Bob Dylan influenced many future generations of musicians and songwriters in the ’60s. As it turns out, future Yes guitarist Steve Howe was among them.
“I bought the Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album when it came out. I kind of missed his first album, but the second album caught me, with ‘Blowin’ in the Wind‘ and so many great songs,” he recalls now in a new conversation with UCR that you can listen to below. “I started to be pretty interested in [Dylan’s music]. [When] Another Side of Dylan came out, it was so compelling. This guy with a guitar had songs like ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ [from 1964’s The Times They Are a-Changin’] and all of these very, very broad ideas.”
“Lyrically, rhythmically and vocally, he was a new sound [with that] harmonica and the fact that your parents hated him,” Howe continues with a laugh. “Because of the kind of whiny [sound of his voice]. He was a great ambassador for the young people who were just getting into the Beatles and all of that stuff. Bob was a separate entity.”
READ MORE: The Best Song From Every Bob Dylan Album
The young guitarist was starting to play with his own bands like the Syndicats and subsequently, the In Crowd, as he continued to consume the albums that Dylan was putting out. He heard the music both as a fan and also, he was keenly listening with a musician’s ear. “If you hear great music, then you engage with it on both of those levels,” he explains. “He drew people to him even though he maybe didn’t know he [was doing that]. But I don’t think I can genuinely say that [we knew] this guy is going to spend his whole life writing brilliant songs, like he has done, but definitely there was great potential.”
Steve Howe’s ‘Portraits of Bob Dylan’
In the late ’90s, deep into a life in the music industry that had seen him find massive success with Yes, but also, other bands like Asia and GTR, Howe spent a good part of the decade reinvesting himself in his own solo work. He put out a flurry of different projects and eventually decided he’d like to tackle an album’s worth of some of his favorite Dylan tracks. 1999’s Portraits of Bob Dylan gave him that opportunity. “What I loved about [the idea] was having the chance to arrange them as I wasn’t going to copy what Dylan had done; I wanted to bring a little bit more to it,” he reflected in a press statement regarding the record, which is being reissued Sept. 12 on CD with 2001’s Natural Timbre. Both titles are also making their vinyl debut.
Inviting a wide range of collaborators helped him to follow that vision, while also extending his love of creative explorations. “I don’t think you ever play with another musician without gaining something,” he explains. It’s an opportunity you have.” His Yes mate, vocalist Jon Anderson, suggested the sprawling “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” [from 1966’s Blonde on Blonde], which kicks off the listener’s journey with Portraits.
“I love the song to bits. That was one of the key songs for Blonde on Blonde,” Howe adds. “There was no doubt it was a great choice. I hadn’t chosen it, partly because it was so long, that I wondered if anybody wanted to take that on. I [worked very hard] on that. It became a very special project for me to get that song arranged. I had to get a [structure worked out] where the song would have [a number of layers]. You know, different verses would have different instruments. As they come into play, they play a different sort of thing and it gradually builds up.”
Listen to Steve Howe and Jon Anderson’s Version of ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’
Portraits of Bob Dylan also features collaborations including his one-time GTR bandmate Max Bacon, Annie Haslam of Renaissance, vocal legend Phoebe Snow, Allan Clarke of the Hollies and his son, Dylan Howe, handling the drum work. The younger Howe, whose name had been inspired by both Bob Dylan and poet Dylan Thomas, had already become a regular presence on his dad’s records starting with 1993’s The Grand Scheme of Things.
Like his father, he had quickly grown to have a wide palette of musical interests. “When he was a teenager, he was not only into [David] Bowie, but he’d also been aware of the music that we loved and been part of that,” Howe recalls. “He liked Elvis Presley and [Dylan’s music]. He’s very, very broad. He’s leaned a lot towards jazz, but in fact, his general view of music is that he likes to listen and play more or less any kind of music.”
Listen to Steve Howe on the ‘UCR Podcast’
What’s Next for Yes?
Earlier this year, Howe indicated that the British progressive rock legends were “jiggling around” and starting to consider a new album to follow 2023’s Mirror to the Sky. He remains fairly secretive about the current status. “Well, we’re not saying, but we have been writing, you know, we’ve been working,” he shares. “We haven’t been idle, like we weren’t in previous years when an album would suddenly come out. That’s all I can say.”
They’ll be back on the concert stage before any new music might arrive. The band’s fall tour dates kick off Oct. 1 in Wallingford, Connecticut and will continue through the middle of November when they wrap things up in Reno, Nevada. For this year’s outing, they’ll be performing 1971’s Fragile in full. “It’s quite a remarkable album to hear and it’s a pleasure to play,” he says. “It’s remarkable that it’s so tight-assed. It’s more minimalistic than The Yes Album, with a lot of chordal stuff.”
READ MORE: Yes Announces ‘The Fragile’ Tour
“When you think about ‘Long Distance Runaround,’ there’s not a lot really going on,” he points out. “[The album] is very straight forward and because of that, it’s powerful. Eddy [Offord] was at a primo moment there where his production skills were really driving us hard. The techniques and all of the input made particularly ‘Roundabout,’ ‘South Side of the Sky‘ and ‘Heart of the Sunrise,’ is what made those songs so fantastic. We can still play them now and they’re a great thing to do.”
Listen to Yes’ ‘Heart of the Sunrise’
The Stories Behind 20 Bob Dylan Album Covers
Looking back at the artwork chosen by the famously enigmatic songwriter.
Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp
