Even in this clearly very early and rough session, Chris’ incredible sense of melody and harmony on the bass is so present. What a monster player, my favorite rock bassist for sure
And also Mind Drive from Yes Keys To Ascension. A splendid live version is on the Songs From Tsongas DVD, which is total goodness through and through, front and back. Nested within this live version is a marvellous Turn Of The Century. People don’t realize what a monster Yes were live. Deadliest, most talented stage performers I ever witnessed. Chris Squire and Alan White RIP. They are God’s Rhythm Section now. After almost 50 years God decided they were required in Heaven’s Combo.
im a big fan of both bands and the artists herein, and always wondered if these two giants of their time ever crossed musical paths.. this answers the question for a start!!
Robert and Jimmy knew Jon Anderson for sure even in the early 70s. Robert referred to him as an "old friend" and tells the story that Jon was the one that suggested to them that they should visit Morocco because the music there was so spiritually rooted. They took him up on the suggestion and flew to Morocco for the first time that very day. Robert had actually planned on flying somewhere else with his wife that day and bailed on her lol
@@LiberLotus yeah makes sense.. Jon and Robert have both even dressed like eastern mysticism inspired people.. Plant since the 1994 No Quarter/unledded sessions in Morocco..
@@AnukaranSingh That's right. Like a lot of bands, the 60's and 70's saw an uptick influence in mysticism, and especially Aleister Crowley who Page of course studied pretty extensively. A lot of occult material was getting published in those years and psychedelics were starting to become more wide spread which inspires those avenues of inquiry.
I remember reading about this, decades AGO. Never would I have imagined years later, I'd get to hear it. These were clearly NEVER meant to be heard by us the public. Which is why we didn't hear them then. I think it would have been interesting project, but one that would have been short lived. I doubt Plant wanted to be in a "super" group again, so it would have needed another vocalist, and depending on who that was would have have determined were this project went
The story I heard was that Page played these demos for Plant in hopes that he'd join the project, but Plant didn't find the music compelling -- he wasn't a big fan of Yes-style prog rock.
FUN FACT! Page FIRST called up the brilliant Bill Bruford and then Squire (cuz Page wanted the BEST rhythm section in the history of rock).............(YES blew the minds of all of their peers!) (ALL of them!).........(even Billy Joel and Elton John wanted to be YES at times!).......(even Sabbath and ALL OF THEM wanted to be YES at times!)......(and said so!).......... ....BUT BRUFORD WAS ALREADY COMMITTED TO OTHER PROJECTS and wasn't available......so PAGE HAD TO SETTLE FOR THE HORRIBLE ALAN WHITE (sorry alan!) (You did some great work, but BRUFORD is the man).....with Squire. (White is horrendous here!) But NEVER would the CHEMISTRY have been there. SQUIRE / WHITE seem like the opposite of PAGE / PLANT in so many ways. Plant was mostly POLITE about it. He never publicly said "NO CHEMISTRY TWEEN US!" but he knew it was ALL WRONG. You can't just put great musicians together. That doesn't work. CHEMISTRY is ALL that matters. (That's why all our fave bands made lame SOLO ALBUMS. If they were all real geniuses, then their SOLO albums would be as great as Zep records, or Pink Floyd records, or YES records. But they never are! Never!) (The FOUR dudes in Pink Floyd were HORRIBLE on all their solo albums, same with every other band I love! That means it was mostly the chemistry BETWEEN the musicians, see?) (NONE of Zep's solo albums are GREAT. None of them!) (Even McCartney's SOLO catalog is 80% limp filler!) (The 20% that's great is as good as the Beatles, though!)
I was always wondered what happened to this thought it was rumor glad to hear these tunes to bad they didn't push this more would have been great to see them
We all went bananas in 1981 at the rumor of this group. Glad the demos finally made it out. Too, had heard that Plant turned up his nose when they'd asked him to sing.
I believe Alan White came up with the 7/8 thing on this, or at least helped Chris develop it. He wrote other stuff with Yes as well, but no one ever talks about it. Credit where credit is due. Alan never gets enough credit, mainly due to who he replaced in Yes.
I remember hearing about this around 81, it's how I found out Bonham died and Zeppelin broke up, but I was only around 11 or 12 so I really didn't know what was going on
First time hearing these sessions and they’re far better than I thought they would be. Page’s guitar sound and approach is really interesting here. I’m impressed even more by Page. Too bad these can’t see the light of day in a 90125 deluxe edition or even in an EP form.
It's such a weird premise that this even happened. You've got Page directly out of Zeppelin straight at the start of his B bender obsession on one hand. Squire and White sound like they're making the follow up to Drama. I think these tracks give a good idea of what the next Yes album would have sounded like. Telephone Secrets and Can You Imagine could have gone straight on. The Mind Drive riff could have been developed into a Machine Messiah type epic maybe with some of Steve's riffs that ended up on the first Asia album like Time Again. Apparently The Buggles' Vermillion Sands was meant to get the Yes treatment much like I Am A Camera became Into The Lens. Allegedly XYZ recorded more than these four pieces and Page has the original multitracks. I would love to see these released properly.
Supposedly he next album was going to be straight ahead rock because Bonham and Page were getting tired of Robert's increasing ballads. “I was a little worried about the chorus [on All My Love]. I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought ‘That is not us. That is not us.” But Page still allowed the song to feature on the album, saying, “In its place it was fine, but I would not have wanted to pursue that direction in the future”.
@@TheKitchenerLeslie Correct, listen to "Fire (Say You're Gonna Leave Me)", "Wearing and Tearing", and "Shake My Tree", those were all ideas from 1978 that give a hint of Zeppelin's next album. I wish we had heard more from them. RIP John.
Or a Death Wish 2 prequel. Completely different work ethics would have lead to a disaster. In Yes, they hammered a song into shape. Zep messed around a bit and then released it.
The depression of Bonham's death too, don't forget that. I'm actually shocked Jimmy had this in him during that time. He certainly bottomed out in 1981. It would seem right after this ended, is when it all fell apart.
@@zoso1980 Depression definitely contributed. I actually like Page’s post Zeppelin music more than most people. But I think it could’ve been way better and more considering Zeppelin, Page being the main mover of that whole musical project, is one of the most successful artist to come out of popular music. You would think he’d’ve had a better run, like The Beatles all had decent to greatly successful solo runs.
@@cjaquilino Quite depressing to think that for sure. No pun intended. Even the Page/Plant studio stuff wasn't mindblowingly great IMO. Idk, Page made some odd choices post-Zeppelin. The stuff with the Black Crowes was cool but kind of a waste IMO. Felt kinda forced at times. Its very surprising he had such little output outside playing the hits. The Firm was okay. Thats kinda the thing with Pages solo career I guess - its "okay".
@@Madmetalmaniac42069 Page just never found a good outlet post-Zeppelin. In my top comment, I’m probably over-crediting heroin as the reason why that was. But it’s probably more so just hard to strike it big twice in music, and a moderately success second act is probably all you’re gonna get. IMO, I probably like the Firm and Coverdale/Page more than most people. But I think as a band XYZ has the most potential. Apparently, Robert Plant wasn’t so into it. I think it was too prog rock for him. But lots of 70s bands made that transition into the 80s, look how well Genesis did commercially in that decade. There was a lane they could’ve been pretty big in in that period. Last thing, Jimmy needs to work on and put out his accumulated material in some form. Short clips of his half-developed idea get *millions* of videos on RU-vid.
It was really by chance that this happened. Chris and Jimmy met at a party local to them and decided to jam with Alan and a keyboard player named Dave Lawson. Jimmy Page had a lot of respect for YES. He said it was a challenge for him, but he also challenged them. He really enjoyed playing with Chris and Alan. Robert Plant was asked to sing lead vocals but was not interested. It's a shame what could have been. I wonder if Chris Squire ever consider asking Jon Anderson. Probably not. Jon would have probably turned it down, too.
Interesting stuff! You can hear a clear mistiming (0:22) that Page really is not in his own element in 7/8 groove. Still if this is done fast, its incredible playing IMO
He was on an inhuman amount of drugs at this point. He missed cues a lot at latter day Zep shows too, just kinda drifts off and loses place for a sec. There are a good handful of 77 shows like that, and of course, 1980 is infamous for Jimmy not being at his best.
That was more of a jam you can clearly tell he is feeling it out and trying to see what kind of interplay/riff he could add in that spot. This is beginning stages, which didn't get any further to work those things out
@@danielhake2056 He partied too much to even jam with Zeppelin at this point. He was reportedly so addicted in the time period between 77 and 85/86 (when he reportedly got off the hard drugs), that he would just miss recording sessions so he could score and get high. In late 78 - early 80, he and Bonham became partners in crime. They started doing speedballs and shit. Its also very apparent in Bonhams playing on many nights that he just wasn't healthy during the warm up 1980 tour at all. Its honestly a miracle Jimmy Page survived.
actually yes and no. Had they got Plant it would have drawn huge notice. But if they had gotten a competent vocalist then no, they wouldn't have "needed" Plant per say. Page, Squier, White, is certainly a draw. But as cool as this was, we are never going to know what would have been. They never developed it beyond the demo stage
Squire was a limited singer. Plant is much better, but it would have been too much like Zeppelin. Perhaps a John Wetton or someone with a different voice
I have a late 90s interview on tape with Chris in which the interviewer pointed this out to him. Chris replied (in that unique manner that we love him for), something like 'Really, is that so? I'll have to speak to Jimmy about that the next time I see him!', then laughs (i.e., he got no writing credit, therefore no royalties), causing the interviewer to crack up, too. A great sense humor (& timing, as well. There are lots of other examples). We miss you, Chris.
It appears that Chris made use of the 7/8 pattern at the first part of this jam session - in Yes' song Mind Drive in Keys to Ascension : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dV2NfAgtOdM.html
Plant didn’t want anything to do with it. I understand that he did turn up for some sessions but thought it too difficult. But by then he really didn’t want anything to do with Zeppelin and I don’t think Yes was his type of music. Don’t think John Paul Jones was asked.
Cross you're fingers that the science behind parallel universes exist..I pay good money to have seen this as a collaborative show performed live..Chris squire is undrafted as a bass player just like geddy lee..fun home many decades pass and when u here the what if ..and how it be sounds decades later..
Not recorded by Yes until Steve Howe & Rick Wakeman rejoined Yes around late 1995/early 1996, and not released in the US until Oct 1997 on Keys To Ascension 2. Then re-released on Keystudio, a collection of all the new (at the time) Yes tracks from the KTA & KTA 2 albums.
@@cmerton well maybe, they recorded in January of 81. Yes officially disbanded in March of that year...uh so its likely that they knew in January there would be no more Yes. Probably, maybe might not have jammed with Jimmy had they figured on continuing with Yes..........🤷♂️
@@kensalazar5066 Yes is still performing today, with modified lineup. I heard them play Mind Drive on the 30th anniversary tour about 2004 and it was common knowledge it was developed from the XYZ demos. But keep on inventing shit to justify your ignorance.
I think maybe part of it. There are supposedly more completed versions of these that he has the master multi track tapes of, but who knows if we'll ever get to hear that stuff.
Oh my goodness - Hearing this stuff x the 1° time - I can't help thinking 'bout what kind of Huuuge chance bloody wasted... This could have been epic... and it makes me even more rueful if I consider how Jimmy got lost in almost useless, drawn-out projects such as the Firm or "Outrider" soon after that.... oh my god what a shame....
Just want to say I'm glad this never went anywhere. Yes and Zep elements don't mix. Page was not the right guitarist for Squire's music (but then, neither was Trevor Rabin).
I read this and heard Trump's voice in my head for some reason. Good impression, bro! Though he would have called Page a loser and the other guy Sad Trevor.
I heard Page had tremendous respect for Yes and was intimidated playing with Chris and Alan. He knew he had to be at his best and coming off of heroin it was hard. He said it was hard for him to come up with ideas because Chris was so dominant at bass and leading and he was mesmorized by his foward dominance. I think if this project waited another year Jimmy would have been more ready and it would have worked better, but Chris already moved on with Trevor Rabin and started the early 90125 project. But there is definitely some good shit here. The early development of Yes's mind drive and Can you imagine. Chris squire was willing to give Jimmy some writing credits for Mind Drive but Jimmy was humble and said you came up with the piece initially and I was just trying to follow you. It's all you. Jimmy heard the final cut of Mind drive on Keys To Ascension and said I always knew Steve Howe was a dangerously good good guitarist back in the 60's. Now I think if Jimmy Page worked with Trevor Rabin on some soundtracks that would be a dangerous unstoppable force.
Zeppelin are gods. Loved Yes. WTF was that right there. TERRIBLE!! It was mostly Yes's quirky, off-beat mix of syncopated rhythms with Page punching out and inserting in intervals those lazy, chord progressions he did on Presence. Even Chris Squire sounded like he was reaching his top end.
+13rbizzle Why would you comment like that. I really think it sounds like something off of Presence. And obviously Page agreed at the time and didn't like what came of it. That's why they didn't continue
+Dan Blasingame They're just demos... If they actually decided to stick with it and produce an album, it would have sounded much better. These are just early versions and demos of what would have been manufactured into real XYZ songs.
