To the remaining members this recent development with Anderson was just another change they would soldier on.
YES membership was always fluid: nine guys had passed through over the years, and the band never recorded more than two studio albums in a row without some kind of roster disruption. What would YES mean without Jon Anderson singing? And why did he leave? More than that, to fans both men were (and, in the new millennium, still are) the twin pillars. After 12 years and ten albums, he and Squire were YES‘ only remaining founding members. Yet that problem paled in comparison to replacing Jon Anderson. How would they take him quitting a second time? When he reupped for Going For The One, it was hailed as a major return to form. On the other hand, fans saw him as the definitive YES keysman. Wakeman’s departure wasn’t quite as traumatic he was one of three YES keyboardists, and this was his second flight, so the band had experienced this before. For whatever reason, those sessions didn’t work out, and Anderson and Wakeman both bailed, each to pursue solo careers. So the pressure was on when Anderson, Squire, Howe, White, and Wakeman convened in 1979 with producer Roy Thomas Baker, well-known for his work with Queen. Punk rock and new wave were coming into fashion, and YES – who never had much to do with trends anyway – were regarded as dinosaurs by both the press and younger artists. Their most recent effort, Tormato (1978), hadn’t fared as well commercially or critically as its predecessor, Going For The One (1977). That had to be what Yesmen Chris Squire, Steve Howe, and Alan White were thinking in 1980 when not only keyboardist Rick Wakeman quit (again) but also singer Jon Anderson.
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