Trevor Rabin - the guitarist who saved a dead supergroup

[Enlighten]

I’m curious, did anyone watch Tim’s video?

[Mr. Holland]

I’m curious, did anyone watch Tim’s video?

Yes, I watched it. It's a good video. What I love about it, is through what he tells and shows, it makes me appreciate Rabin a as composer and guitar player even more and the same goes for the album 90125. It's almost as if it validates why I love both so much.

[luna65]

I watched about half of it, then I had to click out because local bandwidth was being throttled yet again. But I did appreciate his commentary.

[alex peters]

[QUOTE=pianozach;n30174]

[FONT=Georgia]It's funny, but many of my favorite Yes albums are ones with a "new" member, like Drama (Downes and Horn), TfTO (White), Relayer (Moraz), 90125 (Rabin), and Fragile (Wakeman).

Excellent point. I never thought of that

[Enlighten]

I watched about half of it, then I had to click out because local bandwidth was being throttled yet again. But I did appreciate his commentary.

Tim along with Rick Beato provide us with such a wonderful oasis from all the bs that is happening in the world. Two channels dedicated to the love of music.

[Bill M]

I think Trevor Rabin was great in Yes and was a driving factor for many years and without him Yes would have imploded in the 80s.

But didn't YES already implode before he came into the picture?

[The sage]

I would recommend Tim Morse's YesStories as well as other book's and auto biographies-and the excellent YesYears documentary, they might help with some of the observations expressed here and elsewhere that are interesting interpretations. For me the more AOR- PopProg direction of three albums produced during Trevor's tenure in Yes are often attributed solely to Trevor- which I think is not entirely accurate- Tony Kaye's interview on the old Yes sire also highlights the involvement of all band members- although JA seemed to have been marginalised in the writing of BG- wasnt really there for 90125 and was a key in Talk. As I have said many times previously, whilst I am a Steve Howe fan, Trevor is a much more precise and more capable of diverse styles as a guitarist and much better singer. Even Chris acknowledged that TR could play SH accurately but it didnt work the other way around- and I dont believe that was a criticism. Vocally Yes were never as tight as on these 3 albums- I also must be one of the few fans who thinks BG is the best of this 80s/90s output- albeit with a few duds- but is does have the bizzare title track, the best Yes pop track in Love will Find a way, the updated Ive seen all god people in Final Eyes- the much appreciated Shoot High and the great I'm Running, plus the typical JA track- Why people say is a retread of 90125 is beyond me- they sound nothing alike!

[Somis Sound]

Thanks for the share Jay! I have respect for Trevor coming in. I'm not sure if it would have worked though without he, Chris, and Alan's incredible chemistry. On stage and off...

Funny, I saw the Talk show and it was packed. Chris and the band were on fire and looked super healthy, one of the best Yes shows I've ever seen! Too bad we didn't get any ARW real new music. Could have been like son of Talk/Jacaranda.... But like the Talk album, the Talk tour had little to no promotion either. Especially in any of the not so major markets.

Drama was an excellent album that Squire/Horn led. Again they had great chemistry too. It's a shame that the songs live were just too high for Horn's range and the UK fans let him have it. While the Drama album was a perfect fit, the Yes set list in too high of a key for him was the wrong fit.

[Grey Wolf]

I've always wondered what would have happened if Cinema had chosen another really good lead singer (not Horn obviously ). 90125 wouldn't have been much different. Would it still have been a big hit? What would the old Yes songs have sounded like live? Would they have followed up quicker with a new album and not lost all the fans without a three year gap? Would ABWH have happened earlier? I'll have to bop over to a few parallel universes and see.

[pianozach]

I've always wondered what would have happened if Cinema had chosen another really good lead singer (not Horn obviously ). 90125 wouldn't have been much different. Would it still have been a big hit? What would the old Yes songs have sounded like live? Would they have followed up quicker with a new album and not lost all the fans without a three year gap? Would ABWH have happened earlier? I'll have to bop over to a few parallel universes and see.

I think that Rabin had been working with Roger Hodgson, and you can still hear remnants of his vocals on Walls. Hodgson could have easily handled the YES catalog, but I don't think he'd have been keen on actually being IN Yes.

[Grey Wolf]

I think that Rabin had been working with Roger Hodgson, and you can still hear remnants of his vocals on Walls. Hodgson could have easily handled the YES catalog, but I don't think he'd have been keen on actually being IN Yes.

Yeah, that's another question. Would the record company have insisted on calling it Yes with another singer? If they had stayed as Cinema they would have still played Yes songs live if only to fill out the setlist and to sell tickets.

[Enlighten]

Thanks for the share Jay! I have respect for Trevor coming in. I'm not sure if it would have worked though without he, Chris, and Alan's incredible chemistry. On stage and off...

Funny, I saw the Talk show and it was packed. Chris and the band were on fire and looked super healthy, one of the best Yes shows I've ever seen! Too bad we didn't get any ARW real new music. Could have been like son of Talk/Jacaranda.... But like the Talk album, the Talk tour had little to no promotion either. Especially in any of the not so major markets.

Drama was an excellent album that Squire/Horn led. Again they had great chemistry too. It's a shame that the songs live were just too high for Horn's range and the UK fans let him have it. While the Drama album was a perfect fit, the Yes set list in too high of a key for him was the wrong fit.

I would have loved to have heard a heavier, progressive Yes with TR, Chris, Alan, Jon and Rick or whatever flash keyboardist they chose. A Jacaranda style Yes album with those heavyweights would have been the icing on the cake. I think the chance for that final epic Yes album has passed. ARW was the last opportunity but they squandered it. Oh well, there’s some amazing music in the Yes catalogue that we’ll always have.

[Mr. Holland]

I would recommend Tim Morse's YesStories as well as other book's and auto biographies-and the excellent YesYears documentary, they might help with some of the observations expressed here and elsewhere that are interesting interpretations. For me the more AOR- PopProg direction of three albums produced during Trevor's tenure in Yes are often attributed solely to Trevor- which I think is not entirely accurate- Tony Kaye's interview on the old Yes sire also highlights the involvement of all band members- although JA seemed to have been marginalised in the writing of BG- wasnt really there for 90125 and was a key in Talk. As I have said many times previously, whilst I am a Steve Howe fan, Trevor is a much more precise and more capable of diverse styles as a guitarist and much better singer. Even Chris acknowledged that TR could play SH accurately but it didnt work the other way around- and I dont believe that was a criticism. Vocally Yes were never as tight as on these 3 albums- I also must be one of the few fans who thinks BG is the best of this 80s/90s output- albeit with a few duds- but is does have the bizzare title track, the best Yes pop track in Love will Find a way, the updated Ive seen all god people in Final Eyes- the much appreciated Shoot High and the great I'm Running, plus the typical JA track- Why people say is a retread of 90125 is beyond me- they sound nothing alike!

True, about it being not entirely accurate that the direction Yes took with Rabin, was solely on Rabin. It was very much supported by Chris and Alan. Chris, Alan and Tony I think were always rockers at heart. Jon and Steve were always much more the more experimental, artistic part of the group. Albums like CTTE and Tales were very much Jon/Steve driven. Jon and Steve were very much at the core of all the epics . So, that it became an entirely different band without them at the core, well without Steve completely, is in hindsight really not a surprise.

[tumnus]

True, about it being not entirely accurate that the direction Yes took with Rabin, was solely on Rabin. It was very much supported by Chris and Alan. Chris, Alan and Tony I think were always rockers at heart. Jon and Steve were always much more the more experimental, artistic part of the group. Albums like CTTE and Tales were very much Jon/Steve driven. Jon and Steve were very much at the core of all the epics . So, that it became an entirely different band without them at the core, well without Steve completely, is in hindsight really not a surprise.

Too true, and the Kaye, White, Squire, Rabin core really got on well with each other and was a tight rocking band. There is room in the universe for that band to exist and be top-notch, and still not play CTTE and Topographic Oceans.

Trevor Horn's book has a few illuminating words on this, his 90125 work ends with him phoning Tony Dimitriades and basically telling him to f** off, but then the album is a hit so he has to go back and meet with them all. The band are sheepish, but so is Trevor H too, he writes "er, is Tony Kaye going to be there?"

there is basically a single sentence about big generator sessions "it all went south" but it is documented well elsewhere on this site and others. If I were to try condense the experience from my perspective, i'd say that after all that effort, they unexpectedly had a huge hit when Horn's gamble paid off, an excellent world tour and suddenly everyone went in the game thinking they were A-list rock stars (well, they were!) ... everyone then trying to throw their weight about. So the album is a mix of a lot of styles, and they got a bit deflated when it doesnt set the world on fire in the same way. But what could? Listen to Mark Knopfler talk about following brothers in arms with on every street, he is very philosophical "well, it would never sell anything near that amount, you couldn't replicate that situation", but Yes seem to implode every time it doesnt go quite right. Maybe a lot of those had to do with certain people needing a constant feed of money, as has been said.

In my opinion they needed have worried, I personally love the record and it has its own character. My favorite is Final Eyes, so go figure! In fact i've a couple of copies on vinyl now, as most records are quite expensive but you can still pick that one up second hand pretty cheap.

[Yorkshire Square]

Well, yeah, we all knew that the band was dead.

The short version: Anderson and Wakey left after Tormato, and the line-up with Horn didn't get accepted as they'd hoped, even though Drama was a fabulous album. Between fans being jerks about "No Jon No Yes", and that Horn's voice wasn't ever really suited to sing the Yes catalog properly, the band imploded. So Howe left too, leaving Squire and White somewhat homeless.

I always understood that Squire and White left to go work with Page leaving Steve as the sole member of the band. At that point Steve locked the doors and went of to Asia...