A significant number of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees rose to fame in the 1960s and 1970s, an era when singing well — and completely live — in concert was essential. So it’s not surprising that many of these same inductees criticize unseasoned young vocalists who often need considerable technological assistance to perform on stage.
Yet, while Yes co-founder Jon Anderson isn’t about to start lip-syncing at 75, he’s not averse to technology. And he’s happy to employ at least one tool heavily favored by younger pop, R&B, country and hip-hop vocalists alike. It’s a tool that no one could have imagined when Anderson co-founded the pioneering progressive-rock band Yes in London in 1968.
“I’ve used Auto-Tune, at times,” he said, referring to the audio processing software program that can help make marginal vocalists sound in pitch and help genuinely talented singers sound close to perfect.
“I tend to be so excited when I sing live that I’m a bit sharp,” Anderson continued. “So, now and again, I use it during my concerts. It’s part of my creative sphere. I’m very interested in modern technology, where I can sound like a full choir by using voice processors, which I do at times in my show. I’m not afraid of technology.”
Indeed, he isn’t.
When Anderson performs here with his eight-piece band Wednesday at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, he’ll be using a TC Helicon VoiceLive Rack. It enables him to produce multiple harmonies of his own singing, live and in real time, as well as to trigger already recorded vocal parts that can be stacked on top each other to create a more full and rich sound.
“In concert, it’s a combination of using (pre-recorded) samples and knowing the certain energy you want to put into it to be as clear as possible. When we perform on stage, it actually sounds like a record to me,” Anderson said, speaking by phone from a recent tour stop near Chicago.
The tour is to promote his 26th and newest solo album, “1000 Hands, Chapter One.” It features a dizzying array of musicians, including now-deceased Yes co-founder Chris Squire, longtime Yes drummer Alan White, jazz greats Chick Corea, Billy Cobham and Jean Luc Ponty, the African vocal group Zap Mama, Jethro Tull flutist Ian Anderson and many, many more.
“I called it ‘1000 Hands’ because that’s how many people play on it!” Anderson said — only half joking — of the album, which features more than 200 instrumentalists and singers.
Intriguingly, Anderson wrote and began recording most of the 11 songs on “1000 Hands” 29 years ago at his home in Big Bear. Anderson now lives near Santa Barbara, where he discovered the long-lost tapes of those songs nearly three decades after the fact. They were in his garage.
Together with producer Michael Thomas Franklin, who is now the musical director for Anderson’s touring band, he completed “1000 Hands” and wrote several new songs for it as well. In concert, he mixes selections from his new/old album with such Yes classics as “Roundabout,” “Yours Is No Disgrace” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
” ‘Timeless’ is the best word I can use to describe it when I’m performing the (29 year-old) songs on stage,” Anderson said. “I wrote them so many years ago in my life that it’s almost impossible to gauge how it happened. It’s wonderful to actually perform these songs on stage now.
“It’s funny. You make music for the love of making music and the people around you say: ‘This will do great!’ I never say too much about it; I just wait and see what happens. I have been through periods where I thought: ‘This album will change the world!’ And it didn’t. It just changed my mind.”
Not surprisingly, many of the songs on “1000 Hands” bear the distinctive flavor of Yes. Anderson sang with every edition of the band between 1968 and 2004, when a health ailment forced him to step down. The band resumed four years later with the singer from a Yes cover band in his place. That singer, Canadian Benoit David, was in turn replaced in 2012 by Jon Davison, the singer from the San Diego Yes cover band Roundabout.
Bassist and backing singer Chris Squire, who co-founded Yes, was the only member of the band to perform in all 15 of its lineups that existed between 1968 and 2015. Squire died the same year. Yes has soldiered on without him — and without any other original members — although guitarist Steve Howe, who joined in 1970, and drummer Alan White, who joined in 1972, are both still on board.
Asked why he was not welcomed back into the Yes fold after regaining his health, Anderson laughed.
“Well, in some ways, I think Chris liked to run the show,” he replied.
“Because when I wasn’t involved with the band, it’s not like I ran the show, but more like we all ran the show (together). I think Chris was in a place, without me in the band, where he was happy to get up and (run things), and live the life he was living. Unfortunately, I got sick — and people do get sick. God bless my wife; she saved my life. I went through a real tough period and Chris just dislocated himself from me. That’s the way he was… but that was something he wanted to do. I remember when he was really sick, shortly before he died, I got in touch with him. I told him I loved him and that, without him, I wouldn’t do what I was doing as a musician. We had a beautiful moment.”
Anderson performed in San Diego last summer with Quintessential Yes, featuring ARW — Anderson, Rabin, Wakeman.” That band, which began touring in 2016, and teamed him with former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman and fomer Yes Guitarist Trevor Rabin. Neither of them were original members of the band, but both played pivotal roles during their respective tenures.
ARW is now on an indefinite hiatus, while the Yes band previously led by Squire will soon mount its latest U.S. tour.
Might a reunion by Yes’ other surviving members and Anderson be possible at some point?
“Well, we did it once (in 1991) and it was real fun, in some ways. It was a great tour. It wasn’t a great album, but it was a great tour,” Anderson said.
But might another reunion happen?
“I don’t think so,” Anderson replied. “I think there’s so much water under the bridge that it just doesn’t seem logical. But I said last year to one of the guys who manages the band: ‘Hey, if it happens, it will happen. Why not?’ Then you start to think about all the ingredients and it could be tough to pull off. But you never know.
“You’ll be the first to know!”
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