Album: From a Page
Artist: Yes
2019 Yes Records
CD: YES002BX / LP: YES002LP

Chris Squire: bass, vocals (not 3)
Steve Howe: guitar, vocals (not 3)
Alan White: drums (not 3)
Benoît David: lead vocals
Oliver Wakeman: keyboards, vocals


Produced by Wakeman
Engineered by Patrick MacDougall/Tim Weidner
Recorded in Phoenix, Arizona and Beverly Hills, California
Additional keys and backing vocals recorded at The Opus Suite, UK
Mixed by Karl Groom
Mastered by Mike Pietrini

Bands photos by Dimo Safari, Robert Knight
Paintings by Roger Dean
Inlay design & layout by Wakeman
Management: Martin Darvill
Copyright management: Daniel Earnshaw


Tracks:
LP/CD1:
1. "To the Moment" [Wakeman] (6:13)
2. "Words on a Page" [Wakeman] (6:21)
3. "From the Turn of a Card" [Wakeman] (3:27)
4. "The Gift of Love" [Wakeman/Squire/Howe/David/White] (9:57)
5. "To the Moment (single mix)" [Wakeman] (4:38), vinyl only

CD2/CD3:
As In the Present – Live from Lyon



Notes (****): After Fly from Here and Fly from Here – Return Trip, we now have From a Page, a release of material with and largely by Oliver Wakeman from the Fly from Here sessions that was abandoned when Horn took the album in a different direction and Geoff Downes replaced Oliver Wakeman. (Asked in the Yes Music Podcast #404 whether he'd heard Return Trip, Wakeman said he had only listened to bits of it.) From a Page was released 25 Oct with no warning or prior rumour. It was available exclusively through Burning Shed. Wakeman assembled this release, which was approved by Howe, White and David.

CD liner notes are by Wakeman about his time with the band, while he also did the graphic design for the release, which has new art from Roger Dean. White said of the release, "New songs from the past and I'm hoping we can find even more music in the archives for future releases."

Tracks 1, 2 and 4 were recorded in 2010 for Fly from Here, but not used once Wakeman was out of the band. Wakeman has described how on tour in 2009 in Europe, he and Squire would often be the last ones awake on the tour bus, and they talked a lot about music and doing a new album. Howe was interested, but reticent: he wanted to make sure the band had gelled. But he was ready for a new album by 2010. The band did a writing session in Phoenix in early 2010 and some parts here are from those sessions. In mid-2010, Squire, Howe and Wakeman met up at Howe's, listening through their demos and talking about what they could do. Wakeman and Howe also went through the pieces on other occasions. They then went into the studio for the Fly from Here sessions in late 2010: Horn was focused on "We Can Fly from Here" and Tim Weidner was reported at the time to be producing the rest. While Horn was away, the band worked on other pieces: Howe's "Hour of Need" and "Don't Take No for an Answer", Squire's "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be", the band's "Into the Storm", and these four From a Page songs.

(3) was written by Wakeman on David's guitar in Los Angeles during the sessions, but wasn't recorded then. (4) includes elements re-used in "The Game" on Heaven & Earth: Squire and Gerard Johnson had writing sessions together in 2006/7 writing sessions for an abortive Squire solo project and one demo then was contributed to this song and "The Game", although the elements used here were just those from Squire, whereas more was used in "The Game", which has Johnson credited as a co-writer. On Twitter in 2018, Wakeman had said "The Gift of Love" was a co-write between him and Squire. In the liner notes, he describes how the core of the song began by combining an idea of his and an idea of Squire's (actually Squire and Johnson's), but all the other band members contributed. Elsewhere, he has given the music as by Wakeman/Squire/Howe/David/White and the lyrics by Wakeman/David/Squire. In the 2018 Twitter exchange, he describes "To the Moment" and "Words on a Page" as "fully recorded" in the 2010 sessions, but not "From the Turn of a Card", although it was written then. Wakeman and Gordon Giltrap did a version of this on their 2013 album Ravens & Lullabies, with Benoît David on vocals. The version here is a piano/vocal duet taking David's vocal from that album and newly recorded piano parts by Wakeman.

When Yes didn't use Wakeman's songs, they posted him the session recordings. Wakeman and Squire kept in touch by email. After Squire's death, Wakeman was inspired to re-visit at (4). He sorted through the tapes and assembled a rough mix, adding some keys and vocals, but having just done the work for himself. He had this for a couple of years and worked a bit on the other songs. He then tweeted about the sessions and Yes's management got in touch with him about doing this release. Wakeman contacted David about the project, and David was keen for people to hear the material.

Oliver tweeted late Oct 2019: "I listened to them [the songs] again after Chris passed & spent a long time going through everything & worked with YES to get them released. Booklet has full story". He also said on Facebook: "These were the tracks we worked on before Trevor Horn came on board and we continued to work on when he went back to the UK in the middle of the recording sessions." And on Facebook: "I've been working on the mixes over the last few years and when Yes heard that I was doing the work we started to talk about how we could get it into a position to release". On Facebook, he said more: "There were songs we worked on and wrote during 2009 and whilst in Phoenix after the Zacatecas show in Mexico in early 2010. There were then recorded when Trevor Horn went back to the UK during the sessions. There were lots of parts which were finished and I had the discs on my office shelf when I left [...] I started to listen to them again after Chris passed as I felt I should see what sort of shape they were in. There were lots of takes but the core parts of the tracks were very complete - they just needed some production time - I spent a lot of time going through everything and felt they were worth the effort to tidy them up just for myself as a memory of my time with the band. The Yes management read about them on a tweet and the rest [...] is [...] history..." Asked if there are any more unreleased tracks from these sessions, Wakeman said, "There are the demos and a few bits and pieces but when Steve and I met to discuss the project we decided it should be a proper record of finished pieces and not a mixture of finished pieces and demos."

For the cover, Dean suggested the painting used on the front. As he described in the Yes Music Podcast #404, Wakeman loved it, but asked if he could add some figures. Dean said that wasn't possible, but instead said he would paint something new for the back cover. He and Wakeman talked, and Wakeman said how he liked the In the Present art, which had a group of five figures on the back. Wakeman said how he felt this represented him and David coming together with Howe, Squire and White. So they talked about these characters carrying through to the new painting. The back cover has a group of five, and then two figures somewhat apart. This, Wakeman says, can be interpreted several ways: are they an audience? Is this him and David coming to replace his dad and Anderson? Or Horn and Downes coming to replace him and David?

The album made #23 in the UK Rock album chart (1 Nov 2019). (HP, 2 Nov 19; updated 17 Nov 2019)

Return to Home Page