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In The Big Dream with ABWH – Episode 196

In The Big Dream
Supplied by Ken Fuller, a VHS Cassette!
Ken Fuller very kindly sent me this VHS video of In The Big Dream two years ago! I’ve finally got round to watching it…

  • This is described as a compilation – what’s on it?
  • What was the technology capable of in 1989?
  • Does this collection stand the test of time or is it simply a museum piece?

Listen to the episode and then let me know what you think!

 

Show notes and links

Preston Frazier’s Anderson Ponty Band stream

Be The One covered by Miguel Falcao

Vancouver Sun interview with Steve Howe

Billy Sherwood’s latest…

Steve Howe on Cruise to the Edge

Geoff Downes and Chris Braide new album

Jon Davison and The Foo Fighters

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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 the following two creative commons sources: thanvannispen and archive.org

9 replies on “In The Big Dream with ABWH – Episode 196”

I couldn’t resist dragging out my bootleg DVD of this, and it may be the first time I actually watched the whole
thing straight through without fast-forwarding through the lip-synched MTV video sections. A few thoughts and
reactions :

1. The studio footage showing the 5 of them working together happily together in the studio presents a clever
illusion, because in fact the band only worked together in Montserrat for a very short time; the bulk of the
recording of the album was done in Paris by Jon….mostly by himself, with a variety of session players who
helped a lot with fleshing out the album.

2. The live footage is I think all from the California show in which Chris Berlin (former bassist with Bill’s band
BRUFORD) had to fill in for Tony Levin who was crippled with food poisoning for several dates of the tour.
This is why you never see clearly who the bassist is, as they edited out or avoided any close-up shots of
Berlin (and perhaps also why it took so long for the complete video of the Pay-Per-View performance to be
released, becasue of all the editing needed).

3. The “I’m Alive” version of Quartet shown is quite different from the album, quite a different arrangement
but quite nicely done. The video version of “Order of the Universe” is much shorter from the album which
I also like better than the overly-long album version. (all these alternate versions are available on
a 2-disc deluxe edition that came out a few years ago by Gonzo Media….it has 4 different versions of
Order of the Universe !)

Anyone interested in a complete show on video of ABWH which is as good (actually better) than the
Mountainview show, should seek out the Jones Beach show from 8/10/89. It’s much earlier in the tour,
has much better video coverage of Tony, Milton, and Julian (including the great drum/bass duet which
was not done on the shows with Berlin).

P.S.: Kevin you’re crazy, the Damian Anderson ending” to “Circus of Heaven” is one of the sweetest
moments on the album !

Mark Anthony Kay’s review of Olias of Sunhillow was absolutely spot on. I remember my excitement when it was released. As he said it never loses its magic. Nearly forty years on it is still as good as the day I bought it. Musically it is not out there but there is a homogenous feel to it, organic.

As I have said a couple of times in my comments on your blog, Olias and Fish are the only two solo Yes works which any serious fan would consider worth having alongside the best of the Yes records.

The artwork too is magnificent. I regret now that I no longer have a set of the publicity material given to record shops for its release. I had a friend who worked at JG Windows in Newcastle. She gave me the lot after it was taken down. It was superb. A mobile (different meaning back then) beautiful artwork in stiff card hanging from threads which hung as a three dimensional floating design. Then large thick card posters of the principal logos and images.

I still have my original LP.

Greetings Kevin,

Once again another excellent episode. Before I give my 3 cents I want to thank “jezzafox” for his kind words about my Olias review.

Now in regards to ABWH – In the Big Dream it’s a definite piece of history and like most items like this they do their best to present a united front.
While I admit I love this album, the credit for this fine creation sits squarely on Jon Andersons shoulders. Who went to Steve, Rick and Bill separately and picked their brains for song ideas and then went away to France with session players (Matt Clifford – Keys and Milton McDonald-guitars) and crafted full songs. By the time Jon meet up with Bill and Rick in Montserrat all they had to do was “sprinkle fairy dust” on them as quoted by Jon (in the June 2012 issue of Prog Magazine). Oh and I didn’t forget about Steve…as usual he had to make things complicated and insisted on staying in London to record his guitar parts. Again so much for group unity. Oh and by the way according to the same article Jon wanted Chris Squire on the album but Bill refused to work with him and suggested Tony Levin…so we were close to knowing what it could have sounded like.

Anyways there are plenty more soul crushing stories about that band in the article so check it out if you get a chance.

Oh and I look forward to the next episode Kevin!

On Amazon I found In the Big Dream for a mere $111 US! But there is a audio CD called Live at the Nec: Oct 24 1989. Anyone know anything about this? Some reviews say it sounds like a CD of a radio program/me.

I don’t think it’s too bad, but I don’t have it. It does have Tony Levin on bass, and includes the
drum/bass medley by him and Bruford. The bonus DVD has a rarely-seen film by touring keyboard
player Julian Colbeck (which I also haven’t seen !)

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