Trevor Rabin - the guitarist who saved a dead supergroup

[pianozach]

I actually don’t agree with this take. Chris and Alan were determined to continue the career of Yes after the Drama period came and went. If it hadn’t been Rabin that came on board, it would have been someone else. Would they have been as successful, who knows but with Horn as the producer, they may have been. He turned Rabin’s sophomoric demos into something slick and polished. He may have been able to work his magic with another up and coming talent.

Squire and White had hopes for Yes, but instead formed Cinema but were coerced to make it into a Yes.

Anderson wanted to have a Yes too, but was legally prohibited from it because Squire, White, and Kaye had unwillingly been forced to claim it. Howe was off being Asia with Downes, and Anderson was off being Vangelis-y. ABWH was formed to be a "True" Yes, then the suits created the Union Frankenstein. Then ABWH went away, and the YesWest continued on, taking a frightfully long time releasing their last album.

[Enlighten]

Squire and White had hopes for Yes, but instead formed Cinema but were coerced to make it into a Yes.

Anderson wanted to have a Yes too, but was legally prohibited from it because Squire, White, and Kaye had unwillingly been forced to claim it. Howe was off being Asia with Downes, and Anderson was off being Vangelis-y. ABWH was formed to be a "True" Yes, then the suits created the Union Frankenstein. Then ABWH went away, and the YesWest continued on, taking a frightfully long time releasing their last album.

Both Alan and Chris on numerous occasions said that they wanted to further the career of Yes. Chris says those actual words on the YesYears documentary. They met Rabin and weren’t crazy about the music that came out of their jam sessions but they liked one another, that was the bond. Chris and Alan weren’t stupid, they heard Rabin’s material and knew it didn’t sound like Yes, so they had to call it something else. When Kaye was brought in, you had three former members of Yes and this new guy. If Squire and White were indeed “coerced” by Phil Carson, they sure didn’t put up much, if any resistance. Rabin was the one who needed to be coerced into calling it Yes again.

[pianozach]

Both Alan and Chris on numerous occasions said that they wanted to further the career of Yes. Chris says those actual words on the YesYears documentary. They met Rabin and weren’t crazy about the music that came out of their jam sessions but they liked one another, that was the bond. Chris and Alan weren’t stupid, they heard Rabin’s material and knew it didn’t sound like Yes, so they had to call it something else. When Kaye was brought in, you had three former members of Yes and this new guy. If Squire and White were indeed “coerced” by Phil Carson, they sure didn’t put up much, if any resistance. Rabin was the one who needed to be coerced into calling it Yes again.

Yeah, I think it's a truly grey area. I think Cinema (with the exception of Rabin) saw dollar signs.

But c'mon, they even tried to recruit Roger Hodgson and Billy Sherwood to front Yes.

But as for "If it hadn’t been Rabin that came on board, it would have been someone else", you're correct. I mean, wasn't it first a stab at XYZ? Ex-Yes Zepplin. THAT wouldn't have sounded any more like Yes than Cinema did.

But maybe it would have seen more focus on one of the "other' off-shoot groups, like Circa: (White, Kaye, Sherwood, and Hahn), The Chris Squire Experiment (Squire, Sherwood, Hahn, Porcaro and Mark Williams), or Conspiracy (Squire and Sherwood mostly). And didn't World Trade have both Sherwood and Schellen? And Mark Williams? Yeah, they did, so Yes could have ended up with Bruce Gowdy on guitar.

And World Trade's predesessor, Lodgic, had Jimmy Haun on guitar as well. Hell, there was more Haun than Howe on Union. And, in another twisted Pretzel of Fate, Lodgic opened some concert dates for Supertramp in 1985, but Hodgson had already left in 1983.

We cannot say with any certainty just how it would have all played out if one link in the chain was from a different thread.

So, yeah, Trevor Rabin moves to LA, and David Geffen tries to hook him up with John Wetton, Carl Palmer, and Rick Wakeman, for a potential new supergroup. We all know that Wetton, Palmer, along with Geoff Downes and Steve Howe created Asia instead.

After that RCA exec Ron Fair tried to hook Rabin up with Keith Emerson and Jack Bruce.

[Somis Sound]

I actually don’t agree with this take. Chris and Alan were determined to continue the career of Yes after the Drama period came and went. If it hadn’t been Rabin that came on board, it would have been someone else. Would they have been as successful, who knows but with Horn as the producer, they may have been. He turned Rabin’s sophomoric demos into something slick and polished. He may have been able to work his magic with another up and coming talent.

You are correct. Both Chris and Alan on numerous occasions talked about figuring out a way to further Yes. Chris knew what he was doing and always had Yes in the back of his mind whether the project started out as Cinema or not.

[Davy]

Chris in 2014:

“I never wanted to call that version of the band Yes. But it was Phil Carson who said: ‘Why try a new brand when the old one has been so successful?’”

Still, as you guys say, it seems almost inconceivable that the band wouldn't have reunited later in the decade, as many other '70s bands did during the classic rock boom, particularly after Steve left Asia and Jon's solo career stagnated.

[Somis Sound]

Chris in 2014:

“I never wanted to call that version of the band Yes. But it was Phil Carson who said: ‘Why try a new brand when the old one has been so successful?’”

Still, as you guys say, it seems almost inconceivable that the band wouldn't have reunited later in the decade, as many other '70s bands did during the classic rock boom, particularly after Steve left Asia and Jon's solo career stagnated.

It's sort of like when Rick said he could see the band carrying on long after he was dead and gone, and then in 2015 said the band should have retired the name when Chris passed away.