A follow-up to Steve Howe’s collection of Bob Dylan covers, Portraits of Bob Dylan, will release in December.
The Yes member, who is touring with the band in the USA until November 16 and in the UK in 2026, confirmed that a three-track EP would be released on December 5 this year. Howe will release Signals Crossed towards the end of the year, following the re-issue of his Portraits of Bob Dylan covers album. The upcoming EP will feature covers of I Want You, One Too Many Mornings, and Mama, You Been on My Mind. Geoff Downes, Dylan Howe, Stephanie Sounds, and Paul K Joyce will feature on the EP, which will be released as a white vinyl limited to 500 copies worldwide. A download will also be available to those wanting a digital version of the three-song EP.
Speaking on the release, Howe said: “I recorded I Want You before starting the released Portraits Of Bob Dylan tracks, then I recorded two alternative versions of songs from the album in different styles. This version of One Too Many Mornings wasn’t in the right key for Phoebe Snow, who sang beautifully to an acoustic version on the released album.
“This version gives it an electric setting, taking a little from Bob’s Hard Rain version. I sang Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind on the original release, slow and a little mournful but here has a more upbeat and optimistic flavour.
“With the vocal harmonies and Dylan’s drumming, these tracks retain the mood of what I wanted to explore in 2000, songs about getting your signals crossed.” Howe had previously spoken on the Portraits of Bob Dylan release as a “pipe dream” of his.
He said: “What I loved about it 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. The Portraits idea was always a sort of pipe dream, and I originally recorded one song to start the project, and I thought, ‘This will be good, I’ll do lots of Bob.'”
You can pre-save and pre-order Signals Crossed here. The release announcement comes as Yes will be back on tour in the UK, performing Fragile in full as well as a series of classic songs from their decades-spanning discography.
Howe said: “All the band’s albums had a unique feel and approach. After The Yes Album, so many things came together, with [co-producer] Eddie Offord steering the proceedings. While the band focused on only four main songs with full arrangements, each of us wrote and designed a solo piece, which was Bill [Bruford]’s great idea.
“It’s fairly ‘odd-ball,’ but we were at the height of our creativity, determined for success. It gave us confidence, further than our own in-stock belief, we’d crafted this unusual but noticeable musical twist to rock and what later became prog.”
