Album: Keys to Ascension 2
Artist: Yes
1996 Alliance/Castle (Europe)
1996 Purple Pyramid Records
CD US: CLP 0159-2

Band members:
Jon Anderson: vocals
Steve Howe: guitars, vocals
Chris Squire: bass, vocals
Rick Wakeman: keyboards
Alan White: drums, percussion

Disc oneProduced by Yes; disc twoProduced by Billy Sherwood & Yes
Disc onerecorded between 4-6 Mar, Freemont Theater, San Luis Obispo, CA

Tracks
Disc one
1. I've Seen All Good People (7:15)
2. Going for the One (4:58)
3. Time and a Word (6:23)
4. Close to the Edge (19:40)
5. Turn of the Century (7:55)
6. And You and I (10:50)

Disc two
7. Mind Drive [Anderson/Squire/White/Howe/Wakeman] (18:37)
8. Foot Prints [Anderson/Squire/Howe/White] (9:09)
3. Bring Me to the Power [Anderson/Howe] (7:25)
4. Children of Light (6:02)
    a. Children of Light [Anderson/Vangelis/Squire]
    b. Lifeline [Wakeman/Howe]
5. Sign Language [Wakeman/Howe] (3:29)

Notes: Disc one contains the remaining songs from the SLO shows, disc two contains new material. This new material was worked on in the autumn of 1996, before Rick Wakeman left the band again.

Anderson has said that he wrote "Children of Light" in the late '70s. It was demo'd for an abortive Jon & Vangelis album in the '80s and then recorded for Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, but not used. The second part, "Lifeline", is a new instrumental ending. "Sign Language" is also an instrumental.

In a Dec 2003 radio interview, referring to "Mind Drive", White said, "I wrote most of that song," describing how it was based on the rhythm part heard clearly at the beginning of the piece. That rhythm part was demo'd by XYZ and used in White and Bruford's percussion spot on the Union tour. On a Sirius XM interview on the 2017 Cruise to the Edge, White discussing XYZ explained how "Mind Drive" "comes from that era" and went on, "I wrote the basic theme, the railroad type rhythm and then the chords, and then Chris developed other parts of it". (MP; last updated 12 Dec 2017 by HP)


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