Happy 40th anniversary … yes? When the band itself is named in the affirmative, you have to assume that, no, Yes is not dreading that somewhat daunting milestone - even if it does suggest a certain level of seniority among its citizenship.

And even if does arrive smack in the middle of one of the legendary group's bumpier years.

Bass player Chris Squire is clearly the man to address the issue.

Of the band's founding fathers, he's the only one who's been on board straight through from 1968 to today. With no time-outs for side projects, temporary defections or, knock on wood, debilitating illnesses.

Which is more than his fellow Yes men can say.

Squire, interviewed a week or so before the band's "In the Present Tour" kicked off, is plainspoken about the, well, roundabout way things have turned out for year 40 in the Yes chronology.

First, the good news: the band (due Nov. 30 at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum for its first Twin Cities concert in more than 30-odd years) is on the road not only with Squire, but also long-running guitarist Steve Howe, almost a lifer, joining two years into the band's history, in 1970; and drummer Alan White, on board since 1972.

Now, the other news: two key members have been waylaid by the wages of being a rock star for 40 years - lead singer Jon Anderson, out with a severe respiratory condition, and keyboardist Rick Wakemen, who, says Squire, "has always had health problems."

One vacancy has led to controversy, the other to an interesting "all-in-the-family" stopgap.

The latter involves the health-troubled Wakeman being replaced by his eldest son, Oliver.

"If you're a die-hard Yes fan," says Squire, "then you know Rick has had whole other careers on English TV, as a presenter, as a comedian. And he's also doing a lot of after-dinner speeches these days."

Keyboard god Rick Wakeman an after-dinner toastmaster? "Yes, definitely," says Squire. "It's a whole other career he's got going on there."

Which goes a way in explaining Wakeman's on-again, off-again history with Yes: of all the "classic" members, he's had the most checkered history, coming and going a half-dozen or times since first stepping on board in 1971.

According to Squire, when Wakeman was invited back for this past summer's aborted tour, his response was, "I'm really busy and won't be able to commit to doing a lengthy tour."

"So," continues Squire, "I asked him, 'Who would you recommend as a replacement?'"

Wakemen: "Well, my oldest son would be a very good choice."

"So Rick has given the whole thing his blessing, Ironically, it's a bit freaky, because it's just like working with Rick."

Except he's healthier, right? "I mean, Rick was having heart problems when he was in his early 20s," Squire says. "He's always been the one with the odd failure of something here and there. He's always been going through something."

Until things smooth out on that front - between ailments and after-dinner speeches - the thirtysomething Oliver Wakeman is expected to remain at the keyboards, performing Yes classics composed either before he was born or when he was still in the cradle.

As for Anderson's health problems, the prognosis is less rosy.

As was widely reported over the summer, the band's proposed summer tour was canceled June 4 after Anderson suffered a severe asthma attack and was eventually diagnosed with acute respiratory failure.

On doctor's orders, he bowed out and the tour was put on hold until the fall.

Come fall, the condition hadn't resolved itself. So Squire, Howe and White made the mutual decision to move forward, ultimately hiring a replacement for Anderson: Benoit David, a Canadian singer who fronts a Yes tribute band called Close to the Edge and was discovered online.

Anderson has blogged on his own Web site (www.jonanderson.com) that he's "disappointed" over the hiring of his surrogate.

As Squire tells it, "to start with, we were planning a tour in 2006, and Jon didn't show a lot of interest in that. I think he was already having the onset of his health problems. The last time we were on the road, in 2004, he was not very well a lot of the time then. It's what eventually developed into his asthmatic condition - so I didn't think he was ready to commit to the 2006 tour."

Come 2007, says Squire, "We tried again, and he wasn't very well then either. Unfortunately, it was a sign of things to come."

The meltdown for last summer's tour came, he adds, "just before rehearsals, when Jon had the quite severe asthma attack that developed into respiratory complications."

The bottom line, says Squire: "I think at that point we made the decision that Yes fans have been wanting to see something for four years and it was time to go ahead and look for a stand-in."

"It's unfortunate with Jon, because it's one of those things where one thing in the body breaks down, and then that perpetuates something else. He's had quite a few visits in and out the hospital, although I believe his last procedure is supposed to have fixed him."

Squire admits to having heard the rumblings that Anderson has made on his Web site, but claims to have heard nothing directly from the singer.

Putting himself in Anderson's shoes, Squire agrees that "there are probably two ways of looking at it."

On the one hand, he admits that having himself replaced by a Yes tribute band member "couldn't make me feel good."

On the other, "if my own health problems were causing other peoples' careers to be put on hold, I'd try the best I could to understand it, even if it might be a little disappointing to me."

For the time being, Squire thinks Yes fans will be happy with the temporary solutions to their ongoing problems.

There's also no getting around the fact that we're getting a 40-year-old band with three of its "classic-era" members still on board, and, says Squire, still at the top of their game.

"I won't go so far to say that I know what the future holds, but I do know that if they (Anderson and/or Wakeman) want to return, we'd definitely look at that. At the moment, we're moving ahead with this lineup."

---

Yes men

Like fellow classic rockers Boston, who played the U.S. Cellular Coliseum several months back, the chronology of Yes is dauntingly complex - as dense and extended as any of the prog-rock reveries on its notorious "Tales from the Topographic Oceans" album. Following is a bare-bones, simplified guide to the band's ever-mutating membership over 40 years. Names in bold indicate the present membership that will perform Nov. 30 at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum; names with (*) signify original membership at the band's 1968 birth.

Lifers

• Chris Squire, 40 years (1968-present)

• Steve Howe, guitar, 38 years (1970-present)

• Alan White, about 36 years (1972-present)

Long-runners

• Jon Anderson, lead vocals, 22 years (1968-80, 1997-present; on hiatus, future uncertain)*

• Trevor Horn, lead vocals, 17 years (1980-1997)

• Rick Wakeman, keyboards, about 14 years active duty (1971-74, 1976-80, 1990-92, 1995-97, 2002-present; on hiatus, future uncertain)

• Trevor Rabin, guitar, 13 years (1983-95)

• Tony Kaye, keyboards, 12 years (1968-71, 1983-91, 1993-5)*

Stripes-earners

• Bill Bruford, drums, about 5 years (1968-72, 1990-91)*

• Billy Sherwood, guitar, about 4 years (1995-96, 1997-2000)

Sprinters

• Igor Khoroshev, 3 years (1997-2000)

• Patrick Moraz, keyboards, 2 years (1974-75)

• Geoff Downes, keyboards, 1 year (1980-81)

• Tom Brislin, keyboards, 1 year (2001-2)

Freshmen

• Benoit David, lead vocals, several months (2008; temporary replacement)

• Oliver Wakemen, keyboards, several months (2008; temporary replacement)

---

At a glance

What: Yes

When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30

Where: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, 101 S. Madison St., Bloomington

Tickets: $45 to $85

Box office number: (866) 891-9992