Yes frontman Jon Anderson, who will be visiting the Spectrum with his “supergroup” cohorts on April 16.

By Xavier Breth
April 1991

Yes, they’re back.

And if Jon Anderson has his way, 1991 will be the year the world says, “Yes” — absolutely and positively.

Whether you consider the classic rockers cosmic and celestial — or grandiose and muddleheaded — there’s no doubt that you’ll be hearing plenty of Yes this year.

The band’s new album, Union (Arista), is due for release in mid-April. The album’s first single “Lift Me Up,” should be in the stores as you read this.

A globetrotting tour dubbed “Around the World in 80 Dates” will bring the band to Atlantic City’s Etess Arena at the Taj Mahal on April 12 and 13, and to Philadelphia’s Spectrum on April 16. And when the band’s massive four-CD boxed set — complete with previously-unreleased tracks — is released in August you’ll either be swimming in blissful close to the edge of insanity with Yes overkill.

Regardless, Yes fans from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Zagreb, Yugoslavia will be singing hosannas this year — and for good reason. This edition of Yes is a supergroup that lives up to its billing. Call it a super-super group, or Yes-squared. With this year’s incarnation, the 23-year old band brings together singer Jon Anderson, guitarists Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin, Bill Bruford and Alan White on drums, Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye on keyboards and Chris Squire on bass.

“We’ve spent several months talking about getting Yes together again, and decided that to do it right, it should be an eight-piece group,” said Anderson during a recent telephone interview.

“It’s been really wonderful,” Anderson continued from the Los Angeles studios where the band was putting the finishing touches on Union. “Everyone who’s ever been a part of Yes is playing together for the first time.”

Personal problems that had caused friction in earlier line-ups between band members diplomatically worked out, Anderson said. “What you’ll see and hear is 100% professionalism.”

But he discounts the suggestion that the album and tour are a cynical attempt to cash in on the booming market in classic rock. “This whole project is really a dream come true,” he said. “We’re all feeling lighthearted about it. We’re all looking forward to the tour; it should be a lot of fun.”

This tour will find Yes performing in the round again, and of course there will be a very elaborate, state-of-the-art hydraulic stage. The band will perform together as a group, Anderson said, but each band member will get his chance to take the spotlight as a soloist.

If past tours are any evidence, the upcoming shows in Atlantic City and Philadelphia will feature a big-budget, brain-boggling light show that only Yes can produce. We’re talking technicolor voyages through a tripping mind here — talk to any other veteran Yes fan and be pummeled with tales of multi-colored lasers and fantastic lighting effects.

“I’m trying to create with color and light, sounds and perfume. It’s based on an ancient knowledge handed down through the Toltec and Zuni Indians as well as the aborigines. They were all aware of the magical mysteries of the Earth. If you use the right music, color, and perfume, it heals the chakras of the body,” Anderson said.

There’s a good reason for Yes’ emphasis on those dazzling light shows. A few probing questions reveals that Anderson has been working on a project specifically designed to “raise consciousness.”

Though he’s reluctant to talk about it in detail, Anderson is willing to describe it in general terms. “I’ve always been very interested in art as a medium for transformation rather than business,” Anderson said. “Art should serve life.”

“I’m trying to create with color and light, sounds and perfume. It’s based on an ancient knowledge handed down through the Toltec and Zuni Indians as well as the aborigines. They were all aware of the magical mysteries of the Earth. If you use the right music, color, and perfume, it heals the chakras of the body,” Anderson said.

“I’m sure these things we’re going to learn in the next few years — so everybody hold on to your hat,” he continued. “There are many forms of healing power. But because I’m an artist and musician I think of color, music and perfume. In the ’90s, I think we’ll all feel compelled to discover the real conscious way waking up to everything that surrounds us.

“I really believe that a lot of disease is caused by fear in the world. AIDS and cancer are dominant in our time because we don’t believe in God. People believe in churches, but not in God — God being in nature, being human, God being the magical side of life. I believe God can cure a lot of things.