Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
ABWH, 1989. L-R: Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, and Steve Howe.
Background information
Also known as	ABWH
Origin	England, UK
Genres	Progressive rock, art rock
Years active	1989-1990
Labels	Arista Fragile Herald/Caroline (US) Ting International (EEC) Voiceprint (UK)
Associated acts	Yes
Former members
Jon Anderson Bill Bruford Rick Wakeman Steve Howe Tony Levin

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (sometimes referred to by the abbreviation ABWH) was a permutation of the progressive rock band Yes. The group consisted of vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and guitarist Steve Howe (with Tony Levin on bass). These Yes alumni had played together in Yes on their most popular recordings in the early 1970s. Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe recorded one self-titled studio album in 1989. A live recording from their subsequent concert tour was released years later in 1993, but their 1991 album material was co-opted by Arista Records for a Yes album.

History

Although conceived by Anderson as being a Yes re-union, others in the band were keen to distance themselves from the "Yes" name. At the time, the name for the band "Yes" was co-owned by Anderson, Alan White and Chris Squire, and Squire and White were still continuing with Yes along with Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye; for these reasons, it was not possible for ABWH to use the "Yes" name anyway. Anticipating this problem, Jon Anderson suggested they call themselves "The Affirmative," but the other band members felt that was disingenuous. The name "No" was also suggested, but in the end, they decided to simply name themselves after the members of the band, in the vein of Emerson Lake and Palmer, despite the criticism that it made them sound like an accounting or legal firm. The name might also be an homage to the name Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, a fictional law firm used in a Three Stooges short and by other comic figures.

When Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe toured, they titled their shows "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus"^[1], a name that was also used for their subsequent live album. ABWH were sued by Yes in an attempt to prevent any mention of Yes in the ABWH promotional material.^[1] This seems to stem from an agreement before the release of Yes's 90125 album between Yes (then including Anderson too), Howe and Wakeman over the use of the Yes name in the promotion of other activities.

Eventually, ABWH and Yes resolved their differences and produced a Yes album titled Union.^[1] The album included recordings originally intended for separate albums by both groups. Several songs originally intended for the second ABWH album, tentatively titled "Dialogue", surfaced on the underground Yesoteric bootleg compilation. This material included demos by Anderson but without the other three that were subsequently released as part of Jon Anderson's The Lost Tapes box set in 2007 and then released on their own as Watching the Flags That Fly.

Many fans tend to regard ABWH as Yes in all but name, and as such, their release would be the only Yes album not to feature bassist Chris Squire. Songs from the album have been included on subsequent Yes compilations and Yes concerts.

The band was satirized in the Dead Milkmen song "Anderson, Walkman, Buttholes And How!"^[2]

Discography

• 1989 Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

• 1991 Yes - Union

• 1993 An Evening of Yes Music Plus

Personnel

References

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