Album: Elements
Artist: Yoso
2010 Frontiers Records s.r.l.
CD: FR CD 466
Bobby Kimball: lead vocals
Tony Kaye: keyboards, Hammond organ
Billy Sherwood: vocals, bass, guitars,
drums
Bonus disc (no credits given):
Bobby Kimball: lead vocals, additional keys
Tony Kaye: keyboards, Hammond organ
Billy Sherwood: vocals, bass
Jimmy Haun: guitars, backing vocals
Louis "Lou" Molino III: drums, backing vocals
Produced, recorded and mixed by Sherwood at 4Tune Studios
Mastered by Joe Gastwirt
Managed by 2 Plus Music & Entertainment (Derek Shulman/Leonardo
Pavkovic)
Band photography and logo designed by Michi Sherwood
Cover painting & artwork: Richard Mace
Special thanks to Jimmy Haun and Jay
Schellen
Tracks:
1. Yoso [Sherwood/Kimball] (4:18)
2. Path to Your Heart [Sherwood/Kimball] (4:22)
3. Where You'll Stay [Sherwood/Kimball] (3:40)
4. Walk Away [Sherwood/Kimball] (4:33)
5. The New Revolution [Sherwood/Kimball] (3:42)
6. To Seek the Truth [Sherwood/Kimball] (4:25)
7. Only One [Sherwood/Kimball] (3:43)
8. Close the Curtain [Sherwood/Kimball] (4:44)
9. Won't End Tonight [Sherwood/Kimball] (3:59)
10. Come This Far [Sherwood/Kimball] (4:19)
11. Time to Get Up [Sherwood/Kimball] (3:51)
12. Return to Yesterday [Sherwood/Kimball] (7:19)
Bonus CD:
13. Yoso (5:31)
14. Rosanna (6:17)
15. Owner of a Lonely Heart (6:19)
16. Walk Away (4:47)
17. Good for You (3:37)
18. Yes Medley: Yours is No Disgrace/Heart of the Sunrise/South Side
of the Sky/Starship Trooper/I've Seen All Good People (8:59)
19. To Seek the Truth (4:27)
20. Hold the Line (4:17)
21. Cinema (2:04)
22. Gift with a Golden Gun (4:20)
23. White Sister (6:17)
Notes: Sherwood has explained: "Yoso was started when I suggested to
Bobby Kimball we should write some new music and form a band, we had
been working together on various tribute projects I was producing
and one thing lead to another, before too long we had 5 songs in the
can and were well on our way to making a record and thinking
seriously about taking it to the next level. Once there was a few
songs underway the concept grew into the band we now have, Yoso."
Kimball and Sherwood first met at the beginning of the 1980s when
Sherwood was in Lodgic, and Kimball has appeared on a number of
Sherwood's tribute album projects. The It Can Happen tour of Italy
by CIRCA:—i.e. Sherwood, Kaye, Haun, Schellen—and Kimball was
planned for Feb 2009 with a set encompassing CIRCA:, Toto and Yes
material. (The full line-up was also to include Michael Sherwood
(Billy's brother) and then Matt Brown (of Genesis tribute Gabble
Ratchet and Yes tribute Closer to the Edge) on keys and backing
vocals.) However, the tour was cancelled late in the day.
In early 2009, Sherwood tweeted about what he called the Hybrid
Project, before the new band was announced under the name AKA.
However, in Jul 2009, Sherwood said to ProgressiveEars.com: "Due to
the trademark "AKA" being taken we are renaming the band." Thus the
new name Yoso. However, Schellen withdrew, given commitments to Asia
Featuring John Payne, and Molino took over for live work in late
2009. He too then stepped aside given other commitments and by the
beginning of 2010, Jody Cortez (who had worked with Sherwood in a
short-lived band ETC...) was on drums. By then, Yoso had become
managed by Derek Shulman (formerly of Gentle Giant, Shulman managed
Yes for a period and signed both Sherwood's World Trade and Dream
Theater) with Leonardo Pavkovic. Sherwood then announced further
line-up changes with Scott Connor (of Gabble Ratchet) on drums,
percussion and backing vocals and Johnny Bruhns (from Yes tribute
band Roundabout; he filled in at a Yes rehearsal in 2009) on guitar
and backing vocals. Haun had withdrawn to focus on commercial work.
The debut album began in Apr 2009: Sherwood tweeted about writing
and recording 10 songs across that month, with music by him, lyrics
by Kimball. In a May 2010 interview, describing the final album,
Kaye said most of the lyrics are by Kimball and practically all of
the music is by Sherwood. In a Jun 2010 interview, Kimball described
writing the album, Sherwood handling the music and him the lyrics:
"After Billy and I wrote all of the songs for the CD, the other guys
came in and added their parts to make it a band CD." On 25 May,
Sherwood said to Yesfans.com: "10 songs well on their way but still
needing TLC." On 7 Jun, he tweeted, "Working on backing vocals for
the "AKA" record... 6 songs near completion, 4 to go"; in late Jun,
about recording Kaye's final organ parts for the album. In mid-Jul,
he tweeted about a recording session for "Higher Road" with Kimball
and said they only had three more lead vocals to record. Mixing
followed in Aug. In mid-Aug, Sherwood said to Yesfans.com: "The new
record {cd} is almost completed. I am mixing it now. 3 Songs mixed,
9 to go." In Sep 2009, Sherwood announced that they had finished
mastering.
The album was initially recorded by Sherwood (vocals, all
instruments) and Kimball (vocals). Kaye then came in to record
keyboard parts, and likewise Haun on guitar and Schellen on drums
(the plan at one stage was for 4 songs to feature Schellen). When
Molino replaced Schellen, he then recorded alternate drum parts for
the album, but with Haun's and Molino's departure, the eventual
release uses Sherwood's guitar and drum tracks. The initial plan was
also to self-release the album under the name Yoso, but a deal with
Frontiers Records was then signed and they asked for a separate
album name, thus Elements.
Band logo and artwork were by Michi Sherwood (Billy's wife), but
Frontiers Records also produced new artwork, although Michi's logo
remains. In Jul 2010 to Yesfans.com, Sherwood explained:
Jim [Haun] made it known early on he
would not be able to make the full comittment to Yoso in the way
we knew ultimately we needed {touring bands require a lot of time
from people and from their lives}. With that as the backdrop...
I had all the gtr and drum parts tracked and done {I sketched out
some keys but didn't bother much knowing TK was into it from the
word go...}. Jay did play a few tracks as did Jim, then Jay left
the band and knowing Jim was destine to as well... I went back to
the original tracks I had already cut and finished the record.
In a subsequent post, he said:
The way we got where we are now
{Frontiers records} was a journey filled with twists and turns,
members coming and going, 1st we were to self release it {when
there was no label} and so in the mastering we/Yoso were set to
call the record "Yoso". This is on the "mastered" disc info and
subsequently is now embedded onto the disk that went to the
manufacturing plant. Once the label jumped in everything changed,
art work {Frontiers with the exception of our Logo}, format
{Frontiers wanting to include bonus CD} and title {Frontiers
wanted the CD to have a "title" hence "Elements"}.
The band were promoted on their links to Yes and Toto, a combination
reflected in their name. On 1 Sep 2009, Sherwood said: "It's an
inter[e]sting mixture of styles. Of course it has the
Toto/YES/Circa: elements which come by proxy of the people involved
but... there is something all it's own about the sound." And then:
my personal choices are 3 songs that
are super strong, hooky, radio friendly....
1: Yoso
2: Where You'll Stay
3: Walk Away
In Oct 2009, Sherwood described the band: "Sounds like a hydrid of
Toto/Circa:Yes/Steely Dan/The Band and others in the tradition of
classic rock." Kimball blogged in Apr 2009, "The CD [...] has so
many elements from Toto/Yes[ ]and Asia in the music." Asked about
the style of music in Apr 2009, Sherwood said: "The arrangments are
more straight ahead and song oriented, Where CIRCA: stretches those
limits "AKA" remains within the traditional bounds of classic song
writing structures. That said it remains very musical." In mid-Jun
2010, Sherwood explained to Yesfans.com about the inclusion of a
bonus live disc:
We/Yoso would have been perfectly
fine {and had planned}to release Yoso as a stand alone "preimere
debut release"
Frontiers wanted to have a "bonus cd".
[...] Record labels will do what they wish.
[...] There's no shame in releasing music in any format... As long
as it's presented with integrity. TK and I have our YES pasts as
Bobby has Toto past, these will never not be in play as far as
media and record promo, it is what it is and they will do what
they do...
The heart of the matter is 12 new tracks from Yoso. [...]
This is what it's about for us as the artists. We want to push
forward and we are doing so, [...] The ends justify the means in
our case, We just want to be Yoso... the label and machine behind
it all are the ones reminding everyone of our not so hidden pasts
lol. Don't expect that to change anytime soon.
All that said.. the bonus CD has some kick *** versions of some
beloved YES and Toto material. For that I am proud, it's an honor
to play the music, and by no means a shame.
The band (with Schellen/Haun) had played a showcase of ~45 min.s at
Uncle Studios, CA on 1 May 2009 for a promoter. The set then
consisted only of material by Yes ("Roundabout", "Owner of a Lonely
Heart", "Changes", "Hold On", "Cinema") and Toto ("Rosanna",
"Africa", "White Sister" and another piece). Their proper live debut
was 3 Mexican dates in Oct 2009 with Molino/Haun (tickets still had
the old band name and read "TOTO Y YES JUNTOS: AKA", or "Toto and
Yes together: AKA"): a corporate gig for Microsoft Mexico (~600
attendance) and two public concerts with attendances around 2,000
each. The set list for the opening night was: "Yoso", "Girl Goodbye"
(Kimball sang lead on the Toto songs), "Cinema", "Good for You",
"Hold On" (Sherwood sang lead on the Yes songs), "Walk Away", "Gift
with a Golden Gun", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Africa", "New
Revolution", "Yes Montage" (with "Yours is No Disgrace", "Heart of
the Sunrise", "South Side of the Sky", "Starship Trooper", "All Good
People"—vocals on "All Good People" only), "Where You'll Stay",
"Rosanna", "Changes", "To Seek the Truth", "White Sister", "Hold the
Line", "Roundabout". Sherwood was producing, mixing and co-video
editing a DVD to be entitled "Yoso Live in Mexico 2009" in HD.
However, this was then dropped. Sherwood explained in May 2010: "The
Yoso Live in Mexico DVD has been scrubbed, since we went through a
radical change in line up recently we decided rather than release it
and have confusion, we thought we would wait for the next chance to
film a Yoso show and create it from that, with the real band as it
has become." However, this appears to be the source for the live
bonus disc here. The band played a German festival on 24 Mar 2010
with Cortez/Haun. A tour with Scott Connor (of Genesis tribute band
Gabble Ratchet; drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Johnny Bruhns
(of Yes tribute band Roundabout and filled in at a Yes rehearsal in
2009; guitar, backing vocals) was to follow from August, but instead
the band collapsed into acrimony between Kimball and Sherwood.
The final album hues much more towards Toto than Yes in style.
Sherwood's guitar and drum work are good, although the live versions
on the bonus disc, with Haun/Molino, have that bit more to them.
(HP, 31 Jul 10; updated 21 Oct 17)
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