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In the mid-70's, the five members
of YES released a solo album each between 1975-76. These were
known at the time as YESSOLOS. This was after RELAYER album,
while Swiss maestro Patrick Moraz was still in the group.
Each album was to be viewed as one part of a whole(the band)
and they were: Steve Howe's guitar-song showcase, BEGINNINGS-
Chris Squire's elegant FISH OUT OF WATER- Moraz' classical/Brazillian/fusion
masterwork, THE STORY OF 'I'- Jon Anderson's spacey and mystical
OLIAS OF SUNHILLOW, and this, Alan White's first and only
solo album. This one is getting reviewed because it's the
one that had never seen a CD release before outside of Japan
briefly.***
This is for mostly YES collectors,
but RAMSHACKLED is one album I may have hated at first and
grew to like a bit of it later on. Of the five YESSOLOS, this
is the least Yes-like and the one that doesn't age too well.
It is a product of the 70's, and has more of a Santana/Blood
Sweat & Tears/Joe Cocker type 70's boogie rock sound during
the most radio-friendly parts. Most of the vocals are close
to the soulful rasp of Ritchie Havens, so be forwarned. However,
when the classic progressive styles try to take over, you
get a nice organ & guitar driven proto-prog sound not unlike
FLASH or MAINHORSE, other pre-Yes or Yes offshoots. It's easy
to ignore some tasteful playing with songs that have titles
like 'OOOH BABY' and 'SILLY WOMAN'. White's drumming is no
different than on RELAYER or TALES or GOING FOR THE ONE, just
in a different context. The same brew of technique and emotion
which are Alan's trademark style is in no short supply. Again,
it's easy to dismiss this as forgotten 70's drivel and imply
that White only made a solo record because everyone else in
YES was. In fact, this an hardly be seen as a 'proper' solo
album at all: Alan has no writing credit on any of these tracks
whatsoever and is merely the drummer on his own project. So
this would be more of a 'project' than an actual solo release.
Alan's role on RAMSHACKLED is that of bandleader and producer(yes,
he at least produced his album). He even shares percussion
duties with another percussionist on some bits. And you'll
probably go through a period of disliking this album before
realising as I just did that it's not that bad. There's some
great drumming throughout, and they go through a lot of different
styles as well. And of course one track has Anderson and Howe.
Can't go wrong there. The tracks are:
OOOH BABY(Going To Pieces):
Percussion and organ dominate this
opening track which recalls outfits like Blood Sweat & Tears
and the like. I swear those vocals are almost Ritchie Havens.
Add some Latin-ish percussion and you have something out from
the back alley instead of from one of those Roger Dean floating
islands.***
ONE WAY RAG:
Jangley-piano boogie number with
a bit of funky sway, and probably would not have sounded out
of place on AM radio back in the 70's. Nice background vox
and a sax solo too.***
AVAKAK: some classic progressive
instrumentation on this fusion instrumental. Here's where
White and his band's jazz side takes hold. Expressive piano,
horns, percussion, organ, guitar. This is probably more complicated
to play than it sounds. There's a brief dip into Zappa-esque
absurdity(Chunga's Revenge) in the middle and goes into a
jazzy workout which climaxes with the sound of something splattering
against the wall. I'm not going to ask what.***
SPRING - SONG OF INNOCENCE:
This gentle ballad features lyrics
taken from a William Blake poem. The tinkling piano and flutes
merge well with guests Jon Anderson and Steve Howe. Here,
the gentle twang of Howe's restrained guitar and Anderson's
somewhat also mellow vocal take bring to life the pastoral
atmosphere of this track in a way nobody else can. Anderson
in particular sounds naive and somewhat less confident, bringing
to mind his sound on the first two YES albums. This almost
sounds like a first take. And if it isn't, credit to these
guys for capturing the spirit of the young YES and the overall
poem as well.***
GIDDY:
A thankfully short track which
doesn't age well at all. Nice dated moog solo though. The
lyrics are a thousand miles away from SIBERIAN KHATRU. A throwaway
track no doubt.***
SILLY WOMAN:
A somewhat John Lennon vibe with
a reggae swagger which gets into your head whether you want
it too or not. You can see footage of Alan and his temporary
band playing this on the old YESYEARS video from 1991. This
track I can see Jimmy Buffet doinbg this one.***
MARCHING INTO A BOTTLE:
Some classical guitar and flute
for this short and pleasant instrumental interlude. This isn't
too far off from Steve Howe's title track on BEGINNINGS.***
EVERYBODY:
Funky track with a Captain Beefheart
feel maybe. I'm glad Alan joined YES instead of some bar band
back in the 70's, because he could have ended up doing things
like this.***
DARKNESS(part 1, 2 & 3):
The last track is a little more
involved than some of that rock & boogie stuff elsewhere on
the album. There's some good instrumentation which goes through
some YES, Nektar and Zappa moods in various sections. Some
horns, acoustic guitar and orchestration enhance the overall
song. Not sure what Alan was thinking with this album. Perhaps
he felt that he really wasn't a strong 'solo' artist and got
a bunch of friends and ex-bandmates to knock out that obligatory
'YESSOLO'. Anyway, I'm sure that he could deliver a strong
solo album these days if he put his mind to it. He's responsible
for a lot of Yes material which I understand he never gets
proper credit for, including IN THE PRESENCE OF, MIND DRIVE
and others. In the meantime, I'll look forward to his new
band 'WHITE' which also features Geoff Downes.***
This album should be in the YES
fan's collection if only just to have it. But if you venture
to hear it, you'll hear not only a dated product of the mid-70's,
but some decent stuff as well which is the closest to recapture
the early vibe of the first two YES albums, and Alan wasn't
even on those. If you can get past the sloppy pub-rock of
tracks like GIDDY, that is.
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