Was Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe a Failure?

bcshelton72 wrote: I'm still trying to digest ABWH properly & come to peace with it after all these years. I first heard it while DJing at a college radio station when it came out. It was put into heavy rotation immediately (we had playlists, not freeform shows), starting with "Themes" which I liked pretty well. Since then, when the tracks come up in shuffle, there always seems to be some instrument sound that is offputting. Not in a way that is dated; rather in ways that I've always thought sounded bad no matter what band was doing it. Example: that synth/sampled trumpet sound that Wakeman noodles with in Quartet.. I guess it's my bias as a keyboard player. Nothing could sound cheaper to me. So I keep trying to listen around those types of things for the underlying music.

It does have an 80s feel to it, for me it's the electronic drums.

ABWH introduced me to classic Yes, so to me its not a failure. I only knew of Yes via MTV/90125 like most teens.  I was just learning about prog in the late 80s starting with the big Pink Floyd revival, so ABWH was a great gateway to classic Yes.  I had also just discovered King Crimson at the same time as ABWH, so to have the 80's KC rhythm section (which included the original Yes drummer who actually played on those classic tracks) was icing on the cake. And if Squire was replaced by someone, it was with one of my favorite bass players!  And for ABWH to actually tour arenas and amphitheaters without the Yes name is remarkable and showed the desire people had for the classic era, and perhaps prog in general.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I think they tried to capture the classic Yes sound and I think they achieved that to a great extent while also bringing in some fresh new ideas. I think the only thing that was missing was the YES name

That and the bass. Not only was Squire's playing distinctive, forthright and prealent. It was also missing. Instead they toned Ton-Y Levin down and made a Yes-Lite album.

Of course compared to Heaven And Earth it's more like CTTE, Relayer , Fragile and Tales.

The live thing is good though. Unsurprisingly.

I've always liked it. We had 'The Meeting' playing in the theater when my first little angel was born. Like others, I disliked 'Teakbois' but apart from that great. 

Oh and speaking of a boxed set version I forgot to mention there was supposed to be an album following. perhaps those tracks will one day be officially released. They're not bad. Of course I'm not supposed to know that.

I haven't got that album yet... though I have been curious about it. However, for the time I had forgotten about it. Still, I love the Symphinic live album/DVD, though it's got just about no relation to this one.

Rednight wrote: ^Why not? We're talking about four prog legends.

Are we? An interesting idea here. The product of a band or the result of 4 individuals pretending to be a band or an actual 4 headed single entity. I'm thinking of Bruford's comments in his auto biog where he felt some what misled by the intentions of his then, and subsequent former colleagues.

Were expectations by the many headed (us) too much for Yes east (them)? 

But yes, (!) the concert performances are best. They really should have utilized Tony Levin and his sound a lot more on the record - the absence of Squire and his bass drive does give ABWH a Yes-lite feel.

If I had to choose between this and the later Talk it would be chatterbox every time. Maybe Jon knew best. After all he said about having to do actual songs that's where he decided to go after ABWH.

Anyway nothing here to make one put this on over The Yes Album. Which makes me wonder, is this progressive music or now a style of music called prog?

Tapfret wrote: Ultimately the ABWH-Union phase was more about the live performances anyway. The albums were nowhere near the worst of the Yes legacy, but pretty sub-mediocre.

I suppose seeing as it turned into an appreciation thread as opposed to a lounge topic, I shouldn't be surprised.

Wow, this thread is still going?