Yes drummer Alan White said he was still hopeful that unfinished recordings featuring late bandmate Chris Squire and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page could be released, and added that it would be “quite amazing” if Robert Plant could be persuaded to sing on them.

The short-lived project, titled XYZ for “Ex Yes and Led Zeppelin,” was abandoned in 1981 for a number of reasons, one of those being that it took place too soon after the death of John Bonham for Page’s comfort. That was also one of the reasons Plant decided not to take part after visiting the fledgling band in the studio.

“Chris said to me, ‘Jimmy Page wants you to come out west and come over,’” White told Rolling Stone in a new interview. “We started jamming in Jimmy’s studio for a while. Chris had some ideas. I had some ideas. most of the stuff we actually recorded was stuff that Chris and myself wrote.”

He recalled that "then the management got involved, like Peter Grant and Brian Lane. I remember Robert coming down and listening to the music and feeling like it was a bit complicated for him. It could have been a band at that time if Robert joined, but it kind of fizzled out once the managers got involved.”

White said he discussed XYZ with Page when they met in the U.S. a few years ago. “Jimmy said, ‘I want to dig those tapes up and finish them off and release an album.’: he noted. "I said, ‘Just call me.’ I think he put the project on hold though when he got back to England.”

He added that he needs "to get in touch with Jimmy and be like, ‘Let’s finish those tapes off.’ Maybe we can get Robert to sing on them or something. That would be quite amazing.”

In 2015 Page said completing the XYZ recordings was “something I wanted to do.” "The music was really good,” he said. Plant also recalled the music as “really, really good” and “an interesting blend.”

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