Music has been know to capture a variety of emotions and reactions.  Then came the music video.

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what the original MTV taught us was that the music video can bring a larger story.

 

The group YES which of any modern musical groups has the most influence upon my musical thinking has only had two top twenty billboard hits.  The first came in 1971 with the song Roundabout.  This was cutting edge as the album version was over eight minutes long but there was a radio edit of three and a half minutes.  FM radio was starting to take hold and disk jockeys had latitude and generally played the album cut.  While there was no Roundabout music video there was the cutting edge concert movie Yessongs that also helped promote the song.

 

Twelve years later, 1983, there was the song Owner of a Lonely Heart which made number one on the  billboard charts. This did play on MTV and the video is quite interesting.  I have include the full length video and there were two shorter versions.  I heard on the radio and bought the album, 90125 which was the first album with Trevor Rabin on lead Guitar and Steve how went to joined Asia .  Rabin is a prolific songwriter and also has movie credits.

 

Yes has a new studio album, Aurora.  Today, April 10, 2026 they released through a live release the video for the title track Aurora.  I saw it, then watched it again, then again.

 

While music does move me and I have had the opportunity to experience a variety of music over the years, I have never had a music video move me the way Aurora did.  I have only had this reaction to anything just once before and that was when I was recording the audio book version of my novel, But But I Loved. As with the reading then and now this music video I was brought to tears of the combined joy and sadness. It was the culmination of life’s events and how there is a continuation that must occur in order to go on.

 

The group Yes originated in 1969.  There have been numerous personnel changes over the years.  Rick Wakeman who played keyboards for the group on and off said in the Yes Years video that Yes is the group who is there at the time.  In the year 2026, the group is Steve Howe, Billy Sherwood, Jon Davidson, Geoff Downes, Jay Schellen, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Martinka.  Writing credits go to Steve Howe and Jon Davidson.   

 

Steve Howe just celebrated his 79^th birthday on April 8. By this age many musician/composers are sitting on their past accomplishments.  They may still perform occasionally, but just like former band mate Jon Anderson who released a new album as he turned 80 and still performs, Steve Howe with Jon Davidson have created another great musical masterpiece, a masterpiece that moved me like no other musical piece and the only time it was not my creation!

 

I am not only saying this as a fan of Yes, but I am saying it as a person who is so moved by this song that regardless of where it may chart, I want everyone who sees this article to watch and listen.  Again, here is the link to Aurora by Yes.

 

Oh, and look at the tie back to the album the quest which gives us a tie back to Chris Squire!!