Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe-Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989)

In the late 1980s, the British band Yes was mired in a kind of structural chaos. While some original members, such as Chris Squire, Alan White, and Tony Kaye, were working in New York on a new album under the official name Yes, along with other former members like Billy Sherwood, the remaining members Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe were doing the same in London. However, the two groups were not interested in joining forces, and in fact, it was this second group that unilaterally released the self-titled album "ABWH" under their initials. Although the album was initially conceived as a solo project by Jon Anderson, who asked the aforementioned former bandmates to collaborate on the recording, it ultimately ended up being credited to all four members as the ABWH project. In those years, there was enormous anticipation to see what this disguised "Yes" would sound like without Chris Squire, and the album would also feature production and cover art by Eddie Offord and Roger Dean, regulars on previous Yes albums, respectively. This album, which seemed destined to become one of their most memorable works, nevertheless suffered from a lack of creativity, the necessary balance, and a certain inconsistency in the final result, despite sounding reminiscent of classic Yes at times. The final result is a kind of hybrid sound, a blend of the original Yes, the band Asia, elements of world music, and hints of new age. This is partly due to Rick Wakeman's innovative keyboard work, Bill Bruford's unusual electronic drumming, the orchestrations of guest keyboardist Matt Clifford, and the exotic guitar touches of Steve Howe and Milton McDonald, another of the musicians who collaborated on the album. Special mention must be made of Tony Levin's bass playing, which undoubtedly makes him one of the most outstanding instrumentalists on this album, noticeably influencing the aforementioned new age and world music sounds with his distinctive style. Even so, there are other remarkable moments such as the symphonic "Fist of Fire", the atmospheric "Brother of Mine", the ambient "Birthright", the spacey "The Meeting", and the progressive "Order of the Universe", a track with a sound reminiscent of Yes at their peak. Shortly after the album's release, the two factions reached an agreement and together, in an extravagant manner, recorded the inferior "Union", which featured a recording process as surreal as it was almost absurd, with two separate working groups (actually there were three): on one side there was ABWH, on the other were Chris Squire and his collaborators, and finally Trevor Rabin also appeared with different musicians in a crazy and chaotic job in six different recording studios, spread between New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.