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It seems like a long time since the last new episode of the YMP but it’s not really. Anyway, I am back from my trip of a lifetime to the Indian Ocean for my 30th Wedding Anniversary which was a wonderful, unforgettable experience.
While I was away, I received one of the Union 30 Live box sets after it had been reduced to a sensible price, as spotted by Brian Neeson. Rather than concentrate on what’s in that remarkable package, Mark and I decided to talk more widely about the Union Tour, as you’ll hear a little later on. We also found time for a Two Pence on the surprising mistake on the latest Super Deluxe Edition of Fragile, so look out for that as well.
- What was Mark’s experience of the Union Tour like?
- How did the musicians get on?
- Was it ‘cluttered’?
Let us know if you agree with us!
The ‘not in the round’ concert video Mark mentions:
The one I was banging on about:
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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
13 replies on “Union Live – our favourite facets – 634”
Great show guys myself having seen that show in the round it was yes show to remember no doubt.
I thought you would enjoy the attached pic seems like the yes branch goes way beyond the norm.
Thanks Paul! Trevor gets everywhere!
Excellent episode.
A couple of things on the Fragile set.
Most important of all is that really is beautifully done. Gorgeous book format rather than the standard box with foam filler kind of a thing (per Floyd’s Immersion sets) and a very nicely expanded booklet. The essay is kind of Yes 70s tour programme level (or slightly higher) rather then revelatory but well written and the extra photos etc are very welcome. Including one where Rick looks for all the world like Roxy Music era Brian Eno, though without feather boa and eye shadow.
And to have a cd with a complete instrumental version of Fragile is truly perspective-altering. As a fan going back 50 years and more, I would have happily paid £100 on the grey market just for that and thought it a bargain. CTTE, TFTO and Relayer will make for fascinating listening if they can pull instrumental mixes off for those three too.
So I think Rhino are due some praise here rather than understandable niggles about one rogue tune. If it was on the same master reel as Fragile material I can see how that mistake could be made (though listening to it is a big clue. Personally I doubt very much that the band or management would not have been sent at least cdrs or access to WAVs prior to release. Though with the band on tour it is the sort of admin task that might have slipped down someone’s to-do list.
Even if they gave up right of absolute approval in the new catalogue deal it would be a routine courtesy for a major act to be sent the contents in advance. Not least if there are unresolved music publishing / songwriter credit issues around previously released material.
Chances are that the deal does gives the band a degree of creative input / approval but that it has to be acted on within a certain timeframe and cannot be “unreasonably withheld”. So there is that and really and truly has any real harm been done?
I keep coming back to this but cancelling the Relayer tour and leaving London fans down a substantial amount in Ticketmaster fees (fees were retained by TM on shows that were not rescheduled) was a far worse customer service oversight.
Anyway, if Rhino they reach this standard when they get to the next three or four reissues then it is going to get expensive. Yessongs in particular will be a treat to own for the presentation of the artwork alone even if it is just a straight vinyl / cd reissue in terms of the music.
As for Terry Reid he was pencilled in by Jimmy Page to be the original singer in Led Zeppelin before he hired Robert Plant. His solo album The River is a bit of a cult classic among those of us who are as interested in the more experimental end of the Americana / Country and Folk Rock scene of the 70s as we are in the Classic Rock side. He gets compared with Van Morrison a lot, which is not quite right, but Tim Buckley would be probably a closer fit. He certainly shares both those artists’ aversion to taking the most obvious musical route to the marketplace!
Here’s quite a good piece on Terry Reid from the Washington Post. It’s a bit dated, but has some nice details on his history.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2016/04/13/who-is-terry-reid/
Kevin:
Best way to think about how to pronounce “Roanoke”: Say the name of Faulkner’s house — “Rowan Oak.”
Best,
Aaron
Oh, and Kevin, please don’t take my comment as being pedantic. I wouldn’t have made it if you hadn’t asked if what you said was the correct pronunciation.
There’s absolutely no chance of me taking your comment the wrong way. Thank you for all your recent input!
I have very fond memories of the Union tour. Having first encountered Yes in 1978 with the BBC Radio 1 broadcast of their performance at Wembley, I’d been quite frustrated by subsequent developments. Drama was great, but the band petered out. So was 90125, but Big Generator took ages to arrive and there was no UK tour. And finally, ABWH seemed off-balance to me, somehow, undefinably not-quite-Yes. In 1990, I returned to the recording of Wembley from 1978 and accepted that this was the Yes I most wanted to experience, and that I probably never would.
So, in 1991, when I temporarily didn’t have access to Usenet’s alt.music.yes, I was more than delighted to see an advertisement in ‘Q’ magazine for live dates from Yes, with the Roger Dean logo and the 8-man merged lineup.
I went to see them at Wembley, on two of their three nights there in July. I had no idea in advance what they’d play or whether they’d play as an ensemble or roll out specialist sub-teams for each piece.
The first great delight was how close the in the round arrangement brought me to the stage. And then, totally unexpectedly, the finale of Stravinsky’s “Firebird” filled the room. And without access to alt.music.yes, I had no idea what they were going to play, so when “Yours Is No Disgrace” suddenly asserted itself, it was both a surprise and very familiar. And all eight of the band were playing!
Immediately preceding Yes tours had seen few deep cuts resurrected, the aim being to showcase the new album and play obligatory standards. But this time, solid in their disdain for “Union” they had space in the set to dig a little deeper. The initiative that years later would see the SLO concerts, the Masterworks and Album Series tours I think began here with the inclusion of “Awaken” in 1991. Realising they were playing it was a massively big deal to me at the time. The icing on the cake. Something I don’t think they’d have considered without all the original players together again. YesWest of ABWH wouldn’t have considered it, I think.
I thought they played it incredibly well. I wasn’t just having my loyalty to the band, having stuck with them since hearing the five musicians play it on the radio from Wembley in 1978 rewarded, but I was hearing them play it again at the same venue, and the additions from the other three seemed to help. I am one of the very very few people who appears to have tolerated, even appreciated Trevor Rabin’s pitch bends in the quiet section.
Fans of all sorts like many of the same things. We like reunions. We got that. We like crossovers – seeing Rick Wakeman play on YesWest songs was like seeing Batman help Superman. We like our hopes being answered. For two nights in July 1991, my hopes were answered.
Excellent review Dave. Some strong memories…and being a fellow comic book fan…the Batman/Superman reference was much appreciated.
Take care and thanks for listening.
Mark Anthony K
I also have very fond memories of the Union tour: it was a bit of a watershed moment. Before Union I was very sectarian about all things Yes. When 90125 came out I was horrified: this wasn’t Yes! At the very least this New Yes had nothing to do with the Old Yes, the Real Yes. It was a pretty good pop group, but the Old Yes was never about being a pop group: it was a group of Real Musicians Creating Real Music. New Yes was clever entertainment, Old Yes was Art. So I passed up the chance to see the New Yes live and withdrew into Yessongs. Big Generator only made things worse.
I did love ABWH, though. For me there was never any question whether ABWH was “also Yes” – this was Real Yes: genuine, pure bloodline, straight line of descent, legitimate heir to the empire Yes! Never mind the legal stuff, this was how Yes should be sounding in the eighties. I went to see them live instead and ignored the other lot.
But in 1991 two things blew matters wide open and proved me wrong: Union and Yesyears.
The first shock to the system was Union – the tour rather than the album, although I must confess I do not hate the album nearly as much as I know I’m supposed to. In the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, where I caught the tour, the eight man Yes played the old favourites magnificently. But Owner Of A Lonely Heart and even Rhythm Of Love turned out to be pretty strong live songs as well. Seeing the Old and New Yes together on that circular stage, playing a mix of Old and New Yes music, had a powerful effect. Somehow the lines blurred and all became Yes playing Yes music.
Yesyears, with its extensive career-spanning tracklist, complex family tree and lengthy essay detailing the full history of the band, managed to draw all the different strands together into one glorious Yes universe. Of course I grumbled that an ABWH track was missing, but that was a different record company, so I could safely blame that on music biz executives, managers, lawyers, the “suits.”
So the Union tour, together with Yesyears, represents the pivotal moment when all the parts fell into place. It was How I learned to stop worrying and love the band. The moment I managed to ditch Yes politics and questions which band is/isn’t legitimately Yes, who should/shouldn’t be part of Yes, who is the ultimate Yes keyboardist/guitarist/drummer, whether there can be a Yes without Jon, or without Chris, or without both, and what defines real Yes music. Free at last!
To be honest, at the time 1991 also felt like a Grand Finale, the members of Yes bidding the band a fond farewell as they were about to go their own ways to pursue their various solo careers. I did not expect to hear any more from Yes. Fortunately I was wrong again…
Thanks Dave for your comment. I totally understand what you say. The last time I saw Yes was the Drama tour in 1980 since when my interest in them waned though 90125 and later, Talk re ignited my enthusiasm.
Having listened to this YMP episode I would love to have been at one of those UK gigs.
Thank you Kevin and Mark for this as usual except discussion. I agree with Mark that Rhino should have followed the Kiss example haha. Thanks for the name check!
I saw 5 of the Union shows in the U.S. in ’91, and have wonderful memories of those shows, and meeting the guys after the shows. The highlight for me at each show was “Awaken.” Simply transcendent! Of all of the Yes tours I’ve seen since ’75, the Union tour is my 2nd favorite, after the amazing ’76 shows.