Publisher: Soundcheck Books LLP
Review by The Bailey Brothers
Fifty books is a milestone for any author, so well done Martin Popoff for celebrating it with a treat for all Yes fans. The book is written on a time line format which took some getting used to at first; imagine Yes as a big family oak tree and every branch has band members on it. Some acorns will drop and grow their own little trees yet all branches are inter connected and important to the well being of that big tree we shall call Yes.
There are original interviews with Anderson, Bruford, Howe, Wakeman and the late Chris Squire. There are moments where individual members are talking honestly about each other and their musical contribution and surprisingly there’s alot of mutual respect for each other.
Now the fun bits; the moment Anderson and Alan White gather up car parts from a junk yard and take them back to the recording studio to record them being played. Now that’s either genius or comedy but there were no plug ins back in those days; engineers artiste and producers had to get creative if they wanted new sounds. I love the story about Rick Wakeman being so bored he ate his dinner off the piano whilst playing live, maybe a bit disrespectful to the band and fans, but you have to be one hell of a musician to play live and have dinner at the same time.
It’s not a book put together without passion, Popoff is a fan, of that there’s no doubt, but where you need to be objective and ruthless he can slice through the dead wood of an album like a chain saw. I can’t see why most Yes fans wouldn’t enjoy scrolling through this book and re living the incredible journey of one of Prog rocks original flag carriers.
www.soundcheckbooks.co.uk
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