Time And A Word

Jon Anderson needed one last thing as his solo tour wrapped up at the “Theater of Living Arts” in Philadelphia… a recording of the show for his own personal archives.

Right before soundcheck, Jon asked the guy running in-house sound if he could record the show, only to be told it wasn’t possible. Since I was there to interview Jon, I suggested plugging my MiniDisc recorder into the board.

“That’ll work!” Jon said happily, then politely asked if he could have the discs after the show.

Hold on… Jon Anderson is allowing me to “bootleg” his performance? Since he wanted the discs right after the show there was no time to dub a copy for myself. While this sounded like some crazy dream come true, I wanted to be sure Jon got his show. A “painful” decision for a big show collector such as myself… but it was the right thing to do.

After sound check I spent about 15 minutes talking with Jon in his dressing room about many things from health, to his future with Yes and even Michael Jackson. Right from the start, Jon was very friendly, warm hearted and eager to talk.

Here is what I learned:

• Health: On a scale of 1-10, Jon feels between an 8/9 most days, sometimes 10, depends on the day and how traveling affects his breathing. He prefers to do only two shows a week.

• Upcoming Shows: He’s playing Cleveland in May, then on to Chicago and Detroit before a UK tour with Rick Wakeman in October. He’ll also have some shows around Christmas and new music coming in May or June. Jon labeled the Rick Wakeman shows as “Fun and Games”. Jon says you don’t know if you’ll “laugh too much you can’t sing or sing too much you can’t laugh”. Jon says he and Rick have written a new song called “The Learning Tree” (or “The Living Tree”) and they’re planning a guitar/piano version of “Awaken” for the upcoming UK tour.

• Having a #1 hit with “Owner Of A Lonely Heart”: I asked Jon if he could remember what he was doing at the time he learned the song went to #1. “Windsurfing in Barbados”, was his answer. Trevor Rabin was in the hospital because a lady fell on him at the hotel pool. Knowing that song was primarily written by Trevor, I asked Jon what he brought to it. Jon recounted that he wrote lyrics for the verses and bridge. He and Trevor wrote the first verse together then Jon wrote the rest except the chorus, which he knew was a hit straightaway. I asked Jon to give his thoughts on the Trevor Horn production and he responded with “brilliant”.

• How Jon became involved again with Yes for “90125″: Jon was in the South of France working on some music of his own when Chris rang up, they met and Jon heard the demos while driving around with Chris. Jon says it “sounded really good” and was “damn good music”, however it “missed on choruses” and the “lyrics weren’t solid”. Jon told the others that because of his involvement in the project, it would pretty much have to be called “Yes”.

• On Trevor Rabin: Jon was recently in touch with Trevor and he’s currently wrapping up work on an upcoming film score for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”. Jon says he and Trevor have bonded over the last three years, especially during the time Jon was sick. Jon says Trevor was calling him up every other week. Others like Rick, Alan and Roger Dean all reached out to Jon, while Chris and Steve did not. “You find out who your friends are”, Jon expressed.

• Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Rabin?: Although it’s only “talk” at the moment, everyone is interested in doing something together. Jon says Bill loves the idea but isn’t sure about touring. However, it is something being discussed and Jon wants to do it.

• Jon Anderson’s future with Yes: I get the impression Jon is done with Yes. “They want to tour a lot, I don’t. And so that’s a problem”, Jon said. “Next year, maybe, when we get in the [Rock and Roll] Hall of Fame, we’ll all get together and do a good show and that’ll be probably it.” I asked if he has any involvement with the Yes album masters, surround sound releases and he said, “nope” on all of them. He said Steve was band’s archivist. Jon is only interested in his own solo material and indicated he’s working on some 5.1 music of his own.

• On 70’s Prog Rock: Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson really “freaked” him out. He listened to Prog Rock in the 70’s and was friends with then contemporaries such as Robert Plant and Robert Fripp.

• On Tales From Topographic Oceans: Jon says after finishing the album he couldn’t listen to it for 6 months. Everything about those sessions took it’s toll. “Rick left the band and it broke my heart”, he expressed. However, Jon does not regret writing and recording the classic Yes epics. His wife, Jane, adores “Revealing” and “Awaken” more than any other Yes music and that makes him happy. Jon says that doing a song like “Ritual” with an orchestra reaffirmed how great that music was.

• On bands that use replacement singers: Jon says he recently caught a Journey show and thought they were good. Regarding Yes’ decision to use a replacement singer, Jon says “Benoit, I love the guy. Good luck to him”. Jon says many fans go to shows expecting to hear the songs not necessarily to see the original singer. Although Jon said he recently saw a Michael Jackson impersonator and it wasn’t even close to the real deal.

• On Michael Jackson: Jon says he loved Michael Jackson and followed his career. He asked if I saw “This Is It” and then exclaimed, “Forget about it, nobody could touch that!” Then he said performers today like Usher can’t touch what Michael was doing.

• Jon on his future as a solo artist: He’s currently working with young people who are very eager to work on new music, often using the Internet to collaborate. He’s hoping to work with youth orchestras in San Antonio and maybe Vermont. His website (JonAnderson.com) will be getting an overhaul in May or June 2010 and Jon says he’ll have some new music out shortly too.

After the interview Jon went for dinner with his assistant and I took some time making sure I had enough blank MiniDiscs and fresh batteries to record the show later that evening. All was good.

As I left the venue to grab a bite myself, I couldn’t help but notice flyers now appearing on the doors and walls for an upcoming Yes/Peter Frampton show at the Tower Theater in Philly. Even with the flyers boasting the classic, Roger Dean logo, I honestly felt like I was in the better place and didn’t care one bit to see Yes perform without Jon.

After talking with Jon I definitely got the impression he’s putting Yes behind him. Aside from a possible Hall of Fame performance, whenever Jon talked about current or future projects none of them involved Yes. Touring is the big issue for Jon, he simply can’t handle the rigors of traveling anymore. In addition, Chris and Steve didn’t even call Jon while he was sick and that says alot. While I don’t know the true relationship between these guys I do know you have to be a mighty big prick not to call a longtime “friend” when they’re deathly ill.

When it came to the show Jon did excellent job of not only stripping down some very complex music to the bare essentials, but also in entertaining his small, yet loyal audience. He told many stories, including one I had never heard regarding his #1 Swiss hit with Vangelis in 1982. Jon told me the way he’s performing the songs live is exactly how he recorded them on cassette and presented them to the band many years ago.

If anything, Jon’s solo performance really shed light on what it is he brings into Yes’ music. He not only writes the words and shapes the melodies but he also drives the spirit of the band too. Sure the new Yes vocalist, Benoit David, can hit the high notes but he doesn’t connect spiritually to the songs the way Jon does. Without Jon there is a unique, spiritual element missing in Yes’ music that cannot be imitated or replaced. And I guess, that’s part of what I feel is the “gift” that Yes music has given me since I was about 14 years old, when I first discovered the band.

Basically, Yes was the first progressive rock band I ever paid attention to and their music eventually lead me into exploring other interesting bands like King Crimson and Genesis. Those bands opened my “musical landscape” and I always admired them for being so adventurous.

So now the show is over. While many have left the venue, there’s still quite a few fans lingering by the stage clutching their Yes albums in hopes Jon will emerge for some autographs. I was there too, holding the two MiniDiscs that contained the board recording of that evening’s performance. I managed to get backstage, handed Jon the discs and expressed how much I enjoyed the show. In return, he thanked me for recording it.

Are you kidding? It was the least I could do.