‘70s Yes songs in concert shine from Jon Anderson & the Band Geeks
At age 80, England’s Jon Anderson can still hit the high vocal notes that we grew up hearing on Yes’ recordings. Joined by the Band Geeks, led by Richie Castellano , the group is outstanding in their ten song, two hour entertaining performance of Yes songs from the ‘70s, captured live in 2023 at the Arcada Theater in Chicago’s western suburb of St. Charles. This release follows last year’s True studio album from the group.
L to R: Clark, Castellano, Graziano, Anderson, Ascolese, and Kipp, promotional photo
Jon Anderson – vocals, percussion, guitar, harp
Richie Castellano – bass, vocals
Andy Graziano – guitar, vocals
Andy Ascolese – drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals
Christopher Clark – keyboards, vocals
Robert Kipp – keyboards, guitar, percussion, vocals
Plus Rob Schmoll – guitar and vocals on “And You And I” and “Your Move/I’ve Seen All Good People”
JON ANDERSON & THE BAND GEEKS
Live Perpetual Change
Frontiers (3LP, 2CD/DVD, digital)
By Warren Kurtz
The concert recording begins with “Yours Is No Disgrace” from The Yes Album. This 1971 FM progressive rock radio staple showcases all the instruments from the group, along with Jon Anderson’s commanding vocal performance.
Also from The Yes Album is Yes’ U.S. Top 40 debut, “Your Move,” given the full album treatment of “Your Move/I’ve Seen All Good People” with multi-part fun.
“And You and I,” from 1972’s Close to the Edge, shines with acoustic beauty.
Every song on the album has epic length, between 7 to 22 minutes. A four-and-a-half instrumental introduction of bass, drums, and light keyboards precedes Anderson’s stunning vocals on “Heart of the Sunrise,” still hitting the high notes, from 1972’s Fragile.
Also, from Fragile is Yes’ most successful single of the ‘70s, “Roundabout,” as the exciting finale. In his 2020 Goldmine interview, Anderson described the songwriting process. “We were doing a show in Aberdeen in the north of Scotland. Then we drove the van down to Glasgow for the next show and in 24 hours we would be back home. Coming down that two lane road, there were probably fifteen to twenty roundabouts. Steve Howe, in the back of the car, was writing about the roundabouts and it just came up naturally. The road was very narrow and it looked like the mountains were coming out of the sky as you couldn’t see the top of the mountains. You would just see clouds which were very low. So that inspired my lyrics. By the time we arrived in Glasgow, we had written ‘Roundabout.’”
The package also includes the title tune “Perpetual Change,” “Starship Trooper,” “Awaken,” and a pair of songs taking up an entire vinyl side each, “Close to the Edge” and “Gates of Delirium.”
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