XYZ - Telephone Secrets (1982)

In December 1980 Yes bassist Chris Squire met Jimmy Page by chance at a party, and the idea of forming a group together was mooted, to be called XYZ, which was short for eX-Yes-Zeppelin. Squire brought along drummer Alan White, and they also recruited former Greenslade keyboard player and vocalist Dave Lawson. Squire was the main writer for the group, and Page believed the band needed a strong vocalist, so sought out his old pal Robert Plant, and although he did attend one rehearsal on 28 February 1981, he decided not to join the group, citing his dislike for the complexity of the music, and because he was still deeply hurt by the recent death of his long-time friend and band-mate John Bonham. Without a firm commitment from Plant, and with contractual issues on who should manage the group (Peter Grant or Brian Lane), the project was shelved, but not before four demo recordings had been made with Squire on vocals. With XYZ's future in limbo, Squire and White recorded a Christmas single called 'Run With The Fox' in October 1981, and they then asked guitarist Trevor Rabin to join them and form the band Cinema, along with old Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye. Rabin initially attempted to rework the XYZ material along with his solo songs for the new group, and they recorded a few demos, but they then decided to invite Jon Anderson into the group, and Cinema evolved into a new line-up of Yes. The demos produced from the Cinema sessions included 'Make It Easy' and 'It's Over', with lead vocals by Rabin, and an early version of 'It Can Happen' featuring Squire on vocals, which have since appeared on Yes re-issues, but they also recorded a 20-minute instrumental called 'Time', and another unreleased track entitled 'Carry On'. In 1983 the new Yes line-up released the '90125' album, which included the introduction from 'Time' as an instrumental called 'Cinema', as a tribute to the aborted band. Other XYZ and Cinema songs turned up later, with one instrumental being reworked to become part of 'Mind Drive' on the 1997 Yes album 'Keys To Ascension', while 'Can You See' became 'Can You Imagine' on 2001's 'Magnification'. Part of another XYZ instrumental was used as the intro to The Firm's 'Fortune Hunter', which was fair as Squire has mentioned that Page brought the riff to the band anyway. This album collects together all of the above-mentioned tracks except 'Time', which has never surfaced, and as the whole thing started with that chance meeting by Squire and Page, I'm counting it as a lost XYZ album, as Squire and White are constant members throughout the recordings.  

Track listing

01 Can You See (Page, Squire, White, Lawson)
02 Mind Drive (Page, Squire, White, Lawson)
03 Telephone Secrets (Page, Squire, White, Lawson)
04 Fortune Hunter (Page, Squire, White, Lawson)
05 Run With The Fox (Squire, White)
06 It Can Happen (Squire, White, Rabin, Kaye)
07 Make It Easy (Squire, White, Rabin, Kaye)
08 It's Over (Squire, White, Rabin, Kaye)
09 Carry On (Squire, White, Rabin, Kaye)

Steve Howe - ...and on guitar (1991)

In April 1970, Steve Howe replaced Peter Banks in Yes, and his career really started to take off. His playing style soon became instantly recognisable, and he has since become an integral part of the band, playing on every album from 1971's 'The Yes Album' until the band split up in 1981. While he was still finding his feet in Yes, Howe and Rick Wakeman contributed to the recording of Lou Reed's self-titled debut album as session musicians, working together for the first time, and the same year he had played lead guitar on folk duo Curtiss Maldoon's first eponymous album. A couple of years later he played on two instrumental albums, one by his band-mate Rick Wakeman on his first solo records, and also on an album by Johnny Harris, who recorded easy listening versions of popular hits of the the 60's and 70's. It was rather an odd gig, but his contribution to Jethro Tull's 'Love Song' was professional if nothing else. In 1975 the members of Yes took a break to record solo albums, and as well as releasing his own superb 'Beginnings', Howe also found time to help out Yes drummer Alan White with his own solo album, playing on a song to which Jon Anderson also contributed vocals. After that there was a busy seven year period with Yes which meant that he couldn't moonlight on other artist's records, but in 1982 he was asked to play on a song from the The Dregs 'Industry Standard' album, after which guest appearances tended to be spaced out at one every few years, appearing on albums by Propaganda, Billie Currie, Andy Leek and Animal Magic in the mid to late 80's. One particularly fine effort is to be found on the first 'Guitar Speak' compilation album from 1988, where guitarists were invited to contribute one piece of music each, and his 'Sharp On Attack' is one of the best pieces on there. In 1991 Queen invited Howe to listen to rough mixes of their new album, and asked if he'd like to add something to the title track 'Innuendo', to which he readily agreed. He has since said that he was proud to have played his classical guitar solo on the song, and as it was his last guest appearance for seven years, it's the perfect conclusion to the album. One appearance that I've had to omit was his acoustic guitar solo on Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome' album, as it was unfortunately just too long to fit on here, but it's another example of the fact that unlike a lot of guitarists in this series who tended to stick to the genre that they were most know for, Howe seemed to have no qualms about playing on records by folk, pop, easy listening, rock, or 80's indie artists, adding something special to each record that he played on.   

Track listing

01 Long Long Time (from 'Curtiss Maldoon' by Curtiss Maldoon 1971)  
02 Berlin (from 'Lou Reed' by Lou Reed 1972)
03 Love Song (from 'All To Bring You Morning' by Johnny Harris 1973) 
04 Catherine Of Aragon (from 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII' by Rick Wakeman 1973)
05 Song Of Innocence (from 'Ramshackled' by Alan White 1975)
06 Up In The Air (from 'Industry Standard' by The Dregs 1982)
07 The Murder Of Love (from 'A Secret Wish' by Propaganda 1985)
08 Airlift (from 'Transportation' by Billie Currie 1988)
09 Sharp On Attack (from the compilation album 'Guitar Speak' 1988) 
10 Say Something (from 'Say Something' by Andy Leek 1988)
11 There's A Spy (In The House Of Love) (from 'Animal Logic' by Animal Logic 1989)  
12 Innuendo (from 'Innuendo' by Queen 1991)