Jon Anderson - 1980

Jon Anderson

Royal Albert Hall

London

December 1, 1980

Source: Radio Broadcast

In late 1979 Jon Anderson left Yes for a solo career. He recorded the album Song of Seven and subsequently embarked on an extensive tour in support of the album with a large band that went under the name The New Life Band. The Sheffield Concert was a gig from The Song of Seven Tour in the UK 1980. The nine piece line-up provides a generous set list including a number of key Yes songs, a medley with his work in collaboration with Vangelis, as well as most songs from Jon's solo album Song of Seven.

Very different from his music with Yes, most songs from Song of Seven are short and simple. The exception is the long progressive piece homonimous to the album, which is its pièce-de-resistance, especially for Yes fans.

1) Intro (1:46)

2) Yes Medley (25:03)

To Be Over 

Perpetual Change 

The Prophet 

Long Distance Runaround 

Wonderous Stories 

Rejoice

I've Seen All Good People (Pt 1)

Revealing Science Of God 

I've Seen All Good People (Pt 2) 

The Remembering (High The Memory) 

Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)

3) Some Are Born (4:06)

4) Don't Forget (Nostalgia) (3:17) 

5) Petrushka (8:57)   (composed by Stravinsky)

6) Far Away In Baagad / Bird Song / One More Time (13:41)  (originally appeared on the album Short Stories, by Jon and Vangelis)

7) Hear It (2:43) 

8) Take Your Time (3:36) 

9) Song Of Seven (10:50)

On the official release "Live in Sheffield" recorded 2 days later, the following are credited as musicians:

- Barry DeSouza / drums

- Jo Partridge / guitars

- Ronnie Leahy / keyboards

- John Giblin / bass

- Morris Pert / drums, percussion

- Christopher Rainbow / vocals 

- Dick Morrisay / saxophone

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1975 - NJF Festival - Reading

Reading, England, UK
August 23, 1975

This is the last show from Relayer tour, after which the band would stop playing for eight months so that every member would record his solo album.

Ritual is powerful, Sound Chaser is stunning, but two short songs steal the scene here:

Leaves of Green, the last section of The Ancient, was played separated from the original song for the first time in this show.

High Vibration is what you're thinking: a really early version of Awaken! As Pete Whipple says on Forgotten Yesterdays:

It's still just the opening to 'Awaken' but Moraz and Howe have definate parts now. It's in a different key with White giving it a rock beat! This is about as close as you'll get to the legendary Moraz 'Awaken' everybody wants to hear.

Moraz also shines in his solo, this time on the electric piano (unlike the mellotron/orchestron solos of 1976). His playing is a pleasure to hear all through the show, but on the other hand the keys' loud sound makes Steve's guitar sound low on the mix, especially on Gates of Delirium (which has a couple of minutes lacking, between the "battle scene" and "Soon". Well, that's an alternative way of listening to this epic song, surely better than the QPR DVD, when Jon's guitar was louder than Steve's!

Disc 1 
01. Opening
02. Sound Chaser
03. Close To The Edge
04. And You And I
05. High Vibration
06. The Gates Of Delirium

Disc 2 
01. I've Seen All Good People
02. Leaves of Green
03. Long Distance Runaround / Moraz Solo
04. Ritual
05. Roundabout

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Steve Howe - Sharp on Attack (1988)

In 1988, the IRS No Speak label began releasing albums in the "Guitar Speak" trilogy. In this project, various guitarists were called upon to provide new material for compilation releases.

The excellence of Steve Howe's piece wasn't surprising to me. "Sharp On Attack" (which has since resurfaced in an alternate form on Homebrew) is an excellent display of Howe's talents. Steve uses more guitars on his piece than anyone else on this album (five, to be precise), and the internal diversity which results makes it well worth it. The acoustic opening provides excellent flavouring, and the middle section of the piece ranks among Howe's better melodies of recent years. This piece must be considered as the second official installment in Howe's redemption for the early 1980s (with "Sketches In The Sun" being the first), and it does its job well.

(quoted from the excellent blog jazz-rock-fusion-guitar - find the link to it on your right)

In this video, Steve plays his song, now with just one guitar, and, as my friend says, he shows us he was alive and well in the 80s!