Trevor Rabin signs to InsideOutMusic for the release of ‘Rio’; his first vocal-led solo album in over 30 years 

InsideOutMusic are pleased to announce the signing of Trevor Rabin, the South African guitarist, singer, multi-musician, writer and producer. They will release ‘Rio’, his first solo album of vocal material in 34 years on October 6th, 2023 worldwide.

Of the signing and the forthcoming album, Trevor comments: “Signing to InsideOutMusic was the most natural and happy signing. Thomas and I have been friends for a while, and we’ve wanted to work together for a while.  As I got close to completing the project, I called Thomas. It was that simple. I am extremely happy to be working with the InsideOutMusic team and being part of the Sony family.”

InsideOutMusic label-head Thomas Waber adds: “Working with Trevor is a big bucket list moment for me and the label. I became a fan of his signature writing style at the beginning of the 80s and have been following him ever since. He is one of the true greats in Rock Music. ‘Rio’ is everything we could have hoped for and more!”

Although he has carved a lengthy and diverse career, Johannesburg-born Rabin is best known for membership of the band Yes over a 12-year, four-album spell that began in 1983, his smash hit song ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ of the same year topping America’s Billboard chart and inspiring the iconic prog-rock band to cross over into a far larger audience. Rabin was inducted to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the band in 2017 and more recently teamed up with former Yes members Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman in the trio ARW.

Given that his previous vocal-led solo album, ‘Can’t Look Away’, was released in 1989 (2012’s ‘Jacaranda’ was all-instrumental), Rabin has kept us waiting for more than three decades for a follow-up. Trevor admits that there was pressure from all sides, including his own family, to have speeded up the process. However, the delay is excusable. Since leaving Yes following the ‘Talk’ album in 1994 and largely as a prequel to touring as part of ARW in 2016, the guitarist entered the time-consuming world of movie soundtracks. Trevor’s name appears as composer for such blockbusters as Con Air, Armageddon, Remember the Titans, Enemy Of The State, Deep Blue Sea, Glory Road, and Gone In 60 Seconds and both National Treasure movies, amongst many others. “Over the past ten years I was having ideas, concepts that I couldn’t implement due to my busy schedule,” he explains, adding: “To be honest, those years flew by in a flurry. I knew that this was the time, and once I found my momentum I worked on the album 24/7.”

‘Rio’, named after Rabin’s grand-daughter, features a painting by Trevor himself and will be available to pre-order from August 4th on several different formats. More information will be available soon. 

Trevor’s social media presence has been newly relaunched, and you can find all the key places to find out more information below. You can also see a video of Trevor checking in here:

Review – ASIA – The Official Live Bootlegs – Volume 1 – by John Wenlock-Smith

Asia are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of their debut album next year, can you believe it has been 40 years since ‘Heat of the Moment’ first graced our airwaves! That album, of course, was a spectacular success and gave a new lease of life to a disgruntled Steve Howe who had been left in the cold by Yes as they had regrouped around Trever Rabin and Chris Squire. Steve was invited to join John Wetton, Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes in his then latest venture that brought the worlds of progressive music and AOR together in spectacular musical and financial success.

This set consists of five double CD’s featuring hitherto unreleased recordings of Asia in 1982, 1983, 2007, 2008 and, finally, 2010, recorded in the USA, Brazil, Japan and London. These sets are quite different in that the sound is always good and most noticeable is the bass of John Wetton, being often prominent and the band are playing very tightly and obviously enjoying themselves Naturally, many of the tracks are repeated over the five shows, although Carl Palmer’s drum solo moves from track to track as these albums progress.

The first set was recorded on Asia’s first US tour and, obviously, their debut album is prominently featured, although a new track that would appear on ‘Alpha’ was unveiled, albeit in a quite different version to the one that ended up on the album, as this features all four members playing keyboards to a drum machine backing before morphing into a full band performance where Steve Howe gets to wail and Carl Palmer hits things loudly. A lively rendition of Only Time Will Tell stands out with Geoff’s keyboard being prominent and John in fined voice indeed. In fact, Asia have seldom sounded rawer than this and everyone sounds in good form, this performance is particularly feisty and energetic. The rest of this set is fuelled by the balance of songs from their debut, Carl Palmer’s Drum solo and the double whammy of Sole Survivor and Heat of The Moment.

The second set is from August 1983 in Worcester, Massachusetts and this is a mixture of the debut and ‘Alpha’ albums along with Steve Howe’s solo segment of Beginnings/Valley of Rocks/Clap and Carl Palmer’s drum solo in Here Comes the Feeling, culminating in Sole Survivor and Heat of the Moment again.

The third set  was recorded in Brazil shortly after the band reformed in 2007 and this set features tracks from their recently released album ‘Phoenix’, which stand up well to their earlier classics. Also Roundabout gets a dusting off here with John Wetton taking on the Jon Anderson parts. Well, he even gets a Chris Squire type sound and tone and his bass drives the song along nicely. It is great to hear these musicians really stretching themselves, though the sound is a bit crackly on this number, for some reason, but it doesn’t detract from what is an excellent version of a great song.

There is a version of Fanfare for the Common Man from Carl’s old band, ELP, and, again, we are in for a real treat here with Geoff Downes’ keyboards sounding not unlike a certain Mr. Emerson, and Steve’s guitar interjects and adds little flourishes throughout before he lets fly with a brief solo. It’s all highly effective stuff, as is the short bass solo from John Wetton. This set also includes a King Crimson track, In the Court of the Crimson King, and The Buggles’ song Video Killed the Radio Star.

Set four is from Tokyo in 2008, just before ‘Omega’ was released. The ‘Phoenix’ album is featured with An Extraordinary Life standing out. Again, solo tracks from each member are included and this is also the longest of these sets at nearly 2 hours in length. The sound is uniformly good throughout and it is great to hear .

The last set in this collection comes from London in 2010 and is a great return to form for the band. Featuring, as it does, lesser played tracks like Finger on The Trigger and Through My Veins from the ‘Omega’ album, along with a Steve Howe solo and the usual Carl Palmer drum solo during The Heat Goes On. The set concludes with Sole Survivor, Go (from ‘Astra’) and Heat of The Moment.

The collection features new art from Roger Dean and a brief, but informative, booklet detailing each of the shows, just a shame that John Wetton is no longer with  us to celebrate this significant anniversary. This box set is a wonderful way in which to both remember, and celebrate, a rather rawer and more ferocious Asia than their albums showed. It is a great collection, pricey but worthwhile as Christmas is soon with us!

Released 26th November, 2021.

Order the box set here:

Asia – The Official Live Bootlegs, Volume One – Horizons Music

YES FEATURING JON ANDERSON, TREVOR RABIN, RICK WAKEMAN – LIVE AT THE APOLLO ON DVD / BLU-RAY / CD & LP

YES

FEATURING JON ANDERSON, TREVOR RABIN, RICK WAKEMAN

50TH ANNIVERSARY LIVE AT THE APOLLO – OUT SEPTEMBER 07 2018

“Glorious splendour, a cause for celebration…the true spirit of Yes’”– Louder Than War

On 07 September 2018, Eagle Vision release Yes, 50th Anniversary Live At The Apollo on DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD & 3LP.

In 2016, Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman combined their incredible talents and the heritage of Yes to take to the road for a series of concerts celebrating the band’s musical legacy from the seventies to the nineties. Yes, featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman brought their live show to the UK in early 2017, including this sell-out performance, captured live at the Manchester Apollo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPb-Iqrlc8Y&feature=youtu.be

With a setlist embracing the spectrum of their career, including classics Roundabout, Owner Of A Lonely Heart, And You And I, Hold On, Heart Of The Sunrise, Rhythm Of Love, I’ve Seen All Good People, Awaken and many more, the band were on superb form.  Wakeman’s keyboard sorcery wove its spell alongside Rabin’s masterly guitar skills and founding member Jon Anderson’s unique vocal and lyrical prowess to create a special night of musical alchemy for their fans.  This glorious show captures the true, enduring nature of this ever-powerful band.

Grammy Award winners Yes have sold more than 35 million albums and have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Line-up:

Jon Anderson (vocals, guitar, harp); Trevor Rabin (guitar, vocals); Rick Wakeman (keyboards). With Lee Pomeroy (bass) and Lou Molino III (drums).

Audio Mixed By: Paul Linford and Trevor Rabin.

Tracklisting:

1) Orchestral arr. Perpetual Change (Rabin) / Cinema (Rabin/Kaye/Squire/White) / Perpetual Change (Anderson/Squire)  2) Hold On (Rabin/Anderson/Squire   3) I’ve Seen All Good People : (i) Your Move (ii) All Good People (Anderson/Squire)   4) Lift Me Up (Rabin/Squire)   5) And You & I (i) Cord Of Life (ii) Eclipse (iii) The Preacher, The Teacher (iv) Apocalypse (Anderson/Bruford/Howe/Squire   6) Rhythm Of Love (Rabin/Anderson/Kaye/Squire/White)   7) Heart Of The Sunrise (Anderson/Bruford/Squire)   (CD Disc 2) 8) Changes (Rabin/Anderson/White)   9) Long Distance Runaround (Anderson) / The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) (Squire)   10) Orchestral Shade (Rabin) / Awaken (Anderson/Howe)   11) Make It Easy (Rabin) / Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Rabin/Anderson/Howe/Squire)   12) Roundabout (Anderson/Howe)

Pre-order here