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RIP Alan White


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Yes drummer Alan White passed away today in Seattle. Such a great drummer. Such sad news.

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D8mn.  Alan literally kicked azz on the "90125" album.  Thanks for the music.  RIP Mr. White.😎

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PD

 

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Wow, I'm devastated. 😟

 

Seems weird, in that just lately I've been listening to his 1976 solo album "Ramshacked" which has some great tunes on it. I hadn't listened to that album since like 1979 or something.

 

RIP Alan.

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Love that he had to learn Close to the Edge and a lot of the other songs in a week before their tour. Pulled that off pretty well!

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He was an all around great guy. Never any drama (no pun intended). Great drumming on "My Sweet Lord", "Jealous Guy", Live Peace in Toronto. Even if he'd never joined Yes, he'd be remembered for his participation on early Beatles solo albums.

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8 hours ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Great drumming on "My Sweet Lord", "Jealous Guy", 

 

In that Rolling Stone interview I linked to, he says that he played vibes on Jealous Guy, it was Jim Keltner who played the drums on that one. (I know, the facebook post from his family says he drummed on it, but AW's own words about his participation are presumably more accurate.)

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Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Rest In Peace Alan, you will be missed.

 

I saw Yes with Alan White on drums twice, he was fantastic. 

The drums to Instant Karma by John Lennon are iconic as well.

 

One of the greats.

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I was sorry to see the news of his passing. Just about everybody's heard his playing sometime or another. I caught him live a few times. Like everyone says, seemed like a really nice guy. Here's to his successes and positive personality!

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Alan....so sad to hear the news of his passing.

 

Personally I thought he was underrated as a drummer. Very much a team player, all-round musician. 

 

He gave Yes a soul and a heartbeat which suited them down to the ground. He brought more emotion to the band, and after all, it was Rick Wakeman who said that that was what Yes music was all about.

Not for him the clipped, complex, somewhat terse rhythmic vocabulary of his predecessor. Alan came forth with a joyful abandon, a more orchestral style, broad strokes that captivated and enthralled.

 

 

At his best he was a monstrous powerhouse with both chops to spare and endless drive.

There's a video on YouTube of Yes playing Glasgow in 1977. His interpretation of Close To The Edge is frightening...full of dramatic flourishes and intense energy. 

His bass drum work on things like Silent Wings Of Freedom, or the end of Our Song, had a speeding ,propulsive snap and drive, he could do it live too.

 

 

He really seemed like a very nice man. It's notable that when Patrick Moraz talked about Yes as "the festival of egos", he qualified that statement by saying "not Alan"....

 

I met him a couple of times. Once after a gig on the Symphonic Tour (which frankly was the crowning glory of any Yes gig I saw, the best concert of my life), he was modest and unassuming.

 

The second time was at a signing in the Oxford Street branch of Tower Records in London. There were many hundreds of people there. I felt he had played really well at the gig the night before and told him so. Despite the fact that he had probably exchanged words with a few hundred people by that point, he seemed genuinely pleased and thanked me for saying so. He autographed my Tales From Topographic Oceans Cd. I treasure that.

 

It was obvious to me that he had been unwell for quite some time. 

 

I'll remember him as an unstoppable, and positive musical force. 

 

Thank you for the music Alan. You were one of a kind. Rest in peace.

 

 

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I don't remember for certain, but I think the Boston Garden show was the first live Performance of Tales of Topographic Oceans. That was my first-ever rock concert, and the sound was awful, echoic, and muddled. But I still enjoyed the energy of the band on stage and it got me past my initial disappointment over Bruford (my hero) leaving the band. I was rooting for Alan the whole way through that concert, knowing what a challenge it must have been to pick up so much complex material so quickly, but I was always confident he was the best pick due to his thoughtful work on Lennon and Harrison songs, and also thought it appropriate as Yes had covered a Beatles song or two.

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Put on Relayer at the studio this morning as I was doing some prep work for a session tomorrow, and instead spent the whole of the album sitting with my eyes closed listening, absolutely stunned all over again, as I was at 15 and hearing the album for the first time. My route into Yes was kind of unusual, the live 3lp Yessongs was the first album of theirs I got, and Relayer was their first studio album I owned. Relayer remains one of my all-time favorite albums. White's playing is just absolutely stellar here.

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I saw Yes in Boone, NC, back in...2017? It was the Steve Howe/Alan White lineup. White was ailing; only played intermittently. Steve Howe's son was on a separate drum kit to take up the slack when White stopped playing. I seem to recall that White had had back surgery and was in a great deal of pain. When he played, he played well, but it was spotty.

 

Going back, I remember the Relayer and Close To The Edge/Yessongs tours in particular. No health burdens then, just straight ahead from Siberian Khatru through to the encore. Good shows, all.

 

We're losing too many of these guys, but I guess there's not much to be done about it. Time will get us all, sooner or later.

 

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Alan White was an excellent drummer. Whilst 90125 is eclipsed by the synths, Alan White's drumming on Leave It and Owner Of A Lonely Heart are both good.

 

watch?v=8-hJFoSgXfM

 

watch?v=SVOuYquXuuc

 

And of course, Alan White's soulful drumming on Imagine by John Lennon.

 

 

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