PROG ROCK ALERT: "YES" TO TOUR WITH ASIA

Even though the Yes website has no info yet,
an email from Bowery Productions says that Yes and Asia will play Montclair, New Jersey's Welmont Theater on July 29. Double the Steve Howe! I hope he's in good shape. Of course, it is still the Jon Anderson-less version of Yes. I wish they would cut that out already.

In cooler Yes news, drummer Alan White will be performing the music of John Lennon at a benefit concert for Race for the Cure (an organization dedicated to fighting breast cancer) at the Snoqualmie Casino. Yes' Chris Squire will also be there, as will former Yes guitarist/singer/songwriter Trevor Rabin, who left the band in the early '90s. Also in the band, one of my favorite singers, Shawn Smith of Brad! (Alan White was in an early version of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, by the way).

JON ANDERSON: "NOT YES"

I was wondering how Jon Anderson felt about his bandmates Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe touring with an "understudy" as Yes.

Well, he's let his feelings known on his website. His post is called "Disappointed, and Very Disrepected." He basically says that only Alan called him to see how he was doing after he fell ill, and that no one asked him his opinion about thier decision to tour without him.

There's been two other times where Yes sort of went on without Jon when he quit. In 1980, Jon quit the band and was replaced by Trevor Horn of The Buggles (later to become a big-name producer) for the album Drama. I have a friend who cites it as his favorite Yes album, but really it didn't work. The band toured, but tickets went on sale before the album came out, and in that pre-internet era, people weren't aware that Jon wasn't in the band. It didn't go over well, and after one tour, Yes broke up.

He quit again in 1988, and the band tried to go on without Jon: from what I've heard, they were going to have guitarist Trevor Rabin sing; they started working with singer/multi-instrumentalist Billy Sherwood (who would briefly join the band about a decade later); or that Roger Hodgson of Supertramp was working with them. Ultimately, none of that happened, and Jon rejoined when Yes and Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe "merged."

There are two people you absolutely need to have Yes: one is Chris Squire and the other is Jon Anderson. But tickets are about to go on sale for this farce. I LOVE Yes. But I won't be buying tickets for this nonsense. Guys, cancel it, say your apologies to Jon, and hit the road in 2009. Or whenever Jon's ready. This is a bad idea. There was talk a while ago of a tour that would be Chris Squire touring with his pre-Yes band, The Syn (Alan White would play drums even though he wasn't in the group), Alan touring with his band White which would also include former Yes and current Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes, and Steve Howe doing solo acoustic sets. Then, they'd all get together and perform songs from Drama. The tour was cancelled, the reason that was given was that someone had visa problems. But now the same guys are touring, but using the Yes name. Not cool. Call it "Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Alan White." But not Yes.

YES: JUST SAY NO!

A few months back, Yes cancelled their summer tour because of singer Jon Anderson's health problems. 

Now, we hear that Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White are going to be doing an Anderson-less tour for their 40th anniversary. 

Who's singing? Oh, some guy who used to sing for a Yes tribute band. Please, guys, reconsider. Just because Journey and Boston did it, doesn't make it right. But you can read more about it here (if you must). 

ASIA'S RETURN

In the early '80s, when the original lineup of Asia - former King Crimson/UK/Uriah Heep bassist/singer John Wetton, former Yes guitarist Steve Howe, former Yes/Buggles keyboardist Geoff Downes and former ELP drummer Carl Palmer - got together, I doubt many people expected them to become pop superstars. Somehow, they were able to curb their prog-rock tendencies and come up with some tight pop songs that made them into MTV stars. They sounded as much like Boston as any of their former bands.

I can't front, I was into their first album. The second one was OK, and after that, the band started splitting up. It's funny how every prog rock band seemed to have these massive revolving door lineups. The band actually went on for years after everyone but Downes left. But last year, the original lineup got back together; this year they'll release a brand new album. And now there's another Asia out there made up of some of the guys that Geoff Downes played with in the more recent lineups! Hopefully, this won't lead to a reality show competition of some sort.

I don't know if I care about the band putting out new music and touring - since I don't have any of their music anyway. But I think it's cool that a band that were dissed by critics before they ever released a note is popular enough to tour more than two decades later. I do hope that Steve Howe and Yes do something again at some point - as far as I'm concerned, Asia is Steve Howe's second band. Or third, really, since none of Asia's songs are as good as Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle." Asia were, however, better than GTR.