Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe - Summer Themes - The Summit, Houston, Texas, USA - August 28th 1989 (PRRP023) (G AUD)

Artist: Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe
Title: Summer Themes
Date: August 28th, 1989
Venue: The Summit, Houston, Texas, USA

Tracklisting
Disc One
01. Time And A Word (fades in) 02:30
02. Owner Of A Lonely Heart 01:57
03. Teakbois 02:40
04. Clap 04:35
05. Mood For A Day 04:54
06. Rick Wakeman Solo 05:39
07. Long Distance Runaround (including Drum Solo) 07:21
08. Birthright 07:29
09. And You And I 10:53
10. I've Seen All Good People 09:27
11. Close To The Edge 20:44

Disc Two
01. Themes 06:29
02. Brother Of Mine 11:50
03. The Meeting 05:47
04. Heart Of The Sunrise 11:53
05. Order Of The Universe 08:52
06. Roundabout 08:37
07. Starship Trooper 15:06

Personnel
Jon Anderson Lead Vocals, Guitars & Keyboards
Bill Bruford Drums & Percussion
Rick Wakeman Keyboards
Steve Howe Lead Guitars & Vocals
Special Guests:
Tony Levin Bass Guitars, Stick & Vocals
Milton McDonald Guitars
Julian Colbeck Keyboards

Liner Notes: Sweet Dreams
When Jon Anderson, disenchanted with the new direction that Yes was taking, announced his departure from the band after the huge 1987-88 “Big Generator” tour, very few people knew what the man had in mind for the future of Yes music. The answer came less than a year later when an official announcement was made that Jon had joined forces with former Yes band members Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe to sign with Arista Records and form a new group named simply “Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe”. With the task of getting Yes music back on track again, ABWH set off to record their only studio album. Completed in the summer of 1989, this album recaptured the magic of the early Yes albums these four men created in the early seventies, and, once released, gained worldwide fan and critic acclaim.

Artist Roger Dean, whose ethereal art had graced so many Yes album covers in the seventies, was asked to provide some special cover artwork for the new album, as well as a new stage design for the forthcoming world tour. Starting at Mud Island in Memphis, Tennessee on July 29th 1989, this tour took the band across North America, the U.K., Eastern Europe and Japan before ending back in the United States at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 5th 1990. In the absence of traditional Yes bass player Chris Squire, ABWH was able to secure the talents of renowned bassist Tony Levin, a long time associate of Bill Bruford in King Crimson. Levin's extraordinary finesse and very personal style brought new life to the old Yes material played during the tour.

To enhance the live performance of both the old and new material, ABWH also brought in Julian Colbeck, who would join the Steve Hackett band in 1990, on keyboards, and Milton McDonald on guitar. The set list for the new tour included about two thirds of the new album, as well as a few Yes classics from the early Bruford era. Strangely enough, the ABWH tour would be the first time that Bill Bruford would perform live, songs that he had helped to compose on the “Close To The Edge” album in 1972. His departure from Yes shortly after recording the material prevented his participation in live performances at the time. With this group of unique and talented musicians playing both old and new material, ABWH concerts became incredible musical events.

The show we present here was recorded in front of 15,000 people at the Summit in Houston, Texas, on August 28th of 1989, and would be the last performance to include Tony Levin during this part of the tour. Shortly after completing the final song of the evening, “Starship Trooper”, Tony walked off and collapsed back stage. He was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with Hepatitis. Four concerts had to be cancelled while the band quickly recruited American bass player Jeff Berlin to replace Levin until he could return. Under the circumstances, and with only three days to absorb so many complex pieces of music, Jeff did a magnificent job. The ABWH full-concert video, which was shot only a few days later in California, stands as undeniable proof of that fact. Tony Levin returned to his post for the first concert of the U.K. leg of the tour on October 20th. Sadly, the ABWH project only lasted for this one tour and ended with the formation of the Yes / ABWH Union. So here we present a very special concert in the history of a very special band.

Notes from the Re-Master
This Houston show has been known for quite some time to be a high quality recording that suffered from high hiss levels and poor tonality. The first 2:30 of disc one originates from a different source than the majority of the rest of the show. The fidelity is clearly not the same. A few other small patches are also present but the remainder of the show, again, is of good quality.

Hiss was reduced using multiple methods. Treble and high treble ranges were quite excessive leading to piercing notes and excess “SSS” sounds during vocals. This was corrected. The sub-bass frequencies were also excessive at certain points and needed reduction. Many small pops were encountered that needed manual removal.

PRRP Staff