90125 - Background

Background

This new incarnation of Yes came about by circumstance rather than design. In 1980, members Jon Anderson (vocalist) and Rick Wakeman (keyboardist) had left the band, replaced by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes respectively. The new line-up was short-lived: after an album (Drama) and tour, they disbanded in December 1980. Bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White continued to work together, including on the aborted XYZ project and released a single Run with the Fox as a duo in 1981.

Guitarist Trevor Rabin had left South Africa in the late 1970s and had released a series of solo albums. There had been various attempts to place Rabin in a band, including a proposed quartet with Rick Wakeman, John Wetton and Carl Palmer in 1980 and a proposed trio with Keith Emerson and Jack Bruce. Rabin tried out in Asia, alongside Wetton, Palmer and former Yes members Steve Howe and Geoff Downes. However, he had also been put in touch with Squire and White and this was to be his path instead.

Squire, White and Rabin began working together in early 1982, initially considering some of the XYZ material. Trevor Horn was also associated with the nascent band from an early stage as their producer and, at one point, it was considered having him as the lead vocalist. The trio decided they needed a keyboard player to fill out their sound. Squire suggested inviting original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye, whose sparse style he felt would suit the new band's direction. They christened themselves "Cinema" and in early 1983 began recording what they thought was their debut album, consisting mainly of original music Rabin had originally earmarked for a solo album, and produced by Horn.

Everything changed in the spring of 1983 when Jon Anderson played some of Cinema's recordings by Squire. The song collective was essentially Rabin's musical ideas and compositions and Jon Anderson was very much impressed and so the thought formed that maybe there could be a reformation of Yes. As Anderson's professed interest was so high, it was realised that - essentially - Yes were reforming. Rabin was dubious at first, not wanting to be perceived as Steve Howe's replacement, but rather the lead guitarist for a new group. However, he quickly changed his mind once Anderson brought in some new lyrics and put his distinctive vocals on the existing music tracks.

By this time, however, the band were without a keyboard player, as Kaye had fallen out with producer Horn, resulting in much of the keyboard work on the album being played by Rabin or Horn's hand-picked production team. When the band started preparing for a tour to support the album, Eddie Jobson, who had already been considered for the job in 1974, was asked to join, which he accepted. Jobson appeared in the video for the first single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart". In order to consolidate the legal position that this band was Yes, Kaye was brought back. Jobson, unwilling to share the role of keyboard player, dropped out.