Tag: Billy Sherwood

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Billy Sherwood talks about Fragile 2025, his gear and new Yes music PLUS our first reactions to the Yes setlist – 691

Copyright William Mulryne
Copyright William Mulryne

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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius


This week it was a pleasure to welcome Billy Sherwood to the YMP once again. We spoke to him just before a rehearsal at Mickey’s Black Box rehearsal facility as the band prepared for the 2025 Fragile Tour of the US. Since that conversation, Yes have played 2 concerts. We spoke to Billy about the tour, his gear and the new Yes album. He was as gracious and open as usual – a great conversation that I know you will enjoy.

Following the first concert on the tour, Mark and I got back together again to discuss the setlist. Clearly, if you don’t like spoilers, you’ll want to press stop on your device after the Billy interview to avoid hearing the specifics of what the band will be playing.

  • What will the band be playing on this tour?
  • Has Billy’s kit changed?
  • What is it like to play The Fish live?

See if you agree with us and then leave a comment below.

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Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide

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YesMusicBooks.com

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Deep Cuts outside Yes – 687

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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius

Mark and I spent some time this week searching through both our memory banks and our shelves of Yes related records. We wanted to uncover and promote some lesser-known deep cuts on albums that Yes men have been involved with outside the main group.

We each came up with 3 songs you may not have heard or you may have forgotten about. We hope you enjoy revisiting them or discovering a little more of the breadth and depth of what Yes musicians have been involved with over the decades.

Of course, we would be delighted to have your own suggestions of what other deep cuts we can all benefit from hearing – leave your suggestions on the show notes for this week’s episode below.

  • What are your favourite solo deep cuts?
  • What do Mark and Kevin choose?
  • Do you know all these songs already?

Steve Nardelli on the YMP

The Syn biography on Prog Archives

Details of the Chagall Project on Henry Potts’ website

Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide

Available now!

YesMusicBooks.com

YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Joseph Cottrell
  • Wayne Hall
  • Ken Fuller
  • Jeffrey Crecelius

Patrons:

Aaron SteelmanLind
Al Dell’AngeloLobate Scarp
Barry Gorsky
Mark Baggs
Bill WhittakerMark James Lang
Bob MartilottaMark Slater
Brian HarrisMartin Kjellberg
Brian SullivanMichael Handerhan
Chris BandiniMichael O’Connor
Craig EstenesMiguel Falcão
Dave OwenPaul Hailes
DavidPaul Tomei
David HeydenRachel Hadaway
David PannellRobert Nasir
David WatkinsonRobert Vandiver
Declan LogueRonnie Neeley
DemScott Colombo
Doug CurranSimon Barrow
Fergus CubbageStephen Lambe
Fred BarringerSteve Dill
Gary BettsSteve Luzietti
Geoff BailieSteve Perry
Geoffrey MasonSteve Rode
Guy DeRomeSteve Scott
Henrik AntonssonSteven Roehr
Hogne Bø PettersenTerence Sadler
Todd Dudley
John CowanJohn Thomson
John HoldenJohn Viola
Jamie McQuinnTim Stannard
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Billy Sherwood’s bass – 672

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This week Mark and I enjoyed thinking about what Billy Sherwood has contributed on bass to the last two Yes albums, The Quest and Mirror to the Sky. We each chose three examples of songs from those two records to talk about and shared our thoughts on whether Billy has continued the tradition of Chris Squire bass playing or gone his own way – or a combination of the two.

  • Is Billy channelling Chris?
  • What do we want from a ‘new’ bass player?
  • How does Billy’s multi-instrumentalist pedigree affect his bass playing with Yes?
Billy Sherwood © William Mulryne
Billy Sherwood © William Mulryne

There wasn’t enough time to review the posts on the YMP Facebook discussion group this week but hopefully I’ll be able to get back to that next week.

Also, apologies to those who sent in entries to last week’s quiz. I haven’t forgotten and I’ll be announcing the winner next week.

Let us know if you agree with us!

Yes – The Tormato Story

Available now!

YesMusicBooks.com

YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Joseph Cottrell
  • Wayne Hall
  • Ken Fuller
  • Jeffrey Crecelius

Patrons:

Aaron SteelmanLind
Al Dell’AngeloLobate Scarp
Barry Gorsky
Mark Baggs
Bill WhittakerMark James Lang
Bob MartilottaMark Slater
Brian HarrisMartin Kjellberg
Brian SullivanMichael Handerhan
Chris BandiniMichael O’Connor
Craig EstenesMiguel Falcão
Dave OwenPaul Hailes
DavidPaul Tomei
David HeydenRachel Hadaway
David PannellRobert Nasir
David WatkinsonRobert Vandiver
Declan LogueRonnie Neeley
DemScott Colombo
Doug CurranSimon Barrow
Fergus CubbageStephen Lambe
Fred BarringerSteve Dill
Gary BettsSteve Luzietti
Geoff BailieSteve Perry
Geoffrey MasonSteve Rode
Guy DeRomeSteve Scott
Henrik AntonssonSteven Roehr
Hogne Bø PettersenTerence Sadler
Todd Dudley
John CowanJohn Thomson
John HoldenJohn Viola
Jamie McQuinnTim Stannard
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What did the Talk songs sound like live? – 628

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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller

This week, Mark and I take our cue from the recent announcement of the Talk deluxe box set to be released at the end of this month. It contains a live recording of a 1994 concert in Canandaigua, New York (interestingly seemingly misspelt on the adverts) that includes 5 songs from the recently released album. So we were wondering how the latest songs sounded in 1994 in a live setting.

The best bootleg available up to now has been the TV broadcast from Santiago in Chile during the fairly short South American Tour of 1994. Mark owns a DVD of the show but it’s available to everyone, including me, on YouTube and the version I have included below is the whole of the broadcast version including interviews with the band and behind the scenes footage. It’s well worth a watch in full.

Mark and I focussed on just the Talk songs for this discussion, however, and there’s plenty to enjoy, as you might imagine. This lineup of the band included Billy Sherwood in his first stint and benefits from his singing, guitar playing, keyboards, bass and assorted percussion. He is, as I’m sure you know, a man of many parts. See if you agree with our assessment of the Talk songs from this performance.

  • Was it possible to replicate all the studio trickery live?
  • Are the band in synch?
  • How did the audience react?

Let us know if you agree with us!

Mark’s DVD:

Original TV broadcast (can only be viewed on YouTube):

https://youtu.be/x0-rv5_GAVU?si=OuAt1ujctnUB7PY9
Clive Ayer’s photos:

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Check out the progress on my other podcast – https://anthem52.com/

Yes – The Tormato Story

Available now!

TormatoBook.com

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YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Joseph Cottrell
  • Ken Fuller
  • Jeffrey Crecelius

Patrons:

Jim Morrison Jon Pickles Declan Logue
Gary Betts Aaron SteelmanMichael Handerhan
Barry Gorsky Steve Perry Doug Curran
Martin Kjellberg Todd Dudley Rachel Hadaway
Lind  Paul Hailes Craig Estenes
Mark James Lang Steve Rode David
Bob Martilotta John Holden Stephen Lambe
Dem Fred Barringer Scott Colombo
Chris Bandini David Heyden John Thomson
Mark Baggs John Cowan John Parry
Dave Owen Simon Barrow Steve Scott
Terence Sadler Steve Dill Robert Nasir 
Fergus Cubbage William Hayes Geoff Bailie
Steven Roehr Lobate Scarp Geoffrey Mason
David Watkinson Tim Stannard Robert Vandiver
Brian Sullivan David Pannell Jamie McQuinn
Miguel Falcão Paul Tomei Michael O’Connor
Brian HarrisHogne Bø PettersenGuy DeRome
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Our Facebook YMP Discussion Group is open to anyone to join. 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/

Please follow/subscribe!

If you are still listening to the podcast on the website, please consider subscribing so you don’t risk missing anything:

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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

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Why did Yes want Geoff Downes…again? Part 2 – 617

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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller

After a short break, Mark and I are back to consider what Geoff Downes was doing before being asked to rejoin Yes for the recording of Fly From Here, released in 2011, shortly before the Yes Music Podcast was established. We have been listening to the John Wetton album, Raised in Captivity which includes many prog rock heroes so listen out for our thoughts on that and what, if anything, we learned about why Geoff was re-recruited.

  • Can we tell why Yes wanted Geoff Downes from this record?
  • What do all those guests add?
  • Is it a good record?

Let us know if you agree with us!

I received an amazing email this week – or was it last week I can’t remember – informing me that Yes The Tormato Story has been shortlisted for a Selfie Award. These are handed out for self-published books so I think it has a lot more to do with the work Izzie Lawrence (cover designer), Bob Carling (production management and typesetting) and Simon Barrow (all round legend who kept me on track) had to do with it than me. It’s also down to Mark, every Executive Producer, newsletter subscriber, pre-order-er, supporter, YMP listener, producer and patron and everyone else who had any role in its creation – see the full acknowledgements page in the book for more details. Anyway, I have to go to the London Book Fair in a couple of weeks’ time to see if the book wins in the general non fiction category so keep your fingers crossed, please.

Check out the progress on my other podcast – https://anthem52.com/

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Yes – The Tormato Story

Available now!

TormatoBook.com

YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Joseph Cottrell
  • Ken Fuller
  • Jeffrey Crecelius

Patrons:

Jim Morrison Jon Pickles Declan Logue
Gary Betts Alan Begg Michael Handerhan
Barry Gorsky Steve Perry Doug Curran
Martin Kjellberg Todd Dudley Rachel Hadaway
Lind  Paul Hailes Craig Estenes
Mark James Lang Steve Rode David
Bob Martilotta John Holden Stephen Lambe
Dem Fred Barringer Scott Colombo
Chris Bandini David Heyden John Thomson
Mark Baggs John Cowan John Parry
Dave Owen Simon Barrow Steve Scott
Terence Sadler Steve Dill Robert Nasir 
Fergus Cubbage William Hayes Geoff Bailie
Steven Roehr Lobate Scarp Geoffrey Mason
David Watkinson Tim Stannard Robert Vandiver
Brian Sullivan David Pannell Jamie McQuinn
Miguel Falcão Paul Tomei Michael O’Connor
Brian HarrisHogne Bø PettersenGuy DeRome
Aaron Steelman
Become a Patron!

Our (not really) new Facebook YMP Discussion Group is open to anyone to join but I’ll be adding rules and joining requirements when I have time (one day…). 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/

Please follow/subscribe!

If you are still listening to the podcast on the website, please consider subscribing so you don’t risk missing anything:

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on Google Podcasts

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