Fantasy story: Close To The Edge part II

Nice, who would have expected Peter. (or maybe...)

Finally, the last part!

Yes, I’ve committed to write the last part of this tragi-comic progressive thriller. It’s here, right before your very eyes. Hope you have been thrilled thus far, otherwise this piece will go into history as the first progressive ‘borer’.

Okay, but here you are, the last part. The plot thickens, the mystery resolves, the mask falls down, the mist disappears, drum rolls… Well, you get the idea. Oh well, let’s get on with it, shall we?

Day 10

10 AM

Chris visits Alan in the hospital, after his nasty ‘accident’ from the day before.

Chris: I brought you some fruit.

Alan: Oh, you shouldn’t have. How’s Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe doing?

Chris: Not very well. They stopped recording together. They miss some ingredients.

Alan: Us…

Chris: They’d never admit, but yeah, I think so. Us, and Trevor Rabin. It’s not the first time.

Alan: Well, who did it anyway? All this, I mean… my ankle and everything that happened before. Who’s the… well, we cannot call him a joker anymore, now, can we? Who is he?

Chris: I don’t know for sure.

Alan: I’d say most of the actions before did have some kind of humour. I would have said Bill or Rick. They have that wry sense of humour, Bill especially. But since yesterday, I’d say one of the persons who really had quite negative experiences towards Yes. And that could have been more people, and maybe other people, than Bill and Rick.

Chris: But who would hate Yes so much that he would do such a thing like on the ice rink yesterday? Oh well, I do have some suspicion. People like Peter and Patrick. Still, all the tracks lead towards Bill. He has been caught by the tail.

Alan: Chris, do me a favour and continue with Yes. Even if it was you on your own. Don’t let the joker win!

Chris: I will.

2 PM

The press had heard that Yes was recording a new album as a ten-piece. To their surprise they found out that everybody, except Alan White who was in the hospital, was recording in their own studio. They decided to visit all the members in their respective studios, beginning with Chris Squire. But Chris hadn’t returned from his lunch break. So they decided to start with Bill.

Studio 2: Bill Bruford

Interviewer: Bill, how do you feel now?

Bill (aloof): Fine, thank you, and yourself?

Interviewer: I have one question that has been on the tip of my tongue for quite a while.

Bill (grudgingly): I know, I know, the famous question that everyone asks: why did you leave Yes?

Interviewer (a little bit unsecure): I thought I was the first one to ask.

Bill: The first one? Over 100 billion have been served. It’s the most famous thing I ever did. It’s not about my music at all, it’s always: why did you leave Yes? Why did you leave Yes? Virtually everybody asks me that since 1972.

Interviewer: I think there is a little misunderstanding.

Bill: Is there?

Interviewer: What I meant was: why did you leave Yes 9 days ago?

Bill: Ah, now I see, sorry! That’s a different thing.

Interviewer: Okay!

Bill (pensive): Wait a minute… no, it isn’t.

Interviewer: I don’t understand?

Bill: I left Yes for exactly the same reasons as in 1972! History repeats.

Interviewer: Because?

Bill: Basically I left because (his mouth falls open) I didn’t want… history to repeat!

Studio 3: Peter Banks

Interviewer: Your history with Yes didn’t last long, did it?

Peter: It could have lasted longer, but the band fell apart… as it would have by itself if there wasn’t a joker. Only just faster, much faster. It’s a natural decay process that has been accelerated.

Interviewer: And now?

Peter: Look at us. All in separate studios. Not working on some big dream. Actually really unable to work together, really. There’s always something that separates us. The energy is there. It just is reallocated in the strangest ways. Sometimes in an even violent way. We, as musicians, are uncompromising. But this chapter has to come to an end, as soon as possible.

Interviewer: And the future?

Peter: I’m going home tomorrow. I still have to do one more thing to do today, to end things properly.

Interviewer: You mean your solo album?

Peter: No, I’ll end that later.

Interviewer: Do you see a place for yourself in Yes in the future?

Peter: No, though since a few days… I’ve seen an open door.

Interviewer: Really?

Peter: And it closed, violently. A big bang!

Interviewer: Sorry to hear that.

Peter (tear in his eyes): You can say that again.

Studio 4: Patrick Moraz

Interviewer: So how were your days with Yes this time?

Patrick: Just like the old days. A big dream with golden opportunities.

Interviewer: And then?

Patrick: You are left without dreams, without credits, without money, and you think: did this really happen?

Interviewer: Do you see a place for yourself in Yes in the future?

Patrick: Then things have to change first.

Interviewer: Like what?

Patrick: The famous Yes democracy should also be working for the keyboard players.

Studio 5: Trevor Rabin

Interviewer: What are you doing these days?

Trevor: Another soundtrack. Oh, and Yes’ CEO asked me for some songs for Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, because that didn’t work out too well.

Interviewer: So will you?

Trevor: There’s one technical problem.

Interviewer: And that is?

Trevor: There’s no ABWH anymore.

Studio 6: Geoff Downes

Interviewer: How’s everything going, Geoff?

Geoff: It went well, but I left Yes, and all my band members afterwards have left me afterwards. Trevor Horn, Steve Howe. No more Buggles, no more Asia for the moment. And Alan’s in the hospital. No Yes Drama reunion for the moment, we have to cancel that idea also.

Interviewer: So what will you do next?

Geoff: I’m going to talk about an Asia mark 1 – reunion with John Wetton and Carl Palmer.

Interviewer: And Steve Howe?

Geoff: If he wants to.

Studio 7: Rick Wakeman

Rick: No questions about Yes please.

Interviewer: Yes, but…

Rick: Yes??

Interviewer: No, well… I wanted to ask about Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.

Rick: Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe?

Interviewer: Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe!

Rick: Anderson… Bruford… Wakeman… Howe… Sounds like a very expensive lawyer’s office.

Interviewer: So is there an end to…

Rick: Yes?

Interviewer: Yes!

Rick: I have a feeling that there could be a Yes, way into the 21^st century, like the London Philharmonic Orchestra…

Interviewer: With or without you?

Rick: Well, theoretically spoken with me. But anybody could be the fly in the ointment. As someone was, this time. Some joker…

Studio 8: Steve Howe

Interviewer: Steve, what do you think of everything that happened?

Steve: Everything? What do you mean, everything? Has something happened?

Interviewer: Well, Yes falling apart, the ABWH attempt that failed…

Steve: Oh, that! Well, my guitar parts were all right.

Studio 9: Jon Anderson

Interviewer: How are you doing, Jon?

Jon: Fine! I have this great dreams lately. About a team that really could win the Olympics. My team, the Yes team.

Interviewer: Where is your team, Jon?

Jon: Look around you, in all those studios!

Interviewer: Not much of a team, though, is it?

Jon: Not at this moment, though, but believe me, that will change.

Interviewer: When?

Jon: Singing: “Soon, oh soon…” (Laughing out loud).

Interviewer: I don’t see much reason for optimism right now.

Jon: I see more than you see.

Interviewer: Like what?

Jon: Have you talked to Bill? He’s a genius!

Interviewer: Bill? The Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe project failed…

Jon (smiling): And so did Yes as a whole. But it’s all phases…

Interviewer: I don’t understand.

Jon: More has been happening behind the scenes than you think. Nothing can come between us, they are brothers of mine!

Studio 1, Chris finally arrived

Interviewer: You’re late for the interview, mr. Squire.

Chris: Well, I was almost ready.

Interviewer: Unfortunately we can’t stay any longer. One question though: is this the end of Yes?

Chris: Yes will never end. Not as long as…

Interviewer: As?

Chris: As I’m here.

Interviewer: You’re alone now.

Chris: We’ve had that before. Well, almost, anyway. I’ll continue with the Yes album myself. Starting today.

Interviewer: Thank you, mr. Squire.

The interviewer walks away, leaving Chris alone.

Chris (mumbling): Or the day after tomorrow. I’m not in a rush…

In the hall the sound of a rattling fax machine can be heard in the distance.

Chris (yawning): Or maybe I should a week rest… oh well. Maybe go on a holiday first (yawns again). Well, there’s time enough… time enough… ( Starts to nod, and finally falls asleep).

Out of the fax machine comes a paper. It comes unnoticed by anyone, but here’s what was printed on it:

“One little progger was all by himself at the end of the day,

then he went into hibernation, and then they were all away.”

THE END

Well, almost anyway. I owe you… an epilogue. Some written confessions, and a little dialogue afterwards.

Confession of a joker

“Well, that’s how they call me anyway. I could have left things the way they were. because the band would fall apart after all. But I wanted it to end, faster than automatically it would have done. And I wanted some creative input after all, after many years of frustration: a heritage of being a part of the band.

I got the idea on day 1, when Bill walked away in anger. He pushed a little note under the door with the progger rhyme. Great idea, and I thought: why don’t I use that? Obviously it was just a joke of Bill, but I wanted to use it anyway. The suspicion would be on Bill, not on me!

No one ever discovered all the eavesdropping equipment I installed in the control room, studio 1 etcetera. Together with some phones that were being tapped, it was easy to get the information I needed.

Day 2… No one would expect that a Peter Banks solo would have been replaced by a guitar part with a real chain saw! But that’s exactly what I did! No one suspected something. I had to act a little theatrical on that day.

Patrick… Poor Patrick… I wished I hadn’t done it. Well, all I had to do is give the CEO an anonymous telephone call, by some fund raiser (me in reality) who was only willing to invest if Rick was the keyboard player, and Patrick was being dumped. The CEO believed it. Still, in the case of Patrick, I wished I shouldn’t have done that. The idea that he was “Swiss”, well, I expected history to repeat. And it did!

Trevor Rabin: how could I get him away? He was frustrated from day 1. But I had to give him an attractive alternative. A soundtrack to a Hollywood movie. He had to leave immediately and I knew… He would never return. He had doubts about the whole project anyway. He would have no wish to return.

I never expected Rick to stay after the fake Atlanteans that I sent. Actually, I played the manager of those Atlanteans myself. Heavily disguised of course. Jon was too enthusiastic to notice that it was me. But Rick has turned wiser during the years. So I had to use a weak spot to get him out after all: the opposite sex. I sent a beautiful girl who should say to Rick that he should leave the band, that it wouldn’t work out. The girl was really interested in his solo albums! That did the trick. Rick left after all.

Geoff… was he ever really in it? I must confess I had no idea how to get him away. I was lucky this time. He left by himself, out of boredom. All I had to do was write another rhyme.

Jon… had left the band earlier. He follows his dreams. With Yes, with Vangelis, with ABWH, solo… All I had to do was present him a dream. I got Vangelis in the studio, at a time when Jon had a bad mood. Piece of cake.

Alan… would never have left. Always was faithful to Chris. I had to be violent for one time. Actually hired something for the job, to hit him on the ankle. I hired both a skater and a fake doctor. I never believed I could be so violent, that I organised that! But that afternoon my adrenalin was on a high, when I heard that ABWH was using one of my parts. At last! But I felt so frustrated. Patrick and I had been asked for ABWH, and Patrick had said, on my behalf, earlier that day, that we weren’t interested. Patrick felt sorry when he saw my reaction, but I told him that it was for the best. And got pretty violent at the end of the day!

Chris… keeper of the flame, but with him on it’s own, it’s really a pilot flame, isn’t it? A pilot light. After all, he never did a second solo album. Never. He needs a band, or Billy Sherwood, or White and Page, or Rabin, or someone else, to work with. So after the interviewer left I sent my fax, from a distance. I knew Chris would get into hibernation.

And that’s all, and I, Peter Banks, thought I had to elaborate in the way described above, to get the Yes thing out of my memory, as fast as possible! Surely, I could have left the building, but I knew that sooner or later Yes would be knocking on my door again. I had to stop this band once and for all!  I wished I could get this whole thing behind, using my creativity for the band for the last time, by playing… “the joker”.

Still, I feel sorry. For the first time in my life. Because ABWH were using my parts. How on earth is that possible, after all these years?

Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk…”

A tear rolls down his cheeks once again.

*************************************************************

Second testimony

“Ten little proggers… were doing something they should never have done. Write

another Close To The Edge. I had a funny feeling before I came. For myself I thought of the analogy of the Ten Little Niggers thing, by Agatha Christie. As a joke, I made a note, where I was more or less the judge, who was grinning over Bruford’s leaving after day 1, and would do so day after day, until no one left. So I wrote the first rhyme as a joke.

            Never thought that I would be irritated on day 1 already. I left in anger, slammed the door of the rehearsal room, put my hand into my right pocket to get my car keys… and felt the note I wrote. I immediately pushed it under the door, and asked Kitty, the studio secretary, not to say anything. They should feel uncomfortable for a while!

            When I walked to the car, though, I felt my anger disappear, and I though I acted too impulsive, and walked back, and decided to hang around a bit, hire studio 2, recording for Earthworks, seeing form a small distance how things would work out. I asked the other drop outs to do the same thing in the days to come. Except for Peter, who hired a studio out of own initiative.

I was really astonished that someone elaborated on my “10 little proggers” joke. I knew it had to be someone of the band. But who? I decided to do some detective work, and a few days ago I found out that it was Peter Banks. I decided to begin some counter action. I asked Jon, who was having a bad time, and who was walking down the hall, to join me. We talked it over, and as a sort of counter action we  decided to get ABWH together again. The others didn’t know about Peter! I talked to the CEO though, really convincing him that Yes was more than hit singles, and asked him to get the inspector out. Because, the best way to get the band back together was, paradoxically, to help the joker. Yes could only rise like a phoenix from the ashes if the phoenix would die first! As ABWH we used some Banks tapes and left the door open. I heard from Patrick that Peter’s reaction was… more than we could hope for. He had really risen to the bait.

I did get Banks nervous by putting my own graffiti in the studio’s. It was Anderson’s idea actually. As a sort of antidote. And as a sort of reframing act. The suspicion was a bit too much on me. Too good to be true!

My aim was not to be negative towards Peter, though, but to put another Yes together. Not to write another Close To The Edge, but to write something innovative, progressive, something new and fresh.  Everynody of the band knows now about Peter, and none of us is angry with Peter, not even the CEO, not even Alan! Most of us feel a bit sorry for Peter, because he is a very skilled guitar player, and he should have had his place in Yes. After all these years.

Oh, by the way, we let Peter believe that ABWH really collapsed. In fact, it never did! We were just waiting for Peter to cool his anger. And it’s a new day now.”

Jon’s diary

“It’s a  new day, with new chances. The old has died, the new begins. You cannot start a day without hope. And even when Yes had died, the phoenix rises from the ashes. Sooner than you think…”

*********************************************************************

EPILOGUE

It was night. Peter Banks couldn’t help himself. Tears were rolling down his cheek.

Peter: There was an open door after all… I should have conquered my pride! Oh well, tomorrow I’ll work on my solo album after all.

Peter went too bed, and fell asleep quite quickly.

Suddenly the phone rang. Peter answered it.

Peter: Peter Banks here.

Chris: Hi, it’s Chris.

Peter: Chris who?

Chris: Chris Squire.

Peter: Ah yeah? Do you know what time it is??

Chris: Hold on a minute…

Two minutes later…

Chris: Yeah, it’s a quarter to three.

Peter: No! No! Do you realise what time it is?

Chris: Well…

Peter: Look, I want to work on my solo album tomorrow. Besides, I’m not Rick Wakeman.

Chris: Rick Wakeman? Um… Well, anyway, we’re having a change of personnel, ABWH got together, and asked Trevor and me, and Patrick, and Geoff. Well, Alan’s still at the hospital. He can only come after a few months. As for me, at first, I wanted to have a reunion of The Syn…

Peter: That would’ve never worked out. Quarrels al the time.

Chris: I thought the same thing, so we were having this dream, and we thought we might as well do it all together.

Peter: What’s that dream?

Chris: To get Yes together, and write another Close To The Edge.

Peter: …

Chris: Peter, are you still there?

Peter: Incredible, but I am…Yeah, love to… Count me in…. I like to be involved.

Chris: Yeah, I thought you might…

Peter: Well… I’m back…

In the same room as Chris, Bill was watching tv, with a big smile on his face. The tv was broadcasting parts of the interviews that were being held earlier that day with the Yes members. At that moment, Rick was saying on the tv:

“I have a feeling that there could be a Yes, way into the 21^st century, like the London Philharmonic Orchestra…”

Bill (grinning): He’s nobody’s fool, is he?

 THE END