On the Silent Wings of Freedom

"On the Silent Wings of Freedom" is a song by Yes. It appears on the 1978 Tormato album. The song was never released as a single.^[1]

On the album

The song is the final and longest song on the album. On this particular track, as with most of the album, Squire sends his bass through his foot pedal controls to give it a more harmonized sound. Thus, the bass line had a different tonality to it from previous albums, yet was still able to retain his signature "growl". Though the album itself is considered to be one of Yes's weakest, most Yes fans, whether they like the album or not, favour this one song, as it is the closest track to other fan favourites like "Close to the Edge", "Heart of the Sunrise" and "Awaken". It also foreshadows the harder rock sound the band would move to on the Drama album.

In the live setting

It was performed on most shows of the Tormato tour. On the live tape of the 1st September 1978 show (in Providence, Rhode Island), the song lasts for 8 minutes and 41 seconds, including the announcements at the beginning of the song. Typically, Jon Anderson would introduce Chris Squire at the beginning of this song, as this was one of the two major Squire compositions on the album. The other, "Onward", was not played on this tour.

On 19 November 1987, in Springfield, Illinois, at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, during the Big Generator tour, Squire played only the bass riff of the song for about a minute before going into "Amazing Grace." This was the song only appearance on the tour.

On tour as late as 2003, the song was not often introduced and was usually a segment of Squire's bass solo exploits during The Fish.

Personnel

• Jon Anderson: Vocals, percussion
• Chris Squire: Bass guitar, bass pedals, vocals
• Steve Howe: Electric and acoustic guitars, vachalia, vocals
• Rick Wakeman: Piano, organ, moog, synthesizers
• Alan White: Drums, percussion, vocals

Notes and references

1. ↑ Yesworld Yes official site, retrieved December 30, 2006.