Peter Banks's Harmony In Diversity: The Complete Recordings

In case you don’t know, Peter Banks was the original guitarist in Yes. His later band, Flash, made a brief ripple but then it was into the world of selective audiences before he passed away in 2013.This six (6!) disc set has been released by the Peter Banks Estate to mark the 5th anniversary of his death and the 50th anniversary of Yes. But, and it’s a big but, Mr Banks himself said “Harmony In Diversity is about music improvisation, clarity, instinct, space, dynamics, intensity and poise.”Which translates as making it up as they go, noodling in the studio. As percussionist Andrew Booker says “You know what, I don’t think we should have ANY rehearsals.”. The core of Harmony In Diversity was Peter Banks-guitar, Nick Cottam-bass, and Andrew Booker-acoustic/electric drums/programming with the final disc seeing Dave Speight sitting in on drums. The six discs cover a relatively short span of time, from 2005 to 2007 with the second disc “What Is This?” intended as a debut album. As such it does stand out with some fine jazz rock and an emphasis on electronics. There’s some good stuff there. Elsewhere you might want to dip into the live freeform on Disc 5, especially if the jam is your thang.Regardless of the preponderance of noodle, the sound is good across all the discs as we were well past the days of tape hiss by the time this was recorded. The lengthy booklet is also informative with Andrew Booker and Dave Speight providing first person insight. But it’s definitely one for the Peter Banks completists out there.