Now that we all know each other...

[Alexander]

Does anyone want to say what their interpretation is of what Yes was trying to do when they produced "We Have Heaven"?*;)

This has always been one of my favourite Yes works.

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*This is an unusual track on "Fragile".

[Mike Park]

Fagile is a source of many firsts: A collaboration with Roger Dean, the first double sleeve album cover for Yes, and an expansion of sound with the addition of Rick and all of his resources. Steve Howe had been with the band a little over a year, and did not get along with Tony Kaye (I recall years ago reading about Jon and Steve's kick about health food and organics and when I saw Tony smoking incessantly on stage during the Union tour, it brought back that memory). You can imagine the empowerment of ideas and flowering of imagination when this album developed.

One of the first things I noticed was the showcase of individual talents on Fragile - I feared the worst, recalling the divisiveness of CSN&Y following Deja Vu, on which those individual talents were displayed. Rick has Cans & Brahms, Steve Mood for a Day, Fish the Fish, Bill's 5% for Nothing (referring to an agent that ripped them off), and Jon has We Have Heaven. Jon's primary instrument is his voice (the toys came later) and that's what's being displayed here: Voice as instrument. As for the lyrics, well their Jon's, no doubt about that. There is a thread to Alice in Wonderland, but who knows? Certainly not him! He'd probably just call it a word-picture...:rolleyes:

[Alexander]

I had suspected a group experience was involved, but maybe it was an interior world of Jon's.

The first time I heard those footsteps and slamming door, I actually felt I was in the same confined space like Alice down the rabbit-hole, about to make a discovery.

The whole thing has some ether in it. Something that comes from behind mountains, like angels caught singing.

In this inspired genius one senses a confluence of successful relationships--difficult for many to achieve.

[haroldthebarrel]

I would say that 'we have heaven' is meant to trip you out. It's an experimental peice. Like old Pink Floyd used to do. I wish I was alive in the time when no one had made songs like We have heaven yet.

joe c

[Alexander]

Joe wrote: "I would say that 'we have heaven' is meant to trip you out."

Yes it does feel like a trip-out doesn't it? Details! I want details!

Surely enough time has passed now. No one will be incriminated if band members want to come out about their personal experiences.

[gathernear]

Band members? We all know about them. How about us?? Uh huh, thought so.

[Roan]

It seems that We Have Heaven is continued on the "Ladder" album. On the thrid or forth track, Jon does a song called "Can I?" and it's the laa dee daa type thing and then at the very end in stmosphere he sings We Have Heaven. Check it OUt.

[Olias of NYC]

Well we know there was mind expanding going on. If you read "Yesstories," Eddie Offord is pretty frank about the smokiness surrounding the production of those classic albums, except for Rick who was a drinker and Bill who stayed away from the scene. There is a lot between the lines of the interviews regarding the making of "Tales" on the "Yesyears" videotape. I would have liked to have been present at the session when they decided to bring "scenery" into the studio!

It's funny you mention this song, I was just listening to it this morning. My only wish is that it was longer. It would make a great sample to loop into a trip-hop trance piece. The March Hare could certainly be from "Alice..." I always think of the tarot card for the Moon where their is a dog in the picture howling at the moon.

It seems to me that it is a concise summation of the meaning of all of Jon's lyrics--we already have happiness and bliss if you choose to open your eyes and see it. Moreover, the song is proclaiming that we like it as well. The moon dog and march hare would then symbolize the negative people that surround us and Jon at the time who I'm sure were calling him a flake even back then. There is also the "He's here, to look around" part. Who that is is fortunately left up to us to figure out. So basically a life-affirming, seek release from suffering and be happy kind of Jon song.

However, having said all this, I'm sure for his part Jon came up with the lyrics on the spot in the studio from the collection of visual images in his head at the time and assembled them into this sort of theme that is all-pervasive for him. In fact, I think I've read that he said that they were experimenting with overdubbing, so the process was probably more of the focus than relating anything in particular with the words.

But speaking of trippy loops...the vocal bit at the end of "Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day," off of Union is quite amazing. I isolated it and looped it once, listening to it over and over on headphones with my eyes closed for about twenty minutes. Very cool.

Personally, I would love to see Jon do an electronic project combining his ability to loop vocals with his rhythmic ability. How about that for a line of query--Yes or Yes member fantasy projects?