Album: Yesterday and Today – A 50th Anniversary Tribute to Yes
Artist: Sonic Elements
2018 Purple Pyramid
CD: PBME-001-CD
Dave Kerzner: vocals (7, 19), backing vocals (9), keys (2, 6-8,
14-20, 22, 23), harmonium (3, 9), Claviola (3, 9), RMI electric
piano (11), organ (13), additional keys (1, 5), additional effects
(5)
Fernando Perdomo: bass (1, 4, 13, 21, 23), acoustic bass (9),
additional bass (2), guitars (11-13, 15, 21, 22), 3rd guitar solo
(23), acoustic guitars (2, 4, 8-10), electric guitar (4), lap steel
(5, 7), banjo (8), mandolin (9), rhythm guitar (23), guitar FX (17),
additional guitar (1, 5), keys (4, 10, 21), additional keys (5),
vibraphone (10), drums (10), percussion (8, 10), backing vocals (9)
Jon Davison: vocals (9)
Tony Kaye: keys (2)
Jay Schellen: drums (2)
Billy Sherwood: vocals (7, 8, 12, 16, 19,
20, 22, 23), basses (2, 6-8, 12, 13iii, 14, 16, 18-20, 22, 23),
guitar (6-8, 13, 14, 16, 18-20, 22), 1st guitar solo (23), rhythm
guitar (23), drums (18, 20, 23)
Robert Berry: vocals (7)
Francis Dunnery: vocals (13), guitar (13), 2nd guitar solo (23)
Nick D'Virgilio: vocals (1)
Geoff Downes: keys (1)
Steve Hackett: guitar (6)
Marco Minnemann: drums (6, 8)
Pat Sansone: vocals (4), keys (4), acoustic guitar (4)
Dennis Atlas: backing vocals (2)
Dave Bainbridge: guitar (3), bazouki (3)
Tom Brislin: piano (7, 19)
Johnny Bruhns: guitar (1, 2), Portuguese guitar (9), acoustic guitar
(9)
Joe Cass: drums (1, 21)
Derek Cintron: drums (4, 7, 12, 13, 15, 19, 22, 23)
Dr. Danny (Danny Ayala): vocals (10), piano (10)
John Demarkis: backing vocals (11), additional backing vocals (12)
Jay Gore: guitar (7)
Marisol Koss: lead vocals (2)
Roger Houdaille: bass (11, 15), electric 12-string (13)
Leslie Hunt: vocals (11)
Walter Ino: backing vocals (11)
Randy McStine: guitar (6, 18), vocals (6), backing vocals (1)
Sally Minnear: vocals (3), backing vocals (9), big drum (3, 9),
recorders (3), percussion (3, 9)
Mark Murdock: percussion (12)
Hal Rosenfeld: marimba (7, 12, 19)
Robin Schell: vocals (8), backing vocals (9, 13)
Jonathan Schang: drums (11)
Ken Sharp: backing vocals (12), bell tree (12)
Sonja Kristina: vocals (5)
Robert Norton: keys (5)
Paul Sax: violins (5)
Kit Morgan: acoustic & electric guitars (5)
Chris Harris: bass (5)
Andy Tween: drums (5)
Neil Peart: drums from Neil Peart Drums by Sonic Reality (14, 16)
Vic Kingsly: guitar (15)
Recorded & engineered by Kerzner/Perdomo
Recorded by Simeon Spiegel (drums on 1), Ben Fenner
(guitars on 6), Anthony Gravino (vocals & drums on 11),
Bainbridge (Minnear on 3, 9)
Mixed & produced by Kerzner/Perdomo
Mastered by Kerzner
Executive Producer: Kerzner
Front cover artwork: John Sellards
Graphic design & layout: Erik Nielsen
Photo credits: Lee Millward, Cyndi Trissel, Nielsen,
Gottlieb Bros, Klaus Esser, Kathy Flynn, Joanne Leung, Lucy
Blumenfeld, Barry Saul Garcia, Mari Hamada, Dave DeLuca, Kush
Mody, Claudio Capuzzi, Bo Hanson, Lisa Wetton
Tracks (on CD):
1. "Machine Messiah" (10:27) [Howe/Squire/White/Horn/Downes]
2. "Yours Is No Disgrace" (9:38) [Anderson/Squire/Howe/Kaye/Bruford]
3. "Turn of the Century" (2:07) [Anderson/Howe/White]
4. "Sweetness" (5:11) [Anderson/Squire/Bailey]
5. "Soon" (6:34) [Anderson]
6. "Cinema" (3:01) [Squire/Rabin/White/Kaye]
7. "Changes" (6:09) [Rabin/Anderson/White]
8. "I'm Running" (7:32) [Rabin/Squire/Anderson/Kaye/White]
9. "Acoustic Medley" (6:01)
i. "Your Move" [Anderson]
ii. "And You and I" [lyr: Anderson; mus:
Anderson/Bruford/Howe/Squire]
iii. "Wonderous Stories" [Anderson]
10. "Yesterday and Today" (3:23) [Anderson]
11. "Long Distance Runaround" (3:35) [Anderson]
12. "The Fish" (3:00) [Squire]
13. "Starship Trooper" (8:24)
i. "Life Seeker" [Anderson]
ii. "Disillusion" [Squire]
iii. "Würm" [Howe]
Bonus tracks (digital):
14. "Trifecta" (5:12) [Sherwood/Kerzner]
15. "The Architect II" [Perdomo] (4:09)
Special edition (digital):
16. "Times Gone" [lyr: Sherwood; mus: Sherwood/Kerzner] (4:11)
17. "Yescape" (1:36)
18. "Cinema Demo" (2:38)
19. "Changes Demo" (6:08)
20. "I'm Running Demo" (7:32)
21. "Soon (Instrumental)" (5:29)
22. "The Fish Mash Up" (3:12)
23. "Wurm Jam" (6:44)
Notes: The two bonus tracks were available on the Bandcamp pre-order
and were also released for free digitally on 22 Sep (before the full
album) on Bandcamp as Yesterday and Today – A 50th Anniversary
Tribute To Yes (Bonus Tracks). The regular, 13-track album was
then released early Nov 2018 through Cherry Red (RCPLCD06). (14) is
a 2011 piece built around a prior Neil Peart drum track for "YYZ"
released on Sonic Elements' XYZ—A Tribute to
Rush. (15) is a re-recording of Perdomo's "The Architect
(Tribute to Peter Banks)" on his solo album Out to Sea done
live in the studio by Fernando Perdomo & The Out to Sea Band,
with Kerzner guesting. The special edition came in Nov, a few days
after the regular edition, and appends 8 more digital-only
tracks. (16) is the extra bonus track from XYZ—A Tribute
to Rush, using a Peart drum track for "Tom Sawyer".
Norton and Morgan had done an instrumental section for (5), which
Kerzner had embellished. Kerzner then took his embellishments and
extended those to make (17), also using some guitar parts by
Perdomo. "Cinema" was originally recorded with Kerzner on keys and
Sherwood on everything else. The version here as (18) then had
guitar parts added by McStine. Some of Sherwood and McStine's parts
were then retained for (6), although Sherwood's drumming was
replaced. "Changes" was originally recorded with Sherwood (bass,
guitars, drums, vocals) and Kerzner (keys, vocals). (19) retains
more of that original version than (7), where Berry has been added
as the main vocalist. (20) is the original version by Sherwood and
Kerzner. (21) is the original recording by Perdomo and Cass, with
the plan being for Kristina to add vocals, but plans then morphed to
the inclusion of all of Curved Air. (22) is a jam on the original
piece, which additionally quotes vocal hooks from other Yes songs.
(23) combines three guitar solos for the piece, and again adding
lyrics from other Yes songs.
Numerous people associated with Yes guest, including Davison, Kaye,
Sherwood, Downes, Jay Schellen, Tom Brislin, Johnny Bruhns (formerly
of CIRCA: and filled in for Howe at Yes rehearsals once), Mark
Murdock (formerly of Empire), Francis Dunnery (backing vocals on ABWH)
and Robin Schell (name mooted when YesWest were looking to replace
Anderson after Big Generator). Hunt and Schang are in
District 97 together. Bainbridge and Minnear are in Celestial Fire
together. Kristina, Norton, Sax, Morgan, Harris and Tween form
Curved Air. Sherwood, Davison and Downes all recorded parts remotely
for the project.
Kerzner has done various tribute projects (notably XYZ—A Tribute
to Rush) and numerous original projects. The project was begun
in 2011/2 and numerous recordings done then (all of Sherwood's parts
were recorded then), but then left on the back-burner as Kerzner
became busier with original projects. In Aug 2011, Kerzner described
Sherwood and "several other ex-members of Yes" yet to be specified
as working on some Yes covers. Sherwood (bass, vocals) and Kerzner
(vocals) then described a cover of "The Fish", using existing drum
samples from Bill Bruford, but Kerzner decided to replace these with
live drums for this project. There was work on "Starship Trooper:
Würm" and "Changes" in late 2011 too. In Mar 2012, Kerzner referred
to a cover of "Yours is No Disgrace" with Sherwood, Kaye and Bruhns,
which is (2) above. Kerzner then resurrected the project in 2018 and
there were further sessions. So, for example, "Cinema" was recorded
with Sherwood and Kerzner back in 2011/2, but then, remembering how
Hackett had said he liked the original, Kerzner got him to record a
session for the piece too in 2018. (At some point in between,
McStine had recorded his parts.) Kerzner and Sherwood did begin work
on a cover of "The More We Live", but it was never completed. (3)
was originally part of (9).
The album was mixed in Sep 2018; Kerzner had reported album sessions
finished on 11 Sep.
This album came out around the same time as the Sherwood-led A Life in Yes: The Chris Squire Tribute:
the two albums only have "The Fish" in common, but shared performers
are Sherwood, Kaye, Davison, Schellen and Kristina. Kerzner had
thought A Life in Yes was coming out earlier in the year,
avoiding a clash.
By and large, these are great songs performed well, but generally
sticking closely to the original arrangements. (HP, 18 Nov 18;
updated 19 Nov 18).
Return to Home Page