July 29 - an ABWH day in Yes history or Your Move

[BrianD]

The period over late July and early August is a very exciting period for Yes - the northern summer seems to have been a spur for activity. July 29 is no exception.

My pick of events occurred in 1989 with the opening night of the ABWH tour in Memphis Tennessee. Of course this was the first live performances of a whole swag of ABWH songs including Brother of Mine, The Meeting, Quartet, Order of the Universe, Birthright, Teakbois, Themes and Lets Pretend - the latter is the only known performance of this song.

Another first was Bill Bruford playing Close to the Edge and And You And I live for the first time. It had been a 10 year hiatus since the previous performance of CTTE in 1979.

There were interesting events in other years as well.

1971 saw the release of the Your Move single in the US.

In 2002, Yes played We Have Heaven for the first time at Cuyahoga Falls, OH. Curiously, this concert was the last time Yes used the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra as their intro. Also, this day in 2002 saw the release of 'In a Word: Yes' in the UK.

An oddity - Yes didn't play any concerts on this day in the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s (apart from the ABWH tour). Though of course the 1972 concert at Little Rock was cancelled with Alan learning the songs.

[BrianD]

PS - the ABWH concert was the first to feature someone OTHER than Chris playing bass on Yes classics such as AYAI, CTTE, ST, Roundabout and HOTS.

From weeds I have of this tour, I think Tony Levin did a far better job than Jeff Berlin as seen on the 'an evening of yes music plus' CD and DVD

[Hugh Shiebler]

Oh, yeah. Absolutely no question about that. I was lucky enough to see the Jones Beach, NY show, with Levin. Of course Berlin is a great bassist His work on the Bruford albums and live was incredible. But T. Lev is simply without peer.

For me, the kicker was "Heart of the Sunrise". Obviously that tune stands or falls on the FEEL of the bass. Levin nailed it. On the "Evening of Yes Music Plus" CD, Berlin plays it as if he had just learned it right before the show, or as if he were sight reading. He may be playing the notes correctly as they would be written, out - - but the feel and dynamics and accents are completely off; hence that verision of the song is sorely lacking.

By the way, Tony has a rare Bruford/Levin piece available as a FREE download at his website (under "media")

http://www.tonylevin.com/stuff.html

I instantly recognized this (nice and long) clip as originating from one of the AWBH shows.

CAUTION: MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR THOSE WITH PACEMAKERS OR AN AVERSION TO THAT 80'S ELECTRONIC DRUM SOUND

[YesJen357]

Yea but we can forgive Jeff Berlin for not being up to the standard of T.L.
How much advance notice would he have been given?
Anybody know?

[BrianD]

Tony Levin played his last concert on the tour on 28th August at Houston then took ill. The next 4 concerts were cancelled. Jeff Berlin played his first concert a week later on the 4th September. The concert that was recorded at Shoreline was his 6th concert in 6 days on September 9 - so it wasn't as if he hadn't been given some opportunity to get into it.

[YesJen357]

Thanks Brian. Much appreciated.

[raz]

nice flower...
is it the ever opening one?

[BrianD]

Touche!