ON THE SILENT WINGS OF FREEDOM

"'On the Silent Wings of Freedom'" is a song by Yes. It appears on the 1978 Tormato album. The song was never released as a single^[1]. The song was played throughout the Tormato tour and, later, on every tour since 2002^[2].

Contents

On the album

In the live setting

Personnel

Notes and references

On the album

The song is the final and longest song on the album. Though the album is considered to be one of Yes's weakest, most Yes fans, whether they like the album or not, favor this one song, as it is the closest track to other fan favorites like Close to the Edge and Awaken.

In the live setting

During the song's original tenure in the '70s, it was performed on most, if not all, shows of the Tormato tour. On the live tape of the September 1, 1978 show, the song lasts for 8 minutes and 41 seconds, including the announcements at the beginning of the song. Typically, Jon Anderson would introduce Chris Squire at the beginning of this song, being that this was one of the two major Squire compositions on the album. The other, Onward, was not played on this tour.
The song appeared on November 17, 1987. This was its only appearance on the Big Generator tour.
On later tours, the song was not often introduced and was usually segued into from Whitefish.

Personnel

★ Jon Anderson: Vocals, percussion

★ Chris Squire: Bass guitar, bass pedals, vocals

★ Steve Howe: Electric and acoustic guitars, vachalia, vocals

★ Rick Wakeman: Piano, organ, moog, synthesizers

★ Alan White: Drums, percussion, vocals

Notes and references

1. Yesworld Yes official site, retrieved December 30, 2006.
2. Forgotten Yesterdays Yes tour log, retrieved December 30, 2006.