Yes Music Podcast · Kevin Mulryne and Mark Anthony K

705 - Solo songs that could have been Yes songs - Part 1 - Steve Howe

·47 min·2 clips

The lyrics on 'Doors of Sleep' weren't written by Steve Howe—they're by Alice Maynall, a suffragist who was considered for Poet Laureate.

Episode 705 takes its time getting to the game, and that suits it. After the produced intro, Kevin Mulrhyne sets up the mini-series, says Mark Anthony Kaye will be along shortly, and sends listeners back to yesmusicpodcast.com. Then the Steve Howe test begins. The target is pleasingly narrow: Beginnings, The Steve Howe Album, and Turbulence, heard in order and treated as a pile of possible Yes songs. The Yesability score keeps things loose without letting the chat float away. Kevin and Mark still get into verses, choruses, vocal feel, harmonies, and what a band arrangement might change. Breaking Away From It All is the first one that really bites. Mark hears it as the clearest candidate so far, helped by that old habit of playing a record straight through until the final track lands. The song sounds catchy to them, and Steve's stacked self-harmonies give them enough to picture a fuller Yes version. They do not pretend Steve's vocal is the whole answer. His singing gets named plainly, then the discussion moves to what could work. The harmony talk has that proper fan-brain quality. John Anderson and Chris Squire are not dragged in as trivia; they are the imagined voices that could push the parts into Yes territory. Then comes the blunt Canadian note: the opening slide guitar tone has to go. It distracts, and their imaginary Yes arrangement needs a cleaner way in. That is the fun of the episode. Kevin and Mark are not just admiring solo Howe records. They are handling them like workshop material, asking what would survive once the band's voices and instincts got involved. The ending settles back into the usual community rhythm, with thanks for patrons, pointers to Patreon and social channels, and the familiar sign-off bringing the scoring game back to the wider Yes conversation.

As heard by us

Steve Howe's solo songs are judged for how easily they could be turned into Yes songs.

Steve Howe's solo records are treated as possible branch lines in Yes's history. Kevin and Mark compare Beginnings, the Steve Howe album, and Turbulence, then test which songs might have worked as Yes tracks.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a fan-to-fan debate about which Steve Howe solo songs could have become Yes songs.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Yes Music Podcast