Would the living tree have sounded better with Howe squire and white?

[rabin105]

I did on for drama so yeah let’s look at the reverse side of the coin

[Kenny]

Probably but that album was made at the wrong time, i.e. when Jon's voice had not recovered fully from his respiratory problems.

[soundchaser09]

nothing would have saved it in my opinion, that was a dreadful album. I did at least get to see them touring this show live in London though. Shook Rick's hand even asked him about ARW back in 2010 to which he said the rumours were true.

[rabin105]

nothing would have saved it in my opinion, that was a dreadful album. I did at least get to see them touring this show live in London though. Shook Rick's hand even asked him about ARW back in 2010 to which he said the rumours were true.

That they planned on doing it but wasting everyone’s time? Cause that was the rumor I heard lol

[soundchaser09]

That they planned on doing it but wasting everyone’s time? Cause that was the rumor I heard lol

He did say they were planning on doing an album, but tbh I am glad it happened anyway. Rick is still a class act.

[Soundwaveseeker]

I would say it would have sounded slightly better, but still probably would have sounded a bit restrained and not too far off from the mellow moments of Heaven & Earth or The Quest, of which there are many. If you wanted Heaven & Earth 4 years earlier, then that would have been Living Tree. The Living Tree is an acquired taste album for me, very very mellow and Jon's voice really hadn't healed yet. The vocals sound frail and thin. I have to be in the mood for that one, so yes - Living Tree would have sounded a little better with Steve's acoustic guitars, Alan's later drumming style and Chris helping Jon in the vocal department. That would have elevated it.

[Mr. Holland]

nothing would have saved it in my opinion, that was a dreadful album.

That pretty much sums it for me.

[pianozach]

nothing would have saved it in my opinion, that was a dreadful album. I did at least get to see them touring this show live in London though. Shook Rick's hand even asked him about ARW back in 2010 to which he said the rumours were true.

I wouldn't go as far as calling it "a dreadful album", but it certainly wasn't stellar either. To me it sounded unfinished, like a collection of demos meant to be worked on later.

It sounds like they got together one weekend and knocked out some tracks over cocktails. Actually, Wakeman stated that he would record the backing tracks at his studio in England and that these would be sent to Anderson in the US to record his vocals. These tracks were all then to be sent back to Wakeman for mixing and mastering.

Even so, I heard the original version of Just One Man (with just Anderson and Jeremy Cubert), and the Anderson/Wakeman version was actually better, sounding less improvised.

It wasn't a "dreadful" album, just uninspired, unpolished, and somewhat bland.

Would it have been better with Chris and Steve on it? Undoubtedly. But that wouldn't have made it all that much better, unless some real work had been done on it, rather than slapping some guitar and bass and occasional harmony vocals over it.