YES 50th Anniversary Tribute Album 'Yesterday and Today'

Here is some very nice news for all of us YES fans!

YES 50th Anniversary Tribute Album Yesterday and Today available now 

Featuring Steve Hackett, Tony Kaye, Robert Berry, Billy Sherwood, Nick D'Virgilio, Curved Air, Dave Kerzner, Fernando Perdomo and others

London - Yesterday and Today is a tribute album to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the legendary prog rock band YES.

The album features the following special guests: Tony Kaye, Billy Sherwood, Jay Schellen, Jon Davison, Steve Hackett, Nick D'Virgilio, Robert Berry, Francis Dunnery, Leslie Hunt, Marco Minnemann, Marisol Koss, Pat Sansone, Randy McStine, Robin Schell, Sally Minnear and co-producers Dave Kerzner and Fernando Perdomo

Six members of CURVED AIR appear on a newly recorded full band version of “Soon”.

The current bass player in YES, Billy Sherwood re-records Chris Squire's signature bass track, “The Fish”, and current lead singer Jon Davison performs on an acoustic medley.

“YES turned 50 the year I turned 50 and Geoff Downes was one of the reasons I became a keyboardist myself! To celebrate and pay tribute to YES's music with Geoff, Jon and Billy along with so many incredible musicians from different bands and generations has truly been a blast. YES are a big influence for me and my own music. This album was a great way for myself, Fernando and all of us to show our love for both the songs and the many great people who have been part of YES going all the way back to their very first album!” - Dave Kerzner, co-producer, Yesterday and Today 

“The Beatles were my first love, then YES became the logical next step of evolution in my musical upbringing. YES have it all, songwriting equal to musicianship and creativity. The sonic bliss I got listening to their catalog incessantly when I was 10 years old left a permanent mark on me.  

“As a producer, I am hugely influenced by the work of YES with  Eddie Offord, Trevor Horn, Paul Clay and Tony Colton behind the board of their classic material. With the limited technology they had back then,  they were able to create unparalleled sonic textures that were decades ahead of their time.  Creating new versions of these songs was an incredible challenge even with today's advancements in recording technology. Dave and I had so much fun amassing the gear and tweaking sounds to recreate all of the signature sonic elements of YES music.” -  Fernando Perdomo, co-producer, Yesterday and Today 

Tracks: 

1. MACHINE MESSIAH (Featuring Nick D’Virgilio & Geoff Downes)
2. YOURS IS NO DISGRACE (Featuring Marisol Koss & Tony Kaye)
3. TURN OF THE CENTURY (Featuring Sally Minnear)
4. SWEETNESS (Featuring Pat Sansone)
5. SOON (Featuring Curved Air)
6. CINEMA (Featuring Steve Hackett)
7. CHANGES (Featuring Robert Berry)
8. I’M RUNNING (Featuring Robin Schell & Marco Minnemann)
9. ACOUSTIC MEDLEY: (Featuring Jon Davison)
    i) YOUR MOVE
   ii) AND YOU AND I
   iii) WONDROUS STORIES
10. YESTERDAY AND TODAY (Featuring Dr. Danny)
11. LONG DISTANCE RUNAROUND (Featuring Leslie Hunt)
12. THE FISH (Featuring Billy Sherwood)
13. STARSHIP TROOPER (Featuring Francis Dunnery)

To purchase: 
Amazon CD: http://geni.us/YEStribute 

William Shatner riveting at rare gig in San Juan Capistrano

My William Shatner review was originally posted on The Orange County Register Web site on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013.

Backed by a primo prog-rock outfit featuring former members of Yes, the live version of his latest opus, Ponder the Mystery, held a capacity crowd rapt at the Coach House.

At 82, William Shatner shows no indication of retiring from his wide-ranging career as actor, director, comedian, product pitchman, talk-show host, author, sci-fi convention attraction, pop culture icon – and now prog-rocker.

Next at the Coach House: Dread Zeppelin, Oct. 31, $15; DSB (a Journey tribute) with Alter Ego, Fleetwood Max and Hemispheres, Nov. 1, $15; Lisa Marie Presley, Nov. 2, $20; Cowboy Mouth, Nov. 3, $15; Buddy Guy, Nov. 7, $75

Call: 949-496-8930

Online: thecoachhouse.com, ticketfly.com

Friday night (Oct. 25) the Emmy winner made the final stop of a short trek promoting his recently released fourth album, Ponder the Mystery, bringing his latest musical venture to the Coach House for a rare club experience as unique and entertaining as its charismatic captain. A capacity crowd filled the San Juan Capistrano venue early and was rewarded with an engaged Shatner supported by celebrated progressive rock band Circa, featuring two former members of Yes, guitarist Billy Sherwood and keyboardist Tony Kaye, plus bassist Ricky Tierney and drummer Scott Connor.

On record, an array of guests helps flesh out this latest opus, from guitar virtuosos Steve Vai and Al Di Meola to Foreigner’s Mick Jones and the Doors’ Robby Krieger, plus a slew of keys masters, including Edgar Winter, the late George Duke and another Yes man, Rick Wakeman. But here, with backing boiled down to just the Circa quartet, the group and its star storyteller delivered a magnetic 90-minute version of Mystery, capped by a 20-minute encore more focused on the group’s skills.

Although seated and using a workbook to guide him through lines and cues, Shatner's exaggerated spoken-word style – which has been lampooned over the years as much as praised, gaining considerable credibility with 2004’s Ben Folds collaboration Has Been – here blended with dazzling near-symphonic compositions penned by Sherwood, who also produced the new disc.

As Priceline’s pitchman noted early in the night, his current creation is about a guy who regains his joy of life over the course of an hour while sitting on the beach at sunset. That sounds like a fairly simple concept, yet it provided room for lengthy essaying in verses dealing with loss, the beauty and mystery of nature, mortality and personal redemption.

From the opening lyrics – "Where it's gone, I don't know, I'm missing something, give it back," his protagonist grappling with the realization of a life gone wrong – to the final Mystery track, the more hopeful "Alive," there were countless moments for Capt. James T. Kirk to employ his distinctive baritone while the band provided tuneful elements. Sherwood often added his strong tenor voice to choruses or played artful electric guitar solos that lighted the way for Shatner's lyrical trajectory.

Billy Sherwood

"Manhunt" was one of several songs that fused melodic rock reminiscent of Asia with sharply imagistic storytelling. It certainly heightened the atmosphere that the audience, while cheering mightily after each selection, was otherwise quiet and tuned in during the songs themselves.

The title piece benefitted from rich harmonies by Sherwood and Tierney, as well as some of the headliner’s most dramatic poetry, his evocative lines placed amid Circa’s fills and counterpoint vocals. Even more beautiful was "Sunset," treated to a jazz-tinged backdrop and Kaye's textured orchestrations.

In all, it was a most unusual yet rewarding encounter, a contemplative piece of prog-rock theater that proves Shatner continues to go where no man has gone before.

Photos: Kelly A. Swift, for the Register

Make sure to check out this video I found on YouTube of the performance of "Manhunt," as well as Mr. Shatner's notes about the genesis of the project: