Should Peter Banks have returned in the mid 90’s?

[rabin105]

Instead of Howe coming back in 95 for Keys and we’ll beyond what if Peter banks Came back for a lineup of

banks
kaye
squire
Anderson
white

playing songs off the first two albums

[pianozach]

There's several tracks off those first two album that didn't age well, although there are several that were killer.

It's a tough call. As talented as Banks was, he was never in the same league as Howe.

[soundchaser09]

no, if anyone was going replace Rabin at that point, it absolutely needed to be Howe.

[Soundwaveseeker]

I envisioned that same scenario, but around 2005, with Anderson, Squire, Banks, Kaye and White. No Bruford, he would not have been interested anyway. They could have done one album with a Roger Dean cover but with the original bubble/word/cartoon logo overtop a rather simpler Dean painting. The album would have been created quicky, with maybe Billy Sherwood producing but not playing anything on it. Minimal synths, mostly piano and hammond of course, but not without any synth either. They would have deliberately done some lower-key club dates, House of Blues type venues, playing mostly stuff from the first two albums but they'd throw in America too and maybe something from the Yes Album if they wanted to. A highlight would be Banks' improvised and chaotic solo, different every night. A singalong Time & A Word as one of the encore songs. No Roundabout. Not a super long show, limited to just the early days.

Setlist:

Beyond & Before
No Opportunity Necessary...
Then
America
Sweetness
Everydays/
Banks Solo
Looking Around
Every Little Thing
Astral Traveller
Something's Coming

Encore:

Time & A Word
Sweet Dreams

After the album & tour Yes would revert back to the lineup with Howe and whichever keyboardist. I wish that actually happened! I got my Drama lineup back for one album. I glad for that, but too bad we didn't get a) original Yes or b) Relayer lineup for one more album/tour.

[josuev80]

I don’t think he would have been invited.

[kkleinschmidt]

While I appreciate Peter's contributions and would have loved to see him live with Jon and Chris (and Bill and Tony) it wouldn't have worked in the 90s especially with all of the amazing songs that were written after his time in the band. Sorry no...

[Olorin]

I'm totally unfamiliar with his work outside the first two Yes albums. I liked what I heard there, but nothing to lead me to believe he could play in a class like Howe or Rabin. That notwithstanding, a return to the fold could have been interesting. It was never to happen, though, because as soon as Rabin departed, Howe was back. "Classic Yes" was what most of us wanted, and the rest is history. A long, torturous history, LOL....

[Soundwaveseeker]

I think it would have been cool for it to have happened as a one-off. Not replacing Howe or ignoring what had come after Banks' departure, just a situation where it was understood that the Yes 'brand' were going in that direction (Original Yes) for a year, and with every intention to revert back to the Classic Yes format once the Original Yes album/tour cycle was completed. Of course this scenario is imaginary and was probably never considered at any point, but still - I'm curious as to what they could have cooked up with Banks and Kaye.

[rabin105]

I envisioned that same scenario, but around 2005, with Anderson, Squire, Banks, Kaye and White. No Bruford, he would not have been interested anyway. They could have done one album with a Roger Dean cover but with the original bubble/word/cartoon logo overtop a rather simpler Dean painting. The album would have been created quicky, with maybe Billy Sherwood producing but not playing anything on it. Minimal synths, mostly piano and hammond of course, but not without any synth either. They would have deliberately done some lower-key club dates, House of Blues type venues, playing mostly stuff from the first two albums but they'd throw in America too and maybe something from the Yes Album if they wanted to. A highlight would be Banks' improvised and chaotic solo, different every night. A singalong Time & A Word as one of the encore songs. No Roundabout. Not a super long show, limited to just the early days.

Setlist:

Beyond & Before
No Opportunity Necessary...
Then
America
Sweetness
Everydays/
Banks Solo
Looking Around
Every Little Thing
Astral Traveller
Something's Coming

Encore:

Time & A Word
Sweet Dreams

After the album & tour Yes would revert back to the lineup with Howe and whichever keyboardist. I wish that actually happened! I got my Drama lineup back for one album. I glad for that, but too bad we didn't get a) original Yes or b) Relayer lineup for one more album/tour.

A studio album as well with

images of you and me
eleanor rigby
electric funeral
Dear father
get yourself together
can I take you home
its love

eoukd of been awesome

[Somis Sound]

No. But I wish he and Anderson did that collaboration they had talked about doing!

[Old Frothingslosh]

His later solo albums are really good but not sure if his playing would have fit. He absolutely should have been part of the Union tour or at the very least a few shows, but he got screwed over at the LA show. Steve has said he was not the one that said no, but who's to say at this point. Peter's version of what went down is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7vXl77n5sY

[michelforest]

His later solo albums are really good but not sure if his playing would have fit. He absolutely should have been part of the Union tour or at the very least a few shows, but he got screwed over at the LA show. Steve has said he was not the one that said no, but who's to say at this point. Peter's version of what went down is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7vXl77n5sY

Oh, I'm willing to bet a huge amount of money that it was all Steve Howe's doing. The guy has a *colossal* ego and has to be the only guitar player on stage, no matter what.

[Mr. Holland]

His later solo albums are really good but not sure if his playing would have fit. He absolutely should have been part of the Union tour or at the very least a few shows, but he got screwed over at the LA show. Steve has said he was not the one that said no, but who's to say at this point. Peter's version of what went down is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7vXl77n5sY

Devil's advocate here. I think it was the right decision. There weren't any Banks era songs rehearsed for the tour or that evening and Banks coming out to play third guitar on Roundabout or Starship Trooper, songs he had nothing to do with and had never played during his tenure with the band would have been pointless and actually a little pathetic in my opinion. I think it was a good thing both Yes and he were spared that disappointment.

[Mr. Holland]

While I appreciate Peter's contributions and would have loved to see him live with Jon and Chris (and Bill and Tony) it wouldn't have worked in the 90s especially with all of the amazing songs that were written after his time in the band. Sorry no...

I very much agree with this.

[downbyariver]

I think Peter Banks' contributions to the trademark Yes style have to some extent been underrated at certain times in the past. While Steve Howe is clearly a better player, who's naturally similar style in some areas and unique personal style in others, in combination, helped Yes level up a great deal on his first album with the band and during his tenure overall, I also think Peter Banks laid the groundwork for that with sort of an embryotic version of the Yes style that remained part of the mix probably to some extent for the band's entire history to date, through his own work, and through the others who took the Yes style he pioneered and expanded on it rather than throwing it out the window.

With that said, I think it's possible that he reached a peak at a certain point. I am just not sure the name, creative, and performance values he could bring to both Yes catalog and new Yes songs circa 1995 would justify using him instead of Trevor Rabin, Steve Howe, or even a great guitarist famous for his work in some other group, or a new younger guitarist with great chops (At the time, Billy Sherwood or Jimmy Haun might have fit the bill, but they are just the obvious options, not the only ones.). I also don't see Banks as being a big name that would sell a ton of extra tickets on a lengthy tour of the western hemisphere- a lot of casual fans likely had no idea Yes had a guitarist before Steve Howe.

I could see a guest appearance, or maybe a two guitarist lineup where Peter Banks could split lead guitar parts with a younger guy like Billy Sherwood, with the idea that Banks was sort of doing Howe and Sherwood was sort of doing Rabin (Producing a more balanced setlist than they actually had), but that the division of labor wasn't written in stone and that each song's lead would actually go to whomever could play it best, and with the understanding that the other guy stays on stage playing rhythm guitar when he's not the lead guy on a song, and that they do back and forth solos or small parts on songs, guitar battles, a little improvisation, etc.. That might have been fun.

However, what happened is what happened.

One thing I really like from late in Banks' career is this Prog Collective song from Peter Banks, Billy Sherwood, and Annie Haslam: