Yes In The 1980s

by Stephen Lambe, David Watkinson (Editor)

When Yes ran into problems recording their tenth album in Paris at the end of 1979, it was almost the end. Yet in the 80s the band rallied, firstly as part of an unlikely collaboration with a new wave duo, then with 90125, the most successful album of their career, which spawned a number one hit in the USA with ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’. The band failed to capitalise on this success, however, lingering too long over its successor Big Generator and by the end of the decade, Yes had effectively split into two versions of the same band. With most authors concentrating on the group’s 1970s career, Yes in the 1980s looks in forensic detail at this relatively underexamined era of the band’s history, featuring rarely-seen photos researched by author David Watkinson. The book follows the careers of all nine significant members of the group during a turbulent decade which saw huge highs but also many lows. Not only does it consider the three albums the band itself made across the decade, but also the solo careers and other groups – including Asia, XYZ, The Buggles, Jon and Vangelis and GTR - formed by those musicians as the decade wound towards a reunion of sorts in the early 1990s.

160 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I intend to share some thoughts on this book on the Yesshift podcast, but will summarize my overall feelings about it here.

Yes In The 1980s is a must-read for Yes fans. My eyes were glued to it the entire time, and one could get through it all probably within a day, given it's length. While on that subject, I'd like to mention that I wish this book had been a bit longer. For some of the solo albums and side projects, only a handful of tracks from the album are talked about, whereas I would've liked track-by-track thoughts on something like, say, In The City of Angels, even if much of the opinions were to go against my own. And believe me, there were some here and there that were different from mine, but I enjoyed reading another fan's perspective. Understandably, the authors wanted to streamline the narrative so that the Yes albums are the main story and not outweighed by the stuff beyond the Yes albums.

I was also surprised that Bill Bruford didn't get the "year-by-year" treatment, given how important he was toward the end with ABWH. For Trevor Horn, it might have been tedious to list out all the projects he produced throughout the Eighties. But he was so successful that it does feel a bit odd to not elaborate more on what he did beyond Yes. Geoff Downes leaves the narrative following Steve Howe's departure from Asia, which is a shame because I would've liked Astra to have been given some attention, along with Downes' solo album The Light Program.

I'm also a bit surprised that there was no mention of Requiem for the Americas, given it was a Jonathan Elias album with Jon Anderson guesting on it. That being said, the book managed to mention all of Jon's movie soundtrack contributions from the decade. I do wish that more could've been said about Jon's '80s projects that were either released later or unfinished, and that the Jon & Vangelis aspects of the narrative could have continued with the 1986 demos and Page of Life being recorded. After all, why not? Steve Howe's Turbulence got a section since it was recorded in the late eighties, despite not being released until 1991. And on that note, there's mention of two Turbulence tracks connected to Union tracks, but no mention of how the title track contains a bit of "Give & Take." There were also somewhere between one and two dozen typos I noticed throughout the book, though they'd be too tedious for me to list. Could've used another editing pass, but as an author myself who has let typos slip by, I sympathize.

Again, don't get me wrong, I REALLY enjoyed this book. This is just me justifying why someone like me isn't giving it a full five stars. There are lots of side projects from the 1980s that I've listened to and enjoyed and would therefore have loved to have gotten their own spotlights. But if you want the Yes story first and foremost in a book that's not too thick but gets in all the necessary details regarding Yes from Drama to the stirrings of Union, then this might be five stars for you. I would certainly recommend this to any Yes fan. It's well sourced and even includes passages from podcasts and websites I recognized. It makes me want to check out the other books cited, particularly the autobiographies by Steve Howe, Bill Bruford, and Rick Wakeman. I'm glad to have my autographed copy of Yes In The 1980s from Burning Shed in my collection.

[Duncan Finlayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came at this book probably a different angle to many other Yes Fans, as somebody who only got into Yes from hearing 90125 then delving deeper into their back catalogue after becoming fascinated by the live Video 9012LIVE. I can understand that a Yes fan from the seventies might not like the eighties reincarnation, but for me it was the start point and judging by the sales of 90125 I’m far from being alone! This was an important period in Yes history, it covered their only No.1 single “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” and the only time that Yes could have been considered as mainstream artists it was certainly the closest they came to being contemporary and having video’s regularly played on MTV!
Enough of the background, what of the book? Well the book concentrates on the three official studio albums released by Yes in the 1980’s as suggested by the title, plus all the solo albums released by members or ex members in that decade and not forgetting Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe a band that was formed by Yes’s lead singer once he left Yes and featuring past members and and all the legal wranglings that ensued! On the whole the book does cover the period pretty well, obviously some of the solo albums do have to be skimmed through a bit to make the book still flow and not get weighed down too much in detail that doesn’t contribute too much to the main tale. It’s a book you can pick up and put down as often as you want and certain sections are probably best read when listening to the album being written about!
So why only 4 stars, I just wish their was more, or the book was of a larger format, nothing major!