Keys to Ascension

Occupation

Jon Anderson - Vocals
Chris Squire - bass, vocals
Alan White - drums
Steve Howe - Guitar
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards

Keys to Ascension is the title of a Live-/Studioalbum and a concert by the progressive rock band Yes and was released in 1996. It is the first album since Tormato (1979 ), the Yes published in the classic lineup of the successful 1970s.

2.1 CD 1
2.2 CD 2

Formation

Songwriting and recording the new studio tracks

In May 1995, Yes vocalist Jon Anderson called the former Yes guitarist Steve Howe, to ask him what he thought of a revival of the "classic" think Yes - Cast ( Anderson, Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, Rick Wakeman ). Howe liked the idea and he agreed to take part in a corresponding project. In July 1995, the keyboardist Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe traveled to Los Angeles to meet up with the band members living in the U.S. Anderson, Squire and White for discussions. The five musicians decided to put them together as Yes. The mood was unusually positive and the band members decided to start as soon as possible with the development of new songs. In the summer, Anderson, Squire and Howe met to write new songs. This work continued until the autumn.

Disappointed by her recent management Leftbank the band Squires dedicated manager Jon Brewer ( Impact ) as a band manager. The President of CMC, Tom Lipski had taken and proposed to write new songs and not easy to produce a live album Yes, which he described as his favorite band under contract.

In November, Howe again traveled to the USA to continue to work together in Anderson's Location San Luis Obispo with him on the new songs. These songs, indeed, did and is Be The One were finally first recorded in February 1996, only of Anderson, Howe, Squire and White, Wakeman was only on 29 January 1996 because of other commitments to arrive, played his keyboard parts and a subsequently prepared together with the other musicians on the upcoming live performances before.

Concerts in San Luis Obispo

During Anderson, Squire and Howe wrote new songs, you had made a plan to organize a concert in New York or Philadelphia, which should be published in the episode as a video and a live album. The samples for such a concert had begun in October, but without Rick Wakeman, who until the end of January could join the band. Later, however, it was decided against a big concert.

At the beginning of 1996, the band then rehearsed first to fourth, from 29 January to fifth- old material for a fairly short in the small Freemont Theater, an Art Deco movie theater in San Luis Obispo, is translated concert. Just ten days before the concert, the band then decided to give two concerts on March 5 and 6. Both were sold out within a short time over the fan.

During sample representative of Yes' old record label Atlantic Records, the band visited in San Luis Obispo. Business offers from Atlantic but rejected by Yes.

In the short term, the band decided to take in a dress rehearsal on March 4 fans for free on the Freemont. As someone who came up with the idea to ask for $ 100 for the entry on March 4, which angered the band as the fans, but Anderson, Squire and White outvoted Howe and Wakeman, and so was also required for the dress rehearsal of admission. This caused considerable tension in the band. The concerts themselves, however, were very successful, since Yes played many songs that were not presented live for years.

The concerts were recorded for release later in the year. Since only three concerts were played, from which one could put together for recording a live album, it was deemed necessary to correct errors later in the studio. When Steve Howe traveled all four days, to correct some of his vocals, he noted that no band member supervised the mixing of the recordings: Anderson and Wakeman undertook at this time solo tours, Squire and White were also already left. Howe then decided to take it himself, in the assumption that it would take very little time. Ultimately, however, the work cost him almost half a year. Only Jon Anderson helped him occasionally.

Difficulties with management and record company

Ideas still to go in the summer of 1996 on a tour that failed, much to the dismay of the record company, which held a tour necessary to promote a new Yes release. At this time they were at odds in the band, the management and CMC, whether a live album and a studio album to be released separately or whether one should bring out live and studio material together. As for a live album only low sales figures were to be expected and a pure studio album, given the disappointing sales of the previous album seemed too risky Talk for the small record company CMC because of the necessary advertising effort, they decided to part of the recorded in San Luis Obispo songs together with publish the new material, in the hope that the latter would promote record sales. This displeased especially Rick Wakeman, who would have preferred released a full studio album, the live recordings would have been added to most as a bonus CD.

On 23 October 1996, a part of the concert recordings from San Luis Obispo appeared along with deed did is and Be The One as a double CD entitled Keys To Ascension on the label CMC International. When Yes demanded a in the eyes Lipski to large advance for the planned concert video, Lipski however prevented the release in the U.S.. Due to technical problems the release of the video had to be postponed two days before the planned release date anyway.

To promote the new album, the press and television appearances were organized. The band appeared among others in the Howard Stern Show, the Fox After Breakfast TV show and the radio. In November, Yes played a small acoustic set in a record store Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard. But in November the CMC had the campaign been completed, the plate Sales were poor and without a tour was no improvement in sight. The band returned to the studio to record new songs for their next album, Keys to Ascension 2. Already at that time CMC had lost interest in the band.

Due to lack of success changed the management Yes. They turned again to their former agency Left Bank Management.

Title list

CD 1

Contains new intro Unity by Steve Howe

CD 2

I.Life Seeker ( Anderson)
II.Disillusion ( Squire )
III.Würm ( Howe )

I.The One
II.Humankind
III.Skates

I.Togetherness
II.Crossfire
II.The Giving Things
IV # That Is
V.All in All
VI.How Did Heaven Begin?
VII.Agree to Agree

The last two tracks are new studio recordings.

Comments

Be the One and, indeed, did is the two new studio tracks that have been published here for the first time.
That, is did deals with gangs, drugs and violent crime, unusual topics for Yes

Chart positions

Keys to Ascension (Essential EDF CD 417) reached # 48 in the UK and number 99 in the U.S. charts.

Occupation

Jon Anderson - vocals, harp
Steve Howe - guitar, vocals, (6 string bass on " Be The One " )
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Chris Squire - bass, vocals (piccolo bass on " Be The One " )
Alan White - drums

Cover

The cover to Keys to Ascension was designed by fantasy artist Roger Dean, who already responsible for many of the classic Yes album art recorded in the 1970s. The double album is in a slipcase.

The two cover show islands, which are connected by natural bridges. The idea goes back to Jon Anderson.

Live

The live tracks (all songs on CD 1 and the songs 1 and 2 on CD2) were recorded in San Luis Obispo for three concerts (4th, 5th and 6th March 1996). Neither Be the One nor, indeed, did is ever played live.

Know Tour

For the summer of 1997 a tour was planned with the Keys to Ascension material under the name know. Ten concerts in the United States ( June 12-July 27 ) were also specifically announced in the spring of 1997 and put to sale. Samples were prepared for May. But the ticket sales went bad because CMC had barely made advertising for the Keys albums and so few fans knew that Yes were active again, and it turned out that they had booked too large halls. As the tour dates were also not discussed with Rick Wakeman ( he had planned at this time a solo tour so that he could not go on with the tour ) were canceled planned concerts. Wakeman also had different ideas of what a tour: While a tour presented by large halls, the other musicians wanted to play concerts in small clubs as a tour represented by large halls in the face of poor sales of recent Yes albums too great a financial risk would. First, the tour should be made up in the fall, then it was fully canceled. The variant to tour with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, had been rejected by all parties.

Because of this chaotic management ( Wakeman had the contract with Left Bank Management wisely not signed ), but also because they had deleted some of his musical contributions later, Rick Wakeman left the band.

Due to the poor sales of Keys to Ascension, the CMC it attributed that Yes had not gone on tour, the record company stopped the planned spring 1997 release of Keys to Ascension 2 first.

Sources and links

Chambers, Stuart: Yes. An endless dream of '70s, '80s and '90s rock music. An unauthorized interpretative history in three phases. Burns Town, ON, General Store Publishing House, 2002. ISBN 1-894263-47-2.
Farley, Alan: The Extraordinary World Of Yes. New York / Lincoln / Shanghai 2004. ISBN 0-595-33133-5.
Welch, Chris: Close to the Edge. The story of Yes. London / NY / Sydney 1999. ISBN 0-7119-6930-2
Watkinson, David: Perpetual change - 30 years of Yes. London 2001. ISBN 0-85965-297-1
"Keys to Ascension" is mentioned in all newer Yes biographies. A comprehensive bibliography of the band can be found on the sides of the Progressive Rock Bibliography ( ), an English-language website.
Reviews of Keys to Ascension on the Baby Blue Pages
English website with explanations on Yes' album covers

Album ( Progressive Rock )
1996 album
Yes album

Yes (Band) Genre Alan White (Yes drummer) Steve Howe (musician) Talk (Yes album) San Luis Obispo, California Roger Dean (artist) Emerson, Lake & Palmer Yes (Yes album) Fragile (Yes album) Drama (Yes album) Union (Yes album) Open Your Eyes (Yes album) Magnification (album)

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