Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice interviewed critically acclaimed rock author and BraveWords scribe Martin Popoff about his new YES book, Time And A Word. Popoff talks YES history, the breakups, reunions, the albums and side projects.

During the interview, Popoff spoke about one of the most famous  projects that never got going, the supergroup XYZ which included members of YES and Led Zeppelin, after John Bonham’s death.

Popoff said, “Basically in this book I cover off quite a bit of detail all the side bands of YES, including Asia and all the solo projects of everybody. But one that didn’t get off the ground is this XYZ situation. They (Chris Squire, Alan White, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page), did do a little bit of jamming, trying to get things off the ground. But it just didn’t really go anywhere, Robert’s heart and head really wasn’t into it. Jimmy was a little more game, into trying to do something with it. You can hear some of these sessions online. I believe a bunch of this is on YouTube. A little bit of those songs (don’t quote me) show up on later projects, possibly The Firm and later YES albums.”

Check out the interview below:

For his landmark 50th book, Time And A Word: The Yes Story, top rock writer and BraveWords scribe Martin Popoff abandons his metal musings to celebrate the long and legendary life of Yes, a band he has loved since the 1970s.

Using a timeline format, Popoff disentangles the long and convoluted tale of the band’s hirings and firings, their inspired creations, live triumphs and studio victories (as well as the occasional controversial failure.)

With original interviews from Anderson, Bruford, Howe, Squire, Wakeman, Downes, White and many others, the tale unfolds via an exhaustive chronology designed to satisfy the most knowledgeable of Yes fans. You just might learn what “Close To The Edge” actually means, or why Alan White and Jon Anderson might be seen prowling the junkyard for car parts!

 

 

Not content with charting the band’s history, Popoff covers the major projects outside of the Yes umbrella, such as Asia, GTR and Rick Wakeman’s extravaganzas, to paint the whole picture.

If you’ve been moved by classic albums such as Fragile, Close To The Edge, Relayer or Going For The One, or more recent offerings like Fly From Here and Heaven And Earth, you’ll love this book, which perfectly captures the spirit of progressive rock’s first and biggest and best act of crack musicians bent on bending your perceptions of what rock can be.

Visit MartinPopoff.com and/or email Martin directly at martinp@inforamp.net for further details.