Rick Wakeman Recalls His First Yes Rehearsal

Rick Wakeman recalled his first rehearsal with Yes, throughout which they organized most of their basic tune “Roundabout.”

It occurred in 1971, after the band employed Wakeman to exchange Tony Kaye. Jon Anderson and Steve Howe had been toying with the idea of the tune after being impressed throughout a tour of Scotland.

In a current interview with Uncut, Wakeman defined how assembling the piece – which appeared on Yes’ fourth album Fragile – helped outline his function within the prog group.

“It started with Steve saying he had a riff, which was very nice,” he mentioned, “so we played it. Chris [Squire] had a line. Bill [Bruford] said he had a fill. Then I said, ‘Well, I’ve got something which sort of goes with all of that,’ and they thought it was good. But Chris said, ‘They’re all in different keys – how are we going to put it all together?’ I said, ‘I know how to do that.'”

Listen to Yes’ ‘Roundabout’

Wakeman mentioned he specialised in making seemingly disparate components match collectively. “That was one of my jobs: when things were in ridiculous keys, all over the shop, to make things link up,” he defined. “I did all that. And by the end of that rehearsal we’d pretty much put ‘Roundabout’ together.”

The keyboardist additionally expressed his lasting pleasure over the collaborative spirit of Yes, regardless of the disagreements which have led to a number of lineup modifications over time. “Yes music means a lot to me,” he mentioned. “It’s a major part of my musical life and career. With Yes, you have to give as much as you can take or it’s not going to work.”