by Geoff Bailie
Waiting for the new Yes album? Why not fill the time with … a new(ish) Yes album!
See below my thoughts on the expanded From A Page, along with some Q&A with Oliver Wakeman who not only plays on the album, but also produced it and has been the driving force behind it coming into existence:
From 2008 to 2011, Oliver Wakeman was keyboard player for the band that his father had been key in establishing. Initially joining for an anniversary tour that his dad had passed on with the Anderson/ Squire/ Howe/ White line up, Jon Anderson’s illness meant that band began to tour with singer Benoit David. After several years of incredibly well received touring, the band began word on a studio album. That process, which ended with the Fly From Here album, also saw Oliver replaced with Geoff Downes, mainly because of a decision by the band and producer Trevor Horn to reactivate the Drama outtake that became the title track which Downes had helped to write.
In 2019, the release of the From A Page EP the story of what happened with the making of that album started to be revealed. The five piece had done a lot of work with a significant writing contribution from Oliver, on songs which, for obvious reasons, did not end up on Fly From Here. The EP revisited those four tracks which Wakeman finished off, and, it’s fair to say that they were universally praised by the Yes community both on account of the quality of the tracks plus the added opportunity to hear the bass and vocals of the late Chris Squire. I reviewed that album in 2019 YES – From A Page (Album Review) and that looked like the end of the story. But not so…
The Prog Report (TPR): Tell us about the process of going back to this music, after the initial release – what prompted it or what was different this time around?
Oliver Wakeman (OW): “I was really happy with the way the original from a page 4 track release came out and then Mercury Studios bought the post 2000 Yes catalogue and from a page was included in that.
“I realised that one of the records that they had also purchased was Fly From Here (FFH) and that gave me the opportunity to speak to them and see if I could take the tracks from FFH (that I’d been originally involved in creating) and utilise modern technology to separate all the tracks and put the parts that I’d come up with originally back into the songs.
“Putting these parts back, the way that the songs were originally intended to be, was really exciting for me and that was essentially the driving force behind making it different. Also I really like the idea of making releases interesting for people so that they’re getting something new when they purchase it.”
As well as the original four tracks, the line up had also started work on much of what became Side 2 of FFH. So Oliver has taken the master-tapes featuring Howe, Squire, White and David, and restored / replayed his planned parts to The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be, Into The Storm and Hour of Need. With the addition of the Chris Squire song Aliens, these tracks now become an alternate universe 45 minute Yes album – and it’s amazing! The important point is that the work that’s been done now means we have a fully fledged, album length representation of the songs this line up created, and it’s a very worthy addition to the Yes catalogue.
To The Moment starts the album, as it did the EP and you can’t mistake who you’re listening to here. It’s a great track. I said in my original review that I always felt Benoit’s vocals on much of Fly From Here sounded like a replication of Trevor Horn, whereas here he very much has his own voice. The brilliant production means you can clearly hear Howe and Squire’s backing vocals, and there is a wonderful middle instrumental section featuring Wakeman’s church organ and then Moog tones in harmony with Howe’s guitar – a true YesSound!
TPR: Your keyboard additions to the tracks that eventually appeared in different versions are very focused in the more “organic” keyboard sounds – piano, Hammond, Moog etc. Was that the original plan when working on the tracks?
OW: “When I was working on the original tracks, I was working with my keyboard rig which was also built in a lovely studio in Beverly Hills. I had a Steinway grand piano, my Korg CX 3 organ, my Moog and some Korg keyboards with very good string sounds on. They don’t date music in the same way that they used to. In fact some modern keyboards from say 20 years ago, if you listen to certain songs you can date those keyboards by those sounds. However Moogs, Hammonds, pianos & strings have become pretty much day-to-day staple sounds and so they don’t immediately date music although they are sounds identified with Yes, which is why I thought they were appropriate.”
The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be sung by Squire is the first new version and it really benefits from the new production and added Oliver. Don’t get me wrong – I am a huge Trevor Horn fan including his productions. This version just has an extra something that makes a song I’ve enjoyed for years into something a bit different (part of why I also enjoyed FFH Return Trip). I will add … the Disc 2 demo of this Benoit singing to a more stripped back arrangement is really excellent. As much as I love Chris and especially his singing Benoit is amazing on the demo! Both versions are worthy!
The Turn of a Card is a beautifully executed classically inspired piece, that features Wakeman’s piano and David singing in a much lower register than we are used to. A track from outside of the recording sessions it certainly deserves its place here.
I’ll say it – Into The Storm is a Top 5 2000s Yessong for me. It may even be number 1. But when you add Oliver’s Moog, piano and Hammond into this, it takes the song to a new level! It’s just those classic in your fact traditional sounds that enhance this already great song. A headphone listen shows the intricacy of what’s been created here, musically and vocally. The “Armies of Angels” section is one of my favourite Yes moments, and Oliver’s keyboard parts, on piano and synth raise my enjoyment levels even higher. Just a brilliant track! (Fun point to note, the original, and this version, have a Fly From Here reprise in the outro, so there is a nod to that album in the mix!).
TPR: For the Chris Squire track, Aliens you achieved a “virtual” reunion featuring Chris, Alan and you. Tell us about how that came about.
OW: “I always enjoyed playing Aliens on the first tour I did with Yes in 2008. Steve didn’t want to play during Chris’ solo spot (which is where the piece was played) and so Chris asked me whether I would come up with a piano arrangement for it which I did. Live, Alan agreed to play on it and Benoit agreed to sing harmony. So we played it on the first tour and it went down very very well. However it never got considered for the record because Steve didn’t want to perform on it and so Chris then thought he would take it to his project with Steve Hackett.
“However when it came to doing From A page, I knew that I had spent so much time playing it on tour that it really felt like a Yes track. Also because that’s where it started off. Therefore I thought that it was probably an appropriate track to put on this record. I had the original Demo that Chris had sent to me and so by getting that demo and separating out his bass and vocals, I was able to rebuild the track the same way we did it live. And probably how we would’ve done it in the studio had we done it at the time.”
Hour of Need has a simpler production, and vocally is a nice duet between Benoit and Steve, with added Oliver touches of piano which is very sympathetic to the acoustic feel, and some Lucky Man-esq Moog sounds. Words On A Page is familiar from the original From A Page, and, like the original EP, disc 1 ends with The Gift of Love, the only co-write by all five members of this Yes line up. It’s a lighter track, rather than a heavy prog epic, but it’s hard to resist the combination of Benoit’s lead vocal and Chris singing the chorus. It is a great bookend to the album, with the reprise of To The Moment, and some great guitar and keyboard soloing. But wait, there’s more!
In some releases, the phrase “Bonus Disc” means – listen once and leave it in the case. However in this case, each of the seven tracks have merit being here, and as an album itself, it is a great listen. The majority of it are the demos from of the tracks but, for example, the Words On a Page demo has different guitar and piano parts from the main album version. It also features a version of the Steve Howe written Don’t Take No For An Answer, which only appeared on Fly From Here: Return Trip sung by Howe – so Benoit’s take on this brings a new angle. There is also the track Updraft which turned into the Armies of Angels section of Into The Storm, the product of Wakeman / White stage jams, and this alternate view of the track is really worthwhile. The mini box set comes with extensive notes from Oliver as well as art cards and a Roger Dean poster, so lots of thought has gone into making this a special release.
TPR: You’ve just finished a short UK tour playing some of this material live with your band. How did this go down with the audiences and have you plans to do any shows outside of the UK?
OW: “The tour with my own band going out to promote the From A Page re-release went down phenomenally well. We were really well received wherever we went. We had really good audiences and everybody seemed to be very very happy with the show that we put on.
“We really enjoyed it and we’re looking forward to going out later in the year. In November we’re playing some dates in England. We’re doing a show in Scotland then we head out to the Netherlands and then we head off to Germany. It’s gonna be great fun and our agent is currently looking at booking shows in March/April next year to continue the tour due to the success.”
In my experience “Great Lost Albums” very rarely live up to expectation. In this case, the expanded From A Page turns the original EP into a bona fide Yes album, worthy of the ears and attention of every Yesfan. Fans of Squire and White will be delighted to hear them, along with some great vocals from Chris. Kudos and thanks to Oliver for bringing us this music and keeping that spirit alive – go see him and his band live if you get the chance!
https://yesworld.com/2026/03/yes-from-a-page/
Tracklist:
CD1
To the Moment
The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be (Alternate Version)
From the Turn of a Card
Into the Storm (Alternate Version)
Aliens (Alternate Version)
Hour of Need (Alternate Version)
Words on a Page
The Gift of Love
CD2
Words on a Page (Demo)
The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be (Demo)
To The Moment (Demo)
The Gift of Love (Demo)
Don’t Take No for an Answer (Demo)
Updraft (Demo)
To The Moment (Single Mix)
