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Our tributes to Alan White – 536

Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius and Wayne Hall

Alan White from the Ramshackled album

This week we present our tributes to Alan White, Yes drummer for half a century, in the words of YMP Patrons and listeners.

Please add your own tribute to the show notes for this week if you haven’t already done so.


7 replies on “Our tributes to Alan White – 536”

Thank you Alan for being in my life for over 45 years. The albums but mostly the shows that bring together the Yes family. You and Chris can have a good catch up now and rock out a bit. ❤

Nicely done all, including Simon. I’m still processing Alan being gone from this mortal coil. I don’t want to ponder the question I’ve read of “who’s next?” I know many of our older musical friends have health issues, including Yes members current & past, but then all of us do. I’ve reached the point, after a long lifetime of many losses, of not being surprised by the passing of anyone, I’m afraid.

I’m in agreement, as I have been for 11 years now, that everyone should seek out the Levin Torn White album, to hear Alan’s wonderful inventive improvisational drumming. I also want to point folks to the Wetton Manzenera album, and to Rick Wakeman’s Criminal Record, for Alan’s playing, if they haven’t heard them already. Better late than never!

Take care & be safe,
Doug

Thanks for a moving episode. Thank you, especially, Simon, for your eloquence.
With Kevin and Mark’s mild encouragement, I pulled out Ramshackled tonight. I’ve always had a soft spot for this album, on which Alan let his old bandmates shine while playing with real sensitivity to the music. I don’t love every song, but I think Alan (teaming up very nicely with Colin Gibson on bass) provides a great foundation for all of them. This album says a lot about the man as a musician and friend, especially coming as it does right after Relayer, where he was a monster drummer in the very best sense and could easily have created a solo album that was all about him and the sounds he could make. (FWIW I sometimes pair Ramshackled with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express live in in 2015 — somehow these albums speak to each other, at least for me.)
Funny how the passing of the stalwart people can be so moving and distressing, as we are forced to assess – hopefully not too late – how much they kept everything together for everyone else.
Listening, creating, reacting, leading, steady, on pace, on beat, on time. Say hello to Chris for us. Could there be a celestial Whitefish?

It’s so lovely that people are showing so much love for Alan.

Does anyone know the full story about Alan giving Bill this money? It would not surprise me if he did as he was always a very nice guy.

“…he was gracious enough to gift a considerable amount of money back to Bill Bruford, who was the original drummer on those albums. He did not have to do this — he simply did it because he felt it was the right thing to do.”

http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/dates.asp?qbandid=1&qyear=2022&qdateid=12207

I have written a song in tribute to the late great Alan White who was a friend of mine and who I am honored to have as the featured drummer on this track.

Today would have been Alan’s 73rd birthday and it would mean a great deal to me to have the world hear this song and celebrate his life.

I don’t see how best to contact you.. So please contact me if you would like to help spread this around.

https://petehopkinsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/time-wont-wait

Thank you.
Pete Hopkins

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