Steve Howe's Remedy Elements	Yes Remixes	Conspiracy The Unknown
Released: October 7, 2003 Origination Year: 2003 Time: 61:30 Tracks:16 Produced by: Steve Howe Style: Studio Format: CD Enhancement: None Label: InsideOut Music America Website: www.stevehowe.com	Released: July 8, 2003 Origination Year: 2003 Time: 62:16 Tracks:10 Produced by: Virgil Howe Style: Studio/Remix Format: CD Enhancement: None Label: Rhino Records Website: www.yesworld.com	Released: July 8, 2003 Origination Year: 2003 Time: 53:30 Tracks: 9 Produced by: Billy Sherwood & Chris Squire Style: Studio Format: CD Enhancement: None Label: InsideOut Music America Website:
Track Listing Across the Cobblestone Bee Sting Westwinds Where I Belong Whiskey Hill The Chariot of Gold Tremolando Pacific Haze Load Off My Mind Hecla Lava Smoke Silver Inside Out Muse Rising Sun Sand Devil The Longing A Drop in the Ocean	Track Listing Tempus Fugit Arriving UFO Heart of the Sunrise Awaken Sound Chaser Ritual Siberian Khatru 5 Per Cent for Nothing No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed No Clowns	Track Listing Conspiracy Confess New World 1/2 a World Away There is No End The Wheel Premonitions The Unknown I Could
Steve Howe's Remedy Steve Howe: Vocals / Guitar Derrick Taylor: Bass Virgil Howe: Keyboards / Harmonies Dylan Howe: Drums Gilad Atzmon: Flute / Sax / Clarinet	Yes Steve Howe: Guitars Chris Squire: Bass Rick Wakeman/Patrick Moraz: Keyboards Alan White/Bill Bruford: Drums Jon Anderson: Vocals	Conspiracy Chris Squire: Vocals / Bass Jay Schellen: Percussion / Drums Billy Sherwood: Vocals / Keyboards / Guitar Jimmy Hahn: Guitar Jordan Berliant: Guitar

Yes has survived, in one form or another, through wars, musical change and the lifespan of all of your pets and, amazingly, the majority of the family tree is still alive and making music after all these years. From a band release every other year, to solos, side bands and sundry other projects, there is little doubt that this band has a heck of a work ethic on their side… They also have a spotty track record.

For every high (the comfortably modernistic “The Ladder”, the offshoot Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe LP recalling the glory of the Yes Album-thru-Relayer days and, of course, the hit record Trevor Rabin tenure) there has been a puzzling low (the inexplicably shapeless “Open Your Eyes” and the ill-advised “Union” combination). Weakness cannot be pinpointed to any single member, mind you… It just seems that like most very long roller coasters, you’re bound to experience peaks and valleys. The three selections found herein illustrate the point pretty well. Knowing the ferocity of band-fan loyalty, I can expect controversy and consternation for my opinions, so why do I trudge forward?

Because I am a river to my people, that’s why.

When one thinks of Yes, most often they think of the elegant, fleet-fingered picking style of guitarist Steve Howe. Rightly regarded as a “guitar god”, he plays rock like a maestro and classical pieces that swing. Yet his solo stuff never really captured his range until “Elements”, his latest with new band and family project Steve Howe’s Remedy. But let this not sound like some weird offshoot of nepotism. Although the group includes Virgil and Dylan Howe (on keys and drums, respectively) they are not there out of misplaced fatherly blindness. “Elements” touches all the bases and brings home a solo effort to last a long time.

One of the things that used to bother me about Howe’s ventures was his voice. There was a reason Jon Anderson held that position in Yes and I must be honest in saying that I thought Howe’s pipes ruined a couple of his previous discs. This time though, his sound is strong, not as pressured as it had come across before. He only sings on a couple tracks but the tracks survive in fine form. The majority of the disc is instrumental and, as previously stated, runs the gamut from power rock, to fantastic acoustic runs, to swing-infused jazz. This is the perfect Sunday drive soundtrack when you go from town to town, experiencing a different musical feel each step of the way. It’s highly recommended.

Also recommended, but not for purists, is Yes Remixes by The Verge, a/k/a Virgil Howe. Borrowing equally from the classics and the lesser releases, Howe keeps things from getting too convoluted and the album hangs together well as a solid piece of clubbin’. The song “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed”, a Richie Havens cover from the earliest days, takes the refurbish very well, as does “Siberian Khatru” and “Tempus Fugit”. The strength lies in the ability to maintain recognizability with the original track while having fun with the collage aspect of the club remix format.

By turns, the track that initiated the project in the first place, “Heart of the Sunrise” suffers a little by delineating the boundaries of how far Howe can go. The repetitious Acid loops don’t gel the way the stronger tracks do, but the song is still very listenable. I can’t say the same for “No Clowns”, arguably centered on the Tormato track “Circus Of Heaven” but sounding more like a catchall for all the remaining audio loops Howe had left over. It’s the last track on the disc, and no wonder.

The main beef with the hardcore purists will be that Virgil Howe should pick on somebody else and leave Yes alone. I say, nonsense. This release doesn’t really affect the originals in such an all-consuming manner that one never sees them in the same light. Plus, being such an instrumentally conscious group of musicians, there’s so much to play with beyond just grabbing a snip of vocal and looping it to death, or repeating a drum and bass bite until it becomes a headache. In other words, Yes Remixes is fun, an interesting, sideways look ‘behind the music’ and should be taken in that light.

Not so much fun was Conspiracy’s “The Unknown”. It’s alright, I guess. It’s an interesting sound, I guess. I’ll listen to it again, I guess… But I can’t guarantee it, for even though all involved are talented, it’s hard to tell the real from the really processed. Yes, Yes Fans, this release seems to have been squeezed through the sonic strainer but good. Chris Squire’s voice is easily accepted, but there is such a manipulated sheen of electronic retuning, harmonizing and diddling that it gets uncomfortable after awhile. Add to it that the mix is so devoted to the treble and mid-range that the bass guitar, Squire’s signature ‘dirty plunk’, is almost non-existent.

Billy Sherwood is also a good musician, having been with Yes on and off through the 90s, but there is so much artifice going on sonically that you can’t tell if this is talent or digital stuttering. It worked on Yes Remixes because there was a strong frame of reference. The impressionistic redux somehow fit. “The Unknown” seems to be whether the band had much confidence in the material or whether all the ornamental burping was devoted to camouflage.

I can’t say which track was the strongest but the weakest one sticks out like the whitehead of a pimple. “Confess” has the lyrical punch of a High School Chess Club aficionado, meaning you could take this wimp without breaking a sweat. “I confess, I don’t want to live without you / I confess, I’ve got so much to give you / I confess, I’ll forever be here for you”. Ghaaaah! I wrote stronger sonatas to everlasting love on my brown paperbag book covers back in the 80s and didn’t have a thousandth of the financial resources or life experience these guys have. And that is the best they can do? For all the complicated stuff “The Unknown” appears to lay out, that remains the final impression on the subject: that’s the best they can do?

Nope, I don’t believe it for an instant. It gives me hope because I know the possibility of something better is still attainable by all involved. Hopefully, Yes proper will reconvene soon and set a new agenda. If not, we still have lots of stuff to listen to for a long time to come. Either way, if time, dissolution, renovation and everything in between cannot stop them, who can say what could?