Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (album)

This article is about the album. For the band, see Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.

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Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe is the self-titled album by four alumni of the progressive rock group Yes: Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe.

History

The project began in 1988. At that time vocalist Jon Anderson had felt artistically constrained within Yes's current format, where the songwriting of Trevor Rabin had taken the band in a commercially very successful but musically and lyrically different direction. Anderson regrouped with Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford of Yes’ "classic" line-up. Bruford, who had at various times been a member of King Crimson, recruited Crimson bandmate Tony Levin as the group's bassist. The group was unable to use the name Yes for legal reasons. However, the group did have Arista assign the catalog number of 90126 to the original releases of the CD and cassette. This was their subtle way of stamping this as the next Yes album after 90125.

The group rehearsed and composed their material in Paris and then flew directly to the island of Montserrat to record. Many of the tracks on the album (specifically "Teakbois") carry Latin and Caribbean influences. "Let's Pretend" was co-composed by Vangelis in 1986, and was a previously unreleased piece by the group Jon & Vangelis.

The artwork for the album was created by artist Roger Dean, known for designing album covers for Yes in the 1970s. It features two paintings, the front titled "Blue Desert" and the back titled "Red Desert". Most releases of this album represent only a truncated version of "Blue Desert". There was, however, a special release with a gatefold cover, though "Blue Desert" was horizontally inverted in that version.

The song "Birthright" concerns the British nuclear tests at Maralinga.

The song "Quartet" contains lyrical references to several classic Yes songs, such as "Long Distance Runaround", "Roundabout" and others.

The album was re-released in a remastered limited edition by Gonzo Multimedia on March 18, 2011, with a bonus CD with extra tracks, including alternate edits and live versions of tracks on the main album, as well as the previously unreleased track "Vultures in the City". This edition is available only from Gonzo.

Track listing

All songs by Anderson, Howe, Wakeman and Bruford except where noted.

Original CD Release

1. "Themes" – 5:58

   i) "Sound"

   ii) "Second Attention"

   iii) "Soul Warrior"

2. "Fist of Fire" – 3:27
3. "Brother of Mine" – 10:18

   i) "The Big Dream"

   ii) "Nothing Can Come Between Us"

   iii) "Long Lost Brother of Mine" (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford, Geoffrey Downes)

4. "Birthright" – 6:02 (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford, Max Bacon)
5. "The Meeting" – 4:21
6. "Quartet" – 9:22

   i) "I Wanna Learn"

   ii) "She Gives Me Love" (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford, Ben Dowling)

   iii) "Who Was the First"

   iv) "I’m Alive"

7. "Teakbois" ("The Life and Times of Bobby Dread") – 7:39
8. "Order of the Universe" – 9:02

   i) "Order Theme"

   ii) "Rock Gives Courage" (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford, Rhett Lawrence)

   iii) "It’s So Hard to Grow"

   iv) "The Universe"

9. "Let’s Pretend" – 2:56 (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Bruford, Vangelis)

2011 Limited Edition

Disc 1

1. "Themes"
2. "Fist of Fire"
3. "Brother of Mine"
4. "Birthright"
5. "The Meeting"
6. "Quartet"
7. "Teakbois"
8. "Order of the Universe"
9. "Let's Pretend"

Disc 2

1. Rick Wakeman intro's
2. "Brother of Mine" (edit)
3. "Brother of Mine" (radio edit)
4. "Vultures in the City"
5. "Order of the Universe" (edit)
6. "Order of the Universe" (long edit)
7. "Quartet (I'm Alive)" (single edit)
8. "Brother of Mine" (live)
9. "And You And I" (live)
10. "Order of the Universe" (live) incl. hidden studio track: Children Of Light

Personnel

• Jon Anderson – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Bill Bruford – drums
• Rick Wakeman – keyboards
• Steve Howe – guitar

with

• Tony Levin – bass, Chapman stick, vocals
• Matt Clifford – keyboards, programming, orchestration, vocals
• Milton McDonald – rhythm guitar
• Deborah Anderson – backing vocals
• Tessa Niles – backing vocals
• Carol Kenyon – backing vocals
• Frank Dunnery – backing vocals
• Chris Kimsey – backing vocals
• Emerald Community Singers, Montserrat – backing vocals
• Joe Hammer - Percussion programming

Production

• Produced by Jon Anderson and Chris Kimsey
• Recorded & Engineered By Chris Kimsey, Chris Potter & Giles Sampic
• Assistant Engineers: Rupert Coulson, George Cowan & Steve Orchard
• Mixed By Michael Barbiero & Steve Thompsom
• Mixing Assistant: George Cowan
• Mastered By Bob Ludwig
• All Songs Published By Fizz Music Ltd./WB Music Ltd.-Basedown Music Ltd.-Rondor Music Ltd.-E.G. Music Ltd, except "Birthright" (all publishers noted and Sunarts Music Ltd.), "Brother Of Mine" (all publishers noted and Island Music Ltd./Carlin Music Ltd.), "Order Of The Universe" (all publishers noted and Rhettrhyme Music) & "Let's Pretend" (all publishers noted and Warner Bros. Music Ltd.)

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1989	The Billboard 200 - USA	30
1989	UK Charts	14