Can I obtain the audio files of this. I would be willing to pay a small fee to get your masters. I want to lay some keyboard tracks on them just for fun.
I remember seeing the article in 1982 and that was that. While seeing Page and Paul Rodgers at ARMS show they played " Bird on a Wing" which became " Midnight Moonlight". " Fortune Hunter" appeared on the 2nd FIRM LP and sometime in the 90s a bootleg of XYZ songs came out. Page said he wanted to get them released ( sometime after 2016 ) Its good to hear these!
For those who feel that they weren't giving their best here, it's worth remembering that the entire popular music scene around them had changed radically by that time, they were deliberately trying NOT to be Yes v.2 or Led Zeppelin v.2 - they were just hoping for some relevancy and some decent commercial appeal without selling out. All of that would have required a lot of polish, rewrites, and good production values. I can't help but think that in the end this would have been superior to Asia or The Firm for instance. Speaking of The Firm, if you listen to them you will notice that Page steadfastly avoids the complex soloing that defined his style in LZ, opting for a much more pared down, straightforward approach to his playing. But I have to think that given some time and increased familiarity, a lot of what we loved about both Yes and Zep would have emerged and could have made for some fantastic live shows when they could cut loose. Just my opinion, of course, YMMV. Peace & love, all you old hep cats.
This is the best sounding version available online. I remember hearing about this lineup in 1981 as I was a subscriber to a fanzine called feathers in the wind who reported it. Zep was my all time favorite and at that time Yes was a close 2nd! However, losing Bonham ended Zep which was too big a loss for me to get too excited. However, many years later, so cool to have this document. Only Jimmy is still with us.
Alan White was a powerhouse drummer like Bonham, and Chris was Chris; there will never be another. His playing was so inventive. Bass as a lead instrument. He and Alan were SO locked-in (listen to any version of their live recordings of White-Fish- A combination of On The Silent Wings Of Freedom and Tempus Fugit. Just those two sounded like a band!). Put Jimmy Page on top of that, and we’d have really had something. It’s really a shame they couldn’t find the right singer for the XYZ project. Of course then we never would’ve gotten the ‘YES West’ line-up, with Trevor Rabin, which was quite good. But a band with those two, And Jimmy Page? It would’ve been amazing. Maybe in some parallel universe there’s an actual XYZ album!
I heard a really awful dub of a dub of a dub of this on cassette version that gave you the barest idea of what sounded like thru the tape hiss and distortion handed to me by a guy who somehow had a copy. I still like "Satellite" (as it came to be named on the bonus tracks for "Drama" but without vocals). This at least is much more listenable. Some interesting ideas. The pocket Chris and Alan had in the verses of "Telephone Secrets" is so locked-in and Jimmy gets to float his ideas on top. And Chris always had a cool voice I think.
This is much improved sound! Telephone Lies is part of Telephone Secrets on the version that appears as Song No. 4 (Satellite) on Yes Drama (deluxe). Recorded at either Sol Studios (Page's studio) Cookham, Berkshire, England or Sun Park Studios (Squire's studio) Virginia Water, Surrey, England. January or February 1981.
A bunch of greats jamming. What's not to like. These are unfinished. Recorded at Sun Park Studios at Chris's old residence. I recorded there too in 1988. I was not aware of these recordings thanks for sharing. I lived there for a while and there was a cabinet with tons of two inch tapes of yes jamming and other stuff. This was probably in that cabinet but I didn't know. So much inspired music was created there. I jammed with Donavan there as well. I was 21.
Conversation between Chris Squire and Peter Grant: Squire: the name of the band is XYZ. Great name don’t you think? Grant: that means Yes comes before Zeppelin. Squire: we’ll you can’t have it XZY, it wouldn’t make sense. It’s got to be XYZ. Grant: that means Yes comes before Zeppelin.
I’ve had these demos for a long time, Chris remained pretty close friends with Jimmy (I’ve a couple stories I probably shouldn’t share, as they are second hand). With a vocalist this could’ve been really good- all of the Squire-written stuff here went on other albums, and once fleshed-out, we’re pretty amazing tracks (especially Mind Drive, which appeared on YES’s Keys To Ascension album, and worked amazingly for YES live in 2004, as a framing device/segue for a medley of songs). Jimmy’s tone is very much that of In The Out Door here… really nice tasty ensemble playing. Wish they would’ve done at least one album together, so much potential.
Well, we could talk about when Chris and his wife Scotty went to visit Jimmy and his girlfriend (who they said was very sweet). They thought Jimmy’s girlfriend would join them for dinner… but no, she decided she wanted to stay home, and remain handcuffed to the, er… bed. !!! lol!!! They apparently lived a somewhat interesting lifestyle! 😂 So they brought her something back for dinner. I don’t know if this was for show, or if she just enjoyed playing prisoner… that was one peek into Jimmy’s strange world I heard about… My guess is that they were Probably putting on a little drama for Chris and Scotty- I don’t know! Rock stars, you know? As for the XYZ band, the big problem was finding a singer. Robert Plant didn’t want to do it. Jon Anderson didn’t want to do it (and there was already a lot of drama going on between Chris and Jon at this point anyway- thus the title of the YES album ‘Drama’!
Personally I loved hearing Chris singing lead on stuff. But he always wanted another singer. I heard him play a full set at House Of Blues Hollywood, and he sang everything. A few songs from his Fish Out Of Water album- even a version of Roundabout! It was for the Rickenbacker 100 year anniversary if I’m not mistaken? He carried it off beautifully. Miss that man!!! RIP Mr Squire. He was a wild card, that’s for sure.
Thanks for sharing! I'd like to think that I would have collected my own bucket of personal curiosities and side-show legends had I been in a position to do so as a young man. Sadly, it wasn't to be. Maybe next time around, lol.
I like the feel and sound. Alan White sounds like he's emulating John Bonham. Jimmy Page sounds a bit like he's emulating Steve Howe. This is a really interesting bit of rock music ephemera. In Thru The Out Door meets Drama.
@@desistindo1 They played it on tour in 2004 too! And it was excellent. They used each movement as a framing device for some of their better-known songs, so kept returning to the song during the shows. I like to think that was inspired by something I told Chris at the time, but he never would confirm that to me! lol! I miss the guy- biggest hands in the world, why he had such reach on the bass. I miss him terribly still. A smart well-read guy, Chris. And he had his sentimental side. He was a damned good dad to his daughter Xilin too. Miss him. 😰
@@thesolarengineer (From a UPI archives article dated 10-06-1980) _Death of Led Zeppelin's drummer: black magic?_ WINDSOR, England -- On the eve of an inquest into the death of drummer John Bonham of the popular rock group Led Zeppelin, many fans said Monday he was the victim of black magic that has stalked the band throughout its history. Bonham's body was found Oct. 2 by bass player John Paul Jones in a bedroom of the $2 million home in Windsor owned by Jimmy Page, another member of the band. Singer Robert Plant was also in the house for rehearsals of the repertoire they planned to present in an American tour scheduled to start Oct. 16. 'Singer Robert Plant,' said the London Evening News, 'fears that the star's death is retribution for guitarist Jimmy Page's obsession with the occult.' Page has been a student of the works of the late Aleister Crowley, known as 'the world's most evil man.' Page opened a bookshop dedicated to Crowley and bought his former home. ------------------ A cursory search returned the above quote. If I'm not mistaken, there are additional references found in the book "Hammer of the God's" as to Plant mentioning how he thought Jimmy's occult leanings might figure in to Bonham's untimely death. (Someone permanently borrowed my copy years ago, or else I would have quoted it here.) If you have anything that contradicts what these are saying, I'd be interested in knowing.
Not Zeppeliny enough for zep fans. Not Yessy enough for yes fans. Not enough spark to have it's own new thing. Just 3 of my favorite musicians wasting time.
as much as i love Jimmy, and he really is amazing and one of my favorites till this day, when you're used to playing with Steve Howe, anything else will be a downgrade...Thats just a fact.! Steve is the Chet Atkins of Rock and Roll...PERIOD!
Um, I'll take Jimmy over anyone, diminished or not. He is the King of guitar, And I love Yes, I love Steve. They play so wildly different styles, to me, it feels interesting to hear Chris in this band. I love Squire's voice, and this is like Fish out of Water a bit, another classic.
@@deibid7886 Yep. The last project Page worked on while still on Heroin was the Death Wish 2 soundtrack. He was forced to go clean by Eric Clapton to play the ARMS concerts.
Putting 3 great musicians together doesn't always end with great music. I know these are just rough demos, but I'm not really hearing any chemistry. Maybe with a better singer they might have done something more interesting.
This is another example of how Jimmy page needed to try to keep making music, after all he sold his soul to Satan for his amazing talent. Unfortunately the curse of King Midas had already been set by Kenneth Anger.
Guitar sounds very thin. Sadly, you can tell Chris' formerly excellent voice is going. Needs a better singer + keyboards. Was Gary Brooker doing anything at the time?
I don’t get the rave reviews. These are rough demos. And quite frankly, I don’t hear ANY chemistry between the players. This is nothing more than a “what if” that never was. Page’s playing sounds muddied and uninvolved. He’s simply not feeling it. Understandable, considering his struggles with addiction at the time.
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