TREVOR RABIN – 90124 [The Early Versions & More] *HQ*

With the recent post here of YES’ essential album “90125”, you need to check out where all started: the genesis of these songs from the hand of talented guitarist TREVOR RABIN.
Some time ago Rabin put out this “90124” album, including the previously unreleased demos and songs that he wrote as a solo artist, some of which were recorded by YES when he joined the band in 1983. The album’s title and artwork is a direct reference to 90125, the first Yes album to feature Rabin that was produced mainly from his demos included here on “90124”.
You can resist to enjoy the 1981 early versions of ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’, ‘Hold On’, ‘Changes’, of course coming from perfectionist like Rabin, sound quality is excellent. There’s also a great early take of ‘Love Will Find A Way’, plus other songs demoed by Rabin but never recorded later, like the AOR waves of ‘Walls (demo 90)’.

When Yes unveiled their new album ‘90125’ in 1983, it was hailed as a masterpiece. The long established supergroup had entered the modern era armed with brilliant songs, dazzling sounds and a hi-tech production.
90125 was a huge success and showcased Owner Of A Lonely Heart an irresistible anthem that became the band’s first Number One smash hit. Yet Trevor Rabin, the supremely talented young musician who wrote the song, had only recently joined.
His impact on Yes was immediate and profound. A masterful guitarist, keyboard player, singer and composer, Rabin’s skills blossomed within a band that had once appeared on the verge of extinction.

After huge success throughout the Seventies, the supergroup had been stymied by the mood of the post-punk era. Yes had broken up after their 1980 album Drama and the various members became involved in different projects. Chris Squire (bass) and Alan White (drums) were left looking for new musical partners. They conceived the idea of a vehicle for song writing and live performance. There was talk of collaborating with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. They also met with Trevor Rabin, which turned out to be the perfect match. His songs comple- mented the band’s progressive style, while making their music relevant in a style decade.
This was the beginning of Cinema.
Later Cinema was reborn as Yes when Jon Anderson returned to the fold. The new album 90125, (named after a catalogue number), was produced by Trevor Horn, who had become an Indie label boss and much sought after technocrat. Horn and Rabin would become crucial to the new sound.

Alan White remembers how he and Chris Squire met Rabin in London in 1982. ”We’d heard a tape of his and Atlantic Records said we should get together. We had some food in a Japanese restaurant and then went down to Chris’s house and jammed all night.
That was the beginning of the new Yes. We changed the direction of the music mainly because of Trevor’s influence. Owner Of A Lonely Heart was the most successful song the band ever had and gave them their first multi-platinum album. We kept a lot of stalwart Yes fans and we made a lot new of ones as well.”

The story of how Trevor Rabin injected new life into the old warhorse can now be deduced from this unique CD, that unveils the brush strokes and musical sketches which lay behind the finished portrait. ”90124”, shows the work that Trevor had already done on such songs as Owner Of A Lonely Heart, Hold On, and Changes.

I think ”90124” is interesting for people who love 90125, it shows where it all came from. At first I thought it might just sound like work in progress, but here’s a full creative process. For people who are interested in 90125 I guess there’s something here. Trevor’s original demos were mainly done on four track recorders. One or two were done on a 24 track, some were done on a 16 track Fostex, and others were put down on a 4- track Teac. But all sound great.

Trevor put ‘Moving In’ on this CD together with ‘Hold On’ to show how he came up with the final version of Hold On. The latter was ultimately a combination of both songs and says the composer: “They are two bites of the same pie. I wrote ‘Would You Feel My Love’ for 90125 but it didn’t make it onto the album. I was always kind of happy with that song both lyrically and melodically and funnily enough Jon Anderson always wanted to do it”.
The acoustic initial part of ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ shows how I wrote the final melody for the song. One of the people who had the most input into the song apart from as writer, was Trevor Horn. He had total belief in the song and allowed it to blossom. I had such an amazing time with him, of course we argued and fought a lot. I’d say much of the time it was just me and Trevor in the studio working on ‘90125’.

There are many great performances here including the songs that got away. Adds Rabin: ”I wasn’t sure about putting ‘Make It Easy’ on this CD. The only reason I thought it was appropriate was because it was one of the songs me, Chris, Alan and Tony Kaye rehearsed for seven months in London when the band was still called Cinema. We played that song a lot and it sound really good. But we ended up not putting it on 90125.

After recording the ‘Union’ and ‘Talk’ albums Trevor Rabin left YES in 1994 and has since concentrated on writing music for Hollywood block buster films such as “Armageddon”, “Enemy Of the State”, “Deep Blue Sea”, “Remember the Titans” and “Gone in 60 Seconds”, to date a total of twenty films. He released a very good album past year 2023.

By delving into the archives for ”90124”, Trevor Rabin has given us unique insight into his working methods. From the first electrifying moments of ‘Hold On’ and ‘Changes’ you can sense something big about to happen. Just how big would one day become the stuff of rock legend.
Highly Recommended

01 – Hold On (demo 81)
02 – Changes (demo 81)
03 – Moving In
04 – Would You Feel My Love
05 – Where Will You Be (demo 81)
06 – Owner Of A Lonely Heart (demo 81)
07 – Walls (demo 90)
08 – Promenade
09 – Love Will Find A Way
10 – Miracle Of Life
11 – Cinema aka Don’t Give In aka Make It Easy (demo 81)

Trevor Rabin – vocals, guitars, bass, keys, programming

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www.amazon.com/90124-Trevor-Rabin/dp/B00007KMQK