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BY DONALD LIEBENSON
Yes singer Jon Anderson
keeps the band from
owning a lonely heart
TO
ASCENT
would produce the seminal prog-rock albums
Fragile
and
Close
to the Edge
; and Trevor Rabin, who joined in
and was the
creative force behind that year’s
, which featured “Owner
of a Lonely Heart,” the band’s sole number-one hit (he is now
best known as an award-winning lm composer).
As for the other Yes, Anderson professes not to compare
setlists. “It’s not something we ponder at all,” he said with a
laugh. “ ey do what they do. ere are other bands [per-
forming Yes music] I’ve met when I was touring with my solo
show. I was in Chile about four years ago and I bumped into
a Yes tribute band, and they were amazing. As long as people
perform Yes music, I’m very happy.”
What can Ravinia audiences expect? “ e important thing
is that Yes is a performance band, that’s what we do,” Anderson
stated. “It was never built to have hit records. When we started
rehearsing [for the tour], we tried di erent songs from the
’ s, ’ s, and ’ s, juggled them around and made sure they
sounded and felt good. ere are obviously songs we want to
play, the songs people want to hear; the bottom line is we want
to put on a great performance. We added a couple of songs
in Europe just a month ago; one of them was from the
Talk
album, which is not very well known, but the song resonates
with an audience.”
Fi y years on, Anderson, to quote the “Long Distance Run-
around” lyric, can still remember the dream there. “All I want-
ed to do was perform great music that was di erent,” he said.
Growing up in northwest England, there were only three radio
stations—BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC ree—he recalled.
LEE WILKINSON
SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 – MAY 11, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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