Union (Yes album)

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union
Studio album by Yes

Publication
(s)

April 30, 1991

Label (s) Arista Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

AOR , art rock

Title (number)

14 (15)

occupation

production

Jonathan Elias , Steve Howe , Trevor Rabin , Eddie Offord, Mark Mancina , Billy Sherwood

chronology
Big Generator
(1987) 		union Talk
(1994)
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Union is the last globally successful album of the British progressive rock band Yes from 1991. The title thematizes the union of the two bands Yes ( Chris Squire , Trevor Rabin , Alan White and Tony Kaye ) and Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe (ABWH). Yes released their 13th studio work with their 18th album.

Emergence

After the Big Generator tour ended on April 13, 1988, the band members split up. Trevor Rabin devoted himself to his solo project Can't Look Away (released in 1989), while Jon Anderson, frustrated by the reduction of his position in the band to the function of the singer of songs he was not involved in the creation, with Bill Bruford , Steve Howe, and Rick Wakeman . With them he released the album Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe in 1989 . Chris Squire had reached in court that the four musicians were not allowed to perform under the name Yes (details under Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe ). Nevertheless, the names YesWest (Squire et al.) And YesEast (for ABWH, ie Anderson et al.), After the main residences of their members in England and the USA , formed in the group around Squire for the two bands

When Yes (Squire, Rabin, White and Kaye) got together again, they were faced with the problem of having to find a singer for a new project. They worked for a while with Roger Hodgson (formerly Supertramp ) and Billy Sherwood (World Trade) and developed their first song ideas. At the same time, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe collected after the end of their world tour on March 23, 1990 new material for a second album, under the working title Dialogue , which was scheduled for October 1990. Personal animosities, however, made it difficult for both sides to work together, and working with Hodgson and Sherwood proved unsatisfactory for Yes.

Ever since Larry Magid, who had been involved in promoting a Yes tour in 1971, suggested to Jon Anderson during the ABWH tour to fund an 84-gig tour, if he was able to do ABWH and Yes To bring together, Anderson had planned a reunion of the two bands. With this idea in mind, Jon Anderson contacted Trevor Rabin with the request to contribute some guitar parts to Dialogue . Shortly afterwards he approached him with the request to provide ABWH with a song. Rabin understood the request to mean that ABWH needed a single and sent the record company Arista Records to choose from three songs that he did not want to use himself. However, Arista liked all three songs. Then, however, Rabin hesitated to hand them over to the rival band. Inspired by Larry Magid and Jon Anderson, the managements of both bands, who were just opponents in court, pushed all eight Yes veterans together under a single name: On the one hand, they would be able to launch a mega project, which promised corresponding publicity, and on the other hand, both the name Yes , to which Chris Squire owned the rights, and the classic logo, to which Steve Howe also owns the rights , in addition to Roger Dean . In the fall of 1990, Anderson and Squire and the participating record companies, Arista and Atlantic Records , got together to get the Union project off the ground. The basis for this was a 90-page contract between the musicians, the record companies, the promoters involved, etc. because of which YesWest left their record company Atlantic after 20 years, as Arista clearly had the greater interest in the new band.

Nobody had talked about the creative side of the work, however. Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford were presented with a fait accompli without prior consultation, and Wakeman was only informed by fax. So it happened that Union became a very heterogeneous album, on which YesEast tracks stand next to YesWest tracks and finished recordings stand next to demos. In addition, there are solo contributions to fill the gaps, and pieces on which the musicians supposedly involved cannot be heard at all. There has never been a real collaboration. Chris Squire contributed his vocals on some ABWH tracks and Jon Anderson sang in some yes pieces. Apart from that, the personal tensions between many of the musicians involved prevented collaboration. Bruford and Howe, who had only been informed afterwards, also expressed little interest in a joint project - if asked in advance, they would have rejected Anderson's idea anyway. But the difficulties between the two camps were also great. Jonathan Elias Producer:

"I couldn't get Jon and Steve to sit down in a room together without me and the only way that Steve would do anything is to wake up and get very stoned and he was no good for the whole day after that. [...] And that was just putting Jon and Steve together, and constantly Steve would be badgering me about how he hated Jon's lyrics and how Jon had no good ideas. And Jon would say to me, 'Oh, Steve's just so washed out and Asia was such a horrible thing — look what it did to him.' "

The relationships between the other band members weren't any better either:

"Steve wouldn't listen to one of Rick's parts, Rick wouldn't listen to one of Steve's parts."

But Jonathan Elias did not turn out to be the first choice for the job of producer. A friend of Jon Anderson's, he had trusted him to weld the band together. But Elias, not a first-class producer, soon alienated many of the musicians involved, including keyboardist Rick Wakeman and his replacement, Saga keyboardist Jim Crichton. Wakeman and Elias fought with each other during the recordings for a while with articles in keyboard magazine and Crichton didn't have much good to say about Elias either: he announced that the collaboration between Anderson and Elias was not working, Anderson had told him to join to 90125 are based, that warned him not to let his contributions merely sound like the 90,125th Crichton also didn't think Elias was a good producer. - In reality, the project was mainly about financial profit - for different reasons: Arista and Atlantic had realized that they could only sell an album more than 750,000 times (the edition of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe ) if the logo, the band name and the classical line-up came together at least in part, but it still contained music suitable for radio. It's no different with the musicians: Jonathan Elias: All Bill Bruford wanted to know is, 'Is it coming in on budget?'. They didn't care about a note of music. They all thought that Jon was stealing money from them.

How unloved the project was among the musicians involved can still be seen today from the contradicting statements made by all those involved. According to producer Jonathan Elias, ABWH had hardly any material at the time of recording: Basically, what there was was Steve was working on a solo album and he brought in some things. Jon brought in one or two faint ideas. In fact, the riffs of I Would Have Waited Forever and Silent Talking (the 9/4 part) go back to ideas from Steve Howe and can be heard in their original form on his solo album Turbulence . On the other hand, the Dialogue demos consisted of an abundance of song material - hardly anything of which was used for Union .

Then it happened that Elias had received instructions from the record companies to create a pop album from the material:

“They couldn't make money on an album unless it had a pop sensibility and they were so far removed from what a pop sensibility was at that point without Trevor [Rabin]. There were times I tried to push them into that, but they would just bad mouth Trevor, particularly Steve. Ooof, boy, did he hate Trevor! "

On the other hand, there was immense time pressure on the other hand, as the Union tour (start: April 9, 1991) had already been booked and until then there were only about eight months available during which the band members traveled back and forth across the Atlantic , careful not to encounter one another. In addition, Rick Wakeman toured England from May 29th to September 30th 1990 (the Classical Connection Tour) and Steve Howe worked on the new Asia album Aqua in addition to his solo album . In fact, the album wasn't released until barely a month after the tour started, and Elias was forced to lend a hand himself. Since Jon Anderson was also dissatisfied with the contributions by Howe and Wakeman, the two, later Elias alone, took the album in hand and began to replace the corresponding parts without the knowledge of Bruford, Howe and Wakeman by a changing row of studio musicians mainly from guitarist Jimmy Haun (later heard in the Chris Squire Experiment and Circa , also a member of Lodgic and Air Supply ), Toto keyboarder and experienced session musician Steve Porcaro and Saga keyboarder Jim Crichton. Contrary to popular belief among fans of the band, Howe and Wakeman can hardly be heard on the album, and the same goes for Bill Bruford. Jimmy Haun:

“Basically he [Elias] told me Arista felt Steve's guitar parts were unacceptable and that he had just soloed over all the songs. Now this was partially true. What they wanted was a blend of the old classic Steve Howe sound mixed with Trevor Rabin! I guess they felt it would sell more records. On the songs Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day , Dangerous and Take the Water to the Mountain you can hear Jimmy Haun rather than Steve Howe, and on the other ABWH tracks you only hear him in parts. Wakeman also did not deliver what Anderson and Elias had imagined: Elias claims that Wakeman did not provide what was needed on the album and that what they wanted was more texture and backdrop than keyboard pyrotechnics. "

Howes and Wakeman's contributions were therefore rejected as not suitable for radio and replaced, and the sounds that Wakeman used were probably too old-fashioned by Elias. Howe only found out in the middle of the European tour that his guitar parts had been replaced when he received the album with a cautious hint from Chris Squire. He reacted accordingly angry. Wakeman could hardly hear the album all the time: he said he had thrown tapes out of the window several times. Tony Levin
was originally responsible for the bass on the ABWH pieces , but Steve Howe and Jimmy Haun can also be heard on bass.

But YesWest, produced by Eddie Offord, fared no better: Lift Me Up , Saving My Heart and Miracle of Life are demos: Rabin wanted to record them, to his surprise they ended up in their preliminary form, provided with Anderson's vocal parts Album.

In addition, “gaps” on the album were filled with pieces actually intended for solo albums: Masquerade (by Steve Howe), Evensong (by Bill Bruford and Tony Levin) and Take the Water to the Mountain (by Jon Anderson) are just as much a part as I Would Have Waited Forever and Silent Talking , which were otherwise intended for Steve Howe's Turbulence .

Overview of the song contributions

Yes songs

  1. Lift Me Up (Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire)
  2. Saving My Heart (Trevor Rabin)
  3. Miracle of Life (Mark Mancina / Trevor Rabin)
  4. The More We Live - Let Go (Billy Sherwood / Chris Squire)
  • Lift Me Up , Saving My Heart, and Miracle of Life are demos.
  • Saving My Heart was originally intended for a Rabin / Hodgson project. Anderson liked the song and it landed on Union .
  • The More We Live — Let Go was the result of the first collaboration between Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood , who was being discussed as a replacement for Anderson and has since been active as an official or unofficial member of Yes in the band's circle (on the albums Talk , Keys to Ascension , Keys to Ascension 2 , Open Your Eyes and The Ladder , at the Chris Squire Experiment, at Conspiracy and at Circa :) . Two more songs by the two, Say Goodbye and Love Conquers All , did not land on Union , but were later released on the first Conspiracy album (see below).

ABWH songs:

  1. I Would Have Waited Forever (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe)
  2. Shock to the System (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe)
  3. Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias)
  4. Silent Talking (Jon Anderson / Bill Bruford / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe / Rick Wakeman)
  5. Angkor Wat (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Rick Wakeman)
  6. Dangerous (Look In The Light Of What You're Searching For) (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias)
  7. Holding On (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe)
  8. Give & Take (Jon Anderson / Steve Howe / Jonathan Elias)
  • Chris Squire sings backing vocals on the ABWH tracks, but only plays bass on the YesWest tracks.
  • On the songs Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day , Dangerous and Take the Water to the Mountain you can hear Jimmy Haun rather than Steve Howe.
  • A piano intermezzo by Rick Wakeman on Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day was deleted by Anderson and Elias without his knowledge, as was a guitar solo by Howes in the same piece.
  • A part of Silent Talking , a guitar part by Howe called Seven Castles , was deleted without replacement by Anderson and Elias - to Howes' great disappointment, who thought his part was the best guitar work on the album.
  • In holding on is a version that could not be completed due to time constraints.
  • Shock to the System's riff comes from a song by Steve Howe.
  • Riffs from I Would Have Waited Forever and Silent Talking (the 9/4 part) can also be heard on Steve Howe's solo album Turbulence , also released in 1991. They therefore actually belong to the solo contributions.

Solo contributions

  1. Masquerade (Steve Howe)
  2. Evensong (Bill Bruford / Tony Levin)
  3. Take the Water to the Mountain (Jon Anderson)
  • Masquerade is a solo piece that Howe had recorded long before. The record company wanted him to do a solo piece, and Masquerade was put on the album at the last moment. It earned Steve Howe a Grammy nomination.
  • Tony Levin and his King Crimson colleague Bill Bruford contributed the Chapman stick and percussion instrumental Evensong to the album, which is a further development of their duo from the ABWH tour.
  • Of the numerous dialogue demos, only Take The Water To The Mountain made it to Union . Here a guitar solo by Steve Howes was deleted without his knowledge

Canceled songs

  1. Touch me Heaven
  2. Say goodbye
  3. Love Conquers All (Squire / Sherwood) (4:57)
  • These songs were recorded for the album, but to the surprise of the musicians involved, they were not released. A newly recorded version of Say Goodbye was released on the second World Trade album, Love Conquers All on YesYears . Both demos can be found on the first Conspiracy album.

Track list

  1. I Would Have Waited Forever (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe) - 6:32
  2. Shock to the System (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe) - 5:09
  3. Masquerade (Steve Howe) - 2:17
  4. Lift Me Up (Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire) - 6:30
  5. Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias) - 5:18
  6. Saving My Heart (Trevor Rabin) - 4:41
  7. Miracle of Life (Mark Mancina / Trevor Rabin) - 7:30
  8. Silent Talking (Jon Anderson / Bill Bruford / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe / Rick Wakeman) - 4:00
  9. The More We Live - Let Go (Billy Sherwood / Chris Squire) - 4:51
  10. Angkor Wat (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Rick Wakeman) - 5:23
  11. Dangerous (Look In The Light Of What You're Searching For) (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias) - 3:36
  12. Holding On (Jon Anderson / Jonathan Elias / Steve Howe) - 5:24
  13. Evensong (Bill Bruford / Tony Levin) - 0:52
  14. Take the Water to the Mountain (Jon Anderson) - 3:10
  15. Give & Take [bonus track on the European edition] (Jon Anderson / Steve Howe / Jonathan Elias) - 4:29

Union reached number 7 in the UK charts and number 15 in the US.

occupation

With

  • Deborah Anderson - vocals
  • Richard Baker - synthesizer
  • Gary Barlough - synthesizer
  • Jerry Bennett - synthesizer, percussion
  • Pauline Cheng - Cambodian Poetry
  • Jim Crichton - synthesizers, keyboards
  • Jonathan Elias - synthesizer, keyboards, vocals
  • Gary Falcone - vocals
  • Sherman Foote - synthesizer
  • Brian Foraker - synthesizer
  • Chris Fosdick - synthesizer
  • Tommy Funderburk - vocals
  • Jimmy Haun - guitar
  • Rory Kaplan - synthesizer
  • Alex Lasarenko - synthesizer, keyboards
  • Tony Levin - bass
  • Ian Lloyd - vocals
  • Mark Mancina - programming
  • Steve Porcaro - synthesizer
  • Allan Schwartzberg - percussion
  • Billy Sherwood - bass, guitars, keyboards
  • Michael Sherwood - vocals
  • Danny Vaughn

Sound engineering, mixing

Due to the special circumstances surrounding the creation of the album, an unusually long line of sound engineers and producers were involved in mixing the songs. Therefore they should all be mentioned here as an exception:

  • Jonathan Elias - producer
  • Steve Howe - producer
  • Trevor Rabin - producer
  • Eddie Offord - producer, sound engineering, mixing
  • Mark Mancina - producer
  • Billy Sherwood - sound engineer, producer
  • Brian Foraker - sound engineer, mixdown
  • Paul Fox - Mixing
  • Buzz Burrowes - additional sound technology
  • Chris Fosdick - additional sound engineering, mixing
  • Stan Katayama - sound engineer
  • Mike Shipley - Mixdown
  • Ed Thacker - Mixing

Cover

Union's album cover was the first Yes cover since Classic Yes (1981), again designed by fantasy artist Roger Dean . The picture on the front of the album is titled The Guardians or Canyon Cave and is from Deans Desert Period, as is the picture on the back, Tsunami . The idea was to draw a rock that liquefies, splatters and then solidifies again.

The cover was widely discussed at the time of its release, as Dean first had to take into account the smaller format of the CD.

Roger Dean had developed a new Yes logo on behalf of the band in the 80s, in advance of the Big Generator album. Originally it was intended for use by the "new" Yes, Anderson, Kaye, Rabin, Squire and White, as Steve Howe still owns the rights to the original logo, but was not a band member at the time. However, it was never used by YesWest and was used here for the first time. However, Dean combined it with the classic logo in order to visually express that the classic and the 80s line-up had come together on Union .

The inside shows computer graphics by Roger Dean and Kai Krause , a developer of graphics software. He also worked with Dean on other projects, including the cover design of Steve Howe's solo album Turbulence .

Review

It is interesting how uniform the record sounds for those who are not informed about the quarrels. Of course there is no classic Yes album with Union , but many of the songs can convince as intelligent pop rock. Trevor Rabin's album 90124 also includes an early version of Miracle of Life , which actually has touches of classic Progs.

The album is downright hated by almost everyone involved to this day, with the exception of Jon Anderson, whose idea the Union concept was originally based on. Apart from him, nobody claims to have had anything to do with the record. The topic is rarely touched on in interviews, and most of the time those involved are very vague about the conditions in which it came about. Rick Wakeman calls the album onion to this day , he has to cry when he thinks back to the time.

On the other hand, Union was the band's last successful album (ironically, however, it sold no better than Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe , about 750,000 times). It reached number 7 in the UK charts and number 15 in the US. Masquerade earned Steve Howe a Grammy nomination.

Bruford, Howe and Wakeman left the band one after the other after the end of the tour in 1992, partly under pressure from the new record company Victory Records , which wanted an album by the 90125 line-up . Talk still sold far worse than its predecessor (approx. 300,000 copies).

Sources and web links