Even before joining Yes in 1972 drummer Alan White (1949-2022) had played with John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, George Harrison, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Billy Fury, Denny Laine and Billy Preston.
Had he quit the business after playing on Imagine and All Things Must Pass his place in music history would have been assured. Yet he’ll be best remembered for his almost half-century with Yes, which saw him inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017, and covering an extraordinary breadth of music within that ever-changing band.
In 2020 Prog presented 10 of his finest creations with the prog giants.
Heart Of The Sunrise – Yessongs, 1973
When Bill Bruford left Yes after Close To The Edge, 11 days before a huge tour, White – friendly with their producer Eddy Offord – was invited to join. He had just three days to learn their challenging repertoire before he debuted with them in Dallas Texas on July 30, 1972.
The ensuing pick-and-mix live album featured three Bruford tracks, but the rest was White, swiftly mastering such implausibly tricky numbers as Starship Trooper, Roundabout – and this monster.
The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn) – Tales From Topographic Oceans, 1973
Did Yes ease White in on his first studio album with a simple, straightforward piece of work? They did not.
Tales… is famously one of the most divisive double albums in rock history. Ambitious or pretentious? Cosmically inspired? Up its own black hole? Whichever way, its sprawling sonic journey through Hindu and Yogi texts is, to this day, like nothing else. And White’s versatility gives it a vital kind of through-line narrative.
The Gates Of Delirium – Relayer, 1974
The one where Patrick Moraz replaced Rick Wakeman, Relayer is a unique album even among the Yes discography. Arty, aggressive in parts, its 22-minute Side One (ie, this track) was effectively Jon Anderson’s stab at War And Peace.
He and White – so enthused that you might even say they sometimes got carried away – experimented with sound, for one section toppling over huge piles of car parts from a scrap yard. Trevor Horn reckons this music changed his life.
Sound Chaser – Relayer, 1974
From the same album, recorded in Chris Squire’s garage studio in Surrey – although it sounds like it comes from Mars – comes a whirl with jazz fusion and even, really, funk. It counter-intuitively blends Steve Howe’s flamenco guitar and Moraz’s wild synths; and like so many Yes numbers, shouldn’t coalesce to make sense – and yet does.
You wonder if any other drummer could possibly have glued together all the disparate impulses and influences at play in the music of Yes.
Going For The One – Going For The One, 1977
After a hiatus during which each band member made a solo album – with White releasing 1976’s Ramshackled – the latest line-up reconvened in Montreux to come up with an album of (by their standards) shorter, sharper songs, excepting the 15-minute Awaken.
The media bubble may have considered that era as the height of punk, but Yes landed another Number One anyway. White co-wrote Turn Of The Century, but the clear flagships were Wonderous Stories and this electrifying rush of energy.
Release, Release – Tormato, 1978
A much-mocked album, not least by Wakeman. Squire once said he thought Wakeman and Howe were competing to play the most notes within a single bar. The White-Squire-Anderson co-write Release, Release, however, is intriguing.
Composed under the working title The Anti-Campaign – delving faintly into sociology, and featuring a football crowd cheering during the solos – it’s an atypical offering, with White’s double-tracked drums delivering an unignorable effect.
Machine Messiah – Drama, 1980
Another new chapter for Yes, with Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes in for Anderson and Wakeman, Drama was a rushed recording, but fairly well received – despite the new boys getting booed onstage.
Machine Messiah was described by rock writer Chris Welch as “unexpectedly heavy metal,” and White referred to it as “his baby.” He’d reportedly egged on a tiring Squire to learn the difficult bass parts. Many were surprised to get Black Sabbath when they’d braced themselves for Buggles.
Owner Of A Lonely Heart – 90125, 1983
The production approach by now ex-member Horn defined the next version of Yes, as 90125 gave the supposed “dinosaurs” another lease of life, and by far their biggest -selling album.
Owner Of A Lonely Heart, of course, crossed over into places which had never been on Yes’ map; and White’s contribution was crucial. While its Fairlight frolics are the opposite of old-school drumming, Horn told this writer that he and White spent many happy hours putting the rhythm together with their new tech toys.
Rhythm Of Love – Big Generator, 1987
With Yes now a much-changed pop-rock beast and Trevor Rabin pulling most levers, this troubled album saw Horn leave halfway, saying the band “was just warring factions trying to kill each other”. Somehow they got it done. Could it have been that drummer, holding everything together again?
This single, described by Rabin as “just sex” – we’re a long way from Fragile – even boasts a quasi-Whitesnake video, while White’s big booming entrance is the very essence of 1987 rock.
Fly From Here Part 1: We Can Fly – Fly From Here, 2011
Yes’ personnel switched around like football managers for years; but perhaps the most realistic return to form came when White, Squire, Howe, Horn and Downes combined with singer Benoit David on this slick yet emotive Horn production, their 20th studio album.
Revitalising this lost song – which Buggles had written and Yes had performed live on the Drama tour – proved an inspired idea. As always, White knew when to taxi and when to lift off.
