Following the discharge of their sole, self-titled studio album in June 1989, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe launched into an in depth and well-received world tour.
With the Chris Squire-led Yes languishing in a singerless limbo in Los Angeles, the offshoot tour was the closest followers would get to the Sure dwell expertise all through 1989 and early 1990.
Recorded on the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California on September 9, 1989, An Night Of Sure Music Plus was initially broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio present and as a pay-per-view live performance movie, earlier than being commercially launched in 1993 on double CD and in 1997 on the then-new DVD format. Whereas the previous was reissued in 2006, that is the primary time the audio and visible parts have been introduced collectively in a single package deal.
An Night Of Sure Music Plus does what it says on the tin, mixing a cross-section of songs by their then-former band with a good serving to of tracks from the ABWH album and a scattering of solo songs. The primary half-hour options every of the 4 musicians taking time within the highlight for what quantity to ‘solo’ units.
Jon Anderson’s acoustic medley takes in a plaintive Time And A Phrase, Sure’s 80s megahit Proprietor Of A Lonely Coronary heart and ABWH stinker Teakbois. Steve Howe fuses his instrumental exercise Clap with Sure’s Temper For A Day; and Rick Wakeman goes full solo with a fluid Gone However Not Forgotten and busy, brilliant renditions of Catherine Parr and Merlin The Magician. In contrast, Bill Bruford’s sample-heavy digital drum solo feels like an antiquated music store demo recording of space-age percussion.
Additionally spectacular is the anthemic Order Of The Universe, the place even Bruford’s syn-drum break works
Unsurprisingly, the Sure canon is closely represented, with And You And I, Shut To The Edge, Starship Trooper and Roundabout all rolled out. Nevertheless it’s the ABWH songs, free of the dated late 80s sonics of their recorded counterparts, that profit most from the dwell remedy.
There’s a robust model of Birthright, that includes a extra pronounced acoustic really feel; and a glowing, natural Brother Of Mine, with bassist Jeff Berlin –standing in for normal ABWH member Tony Levin, sidelined with hepatitis – on fluent type. Additionally spectacular is the anthemic Order Of The Universe, the place even Bruford’s syn-drum break works, regardless of sounding enjoyably like laser sound FX from a classic arcade sport.
Inside 18 months of this recording, the quartet had been re-absorbed into the primary band in time for the Union debacle. But this stays a fantastic reminder of a wonderful, if fleeting, half within the Yesstory.
An Night Of Sure Music Plus is on sale now by way of Esoteric Recordings.
[
