinating and charming interview. Steve is definitely becoming more chilled out in he is old age and he obviously enjoyed chatting with you too.
The Tormato discussion was great and i hope you’ll get him on again to talk about some of these older albums. Hopefully you’ll be able to use some of what he said in your book. Speaking of which, you’re more than welcome to use any of the photos I sent you all those years ago of the Tormato gig

Really good to hear Steve Howe in fine form, and willing to give forthright responses on Yes issues. Moving to hear more about Lunar Mist, his musical relationship with Virgil, and how the material was put together.

Tormato was clearly not a fun experience for Steve. That said, I have to disagree about ‘Silent Wings of Freedom’, on several levels. The edit performed on the recent tours (which I rightly speculated was at his insistence when I reviewed the concerts on YMP) is OK… but not nearly as good as the original for me. Chris Squire’s bass instrumental at the beginning is crucial to the song, especially the iconic opening B7 riff. Billy and Jay would have done a great job on this. It’s a carefully worked out section, and Steve’s shimmering and atmospheric guitar part complements it perfectly. It may be that he “improvised” that, but the bass and drum parts are carefully planned. Chris rarely went off-script.

From what is said here, the chances of an Album Series concert featuring the whole of Tormato is pretty much nil, as Steve has the veto in this Yes line-up. Maybe the fine covers band Awaken would consider it…?

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