This marked the first time this line-up had played together since their unsuccessful attempt to record a new album in early 1980.

In July 1995, the five agreed to work together and make the album it marked the start of Howe's third stint in the band and Wakeman's fourth. The pair had left in 1992 after the band's Union Tour and continued with their solo projects, but were interested to return and met with Anderson in Los Angeles for several days to discuss the situation. Brewer and Castle agreed to the idea on the condition that the album featured the band's original or 'classic' line-up from the 1970s, which included guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Soon after the change, Brewer was approached by Castle Communications, a British independent label with an interest in releasing a Yes album on its subsidiary label, Essential Records. With Yes reduced to a trio of Anderson, Squire, and White, the band replaced manager Tony Dimitriades, who had been with them since the early 1980s, with Jon Brewer. Squire convinced Rabin to hang on for several more months, but escalating arguments between Anderson and himself convinced the guitarist that it was time. They suffered a setback when, in 1995, Rabin felt he had done all he could artistically within the group and decided to leave after 13 years to become a film composer, with Kaye following suit to pursue other projects. The tour was met with crowds smaller than previous tours, and the album was a commercial disappointment among the ever changing music scene, with grunge and rock groups Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana taking mainstream interest, leaving Yes in what band biographer Chris Welch wrote, 'In danger of slipping back into an obscurity more dark and profound than at any time in their history'. In October 1994, the Yes line-up of lead vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Tony Kaye, drummer Alan White and guitarist and vocalist Trevor Rabin wrapped their 1994 tour in support of the band's fourteenth studio album, Talk (1994). The studio tracks from both Keys to Ascension albums were compiled on Keystudio (2001), and both albums were packaged in their entirety in 19, the latter with the concert video as a bonus disc. After further studio tracks were completed in 19, these and the second half of the 1996 live set was released on the follow-up album, Keys to Ascension 2 (1997). Yes supported the album with a media tour which included live performances at record stores and television and radio appearances, and a same-titled home video of the concerts.

Keys to Ascension received a mostly positive reception from music critics, and reached No. Keys to Ascension features half of the live set from the 1996 shows and two new studio tracks which marked a return to Yes writing longform pieces. The group relocated to Anderson's hometown of San Luis Obispo, California to make a new album and to promote their reunion with three shows at the city's Fremont Theater in March 1996.

In 1995, guitarist Trevor Rabin and keyboardist Tony Kaye left the group which marked the return of former members Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, thus reuniting them with vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, and drummer Alan White, a line-up that had last performed in 1979. Keys to Ascension is the fourth live and fifteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released as a double album in October 1996 on Essential Records. Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969–1970

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