If Trevor Rabin had never been in Yes, would your opinion of him change?

There are many ways to approch this question. Take it any way you choose.

Some feel that Trevor ruined Yes. I wonder, do these same people dislike his solo efforts? Is it a matter of the fact that they don't like him because he changed Yes' sound, or they don't like his style in general?

Can you as a listener, separate what you think of Trevor's involvement in Yes and view him purely on his merits? He does indeed have musical and compositional skills. He is a multi-instrumentalist. He can sing and harmonize.

Well?

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If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go, because, man, they're gone. - Jack Handy

Here's a spin on it: suppose Rabin had joined Foreigner (he almost went on tour with them). Suppose it had been Foreigner, rather than Yes, that had experienced a Rabin "transformation," with structures and riffs and production akin to "Endless Dream," "City of Love," "Shoot High Aim Low," "Final Eyes," "I'm Running," and so on.

We would cease to call him a glam-rock poser, and would view him as an agent for taste and sophistication.

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Jack Bauer: Unavailable ... fictional ... and over-qualified.


Kiss slowly ... Forgive quickly ...

Hmmm. I never viewed him as a glam rock poser, even though I am partial to Steve. If he did take his talents elsewhere, I think he would just be another good guitarist. His sound would homogenize with everything else out there if he were in a band like Foreigner. I think the Yes element combined with Trevor and the resulting sound became unique. I'm not sure if that would have happened in a band like Foreigner. They may have had some new hits. I bet they would have had a huge hit if Trevor was with them. We would be hearing Trevor era Foreigner instead of Owner on classic rock stations.
Trevor had the talent to bring that processed 80's sound into Yes and make it work. Everything was trying to be polished back then. Even Tull had that polish with Crest of a Knave.
What I guess I'm trying to say is that if Trevor was in a band like Foreigner instead of Yes, I would probably really view him as a glam rock poser but because he had the talent to play with a band like Yes and make it work, he's ok with me.

Back in the 70's I used to believe there wasn't a guitarist on the planet that could be in Yes besides Steve Howe. It was inconceivable. Trevor certainly proved me and many others wrong, with a vengance.

I felt, and still do, that Trev was one of the greatest musical talents the century produced, almost in the same league with Lennon/McCartney and a few others. Maybe not technically as GREAT as Steve, but what versatility! What he brought to Yes was beyond measure, and I'll never quite understand why after 90125 he had so much trouble with Jon (until the early 90's). A major clash of ego, but it's always been my opinion that Jon should have been the one to yield, for Yes had made a number of moves over the years to further their success, and here was a guy who took them to the top and would have kept them there had their not been so many personal clashes.

His departure in 95 was just tragic, imo.

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Jack


www.myspace.com/jackaranda77

I think it was more than justa clash of egos, Jack. Yes, the band realized their greatest commercial success to date with 90125, and Jon has repeatedly said that he didn't want Yes to just be another rock/pop band; that they had more going for them than that. So I think that while Jon's ego may have gotten bruised due to the commercial success that Trevor's input provided, I think there was a clash of musical ideologies which caused some turbulence. However, great music can come from that as well. BG has some very strong tracks on it. Was Yes different with Trevor Rabin? Absolutely! Was Yes bad with Trevor? No, of course not. Different doesn't mean bad.

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"I don't believe in the no-win scenario." - Admiral James T. Kirk

No, I don't think my opinion of him would change. I would suggest, however, that his tenure in Yes helped him every bit as much as his commercial writing, playing and production approach resurrected a fairly defunct Yes. He might have achieved his current level of success in film scoring, but I suspect it might have either taken longer or he might have wandered off into another direction with another band that didn't have the musical envelope he could wrap himself up in and shine like he did.

However, I do think it's a pretty big stretch to compare Rabin to Lennon/McCartney. I really like him and never thought of him as anything other than what he is: a heckuva multi-faceted, highly talented musician. He didn't ruin Yes. He changed the band. I think his vision on 90125 was extraordinary. I still rank that album highly on my list of favorites. But Big Generator was a Big Disappointment to me and other than Endless Dream, I don't care for Talk at all. It feels souless to me. Soul ~ that's what I think Steve brings to Yes on the guitar and songwriting front, especially since he is pushed and driven and inspired whenever Rick in the band. He gives the guitar voice a more melodic, painterly tone and warmer feel. Trevor's style is great for rocking out straightforward, but in this Yes fan's view of the music, Steve still lays claim to the soundscape that keeps me drawn to the music and the dream that is Yes.