90124

"A brutally honest first draft"

In 2003 two archival Trevor Rabin releases saw the light, both issued by the Voiceprint label. Someone had dug into the archives and found some older recordings including a live recording from 1989 which resulted in Live In LA and some demos and outtakes of material Rabin had written for Yes between 1981 and 1991 resulting in the present compilation. Out of these two the Live In LA album is the much superior one, recorded on tour in support of the very good Can't Look Away (Rabin's first solo album since he had joined Yes).

The title and the artwork of 90124 obviously refers to the Yes album 90125, the first yes album that Rabin had contributed to, though the unfinished songs included here were not all written for that album but some for Big Generator, Union, and Talk. Most of the songs here will be familiar to Yes fans, but in some cases only some parts of these songs were used by the band.

The album opens with Hold On which here consists of two different demo recordings stuck together into one. Other songs from these 1981 sessions include Changes and Owner Of A Lonely Heart, all of which would end up on 90125. These versions add little of interest to the finished versions. Moving In is a track that was not recorded by Yes, though some parts of the track were incorporated into the finished version of Hold On. The track that is here mislabelled Cinema is actually an alternate, early version of Make It Easy, a track that was written and recorded by Yes in the early 80's but was not included on any Yes album. It was subsequently released in 1991 as part of the YesYears box set and also as a single around the same time to promote that box set. Rabin often used to play part of this song live as an introduction to Owner Of A Lonely Heart. Would You Feel My Love is yet another track written by Rabin for 90125 but was not used. I can understand why!

From the Big Generator writing sessions we get Love Will Find A Way. This version is rather similar to the finished version and adds nothing of interest. Miracle Of Life is an excellent song that Rabin wrote for Union. Again, this demo version adds little of interest and I much prefer the finished album version. Finally, Talk is represented by two tracks here in Walls and Where Will You be. The former features Roger Hodgson of Supertramp on backing vocals and the latter is here presented in an all instrumental version. I enjoy this instrumental version but it can hardly be said to be essential. Promenade is a guitar version of the Classical piece by Mussorgsky (popularised by Emerson Lake & Palmer in the early 70's; Rabin was probably inspired by them). It is unclear to me why it is included here as it doesn't have anything to do with Yes.

If you have 90125 (especially the remastered CD version with bonus tracks), Big Generator, Union, and Talk, this compilation adds little of interest to your collection. It is interesting only as a historical document and it has very little listening value. It is only recommended for hard core fans of 80's Yes and Trevor Rabin's contribution to that era of the band in particular. Rabin himself has expressed scepticism about this release and called it "a brutally honest first draft" which is exactly what it is.

An album which is really a collection of Demos of songs recorded by Trevor Rabin before he joined YES in 1981 and until 1991, with songs which were recorded by the band in the albums "90125", "Big Generator", "Union" and "Talk". Being essentially Demos the recording of most of them is not very good. Only two of these Demos were not recorded by YES: "Would Yo Feel My Love", a Pop Rock ballad, and an arrangement of "Promenade" from Mussorgsky`s "Pictures at an Exhibition", played with electric guitars.

Some Demos are interesting, like the Demos for "Hold On" and "Moving In", with parts of both of them which were later used for the final version of the song called "Hold On" from the "90125" album, The Demo for "Changes" shows the song without the contributions that Alan White (the instrumental intro) and Jon Anderson (the final lyrics) made for that song in the "90125" album.

"Where Will You Be" is an instrumental version of the same song which was recorded for the "Talk" album, very similar to the final product. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" shows the song without the final arrangements and with different lyrics and also lacking the contributions that Jon Anderson (additional lyrics) and Chris Squire (bass guitar arrangements) made to the final song which was recorded for the "90125" album. In one interview Rabin said that producer Trevor Horn had a songwriter`s credit in this song more for his production and arrangements for the song and as a "thank you" gesture for thinking that the song could be a Hit Single than for really contributing something else to the song.

"Walls" has Roger Hodgson (one of the co-writer of this song) singing backing vocals, with some arrangements which sound very influenced by Hodgson, but anyway sounding very similar to the final version which was recorded by YES for the "Talk" album. This Demo lacks a brief section that maybe was Jon Anderson`s final contribution to the song (a brief lyric that he sings in the final version).

"Love Will Find a Way" is a bit differerent to the final version which was recorded for the "Big Generator" album, lacking the strings arrangement used as an intro and the harmonica solo used in the final version, but it still is very similar to the final product. The same is for "Miracle of Life", which was recorded for the "Union" album, having some different arrangements but sounding very similar anyway to the final product.

"Don`t Give in" (track number 11 in this album) is a different version of "Make It Easy", a song which was included in the "Yesyears" Box Set, with different lyrics and arrangements.

This "90124" compilation of Demos is interesting. Maybe it is more interesting to listen to the changes that the contributions of the other members of YES made to the final versions of the songs which appeared in the albums which the band recorded with Trevor Rabin as a member of the band. It also shows how important was Rabin for the new sound of the band after Steve Howe left the band in early 1981, and also shows why Chris Squire and Alan White asked Rabin to form a band, because they liked his songs and musical ideas to re-establish YES as a band in the eighties with a more accessible style of music.

Trevor Rabin's 90124 is a Voiceprint CD which gathers some of his home and studio demos from 1981 to 1991. Apparently, all eleven songs were at some point considered for one of the Yes albums on which Rabin appeared: 90125 (1983), Big Generator (1987), Union (1991), and Talk (1994). All but two will at least be familiar to fans of the band.

Rabin must have selected some of the tracks as a way of communicating how little they changed once they entered the Yes creative process. The 1991 demo of "Where Will You Be," is essentially an instrumental version of the song that would appear on Talk. "Walls," which would precede "Where Will You Be" on that same album, has the same music, lyrics, and arrangement as the canonical version, but here Roger Hodgson, not Jon Anderson, sings the harmonies. Anderson's cool vocal addition to the coda of the Talk version ("oh, this indecision?") is of course missing, but little else is. Similarly, the "Love Will Find a Way" demo is very close to the version that was finally released on Big Generator. And while "Miracle of Life" is explicitly identified as a "demo" on the CD tray liner, it sounds more like an early rough mix (sans Anderson's vocals and a few of the lyrics) of the track which would eventually appear on Union. By the time this mix was made, the sound effects, backing-vocal samples, and even the mandolin section were already in place.

But most of the songs which were demoed for Yes's 90125 are a different story. For example, the track labeled "Cinema" is entirely distinct from the same-titled song on 90125. This "Cinema" would later be remade by Rabin, Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, and Alan White as "Take it Easy," which itself would be rejected for inclusion on 90125. Confused yet? The liner notes state that Rabin wished this album to illustrate the creative process, and thus two recordings, the first with just voice and acoustic guitar, are spliced to create the "Owner of a Lonely Heart" demo here. In some ways, it makes sense that the unnecessarily-hair-rock pre-chorus in this version was removed for 90125, but it kind of has a fun, Loverboy or early Bon Jovi vibe. The opening track, "Hold On," is spliced together the same way. But what's interesting is that only half of what would become the "Hold On" of 90125 is in the demo here. Most of the rest of the final song is taken from the macho-rock "Moving In." Wisely, they excised the lyrics (e.g., "I'm moving' my love into you?"). And then there's "Would You Feel My Love," which they wisely excised in its entirety.

90124 also contains a demo of "Changes," to which White and Anderson would later make significant contributions. But unlike "Hold On," "Changes still retains its AOR feel in the final version. Finally, there's the song "Promenade," short but enjoyable Rabin arrangement of a Mussorgsky excerpt.

Except to hard-core Yes or Rabin fans, this compilation is completely non-essential. And yet it's fun to put on once in a while, for the very purpose Rabin intended: it's an enjoyable window into his creative process.

Why this???

Trevor Rabin is an excellent multi-instrumentist, known mainly for his guitar work with the YES, but is also an excellent pianist as can be heard on his Jacaranda, that's a very good album.

So why? Why taking the risk of jeopardizing a honest solo career releasing an album of demos of a quality so bad that I could re-record it at home?

The first minute of "Hold On" is already enough. I have heard David Gilmour singing la-la-la on a demo version of Comfortably Numb, as well as the Roger Waters's first demo of Money...qat least they sung tuned. Trevor tries to reach the high notes of Jon Anderson, and he doesn't succeed. "Changes" is a little better, at least it sounds close enough to the version on 90125 even if the chorus is different. It was likely at a more advanced stage of development.

"Moving In" ended to become "Hold On", but the chorus sounds like an American longhair rock band. Partially Interesting as a curiosity.

The it comes "Would You Feel My Love". I don't know if it was written for 90125. Luckily, for what I know, it remained unreleased.

At some point, Rabin remembers his Sout-African roots and "Where Will You Be" features "afro" percussion. In some ways it reminds to some of Jon's solo works. There's a similar track on Olias of Sunhillow, too.

Another acoustic and unnecessary demo. "Owner Of A Lonely Tonsil" I'd say.

"Walls" is a proper song. At least one. Not a masterpiece for sure, very 80s but at least it's a complete song. It sounds like the soundtrack of an American teens movie, and sad to say, it's one of the best things that can be found on this album.

One minute of Mussorsky's Promenade? After a full live album by Emerson Lake and Palmer 30 years before? Let's go ahead...

From Big Generator, "Love Will Find A Way" misses Jon's voice, but at least is not too different from the known version.

Rick Wakeman nicknamed "Onion" the album where "Miracle Of Life" is taken from. Not a bad song, and I don't dislike the album. One of the listenable songs, but not more than a curiosity for who already knows it.

The album is (finally) closed by a version of Cinema very different from the final version appeared on 90125. It ends to be the best track of the whole album as it's a completely different song.

So why??? Why should one purchase an album like this? Would anybody download it if it was a Bandcamp's "name your price"?

Don't be fooled by the poorness of this release. Trevor Rabin has done much better things. Try Jacaranda, instead of this one to hear how he can compose and play.