| Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe | |
|---|---|
ABWH, 1989. L-R: Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, and Steve Howe. |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | ABWH |
| Origin | England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Progressive rock, art rock |
| Years active | 1988–1990 |
| Labels | Arista Fragile Herald/Caroline (US) Tring International (EEC) Voiceprint (UK) |
| Associated acts | Yes King Crimson |
| Past members | |
| Jon Anderson Bill Bruford Rick Wakeman Steve Howe |
|
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (sometimes referred to by the abbreviation ABWH) was a project of four progressive rock musicians, vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and guitarist Steve Howe (with Tony Levin on bass). They had played together in Yes in the early 1970s. With the exception of Anderson, the only remaining member of the lineup from that period, they had not been playing with Yes for many years. Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe released one self-titled studio album in 1989 and a live recording from their immediately subsequent concert tour (advertised as "An Evening of Yes Music plus") in 1993. In the meantime, Arista Records had co-opted the material they had written for their second studio album for a 1991 "union" album of ABWH and members of the more recent Yes lineup around Chris Squire, who owned the rights to the name "Yes".
Contents |
Although conceived by Anderson as being a Yes reunion, others in the band were keen to distance themselves from the "Yes" name. At the time, the name for the band "Yes" was co-owned by Anderson, Alan White and Chris Squire,[1] and Squire and White were still continuing with Yes along with Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye; for these reasons, it was not possible for ABWH to use the "Yes" name anyway. Anticipating this problem, Jon Anderson suggested they call themselves "The Affirmative," [2], but the other band members felt that was disingenuous. The name "No" was also suggested, but in the end, they decided to simply name themselves after the members of the band.
When Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe toured, they titled their shows "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus",[3] a name that was also used for their subsequent live album. ABWH were sued by Yes in an attempt to prevent any mention of Yes in the ABWH promotional material.[3]
Eventually, ABWH and Yes resolved their differences and produced a Yes album titled Union.[3] The album included recordings originally intended for separate albums by both groups. Several songs originally intended for the second ABWH album, tentatively titled Dialogue, surfaced on the 1990s bootleg We Make Believe and the underground Yesoteric bootleg compilation. This material included demos by Anderson but without the other three that were subsequently released as part of Jon Anderson's The Lost Tapes box set series as Watching the Flags That Fly.
Songs from the ABWH album have been included on subsequent Yes compilations and Yes concerts.
The band was satirized in the Dead Milkmen song "Anderson, Walkman, Buttholes And How!"[4]
| Year | Lead vocals | Bass | Keyboards | Guitars | Drums | Additional Vocals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Jon Anderson | Tony Levin | Rick Wakeman;
Julian Colbeck (1989 tours) |
Steve Howe;
Milton McDonald (1989 tours) |
Bill Bruford | |
| 1990 | Jeff Berlin | |||||
| 1991 (As part of Yes) | Tony Levin | Chris Squire |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||