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EXPLAINED: Trevor horn | Rare Historical Photos

“Kate Bush saw me recording at Townhouse Studios, popped her head in, saw the Fairlight and said ‘What's that?’”: We speak to Yes, Asia and the Buggles' synth legend Geoff Downes

From pop to prog, keyboard maestro Geoff Downes charts his journey from auditioning for Wizzard to global success with the Buggles, Yes and Asia

MusicRadar

“We didn’t make music for radio. But I thought: ‘Why not try it this time?’”: Sampled by Michael Jackson and namechecked in The Simpsons – the surprise hit that transformed a washed-up 70s prog group into 80s superstars

The song that marked one of rock’s great reinventions

Louder

“It's amazing what you can do with a drum machine - and two of the most expensive sampling and production workstations ever made”: Unpacking the technical genius behind one of the most iconic rock songs of the 1980s

Take an old 4-track demo, add a splash of expensive 80s tech, and the results might be a good enough reason for a band of prog legends to reform!

MusicRadar

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“The hidden gem in their sometimes bewildering catalogue. Had they made it in the 80s it would have given them a credible contemporary footing”: Yes’ Fly From Here – Return Trip glows in reissue

Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes’ contributions add futurism to the band’s classic mysticism, as heard better than ever in souped-up mixes

Louder

"It was the best-sounding piece of kit ever, but they were so up themselves. We had so many arguments with them when we first bought it": Trevor Horn on the pioneering synth that defined the sound of Welcome to the Pleasuredome

Legendary producer Trevor Horn talks exclusively to MusicRadar about his upcoming "mega-tour", the changing face of the music industry, recording Welcome to the Pleasuredome, and why AI is "phony"

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘I don’t want to work with him!’ I was bitter that he was doing so well. But I needed the money”: How a prog supergroup with 200 hits between them got together

Quartet with connections to Yes, 10cc, Kate Bush, The Police and many others took five years to agree their debut album was ready to release

Louder

“Queen’s tech said, ‘The lads would love to see you.’ It was a set-up – when I got there they’d set up the studio for me”: Steve Howe’s favourite moments as a guitar for hire, and the one that got away

Yes icon on guesting with Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, his 1960s session career, and never listening to what he recorded for Lou Reed

Louder

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Legendary producer Trevor Horn makes a surprise live appearance as he joins rising star Sophie Grey for a performance of Buggles hit Video Killed The Radio Star, singing lead vocals and playing bass guitar

Grey has also released a cover of the song

MusicRadar

“The bassist’s kids were waiting with autograph books because we were pop stars. But some of the fans were pissed off. I would have been too!” This duo were never meant to be a real band, but their hit single had a massive impact on prog

When an experimental project escaped from the studio in 1980, no one could have predicted the consequences for both prog and pop music – and not everyone was happy about it

Louder

“All contemporary pop utilising computers and samplers owes something to the innovations of Trevor Horn”: How Trevor Horn’s anonymous electronic group - the Art of Noise - revolutionised sample culture

Discover how studio and music production was redefined by an unlikely group of Trevor Horn-led English synth geeks

MusicRadar

“I brought the synth into the studio with Harry, flicked through the presets and there’s one called Harpoon Dream. I took the delay off and we were like… ‘yeah!’: Kid Harpoon on the Moog One preset that made Harry Styles' As It Was

We sit down with Kid Harpoon to talk making hits and studio tricks with the Grammy-winning co-creator that everyone wants on their team

MusicRadar

“The bad blood was there from the start. There was no cohesiveness and the atmosphere between certain people was very toxic”: Trevor Rabin was trapped in hell with Yes as they made Big Generator

The guitarist, keyboardist and unwilling producer saw the band’s internal relationships buckling under intense external pressure to make an album as successful as 91025

Louder

Yes announce new reissue of Fly From Here: Return Trip with Atmos mix

Yes's 2018 release, Fly From Here: Return Trip, reunited the band's 1980 Drama line-up

Louder

“It was such a shame to leave A Secret Wish on its own. The band still had such great potential – it was unfinished business”: Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag couldn’t dump Propaganda and their prog roots in the past

Their 1985 contained tones of Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and Supertramp. It took until 2022 for the singers and producer Stephen Lipson, as xPropaganda, to deliver The Heart Is Strange. But it was worth the wait

Louder

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Louder

“Some people were cynical – ‘The Yeggles have spoilt it all!’ We were doing a gig in Brighton and someone shouted, ‘Rick Wakeman!’ It was demoralising”: Geoff Downes’ life and times in and out of Yes

His big break came with the Wombles, then he impressed Trevor Horn with synths he’d only borrowed. He forged a partnership with John Wetton and made it big with Asia – and his easygoing nature means he’s avoided most of Yes’ infamous dramas

Louder

Trevor Horn announces live UK dates for December

Former Yes singer and producer and Buggles mainstay, Trevor Horn, will play three live dates in December

MusicRadar

“Listen carefully, and you’ll even hear members of the band talking on the tail end of the drum loop!”: Exploring the quirky production and music theory choices of Grace Jones’ classic Slave to the Rhythm

We take a closer look at one of the most iconoclastic songs of the mid-80s era; Slave to the Rhythm

Louder

“He told me how hard it is to live up to that innovation, year after year, tour after tour’: Former Live guitarist Chad Taylor has no regrets about meeting his hero Steve Howe

The American learned a lifetime of lessons when he had dinner with the British prog pioneer, after Owner Of A Lonely Heart had led him to Asia and Trevor Horn

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Louder

“You wonder if any other drummer could have glued together all the impulses and influences at play”: Alan White’s 10 best performances with Yes

He secured a place in music history with other artists – but he’s best remembered for covering an extraordinary breadth of styles with the ever-changing prog giants

The Guardian - UK

‘We wanted Torvill and Dean skating in the video!’ How we made Godley & Creme’s Cry

‘Machines were revolutionising recording. We were told to lay down a 20-second backing track, a guide vocal – then go and play table tennis’

MusicRadar

“I had a bit of a shock because I’d just come from working with Yes, who had done 1,000s of live shows and were all brilliant players. Frankie Goes To Hollywood had done 5 shows and they could barely play”: Trevor Horn on the making of Relax

“We thought that all the record labels would be after them. Nobody wanted them”

MusicRadar

“Do something with it. Mangle it. You have to be ruthlessly objective": Trevor Horn on his sampling and drum machine production mindset

The legendary producer lowers his guard when quizzed about the 'golden era' of hi-tech music making

Louder

“It was awkward – Yes sort of told me never to come back”: Oliver Wakeman had to tour with the prog progenitors while knowing he’d been replaced. Surprisingly, he genuinely enjoyed the trip

If Rick Wakeman’s son had taken an angrier attitude to being fired in 2011, their 2019 mini-album From A Page might never have been rescued from the demo stacks

MusicRadar

“The lyrics talk about machines writing music, and that’s actually happened. All things considered, it was a very prophetic song”: The iconic track that sparked the MTV generation also predicted the entire future of music

This Trevor Horn-helmed classic documented a sea change in music consumption, and its vision of tomorrow was spookily accurate

The Guardian - UK

‘My job was making hits’: Clive Langer on taking Bowie, Dexys and Madness to No 1 – and why he turned Madonna down

He skied with Bowie, boozed with Madness and recorded the Teardrop Explodes on acid. But does he regret blowing it with Dave Grohl? The great producer relives his smashes, parties and 11am vodkas

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