---

90125 - 1983 Atco
8 (11)

Best song: Hearts

Send me your thoughts

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

Trevor even had strong reservations about using the name. And he was right: this is not a YES album, this was not conceived as a YES album, but is incredibly good in its own right. The controversial name resurrection did not prevent it from being a very big and highly deserved commercial success. Part of this has to do with the very 80's yet very fresh and inventive production. I think it ages very well and was an important landmark for this period. Strange it had to come from a once dead/resurrected band. A lot of things here belong to the Yes canon, namely vocal harmonies and a lot of instrumental intricacies, however you can tell they came at an early stage for what they bring to the music and not as late minute inclusions to justify the name. The songwriting is really on a high, thanks to Trevor who is a talented songwriter in his own right, more down-to-earth than Jon (who probably did not contribute much to that one anyway), and much more productive than the lazy Chris. "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" is barely a song, just a bunch of toilet riffs moulded into a repetitive brainless danceable tune. I always saw this as a thinly disguised attempt to clone the very popular Police sound at the time (Alan's snare even sounds like a sample of Copeland's). I find "City Of Love" a bit too cheesy, "Hearts" a bit too syrupy and sticky in places like a generic 80's ballad, but "Hold On", "Changes", "Cinema", "Leave It" and "Our Song" are very good, Yesmusic or not Yesmusic. My favourite cut is by far "It Can Happen", with incredibly improved verses compared to the Cinema version on Yesyears. And I'm glad you did not even mention the anecdotic "9012Live", because with one third of Fish growlings on it, I would've been rude once again.

Joel Larsson (joel.larsson@privat.utfors.se)

This is pure 80's pop. Why should anyone listen to this dumb???

Sittinger, Brian D (brian.d.sittinger@lmco.com) (7/21/01)

This is going to be a brief commentary, because I :(1) don't own this, and (2)only heard it once in its entirety late at night. In truth, this objectively is not too bad of an album.

I can't recall any true stinkers on this record. "Changes", despite its 'new-like jingle' with the keyboards at the beginning is quite decent. "It Can Happen", although simple, is okay too. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is way too overplayed on the radio, complete with all the generic 80's trappings: guitar tone, synths. Finally, "Hearts" (I think this is the one?) annoys me due to its vocal arrangement.

Just keep in mind this is an 80's production with all of its trappings. This just is not the same Yes the we all know and love. Otherwise, its just okay. If this is the high point of Yes-West, it will be a long time before checking out Big Generator. 6 out of 10.

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

Overrated! "Owner" is great, no question, but the album is dragged down by dreary nothing songs like "Hold On". Surprise surprise, the longest song is the best(Hearts)!!!

Robert Knight (Robert.Knight@mori.com) (5/14/03)

After being a fan of 70s Yes since 1978 I've just recently discovered they continued to make albums after they fell off the cliff that was TORMATO.  I have started to collect later albums and I now have a much better picture of their whole career. The 90125 thru UNION period was nothing short of a tragedy. Who the hell was Trevor Rabin and how did he achieve such influence?

  Of those albums, 90125 has received many good reviews so I gave it a go. The songs and production are just competent, but that's all. The principal emotion it evokes is the disappointment of a chance wasted. This sounds like a Trevor Rabin solo album with guest vocals from Jon A.  It also sounds like a product aimed at the US stadium circuit, another Foreigner/Kansas/JohnBonJovi clone, devoid of (most) originality.  There are moments - Hearts is passable, Changes works ok, but only really gets there when Jon takes over the lead vocals halfway.  And there's the nub of the problem - it doesn't sound like Yes.  A band can evolve, but it must keep its essence.  Yes' sound has two main essences: Jon's voice and Steve's guitar; without either it is not Yes, it is simply a Producer's wet dream.  If Jon had sung every lead vocal on 90125 even the generic Mr Rabin's US-heavy metal guitars could have been overlooked.

  Thank God they have recently returned to their roots, and their most successful line-up.  I'm seeing them in the Summer and I have high hopes. Now all we have to do is get Jon writing decent lyrics again - "Soft as a Dove" indeed -Yuk!

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (7/06/03)

In my opinion 90125 caps off a sequence 5 great but very different albums (starting with Relayer). In 90125, Yes gets their first pop masterpiece thanks to Trevor Rabin.

I mostly agree with your rating here. City of Love is certainly the weakest song, with its two chord riff getting tiresome after a while, but the rest is good to great. My favourite is probably the 2 minute Cinema managing to sound so alive in its short time span. I often find myself playing it again when its over-always a sign of a great song. It Can Happen is also great with its catchy chorus, sitar and robotic vocal delivery. Leave It is also great, with Anderson, Squire, Rabin, (and Horn?) showing how well they can sing together. Owner of a Lonely Heart is (obviously) very catchy and perhaps even deserving of its excessive radio play. Hold On, Changes, and Our Song are all pleasing enough. I don't like Hearts as much as you, but it's ok nonetheless.

I give this album an 8 (11) and I'm really glad Trevor Rabin brought his song writing skills to Yes. He had a bit of a let down on the next album, but would flourish after that.

Craig Thomas (Craig.W.Thomas@btinternet.com) (9/09/03)

It's such a hard piece of work to mentally process. In terms of fundamentals, this is not a Yes record, but 4 members of previous Yes incarnations made it, and it went out under the Yes moniker, so it is. It's a permanent paradox.

  For me there is little more to say. With the exception of Owner Of... and Hearts, this is a woefully, hilariously inadequate piece of work, it doesn't matter who's making it. It's Yes meets Kagagoogoo with someone waving a chain saw in back. It's not just that it sounds so much of its time - i.e., that it's made out of a mixture of cheap metal and low grade plastic (and you can almost catch the smell of hair gel from this different century) - it's that the music is unadulterated crap and anyone would have to be insane to listen to it, Yes fans or no. It terms of composition, it's shoddily, amateurishly made. No amount of techno-glitz and trickery can disguise that. And in music, composition is everything.

  Yet it seems that a lot of Yes fans like it. This can only be explained by the fact that our world is indeed flat and held aloft by a gigantic turtle with the assistance of four huge elephants. And that two out of three people next to you at a Yes concert are complete idiots. Though not you, dear reader, not you.

  Craig Thomas

Sammy James (5/12/04)

Hey man: I don't even know who you are, but you can help that pretty easily. Anyway, I read the great review that you wrote about Yes's 90125 Surprise! album, and I'm inclined to agree with you on every point that you made therein. I have just a couple of comments.

1. I'm a producer too, like Trevor Horn (though not LIKE Horn, because he is incredible and has been doing it for over 20 years, and I'm lucky if I've been doing this for 20 weeks, so anyway...). I bring it up because from a production standpoint, my world rocks every damned time I listen to this incredible album. I agree with you 100% on your song choices, and yeah -- I know, I know -- a lot of "generic" stuff in there. But that brings me to my second point...

2. Which is that, I believe that the reason why this album has some "generic" moments is that someone had to create all of the motifs and cliches that got used for the better part of the remaining seven years after this album came out. I credit Horn, Rabin, and Anderson for teaming up and giving people enough stuff to copy for a long, long time. I was just explaining to my parents last night how it seems to me as though, sonically and production-wise, you can't get any better than what you've got on this album. Period.

What I'm saying is as follows: You hear lots of stuff that might occasionally cause you to think, "hey -- that's kinda cool." But let's face it -- there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING new out there anymore.

For a few years now, you've heard bands like Dirty Vegas and the ubiquitous Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera wannabees all trying to create that "golden" sound. But hey -- the Back Street Boys were just emulating the kinds of harmonies that Yes clearly already did about 15 years prior. And Britney and Christina, along with Janet and even En Vogue (god rest their souls) all have tried that heavier-than-air kind of sound, with limited results. Rabin did, as you pointed out, create that incredible heavy metal sound, in a way that has been emulated by almost every hair-metal band out there.

I even really LIKE City of Love, if only because it proved that Yes, a seemingly anemic prog rock band from the 70s, could rock harder than anyone!

But enough about the songs, because as I said, you were correct in most of your assertions about their songwriting. I also happen to find that Trevor Horn is just an amazing producer. Think about the direction that he gave to these guys in the studio, and this explains a lot about what happened before and since.

I'm not sure whether HE invented that snare sound, but someone had to do it. And I do recall that Owner of a Lonely Heart was one of the first songs on which I remember hearing that "Shotgun Snare" sound. The only other songs that I can remember from that time were, well..actually, I can't remember any! It wasn't until about 1984, and Def Leppard (I think) and Quiet Riot really began employing that kind of sound. MAYBE Rupert Hine, who might have used it on The Fixx's "Reach the Beach," which might have also come out in about 1982. But anyway...

So, well...that is my brain fart for the weekend. I just like to yap indefinitely, especially about production in music. Let me know if any of this helps to order things in your brain. Meanwhile, I'm going to check out the rest of your articles on this page. Take care.

Sincerely,

Sammy James

Paul Janisch (paul@ohwell.co.za) (5/15/05)

I'm a South African who has been a huge fan of Rabin for years.  I still regard Rabbitt (his South African band) as a huge influence on my own music.  It's therefore quite easy to dwell on the sentimental and lose sight of the reality. 

Whilst Rabin is a brilliant musician I think he sometimes suffers from inconsistency.  His solo albums before "Can't look away" are peppered with fantastic songs but these can be dragged down by absolute mediocrity. 

  To get an idea of what 90125 would have sounded like without Jon Anderson you should listen to Rabin's demo album 90124.  The basics are there but it took Anderson to fix a lot of the songs up lyrically to take it up a notch.  And on 90125 Rabin seems to be in another space altogether.  His guitar playing is incredible, there's elements of jazz, blues, fusion and rock - almost as diverse as Howe. 

    90125 was the beginning for Rabin - he grew immensely after that.  Big Generator  was a personal improvement for Rabin and his contributions to Union make that album palatable.  And for the first time ever he produced a solo album "Can't look away" that was consistent.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/31/05)

It's ironic, with so many Yes alumni involved, that this sounds almost nothing like the Yes of yore. Everyone follows the lead of the one guy that isn't an alumnus, Rabin. Kaye might be on keys, but you can be sure that Rabin came up with the arrangements. And the rhythm section is totally anonymous. There are still some traces of the old Yes around -- White came up with the oddly syncopated intro to "Changes", and the verses of "Our Song" are trickier than they sound, too. The vocal harmonies are really the most Yessish part of the songs - I throughly enjoy them, especially on the bridge of "Hold On", and "Leave It", I must agree. The B-side of the single (now on the remaster, I think) is a mix without the backing track, and the voices are amazing. For me, the album really runs out of steam towards the end. "City of Love" is not a two chord song -- it's actually a NO CHORD song! (I've seen the sheet music). It's pretty brain dead, but again, the vocals on the chorus pump it up a bit. "Hearts", based on a very simplistic Kaye riff, strikes me a poor man's "And You and I" wannabe -- pretty boring, rather than majestic. On the whole, though, I enjoy the music, but whether it qualifies as Yes (especially without Howe) is questionable.

Pete Anderson (pete@distantearlywarning.info) (12/13/09)

This was actually the first Yes album I heard, back in spring 2007.  From there I proceeded to The Yes Album, my first impression of which was a totally different band but with the same (wonderful) vocals.

Anyway, I guess that puts me in a better position to appreciate 90125 than the authors of the negative reader comments here.  My view is: it is stylistically very different from, say, Relayer, but that does not imply artistic bankruptcy.  Aside from the obnoxious "City of Love", every track is wonderful, and I agree that "Hearts" particularly stands out.  My other favourites tend to be "It Can Happen" and the exhilarating instrumental "Cinema".

Also, how is the main synth riff of "Our Song" "obvious"?  Try counting 1-2-3-4 through the opening bars and see what happens.  ;)

8(12).

---

Millersville 1984 - Bootleg
9 (12)

Best song: Nah

See, now this is the kind of bootleg that makes bootlegs worth reviewing. This is a recording of the very first show of the Rabin era, and while it's EXTREMELY difficult to locate, it is so very much worth the effort. While the group's shows would eventually stagnate badly (before making a big comeback on the Talk tour), this show shows nothing but rosey promise for the group ahead.

What really stands out in this show is that the band is extremely on edge, extremely anxious in its performance. Unquestionably, resurrecting the group the way they had was a very bold move, and the band had to be uneasy about how their new sound would be received. As a result, everybody is working their asses off to show that this version of Yes could be just as entertaining as the 70's version. For instance, Rabin's playing is more generic than Howe's, sure, but the feel of it is very much more "I'm adding modern stylistics to the older works" than "look at me, I'm a rock star!" Hence, while later versions of Yours Is No Disgrace would be made virtually unlistenable, here Rabin's Van-Halenesque shredding stands out and adds a seriously interesting dimension to the sound. But the same can be said for the band as a whole - they're trying to keep respect for the past while advancing into the unknown all at once, and they do all they can to keep everything sounding novel and interesting and energetic.

The setlist also makes me smile - the band performs 90125 in its entirety, and everything is helped by the live vibe and accompanying energy. Leave It might be slightly sloppier, due to the lack of exacting studio precision in the vocal harmonies, but that's forgivable. Cinema is a GREAT way to start the show, and all of the other tracks from the album come across as well or better than before (except for City of Love, which still hasn't been graced with the hilariously "tough" vocals that would benefit the Talk-tour rendition). Even Hold On suddenly becomes interesting, generically crowd-pleasing it may be.

The other interesting aspect is that the band uses Tony Kaye's return as an excuse to resurrect all four big epics from The Yes Album. The aforementioned YIND goes off well, ISAGP is as great as usual, Starship Trooper is an utter BLAST (especially the wank-a-licious approach to Würm), and even Perpetual Change shows up! The latter is noteworthy especially, as the band soon decided that it wasn't meeting their expectations (sheez, what did they want exactly? This version RULES) and therefore dropped it, so you need to bum an mp3 of this rendition off me or whatever. It's more geared towards RAWK than virtuosity, but in this context it works amazingly well.

The only place the show sags a bit is in one unfortunate holdover from the older days - the solo spots. But within the context of the show, they sound ok - after all, the point of them was to give each band member a brief spotlight and introduction, and they each sound alright. So within context, they're nice breathers from the rest of the material (even if Squire does go a little overboard, entertaining as Whitefish may be).

Overall, then, this is just exquisite. Unfortunately, this bootleg is EXCEPTIONALLY hard to find, so I have in fact just wasted your time. Unless, of course, you ask nicely for mp3's from me ...

Send me your thoughts

David C. Hails (dhails@ecologicalrestorationinc.com) (5/15/05)

I was in front row at YES concert at Millersville, 1984.  Great show.  I recall they were at least an hour late starting and had some technical difficulty early on, but awesome concert, worth the wait. 

Matthew Boles (ozarkmatt@sbcglobal.net) (08/28/08)

While doing an image search for Geddy Lee for a Fark photoshop contest (don't ask). I am curious about "Millersville 1984 - Bootleg." I saw that tour in Hartford Connecticut, it was broadcast as a Westwood One radio show, but I have lost the tape long long ago.

The one thing that really sticks out about that show was the concert T-shirt. That was one of the first tours I remember that had a corporate sponsor. Sparkomatic Radios, cheap aftermarket car radios. Perfect for the mid 80's. (Side note - the first tour I remember seeing with a corporate ad was Triumph's 'Never Surrender' tour in '83 - a page in the tour book had a full page ad that had nothing but the Nike swoosh.)

Sparkomatic had their logo on the T-shirt, and the next morning when I came down the stairs for school (remember? You HAD to wear the T-shirt to school the next morning after a concert. It was required) my dad just ripped me a new one, making fun of me for spending money for a T-shirt that had "an AD" on it.

Of course now, a logo on a T-shirt is be nothing. But then? My dad laughed - I paid money to advertise a radio company.

Bill and Katrina Zellman (lewisnclark94@hotmail.com) (08/28/08)

Just surfing around and your bootleg reviews caught my eye.  I was a student at Millersville at the time and remember the show.  I would love to get my hands on a copy of the recording. The campus radio station ran a simulcast but the DJ ran his mouth during the entire show.  As years passed, I lost the cassette recording along with my ticket.  Quick story: I stayed up all night with a good friend of mine outside of the "SMAC" (I think that's the nick-name of the student center) to score tickets not knowing that it was general admission.  We still laugh about that night and how we bought the first six tickets to that awesome show.  I did wind up at the front row until another friend of mine fainted at the beginning of the first encore.

---

9012live - The Solos - 1984 Atlantic
3 (6)

Best song: Changes

An incoherent, useless mess. The solos work just fine within the show itself, but what a BORE when taken on their own. Tony Kaye's piece is a worthless 2-minute rendition of Tocatta And Fugue (and some other random wanking), Trevor Rabin's piece is pleasant but rambling, and Soon sounds utterly stupid in this context. Only the Squire/White showcases, the first a two-minute by-the-book rendition of Amazing Grace and the latter a medley of The Fish, Sound Chaser and Tempus Fugit (with Anderson singing "Yes yes" in the right places) are at all interesting, but they're not exactly the most musically substantial thing I've ever heard.

The only saving grace of the album is that it bothers to put on a pair of actual songs from the tour, both performed adequately. Hold On is slightly weaker here than in the Millersville gig, but Changes is a bit more polished, so whatever. The album is still practically useless.

Send me your thoughts

Trfesok@aol.com (12/31/05)

This "mini-album"  came about as a result of a really dumb marketing move by Atlantic Records. Released at the same time was the 9012Live video. It contained excerpts from the Edmonton show, but NOT the solos. The album contains the versions of "Hold On" and "Changes" from the video, but no other actual songs!! What was the point of all that? I filled out my tape with a couple of live B-sides, "It Can Happen" and an edited "City of Love" (that one also from the video), but the CD itself only was released in Japan, and is definitely NOT worth the import price. It would be nice if Rhino/Atlantic would release instead an archive release of the complete concert, but fat chance of that!

---

Big Generator - 1987 Atco
6 (9)

Best song: The Rhythm Of Love

Send me your thoughts

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

Seen from France in the middle of the 80's and after the success of 90125, Yes were part of what we called "American Rock FM" at the time, along with BonJovi, Van Halen, etc... Needless to say this did not convey a very good image, and is the likely reason why BG had good reviews in the french musical press at the time, because obviously they were much more ambitious musically. Hearing the incredibly catchy "Rhythm Of Love" on the radio and reading some of these reviews prompted me to buy the album at the time. It didn't convert me, but I found it quite enjoyable, apart from the horrible "Big Generator" and "Love Will Find A Way" which were (and still are) absolute american cliches to european ears. But honestly, I think the songwriting on this album is very good, even if not as convincing as on the previous one. "Almost Like Love", "Final Eyes" and "Holy Lamb" are anecdotic but no less than pleasant, while "Shoot High Aim Low" and "I'm Running" are really high points. This material is generally badly served by an awful production, not aging well at all, something like the worst of the 80's. The main problem with this album is that, on one hand Jon was there in the conception stage, wanted to come back to the 70s Yes canon and Trevor felt the pressure of the name as well, and on the other hand they had to capitalise on the success of 90125. The result is a difficult compromise approach and a totally schizophrenic album, as none option is fully acted upon. I really believe "Love Will Find A Way" and "I'm Running" do not belong on the same album.

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/29/02)

Not as directionless (or as woeful) as Union, but not far off. This record bears no resemblance to Yes as I know or love them. That is not to say that there is not some good - indeed very good - music on this album, just don't go calling it Yes! And no, I am not a Rabin-hater, see my review of Talk which I feel is one of their finest. "Love Will Find A Way" and "Rhythm Of Love" are really good songs but compare them with anything from the 70s Yes or, indeed, anything off "The Ladder" or "Magnification" and you'll see what I mean.

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

Definitely below average by Yes standards, but still an ok album. My biggest problem is that no song really stands out as being a Yes classic.

Having said that, no song is really that bad either. Even the title song, which seems to be commonly loathed, isn't too bad-just a pale imitation of Owner. My favourite is probably Love Will Find a Way. Rabin's guitar sound is really crisp on this track. The only other two songs that I really enjoy are Almost Like Love and I'm Running. I really get a kick out of Anderson's vocals on the former--I find it reminiscent of Circus of Heaven which I also liked. The latter also has a nice groove to it that I really enjoy. The rest is kind of mediocre. Rhythm of Love and Shoot High Aim Low seem to be most people's favourites, but I just find them ok. Same with Final Eyes and Holy Lamb.

I give Big Generator a 6 (9). It's probably the most mediocre album in their catalogue. I sort of feel about it like you felt about Rush's Hold Your Fire (although I obviously like BGmore than you liked HYF). None of the songs are bad, but presented all back to back on one album-I just don't get as much out of listening to it as most other albums. I suppose it's even more disappointing when you realize it took them four years to get it out.

Eric Benac (ebenac@nmu.edu) (1/17/05)

actually, i'd disagree and say that this album is as good as 90125. there is some creative orchestral arrangements, and vocal intros. and these songs, while mostly being pop songs, still have quite good melodies and interesting riffs. and shoot high aim low is one of the best songs trevor contributed to the group. not a high point, not a low point. simply a continuation of ideas and styles from 90125. so basically, an 8.

  and i'd give talk an 8 too, even if it's better. it somehow seems wrong to give any of these albums a 9.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/31/05)

You hit the nail on the head about the length of time it took between studio albums this time around. The initial sessions in Italy were spent with Trevor Horn trying to reconcile the warring factions of Anderson, Rabin and Squire. Somehow, Horn got the blame for all of this and got fired (according to Kaye, he "wasn't the right producer" for them -- but no one would have been at that point). This resulted in the band, basically, scrapping what they had done and starting from scratch in L.A. with Rabin in charge (although they had to keep Horn listed in the credits in order to avoid lawsuits from him).

  For all this turmoil, the album isn't all that bad. I don't dislike it quite as much as you do. Not a major departure from 90125, of course, except, that they seem to be more willing to work on more extended pieces. I also like "Shoot High, Aim Low" a lot, too. "Love Will Find a Way" shows the Beatles/Byrds influence in Yes resurfacing after a long absence. (It actually wasn't originally intended for Yes, but for Stevie Nicks (!), which might explain that) "Holy Lamb" has Jon trying to do a "Soon" for the 80's, but sounds rather out of place here. The title track is indeed the weakest song, showing Rabin's propensity for generic hard rock at its worst. Overall, though, it's not an uninteresting album, but, again, it still looked like a Rabin-centered sound was not totally compatible with Yes. 

Pete Anderson (pete@distantearlywarning.info) (12/13/09)

Not for the first time, the second successive album by a single Yes line-up is a big (no pun intended) disappointment after the first (Tormato anyone?). Even if only the title track and maybe "Almost Like Love" are clearly bad songs, Big Generator just isn't as memorable or exciting as 90125.  The production is weak and has no punch to it, a far cry from the vibrant colours of its predecessor, though that might just be because the album hasn't been remastered as of late 2009. "Rhythm of Love" indeed stands out here, though I think "Love Will Find a Way" is the album's finest moment.

  Otherwise, though, I agree with the 6(9).  If 90126 is what you're looking for, The Ladder is a much better bet if you ask me.  However, it does feel weird giving 90125 an 8(12) and then slagging off BG, so I just might raise the grade to a low-end 7(10) if the album ever gets remastered.

"Pete Anderson" (pete@distantearlywarning.info) (01/13/10)

Further to my last: whaddaya know. There is in fact a recent remastered edition of the album, available as a (rather expensive) Japanese import. Now this is what I call a good remastering job: the sound has a real kick to it, making the "danceable" elements of the good songs stand out that much more. 7(10) it is.

---

Louisville '87 - Bootleg
5 (8)

Best song: Mediocrity abounds

Send me your thoughts

---

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe - 1989 Arista
7 (10)

Best song: Birthright

Send me your thoughts

Norbert Becker (n.k.becker@worldnet.att.net)

On your otherwise well-written, concise review of ABWH I noticed an error. After BG, Yes ceased to exist (until Union). They did not continue to tour as a 4 (3-1/2 counting Tony) piece, although were tensions in the group less they might have.
(author's note): Correction has been made.

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

I really doubt this was a real group effort. I've always seen it as "Classic Yes updated for the 80's through the eyes of Jon Anderson". Indeed Jon initiated the project with almost all of the songs in mind. Rick's input was apparently important, although I really have problems with his sticky greasy 80's synths (the way he totally destroys "Teakbois", now that's what I call synth-vomit!). But I always thought Steve and Bill only got to overdub the backing tracks. Anyway, the songwriting is on a high, except for the childish melodies of "Teakbois" and the ridiculously cliche mediterranean sounding "Quartet". But "Brother Of Mine", "Birthright", "The Meeting" and the b-side "Vultures In The City" are very good, while "Themes", "Fist Of Fire", "Order Of The Universe" and "Let's Pretend" are a step lower but never falling on the boring side. I remember reading a Bruford interview in which he stated that a window opened for this group somewhere in the middle of "Birthright", but that the business diktat of the time did not allow them to act upon it. Anyway, his electronic drums may not be as inventive as on the 80s King Crimson trilogy, but his onslaughts in "Second Attention" and "Order Of The Universe" really kill me everytime. How could White (as much as I like him) come up with such wicked rhythmic punctuations? Oh, and I almost forgot the high point for me: a Squireless album! Last point: although you did not mention it, "An Evening Of Yes Music Plus" is one of the most satisfying live albums to date. Highlights are the funny acoustic "Time And A Word" medley, an incredibly improved, powerful and emotional "Birthright", and the best version of "Close To The Edge" ever. I truly believe all the other Brufordless recordings of that "tune" suck.

Nick Karn (mjareviews@yahoo.com)

It's crap that Chris Squire wouldn't let the other four members of the classic lineup involved in this album use the Yes name. I mean, Floyd continued on using their name without Roger Waters, didn't they? That's A LOT more drastic of a change than this. Strange.

This album certainly isn't any less Yes-sounding than, say, Drama, but I don't really think it can be called too progressive either. Sure, "Themes" gives off that false impression as two out of three of its' sections are instrumental, but some of this stuff musically seems a lot more in the vein of an extended Genesis' epic from their late pop period ala Invisible Touch (especially "Brother Of Mine", my favorite on the album - it's nice). "Quartet" and "Order Of The Universe" just combine four short pop songs in each one into 9 minute epics (the former in a quite corny and dull fashion).

It's kinda hard to figure my overall rating here, because the best stuff is only pretty good (though in the case of "The Meeting" quite pretty if not too memorable), but other than parts of "Quartet" and most of "Teakbois", there isn't much overly lame here. A really low 6, probably.

"Sittinger, Brian D" (brian.d.sittinger@lmco.com) (8/02/01)

Well, you took just about everything I had to say out of my mouth. This album does not seem to be truly progressive at all. Even the "multisectioned" songs lack the substance to deserve those breakdowns. However, the music is mostly fine, although it is very clear that this album is deeply rooted in the 1980's. "Order of the Universe" and "Brother of Mine", though not up to the classic standards of Yes, still are quite good. All the players here have shown they have not lost anything yet, depite this being during the 1980's. But, where is Steve Howe and Bill Bruford half of the time? I'd still prefer to listen to this over 90125 any day. Finally, so what if Chris Squire was not on here anyway? Tony Levin was low in the mix!! Low 7 out of 10.

TheRubberCow@aol.com (4/19/02)

Well, I picked this album up used for $2 (on cd!), and I've only listened to it once, but you seemed to think the exact same thing I did.  The title-quoting in "She Gives Me Love" is embarressingly stupid, and "Teakbois" is cheezy (I don't remember there really being bad synths, but some Jamaican guy shouting out "Teakbois!".....reminded me of an early 90's Kool-Aid commercial).  But I do like what I heard this first time, and I have a feeling the album will visit my player relatively often.

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/29/02)

The lost Yes album! Forget the name, this is more Yes than 90125, Big Generator or Union could ever be. Extended tracks, silly lyrics, Wakeman in your face - very cool! OK, "Teakbois" doesn't work, the history quoting in "She Gives Me Love" is annoying (not to mention obvious, basically saying "we really are Yes"!) but most of the reast of the album is great. Hard to pick a favourite - no, too hard!!

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

This is the only Yes album that I like less now, after multiple listens, than I did when I heard it the first time. I really liked everything on this album when I first heard it, but I don't enjoy it as much anymore, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's mostly because the two long productions, Brother of Mine and Order of the Universe seem too long and overblown. They both have good moments of beauty especially BoM but I just don't really enjoy them all the way through. Too bad.

I will call you out for saying that Quartet and Teakbois are "utter suckjobs". Quartet is my favourite on the album with the four pieces of music blending together perfectly to make an enjoyable 9 minute song. The only real complaint about Quartet you and others seem to have is the song quoting. I don't see what the big deal is-Anderson was just making some humorous references to Yes' past. The Beatles did the same thing in Glass Onion and I didn't see any complaints about that. As for Teakbois, I enjoy the simple lyrics and feel of the song and also consider it a highlight of the album. Also very good are the opening Themes with its lovely piano at the beginning, and The Meeting with Anderson coming up with another memorable short melody. The rest of the album I can take or leave. Lots of people seem to like Birthright, but it always passes me by as being overlong and boring. Fist of Fire and Let's Pretend are also not too memorable.

I give this one a 6 (9). I feel a little guilty for not going higher, since some music is just great and nothing is horrible, but I just find it one of the hardest Yes albums to listen to from beginning to end.

Tom Burrichter (tburrichter@austin.rr.com) (4/07/04)

One thing I have noticed is that this album seems to have aged well. When it came out, the friend who turned me on to Yes back in the mid 80's ripped it apart with a long list of jabs. I was on the fence about it (comparing it to what these 4 had done in the past), but this is a really cool album and I only wish there could have been a couple more.

Tom Burrichter

Trfesok@aol.com (12/31/05)

Actually, the reason that this bunch couldn't call themselves Yes was that Squire, being the only guy who had been in all incarnations of the group, had legal control of the name. The lawsuit arose around the the billing of this tour as "An Evening of Yes Music, Plus", which Squire, surprisingly, lost.

  Although this is really more Jon's A Momentary Lack of Reason than an album by another version of Yes. As with the "Pink Floyd" album, a creative force in the old group, with the help of some former members and session men, creates a solo album disguised as a group effort. While the best Yes albums had group members taking whatever raw material the guys brought in and built it up together in the studio, this time Jon took what few contributions the others made (Bruford contributed a chunk of "Birthright," for instance, and the "Long Lost Brother of Mine" section was a GTR leftover from Howe) and reshaped it according to his vision. Howe didn't even go along with the rest of the band to Montserrat for the initial sessions -- he actually overdubbed his parts later in London!  It helped to have Chris Kimsey along (who had produced the two best Marillion albums with Fish, Misplaced Childhood and Clutching at Straws) to craft a pseudo-prog album. I enjoy it, but it's clear after a few listens that somewhat overdone production disguised some relatively simple music, by Yes standards, anyway. The only outright disaster is the idiotic "Teakbois," a really stupid attempt to be "ethnic." The rest of the songs are at least catchy and accessible, and the guys do get to shine once in a while. The most annoying thing about the album is that Jon did not take advantage of Tony Levin's presence -- he is basically inaudible in the mix. Still, this material really came to life on stage. However, as you know, Jon's trying to repeat this approach only could lead to disaster.

---

An Evening Of Yes Music Plus - 1994 Caroline
8 (11)

Best song: The solo spots, especially Anderson's

An official release of a typical ABWH concert in 1989, roughly split between good-but-by-the-book renditions of Yes and ABWH numbers and beautiful-and-clever 'solo spots' and rearrangments of songs. Ironically enough, it was the presence of the latter that kept me from buying the album for so long - I could never get myself to buy a live album that had so much 'solo wanking' occupying disc 1 - but of course, they turn out to be the best part. First of all - you have GOT to hear the Time and a Word/Owner of a Lonely Heart/Teakbois medley at some point in your life. The way Anderson's voice and Howe's (or Anderson's? You tell me) acoustic move through the three songs and make them flow seamlessly into each other, even placing the lyrics to one in the melody of another, is a royal treat to listen to, and makes the album worth while by itself.

The other spots are certainly not bad themselves, not by any means. Wakeman's pieces are entertaining as hell (remember what I said earlier about solo Wakeman being absolutely thrilling in small quantities), and one of them is even an instrumental version of Madrigal! Meanwhile, Howe's runthroughs of The Clap and Mood for a Day are slightly routine, but before and between them, he messes with some other pieces to alleviate any semblance of boredom. And finally, Bruford's spot, coming out of an acoustic Long Distance Runaround, is an actually entertaining solo on his electronic drums, where he bashes around so furiously that it seems (if you've ever listened to Absent Lovers, that is) like the band's going to suddenly break into Indiscipline at any given moment. That's a big compliment, by the way.

After that, the band launches into a great version of Birthright, with Rick's keyboards taking on an even more entertainingly epic character than before, and this is one of the few instances on the album where the "live energy vibe" pops out and shows its head. Same goes for And You and I, which returns to the structure of the original. And then, although it was originally at the very end of the show, CD 1 closes with a wonderful Starship Trooper that boasts plenty of twists and turns from previous versions.

But on CD 2, aside from the fabulous Close to the Edge performance (the only official live recording of Bruford playing the song, btw), which has Bruford's awesome percussion brought even higher in the mix than in the studio version, thanks to the electronic drums, the vibe of "were doing something different" disappears and the vibe "we need obligatory live versions of these songs" comes in. None of the ABWH songs on this disc are bad, and Roundabout is Roundabout, but then, none of the ABWH songs on here really surpass their studio counterparts, and I've heard so many versions of Roundabout in my life that it's hard to feel a lot of attachment to more than a couple of them. And as for Heart of the Sunrise, well, Jeff Berlin does his best (Tony Levin was unable to play this show, so Berlin filled in), and he doesn't actually flub any notes, but he's just playing notes as opposed to messing with the rhythms slightly and throwing in random stacattos and legattos like Squire does. As a result, the rest of the band is mixed much higher than normal, and quite honestly, Heart of the Sunrise sounds friggin' weird with the bass as the lowest instrument in the mix.

So all in all, this is a good album. If it weren't for the fact that it has neither The Meeting nor Let's Pretend, I'd say to ignore ABWH and just get this, but alas, those are good songs, so I can't say that. But as much as I'd like to give this a higher grade, I just can't. Sorry.

Send me your thoughts

"Riley, Matt" (matt_riley@saleslink.com) (5/31/03)

The acoustic guitar that accompanied Jon's solo medley in the beginning of the show was played by one of the 2 sidemen that played on the tour (1 keyboardist, 1 guitarist), either Milton McDonald or Julian Cobeck I believe.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/31/04)

I had front row seats to a show on this tour, so I'm a bit biased, but out of the four lineups of Yes that I've seen, this was the best. Even without Squire. On the album, Jeff Berlin fills in adequately. But, visually, the show was probably lacking a bit without Tony Levin, who was quite a performer.

    The solo bits were indeed a bit surprising, with guitarist Milt McDonald and Julian Colbeck on keyboards accompanying Anderson on the opening medley -- which lead to a bit of confusion until Howe and Wakeman came out later! The song lineup accurately reflects the show, except Anderson and Wakeman also played "The Meeting" at the show I saw. (Jon said that the song was actually "about us all getting back together," even though only the two of them played it!).  The material from the ABWH studio album actually sounds better to me here, more stripped down and energetic and less contrived. "Close to the Edge" and "Starship Trooper" are superb performances. Yessongs may have the edge over this in terms of raw energy, but for solid, highly professional musicianship and excellent live sound quality, this is the place to go for live Yes.

Bob

---

Can't Look Away (Trevor Rabin) - 1989 Elektra
4 (7)

Best song: Can't Look Away

Send me your thoughts

---

Yesyears - 1991 Atco
7 (10)

Best song: Oh bite me...

I really don't like reviewing boxsets like this. This is a classic example of a "schizophrenic" boxset - on the one hand, it's packed with songs that fans already have on regular studio albums (which sorta makes it a compilation, I guess), which can in theory make it alright for newcomers. On the other hand, it has several tracks that can't be found elsewhere, making much of it interesting for band historians but only marginally relevant for the inexperienced fan. This very conflict makes coming up with an accurate rating for the set as a whole utterly impossible, and the 7 above may just as well be a 5 or a 10.

First of all - as a compilation, I would not even consider recommending this boxset. Not just for reasons of spite, mind you, but rather the fact that the two disc Yesstory, released a year later, fills the multi-disc compilation void for the band rather nicely. It leaves out any whiff of Drama, but considering that it manages to fit on Close to the Edge AND Ritual and three epics from TYA, it's a pretty decent buy. Plus, it has the two rarities that are REALLY worth everybody's time and money (but that's for later). Plus, it doesn't have such a whackily distorted allocation of tracks as on here - FIVE tracks from Time and a Word but only two from the debut??? Wow ...

So that leaves the unreleased stuff (and quite frankly, my advice is to somehow compile yourself a two-CD "rarities" collection from this collection and then sell the rest). It disappoints me heavily to say this, but the unreleased material, particularly in the last couple of discs, almost uniformly stinks. There are three Rabin-era live cuts, which wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that they're from the BG tour. Changes is done decently enough, but Heart of the Sunrise and And You And I ... words fail me. Heart of the Sunrise is marred just by being sloppy, while AYAI is utterly massacred thanks to unnecessarily cheezily generic synths, GENERIC AS HELL "heavenly" guitar soloing and a pounding drum beat that utterly does not belong. A jaw-dropping failure this is, and I can only be grateful that the reinvention on the Talk tour came across so much better.

The other outtakes from around this time don't do much to impress either. Some of them come from the Rabin years; one of them, Love Conquers All, is boringly generic, but it's still an interesting historical footnote in that it's the only officially available track from the post-Anderson post-BG time period. On the other hand, we get a glimpse at the pre-Anderson Cinema, and if what we have here is any indication, it might not have been that great a success without Anderson coming on board. Make it Easy has a neat intro (which would make it into many concerts as the prelude to Owner), but the actual song can go to hell as far as I'm concerned (well, sort of - the verses suck mightily, but the chorus grew on me plenty). One also gets an early version of It Can Happen, with Chris on lead vocals, that lacks the electric sitar and halfway decent lyrics that would make the later version so captivating. The cool chorus is already in place, though, so that makes it somewhat bearable.

Now what comes on disc three, the ending days of the "glory days," is what really disappoints the hell out of me. First of all, I am utterly perplexed that the band didn't see fit to include studio versions of Go Through This and We Can Fly From Here, outtakes from the Drama sessions that made it into their live set. And yet, the band included Run With the Fox, an alright "Christmas" single that wasn't even released under the banner of Yes - it was a Squire/White independent collaboration after the band's breakup.

But never mind that - why are there so many outtakes from the TORMATO sessions????!!! I enjoy the band's live cover of I'm Down from around this time, sure, but the studio stuff is just time taken from my life I wish I had back. Money is funny in its own right, with the BBC broadcast voice in the background, and it would have actually been a highlight on Tormato, but that's not exactly saying much. The band includes a nice instrumental piece from the GFTO sessions (Montreaux's Theme), that's nice and atmospheric with some subtle yet still trademark Howe soloing, but they bookend it with the two-part Vevey, which has no thematic development whatsoever and sounds like an outtake from a Wakeman solo album (though it could have worked well as the midsection of another piece, I'll give it that). And, er, aren't ballads like Abilene supposed to actually be MEMORABLE??

On the plus side - aside from the dispensable single version of Soon and Squire's two-minute rendition of Amazing Grace, the rest is quite enjoyable. The main attractions are (a) a four minute single version of the band's ten-minute cover of Paul Simon's America (one can actually tell this is a bit of a hack job, but it's still funny), (b) a studio version of the band's HILARIOUS cover of Something's Coming (only available otherwise on the BBC Sessions) and (c) cleaned-up, well-produced renditions of Then and Everydays from those same BBC Sessions. If the sound quality of that collection gave you a headache, then this is your best bet to catch the early version of the band in its live glory.

Gah, and that's it. What a bloated behemoth this is (though I guess some would argue that that matches up with the character of the band, blah blah blah).

Send me your thoughts

Trfesok@aol.com (12/02/07)

This thing has gone out of print (replaced with another boxset with a different set of rarities),  and it's probably just as well. I agree, for a hardcore fan, it was pretty much a disappointment as far as rarities were concerned. Most of the studio rarities have now been added as bonus tracks to the remastered albums, with the exception of "Love Conquers All". By, the way, this is not "the only officially available track from the post-Anderson post-BG time period" -- it was actually recorded at the same time as the YesWest tracks on Union, but never made it to the stage where Anderson overdubbed vocals.  Rabin's  voice sounds too strained here -- the version on the Squire/Sherwood album Conspiracy sounds better, with Billy Sherwood's lead vocal fitting more comfortably in the song's key.  The Cinema tracks are a letdown, too -- the recording quality makes it clear that these are demos. "Make it Easy" sounds like typical 80's rock, and "It Can Happen" proves that Anderson's vocal and lyrical quirks (Squire's verse lyrics are quite trite) were needed to make 90125 work as Yes album. 

As for the live stuff, I would have preferred another BBC cut than "Everydays", but "Then" definitely proves that the orchestra was quite unnecessary on the second album.  "I'm Down" is not from the Tormato  tour -- it has Moraz on keyboards. Fun, and lightweight, especially considering that the band was performing its heaviest material during this period. Anderson's voice is surprisingly gruff, here, for him.  As for the last three songs, looks like I didn't miss much. "Changes" feels like a ripoff, since an almost identical version appears on 9012Live.  As for the classic songs -- I agree that "generic" is the word.  In particular. I remember "And You and I" being a big highlight on the 90125 tour, but here, it sound like a Yes cover band fronted by Anderson.

  The booklet is nicely packaged, but you'd never know there were any conflicts within the group from the lovey-dovey essay. Overall though, it's not now worth paying collector prices for this set just to get the booklet and a few lost tracks of less than stellar quality.  

---

Union - 1991 Arista
2 (5)

Best song: Masquerade

Send me your thoughts

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

"Masquerade" should have been the title as it is an accurate description of the content. Not as lame as "Open Your Eyes", but very close. Both albums have a lot of things in common: underinspired, overproduced contractual obligations to support a "back to classics" tour. All those who participated were not interested at all and let the management decide how to finish it because they were contractually locked. Bruford's interviews are particularly telling. During the sessions, he was told when to come, what to play, and did not have the choice. He knew before the tour he would leave as soon as possible. I suspect Steve felt the same. And that ridiculous story in the booklet! The material is indeed incredibly lame. The opening chorus to "I Would Have Waited Forever" is decent, but the song quickly drowns in a swamp of lame melodies on pointless greasy arrangements which are the norm all along. "Shock To The System", Without Hope", "Miracle Of Life", "Silent Talking", "Dangerous", "Holding On", "Take The Water" and "Give And Take" give you the impression they just rearranged the same lame song as many times as needed to fill an album. Actually, "Shock To The System" reminds me of Scorpions more than anything else! In the middle of this, the ridiculous "Angkor Wat" even manages to sound like an interesting diversion! The other songs? Even the ones which sound decent and acceptable ("Lift Me Up", "Saving My Heart", "The More We Live") are not particularly uplifting or convincing. The best part of the album is by far the small interludes "Masquerade" and "Evensong". If you liked the latter, it appears in a much longer and satisfying form under the title "Jewels" on Levin's 1995 solo album "World Diary".

Robert Grazer (xeernoflax@jack-the-ripper.com)

Oh boy. This is not the worst album ever made. It is probably Yes's worst though. A few points to consider.

1. This is not Yes. Yeah It's got the members, the cover and the name, but it doesn't sound a thing like them. I mean "Shock to the System" is done by the same band that did "Starship Trooper?" I don't think so.

2. It's OK for a band to make an album that isn't their normal style...sometimes. I mean, I can think of several metal bands that released non-metal albums just for the fun of it and get bashed by close-minded fans when the music on the rather experimental releases is not really all that bad.

3. This album isn't THAT bad. Yeah no song on here could even fream of holding a candle to a song even half as good as "The Ancient," but it is passable, espescially compared to other 1991 "classics" like Nirvana's Nevermind.

BEST TRACK: "Masquerade" is a nice guitar instrumental that is the only track on this album that has a hint of the old stuff in it. I still prefer "Mood for a Day" and "The Clap" anyday.

RATING: My Scale: *** John McFerrin's Scale: 6(9)

Terry Shea (sheaterry@earthlink.net)

As bad as this album is by Yes standards, it's still probably better than almost anything else that came out in the 80's or 90's.  I think it starts off allright, but the album pretty much dies after Lift Me Up.  I don't care for any of the other Yeswest tunes on Union and Howe and Wakeman played very little if at all on this album.  The record company wanted it done immediately and used session musicians when Howe and Wakeman were'nt available.

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie@hotmail.com)

Ah, Union, everybody's least favorite Yes album, including mine. More Yes members, more songs, and yet less actual Yes than on any other Yes album. I don't think it's quite as bad as a 2, though - if we ignore the politcal BS that plagued the album, the studio musicians, and the totally completely misleading packaging and hype, what we're left with is... a boring AOR album with a couple of good tunes on it.

I actually like 2 songs here a lot - "Lift Me Up" and "Miracle Of Life" are both great songs - very pretty and uplifting. The chorus to the former is breathtaking - unbelievably pretty. Worth buying this album for a dollar if you see it for those 2 songs alone. Steve's guitar solo is nice, too. It would be filler anywhere else, but here it blows most of the competition clean out of the water. A couple of the other songs aren't too bad, either - "I Would Have Waited Forever" and "Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day" aren't all that good, but they're at least decent, and I get the desire to hear them every now and then.

Most of the rest absolutely sucks, though, especially the vomit-inducing pseudo-reggae adult contemporary of "Saving My Heart". "Angkor Wat" might be even worse, though - no melody at all, just aimless boring pretentiousness. It's painfully obvious that no one was interested - there's a lot of studio musicians, and the parts that ARE played by the actual Yes don't sound any different (I can't even tell the difference!). Where's Bruford's tricky drumming? Where's Squires booming bass? Where's the good music? This could have been a nifty little EP, but at 65 minutes, it's about 45 minutes too long. I'd give it a VERY, VERY low 4. I'd give it a 3, but I'm boosting it a bit for the fact that most of this album is listenable, if not exactly good. I'm glad that YesWest was able to pull an album as strong as Talk out of this mess.

"Poschmann, Steve" (Steve.Poschmann@fmr.com) (11/25/01)

Thanks for you interesting web site with Yes album reviews. Just some background on my Yes experience before I comment on your review of Union. Back around 1980 when I was 15, I bought the Yessongs record because I liked the cover, having never heard anything from it. I grew to love the album. (By the way I never noticed the muddy production...but as a rule I don't care for live albums very much due to the production value that live albums typically lack.) (Also, the drum solo, by Bruford, to me shows why he is considered the best Yes drummer.) I also bought Drama soon after because it was in the cut-out bin and I appreciated the "new wave" take on Yes (influenced by Downes and Horn). Later, I liked the 90215 radio tracks for reasons different than why I liked their earlier stuff, but I never owned any of the YesWest albums (until Union). Just wanted to let you know where I'm coming from.

Now, regarding Union. First, I kind of liked many of the songs on the album. Maybe it was because I bought it used on a whim and had very low expectations. I feel that two of the YesWest contributions -- 'Lift Me Up' and 'Saving My Heart' -- have nice melodies and are comparable to the better songs from 90215 or Big Generator...and I thought a couple of the ABWH lineup's songs were very good at best. Apparently, I'm in a minority. That's fine...I can deal with that. Its not a big deal.

Here are some questions that arose to me in listening to the cd recently and reading the liner notes: (some you touched on)

- Sometimes, I could not tell who played what instruments at what times. There so are MANY session musicians listed! I could tell Rabin and Howe's guitars usually, but how much did Wakeman actually play on the album?

- Why isn't Levin considered a member of the band? I guess they were pushing for the ABWH + YesWest theme, but Levin's name deserved to be in there as much as the others. Other short-lived memberships have been listed as members earlier and subsequent albums.

- Why do the liner notes make such a big deal about Chris Squire's vocals being added to the ABWH tracks of Union? I didn't realize Squire had such distinctive vocals. Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to have added Rabin's vocals to the ABWH tracks? His backing vocals contrast Anderson's in a nice way...and he is known to be a decent backing vocalist, no? And it doesn't even say "backing vocals" of Squires were added. It says "vocals". Is Squire a lead vocalist at all? Very confusing.

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

How horrid! To call this disorganised, overproduced, under-written mismatch "Union" - they should be sued for false advertising!! I can't think of one major redeeming feature of this album, even so the worst thing Yes may record is better than many bands' brightest moments

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)

Aargh! Where do I start? Well, when I was still at SCU, for some reason a friend gave this to me for free (Supposedly, she had an extra copy). I listened to a small portion of it. That was over a year ago. Finally, I brought it out again yesterday night, vowing to listen to it all. Needless to say, after I had enough with some of the songs (esp., the second half), I skipped on into the next ones.

Why? First, the songs themselves are not inherently the worst things I've heard in my life. BUT, after "Lift Me Up" or so, the songs just numb the living daylights out of me! It has to be the genericism. I can't explain it any other way. "I Could Have Waited Forever" is the 'catchiest' out of the bunch, but even this one rambles a bit unnecessarily (repetition/solo breaks). And, of course, "Masquerade" is the most pleasant song present. I can hardly remember how the others go... . This album can get no more than 4 out of 10 from me.

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

Ok, here's where I'm going to have to disagree with just about everyone. I love Union! Since you and almost everyone else take great pleasure in dumping crap all over the album, it's time someone comes out to defend it.

The person most responsible for my love of the album would be Trevor Rabin. The three songs he contributed are all fantastic, definitely the best he had written for Yes up to that point, and the three best on the album. My favourite is Miracle of Life with its killer intro and boisterous, catchy chorus always putting a smile on my face. The oft maligned Saving My Heart has an infectious opening riff and beautiful sing-a-long chorus-I don't know why you and so many others hate it. And of course Lift Me Up is one song even the Union bashers seem to like. It's also full of energy and catchy hooks. The last YesWest contribution The More We Live is ok, but is one of the weaker tracks on the album.

As for the ABWH stuff, well there is some good stuff and some unmemorable tracks. Angkor Wat might be my least favourite Yes song, going over five minutes with no discernable melody. Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day is also kind of blah-I can never really remember anything about it. The others are ok to good. Masquerade is a nice interlude from Howe, but certainly less memorable than his other solo Yes pieces. I Would Have Waited Forever has a nice groove and is probably the best of the ABWH tracks here. Shock to the System rocks pretty good and has a nice middle interlude. Silent Talking is kind of boring to start but has a nice melodic finish. Holding On is enjoyable as well, although certainly no classic. Finally Dangerous, Evensong, and Take the Water are all short and fun, even if they don't stick with you afterwards. The weakness in some of the ABWH stuff brings down the album a bit, but the Rabin stuff is so good, I can't help but give it an overall 8 (11).

Believe it or not, after I read some of the scathing reviews you and some others wrote about Union, I actually tried to hate it! Since this was the first new Yes album I heard after getting into them, I thought maybe I was slightly biased towards it. After all, everyone loathed it so much, I figured there must be something wrong with me for liking it. But I've listened to it repeatedly and I still love it! I know all the back history about the production woes and the forced union of the two factions, but that just makes me think how much better this album might have been. It doesn't take away from how good it is.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/31/05)

As with all things, there are two sides of the story of this debacle. According to Elias, by this point Howe and Wakeman were so burned out that it was like pulling teeth to get them to write or play anything useable. Which is why his name appears so much in the credits -- he and Anderson had to take whatever scraps they could get and turn them into songs. To make matters worse, Howe's parts were so bland that that Arista demanded that they be redone. That's when Anderson and Elias absconded with the tapes to California to begin the work with session men. According to Jimmy Haun, (excluding the pretty "Masquerade"), Howe plays for a grand total of less than 5 minutes on the album when you add it all up -- he replaced everything else. Finally, Arista told him that he had to somehow sound like Howe and Rabin at the same time, which explains the hard rock horror of "Shock to the System" (even Rabin hated playing that one live) and another "Owner of a Lonely Heart" clone, "Dangerous."

  While the ABWH album was a reasonable facsimile of a Yes album, "their" stuff here sounds like a pale shadow of Yes. It's like (and effectively is, I guess) an album played by a band of ghosts -- no power or oomph at all. The songwriting is either really dull ("Take the Water to the Mountain," "Angkor Wat," "Without Hope..") or melodically disorganized ("I Would Have Waited Forever," "Dangerous"). The catchiest and most coherent of the "ABWH" tunes, a simple rocker called "Give and Take," was actually relegated to the B-side of "Lift Me Up." This stuff actually sounds worse the more times that you play it (especially "Shock to the System" -- that is just a really stupid song).

  It's amazing that the YesWest stuff sounds so much better. The multipart "Miracle of Life" actually sounds more like classic Yes than the ABWH mess, and the complex intro and outro to "Lift Me Up" is a very Yessish touch bracketing a nice folk-rock tune. Although simple, "The More We Live" also captures the meditative feel of some of early Yes. Although Rabin later regretted letting Anderson talk him into including "Saving My Heart," it's at least not as dumb as "Teakbois." However, it's telling that none of the songs (nor "Love Conquers All," retained from these sessions by Atlantic as part of the deal getting YesWest out of its contract and on to Arista) sound like each other in the least.  This indicates YesWest was as confused and directionless as ABWH, if more competent. It's a good thing the tour happened, or Yes probably would have not survived this jumbled fiasco.

---

Close To VIII Progressors - Bootleg
7 (11)

Best song: Awaken

Wow, what a horrible bootleg name ... Union may have been an abominable album, but the ensuing tour was surprisingly successful. This recording of the final show of the US leg of the tour doesn't completely demonstrate this fact, but it still contains enough firey performances to give at least some creedence to this suggestion. The recording can't help but be hampered by the fact that it's in support of such weak material (Lift Me Up is good, but including both Shock to the System AND Saving My Heart doesn't make me smile), which in turn caused much of the rest to take on the nature of a "greatest hits" tour (augmented by a lot of solos), but it's still a decent listen.

That it's decent, though, doesn't necessarily make it a cohesive listen. The biggest issue throughout, as you might imagine, is the way Howe and Rabin often make the concert into a sort of territorial pissing match. No track better illustrates this, in my opinion, than the opening Yours is no Disgrace, where the mid-song 'jam' section reminds me of two little kids fighting each other for a fire truck on Christmas day (like my brother and I once upon a time, hehe). Howe does his thing, throwing in a nice jazzy solo with prog leanings (as he is wont to do), but when he finishes his part and you expect the midsection jam to end, it starts again with Rabin doing HIS thing! Of course, I simply do not care for what Rabin does here - he plays fast and loud and all that, but I really CANNOT tell what would make this better than some average hair-metal guitarist's speedwankery. The overall effect might have been nice if I saw it live, but here it just seems kinda silly.

Anyway, speaking of solos, it's my opinion that they really take too much time out of the concert with these solos. BOTH guitarists get to have their solo spots, and while Clap is still as great as ever, Solly's Beard still rambles like nothing else, and it would have been nice to stick in another song here. Also, both Squire and Wakeman get lengthy solo spots, and they really don't do anything here that they hadn't shown in years past. I DO find it a nice touch that Anderson sings the lyrics over Chris' rendition of Amazing Grace, but other than that, ehn. This said, though, I will give the band credit - they could have given Tony solo time, and that would have made the peformance that much more tedious, but they didn't, so whatever.

Not all the solos, though, make things worse. The band takes the opportunity to do Rhythm of Love and Owner of a Lonely Heart, and both are made into fine renditions courtesy of GREAT Wakeman solos at the end. Seriously, it might surprise you at first that Wakeman would have such fun playing Yeswest material, but for all his pomp and pretense, Rick has always demonstrated a preference for playing more energetic and upbeat and rawkin' material, so the surprise is tempered at least somewhat. Oh sure, his keyboard tone is kinda cheezy, but it's a fun kind of cheese, and the energy level is enough to make things extremely engaging.

The utter pinnacle of the show, though, comes when the band comes together, puts its collective egos away, and pulls off a stunning 8-man rendition of Awaken. Rabin mostly uses his guitar for atmospheric effect, not as a competitor of Steve, Tony provides low-key ballast for Rick's parts (though with some of the solos handed to him), and Bill and Alan give a subtle boost in the activity of the percussion without making the piece turn cacophonous. Indeed, Bill's electronic drums give the piece an interesting mood and extra dose of intensity, and while he might not really make a sizable impact in the rest of the concert, he certainly does here.

Otherwise, though, the concert is pretty much what you'd expect. I would say, though, that it highly disappoints me to hear Bill do so little overall - perhaps he'd cared at the beginning of the tour, but it was obvious by this time that he just wanted his paycheck so he could afford to do jazz. Oh well. 'Tis pretty enjoyable anyway.

Send me your thoughts

Trfesok@aol.com (04/29/08)

I actually don't have this particular bootleg, but I do have excerpts from the tour. Parts of the second show at Wembley in London were broadcast on a  US radio special, while songs from two German shows show up on a pretty good bootleg called Around the World in 80 Dates.  From what I've been told, the show was very exciting to actually see, but seems to lose something in translation to audio only. It sounds like the full eight man lineup doesn't appear on all the "group" numbers, such as "Changes" or "And You and I", even if they do. The solos are pretty much a waste of time, except I do think that Rabin (?) adding those countryish electric licks to Rick's ..Six Wives.. solo is amusing. The "Owner.." and "Rhythm of Love", I agree, are also highlights, thanks to Rick, even if his choice of synth tones on his solos is disturbingly Tormato-esque. Also in agreement about "Awaken". I'm not a huge fan of the song, but this version is definitely the best sounding and performed of the versions that I have. Still, it seems to me that the tour  could have been better. Guess I'll have to hunt down a DVD to make sure.  

---

Symphonic Music of Yes -1993 BMG
7 (10)

Best song: Close To The Edge

Send me your thoughts

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

This concept is a little bit strange: instead of focussing on the ones which are really symphonic in scope and making it entirely symphonic, they go for a bitchy mass-appeal middle-of-the-road approach. We could have had a killer complete "Gates", and instead we get to hear the ridiculous "Owner" with Howe and Bruford lifelessly pumping along and the violins trying to reproduce those silly synth blurbs! Some of the material really is symphonic in nature and works, like the main theme of "Close To The Edge", "Mood For A Day" and "Soon", but "Wonderous Stories", "Starship Trooper", "Roundabout" and "Heart Of The Sunrise" really sound like "Abba plays the European TV song contest", and it's a shame.

Robert Grazer (xeernoflax@jack-the-ripper.com)

I've heard some of the symphonic Pink Floyd album "Us and Them," and if you ever post that one up here, I'll listen to the rest, by it still comes down to the concept that some songs work symphonic and some don't. (You should hear symphonic "Brick in the Wall Part 2" UGH!) "Close to the Edge" comes out excellently. "Soon" almost seems like it was meant for a symphony, but I miss Anderson's singing there. I do love the way "Roundabout" turnes out, although the absence of the middle segent is disappointing; that would have sounded great on the horns. "Heart of the Sunrise" comes out very nicely. Plus "Survival" turns out pretty good too.

BEST TRACK: "Mood for a Day" is better than it has ever been before.

COMPLAINTS: I never liked "Owner of a Lonely Heart" in the first place, and despite some great guitar work and the fact that it beats the original, it doesn't quite match up to what I would have liked it to be. The other complaint is "Starship Trooper." I love the song. Even not being a big fan of live albums I enjoy listening to Wurm jams. But this song was NOT meant to be symphonic. It's still passable, but wouldn't you have loved hearing "To Be Over" or "And You And I" in its place?

RATING: My Scale: ***1/2 John McFerrin's Scale: 8(11)

---

Talk - 1994 Victory
7 (11)

Best song: The Calling

Send me your thoughts

Kristie Biro (kbmsu10@hotmail.com)

You know, it is quite funny to me that you would have such a bad review for this album. I mean...it may sound weird to you, but this is the 2nd Yes album that I heard....and honestly, this is the album that turned me on to Yes. It is true that it is a bit different from there other records...but which two are alike? Isn't that the beauty of music?!? I think Trevor Rabin did a great job on this album...I mean, not everything can be put into it. Sure Chris Squire is a GREAT bass player and I am sure he had a lot of high points in the studio, but you can only incorporate so much of it onto the actual record. The first time I heard this album I fell in love with it. The strange thing is that I was only 17 the time....a year ago. I am now 18, and Talk is still high up there on my list of Yes Albums. I am still a premie to the music....but I know what I and others like. Tales is one of my favorite albums....the music is just spectacular, but I wouldn't short change any of there albums. Especially Talk. Listen to it, and to the words. It is a Beautiful masterpiece. The lyrics and the music together combine to make an extravigant record. Hopefully you can learn to widen your thought of the music and learn to enjoy and see the beauty in the Talk Album.

Crows311@aol.com

My dad is a huge yes fan, i mean the biggest. So I have grown up listening to yes my entire life seems like. I feel that talk is one of their best albums. Your right, it did not get the billin it should have. but endless dream, i can see how you can have mixed emotions about it, but i just love the effects they mixed on keyboard blended with piano, i feel it brings the song together. It is quite lengthybut that is expected with any yes album or song. They are not known for the one hit wonder radio songs. Your site is one hell of a good one attributed to an awesome band. but these are my feelings on the album regardless. thanks for a great site.

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

I absolutely love that one, from beginning to end. Ranks up next to CTTE as my second favourite. Trevor has been unjustly and rudely bashed for being responsible of it, while in fact he had the cleverness of taking entire direction of the proceedings, instead of going on with the disastrous and directionless compromise approach of the last ten years. And he put a lot of love and care in this album. Unfortunately, after the Union tease and debacle, this was not the Yes the fans wanted to hear at the time. Add to this the collapse of the unsupporting label, and you have it: the album sank without trace. No wonder Trevor left. At least he did it on an artistic high. This album is much more coherent and consistent than anything else in their recorded output. The songwriting is top notch, the production is the best in a long time (still some sequels of the 80s, but not annoying at all to these ears). All albums since "Drama" were overproduced, but NOT THAT ONE! This may be "Yes through the eyes of Trevor Rabin", but he probably was the only one with a clear vision of where to go at the time. "The Calling, "Real Love", "State Of Play" and "Endless Dream" really grabbed me on first listen. "I Am Waiting" moves me to tears, this is the simple yet haunting melody every aspiring songwriter is dreaming of. "Walls" may not be Yes, but such a catchy and effortless pop tune amazes me. "Where Will You Be?" may sound duller, but actually has a consistent atmosphere and really works in certain conditions (summer afternoon car drive through the Bordeaux vineyards for instance). I don't hear any longueurs in there, and actually a lot of the songs were edited (the complete "Calling" on the promo CDS is over 8 mn, and not boring at all). And Squire demonstrations are kept to a minimum, a sure sign of good taste from the producer. Their last non nostalgy-driven effort to date.

Terry Shea (sheaterry@earthlink.net)

First of all, this is not a Yes album despite what the credits say. This is an overly egotistical Trevor Rabin solo album that he "graciously" allowed the other yes members to play on in small bits and pieces. I thought the Union tour was fantastic(even if the album sucked) and I couldn't wait until the next album came out featuring all 8 members.  The day Talk was released I immediately went out to buy it. When I saw the album cover I was very disappointed that Roger Dean had not done the artwork, but it was done by someone named Peter Max, who was apparently not more than 3 years old at the time. It's nothing but ink scribbles and blotches! Absolutely horrendous. I then turned the C. D. over and was again disappointed that Howe, Wakeman and Bruford were not on it. But I had heard "The Calling" being played on the radio for a couple weeks and I really loved that song, so I figured How bad can the album be? Well let! ! me tell you how bad it is... As bad as Peter Max's "artwork" is on the album cover, the musical content is worse! Steve Howe said it didn't sound like a Yes album to him and I couldn't agree more.  Other than "The Calling" there is absolutely no reason to listen to this album. A few of the songs sound like The Momma's and The Poppas or Peter, Paul and Mary with Jon Anderson singing.  "I Am Waiting" is well, everytime I hear it I'm waiting for it to end. Long and boring. Same with "Endless Dream". Nothing but endless drivel! Trevor only allowed Tony Kaye to play Hammond on this album. Trevor played all the other keyboard parts(which consists of almost entirely piano). Chris Squire is a rumor on this album. I mean he's on the credits, but where does he play anything?  Trevor wrote all the songs despite sharing credits Jon Anderson on most of them( I don't think the other me! ! mbers wanted to take writing credits for any of this drivel). Trevor produced the album entirely on his computer. Trevor wrecked the band with this album and then left the band shortly after the tour. Good Riddance!

Auto2112 (auto2112@blueyonder.co.uk) (4/23/02)

This is my fave Yes album of them all. How does that happen when the general consensus is that it is the worst album they ever did? I can't understand that either but with Yes, i never really worried about who played what or how they played (Except for Wakeman who i could praise forever). For me, Yes were successful when they could write a song where at the end of it I would sit there in sheer awe and lap up the aftermath of great feelings that would come over me. The only Yes songs that ever did that to me were:

1. Starship Trooper
2. Leave it
3. Homeworld
4. Fist of Fire
5. Real Love
6. Turn of the Century (My fave Yes song)
7. Close to the Edge
8. The More We Live (Let Go)
9. Rick Wakeman's solo on 'An Evening with Yes +',
10. Where Will You Be?

There's probably others, but they were the main ones that I could remember, and as you no doubt can tell, i am definitely more of a fan of their later stuff than their early stuff. For me, their early albums were just too vague and their songs generally overlong without being interesting. Which is why songs like Where Will You Be floored me the first time I ever heard them. Yes' Talk as an album is one of my faves ever. The feeling I get after listening to it is one of immense satisfaction. The problem I see is that people who hate this album are the ones who want concept and nothing else. Me? I love my concepts, The Wall is sheer class as is The Division Bell and 2112. But even so, you can't have concepts forever without getting bored, so an album of catchy songs will do me just fine. I point you to Yes Talk, Hold Your Fire, ABWH, Dark Side of the Moon...

Oh and on a final note. You can't buy this album anymore? Well there's me fucked cos i've been looking for this for the past 6 months and wondered why i couldn't find the ruddy thing anywhere. Why does fate deal me such a cruel blow??? :)

(author's note): Never fear, Talk lovers! Spitfire has reissued the album as a "collector's edition," with expanded liner notes and the extended version of The Calling as a bonus.

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

A lost classic this. This is where old and new Yes met, and a great meeting it is! Also, it rocks harder than anything else in the Yes catalogue. I can't see how people can deride this album or call it a Rabin solo album, it is certainly more Yes than 90125, Big Generator (ech!) or Union (eecchh!!) and three songs, "The Calling", "Real Love" and "Endless Dream" are absolutely brilliant.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (10/29/02)

Not as bad as I thought it would be. Granted, I'm still not the biggest aficcionado of the Rabin era, but they album is quite solid! In some ways i like this more than 90125.

I can only think of one song here that really gets on my nerves: "Real Love". The background music really nags at me in the beginning, though things do get better in later verses. The production is admittedly a bit slick, but that doesn't bother me too much (though some of these songs sound way fuller in concert...). The main consistent 'flaw' of these songs are that they are a little too long for what they contain.

Enough critiques! The opening song might be my favorite on here, though the riff sounds like it could be off a Mellincamp song (forgive me!). There's quite a bit of energy in this song, and Rabin plays some great solos, with varying guitar tones; not generic at all! I like most of "I'm Waiting" though it's a bit long, and has that annoying rap verse, but the main guitar theme is really sweet. "Endless Dream" is a pretty good epic, more or less justifying its length, though the 'synth vomit' section (actually done with the guitar!) is grating. Overall: 7(10.5). Not bad, considering my thoughts of this era!

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

Here's where Trevor Rabin hit his song writing peak that he had been approaching after his great contributions to Union. Every song on here is either really good or fantastic. After many repeated listens, I just keep liking it more and more and now consider it my favourite Yes album, and thus give it a 10 (15).

The album couldn't open any better with The Calling. The guitar riff, beautiful vocal harmonies, and middle solos make for just a perfect track. It would be easily my favourite on the album were it not for what comes next. I Am Waiting is just absolutely gorgeous throughout, with its simple guitar line and short verse passages. The boisterous vocals near the end (beginning with "Can you hear me, I am yours" and ending with just Anderson's "My world is you) is simply one of my favourite moments in all of Yes. Real Love is probably the weakest track on the album but is still good with its underlying bass rhythm. State of Play and Walls are just great pop numbers that I can't help but love. Where Will You Be used to bore me a bit, but now the simple melody has grown on me. Finally we get the epic Endless Dream which I can't praise enough. Throughout its 15+ minutes I'm just enchanted by its simple beauty (that seems to be my feeling about a most of Talk-simple but beautiful). The vocal deliveries by Anderson here are probably his most emotional with Yes. I believe the reports he was moved to tears in singing this song. Overall an absolutely perfect album. I have to scratch my brain to find any complaints-maybe Real Love and Where Will You Be are slightly overlong but that's a minor quibble.

I think that Rabin and Anderson (probably the two most prolific song writers in all of Yes' members) must have really put their heads together to come up with this one. It's only too bad that it sold so poorly, and made Rabin and Kaye quit the band. As far as I'm concerned they left on the highest of artistic quality. I think they've only made one really good studio album (The Ladder) in five attempts since Rabin's departure.

---

Endless Dream - Bootleg
9 (13)

Best song: Hard to say

A fantastic bootleg from the Talk tour, and a perfect capstone to the legacy of 'YesWest'. I mean, I always knew that this was a pretty good pop band, but I never would have expected to be this blown away by this incarnation of Yes.

The song selection is terrific, drawing primarily from Talk (6 songs) and 90125 (5 songs), with just a drop of BG (1 song) and some 'classics'. Now, I had only recently warmed to Talk, and I was still somewhat suspicious of the album's quality - now, though, I realize that the actual songs were fantastic, and that it was just the 'sound' that I disliked. I mean, for instance, did you know that Where Will You Be is actually a really good song? I sure as hell didn't! Meanwhile, the opening I Am Waiting is more gorgeous than ever, the shortened version of The Calling is just wonderful, Real Love sounds great, and Walls sounds like a far more confident number than previously.

And doggone it, Endless Dream, which closes things out, is FANTASTIC. The 'synth vomit' noises are still annoying, but even those don't bother me much anymore because Trevor's singing part sounds emphatic and powerful! And where the piece once seemed much too long to me in its original 15-minute length (though not really anymore), this 18-minute version is FAR too short for me! It's absolutely beautiful, and by the time they hit the "Talk, talk" chunk, I can feel tears welling up and a giant smile crossing my face, in a way that only that Close to the Edge and Revealing Science of God had previously been able.

Another great feature of the album is the singing. Not so much the backing vocals, which from time to time sound kinda ehn, but Anderson is phenomenal here. You won't believe it until you hear it, but Anderson sounds fantastic when singing in a 'normal' manner, regularly scratching up his throat and just sounding like he'd rather do nothing else in the world but sing these 'poppy' songs. In particular, City of Love and ESPECIALLY Rhythm of Love go off like dynamite here (I absolutely adore the way Anderson sings the lyric, "Climbing up your ladder I keep faallling DOWWN.")

Other 'pop' highlights include a solid rendition of Changes, with extended 'wanking' from Trevor, a good runthrough of Hearts, a terrific Cinema, and of course the obligatory Owner of a Lonely Heart. For a 'true' Yes fan, this would be a nightmare come true, but doggone it, I love these songs. We even get a rarity, an instrumental snippet of a number entitled Make it Easy. And, of course, no Yes show can be complete without a few classics. Heart of the Sunrise is great as usual, Roundabout seriously rocks (I'm not happy with the elmination of the arpeggios, but hey, the guitar tone is big and fat like one would hear from Keith Richards, so I'm happy), and I've Seen All Good People will never cease to be wonderful. Most interesting, however, is the reworking that And You and I receives, with the opening acoustic parts replaced with some Kaye piano tinklings. It's nice, and provides a solid alternative rendition of a great piece.

Bootleg or no, this album is a necessity for anybody who feels that they are a fan of the Rabin era. For the love of everything, please get it.

Send me your thoughts

Vikki Lockhart (Jacaranda@fieldsofluvandindecision.fsnet.co.uk)

Sorry, not meaning to nitpick but...your 'Talk' bootleg review...the piano at the start of And You And I is actually played by Trevor Rabin. See? There is nothing the guy can't do.

Cole (bozman123@yahoo.com) (7/23/02)

this is a great bootleg. the audio quality is better than a fair portion of official live albums I've heard (though the sound gets staticky in a couple places), and the band kicks ass. my only problem... whoever edited this thing should have his hands cut off. first, they switch the song order around for no real reason -- if you're presenting material from one concert, it should go in the actual order played at said concert. the real problem is that the edits are horrible. sometimes it's just stage banter missing, but the entire first half of "The Calling" is cut out, as is the ending to "Rhythm of Love". otherwise it's good.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (10/29/02)

What a concert! I actually enjoyed most of this songs here. Most of the songs performed from "Talk" are actally a bit better, like "I'm Waiting" and "The Calling" (way shorter; yeah!). I recognize only one track of "Big Generator" ("Rhythm of Love"), and it sounded fine (truthfully, I haven't heard this song in MANY years!). For the Howe lovers out there, the tracks from this era are still performed very well, though with a few minor differences. Finally, they performed the tracks I prefer from 90125: "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (I guess...), "Changes" (even better live!), and "Cinema". ("Hearts" still doesn't do anything for me.) Though this is not my favorite incarnation of the band, this is still undeniably a great concert: 9(12).

---

Keys To Ascension - 1996 CMC International
8 (11)

Best song: America

Send me your thoughts

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

I discovered them and fell in love with them with this album, so I may not be objective. I really like "That, That Is", "Be The One" is a step lower but pleasant. All the live tracks are really good compared to the studio originals, and with "Revealing Science" we get a glimpse of what TFTO could have been had it matured a bit and gone beyond the crappy demo stage. But I hate "America". For european ears, this is 10 mn of american rock'n'roll cliches. Definitely too much for me. An "american crowd pleaser", really. But isn't this what it was designed for?

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

These are cool albums, I don't know why you bag the studio tracks. They are great, especially "That, That Is". It doesn't seem 19 mins long because it flows so well. The live stuff is great too.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)

First of all, it's nice to see the "Tales/Going for the One" lineup together again for this album (not to mention the summer tour this year!). 3/4 of this album, the SLO live stuff, is very well-performed. The only thing of concern is that Howe's guitarwork, while still great, often lacks the bite it had in the past. As for the songs themselves, it is wonderful to see "America" here. In some respects, one doesn't have to obtain "Yesterdays", which includes the studio version of this song (otherwise, it's a sampler of their first two albums, plus "Dear Father"). The other major highlights include "The Revealing Science of God", my favorite "Tales" track, a revised "Onward", complete with an acoustic intro. from Howe, which makes this version a keeper, and "Starship Trooper", with an engaging duel between Howe and Wakeman at the end of the song. As for the studio tracks, they're okay, not great. If they were edited a bit, that would definitely help their effcetiveness. They definitely do have their moments, though. A solid 8 out of 10.

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

I don't actually own either KTA or KTA2-I just have the compilation album Keystudio that contains the 7 studio tracks from the two albums. I liked the album when I first heard it, but now I find it difficult to listen to all the way through on one sitting. Almost every song is too long, meandering pointlessly before ending.

There is some good stuff here. That That Is is probably my favourite. The opening guitar noodling from Howe is quite lovely and I find myself enjoying most of the rest of the song as well (although it could have been about 5 minutes shorter). Children of Light has a good chorus, but the rest I could do without. Bring Me to the Power is catchy but a bit repetitive. Mind Drive has some definite lovely portions, especially the repeating quiet refrain, but there's a lot of filler in its 18 minutes. Footprints and Be The One both start out ok, but should both end much sooner than they do-neither has anything new to offer after about the 4 minute mark. Finally Sign Language is nice while it's on, but it's not very memorable.

Overall I can only give Keystudio a 5 (8). The huge empty spaces between the good parts, make sitting through this album very difficult sometimes (I feel the same way about TFTO). Maybe the effect is better when the studio tracks are mixed with the live tracks like on the original albums, but put all together like this just doesn't work very well for me.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/09/04)

The usual M.O. for the (now defunct?) CMC label was to sign a "has-been" band and allow them to release a new studio album in exchange for a "live greatest hits" album later. That Yes was able to muck around a little bit with that and come up with this interesting track assortment was pretty cool. "Onward" is the standout here -- the acoustic arrangement is gorgeous. This version is the one track that rivals the original. "The Revealing Science of God" is more accessible in this version, but not more interesting. I suppose "Roundabout" and "Starship Trooper" were there to keep CMC happy, but no complaints. I actually enjoy the studio tracks more than you do, even if they aren't quite up to Yes standards. Oddly enough, the remind me more of the ABWH album than Yes. It's as if the guys weren't quite used to being Yes again yet - - the tracks do sound a trifle uncomfortable and slight, if not overblown like ABWH. Still, it was nice to have them back at this point.

---

Keys To Ascension 2 - 1997 Purple Pyramid
7 (11)

Best song: Time And A Word (not Mind Drive)

Send me your thoughts

RhondaMertes@aol.com

Good call on this one but MIND DRIVE is GREAT!!! But just like many YES albums I discovered MIND DRIVE about a year after I had It. I was too stuck on the live tunes. But one day I had the head-phones and all was quiet, (I think it was late at night)and I had some candles burning and this song Just took me away to some where other than where I was. I listened to it every day for months afterward until I was spent. I hope to hear it live sometime.

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

Well, even if it bears the same title as its predecessor, the focus here is clearly on studio work. I'm glad they kept "Turn Of The Century" and "Time And A Word" for that one, otherwise it would have been totally redundant on the live front. As for the studio tracks, they've lost their most efficient songwriter, and it shows. The form is much more complex than on Talk, "Mind Drive" almost works, but real hooks are a little missing, especially to sustain attention through the looooooong "Foot Prints" and "Bring Me To The Power". This is musical void under grand-looking disguise. "Lifeline" and "Sign Language" pretty sum it up: very effective atmospherics but filler nonetheless. I remember reading an Andy Partridge interview at that time (by far my favourite songwriter) where he said he was not interested in current music because it was mostly sung grooves instead of songs. I thought it applied pretty well to that album. "Children Of Light" is nothing but almost rapped vocals over a repetitive musical background. It may be good but I don't get this stuff.

OTCSTAFF (OTCSTAFF@student.yeovil-college.ac.uk)

Good grief, you're right. I do like Mind Drive. And I am a fan of Power Windows. That's uncanny.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)

This is going to be similar to the previous comment of mine for "Keys 1", except that there are more studio tracks. The concert tracks ar all quite good. Now, with "Turn of the Century", I can paste together an entire "Going for the One" live! As for the studio tracks, I'll be very brief: With the exception of "Children of Light" (I detest rap!), the other tracks (esp. "Mind Drive") could have benefitted from editing. They are alright otherwise! It seemed that some of those instrumental passages were "tacked on" in those songs. To bad they weren't integrated better... . A high 7 / low 8 out of 10.

NOTE: For those who can't stand "live" Yes (eh?), one can now get all the "Keys" tracks on "Keystudio" (!), complete with a previously unreleased intro. to one of those songs, courtesy of Rick Wakeman. Oh boy, oh boy...

Trfesok@aol.com (12/09/04)

Nice enough, again, on the live stuff, although I don't find the track selection quite as interesting this time around. I enjoy the studio stuff more here. Nice acoustic work on "Mind Drive" by Steve, great vocals on "Footprints." I don't find "Children of Light" particularly "rappish," fortunately. Just some typically oddly rhythmed vocals from Anderson. "Sign Language" is a very pretty instrumental. Still, I still here a sort of ABWH-type "incompleteness" in the studio work, as if they didn't want to totally cut loose. Maybe they were too old at this point. Oh well.

---

Open Your Eyes - 1997 Beyond
8 (11)

Best song: Open Your Eyes

Send me your thoughts

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

I really have to disagree here, as the story behind this album is somewhat different. The actual reason Rick left was that the appalling management deal at the time was fast collapsing, and the tour was forever postponed, which upset him given he had a lot of other side projects in the works, and he quickly lost interest. Apparently, he was encouraged by a strange lack of diplomatic efforts from any of the four others to keep him in the fold. And why did Billy Sherwood get recruited? Well, I think you miss one episode in the saga. When they got a last minute new management deal for a fall tour, this included a whole album of new material to match, and, as they were short on ideas and saw another "Union" disaster coming their way, they contacted Trevor Rabin to quickly put something together. Of course, Trevor declined, and this only resulted in upsetting Steve who was not keen to contribute anything new. In fact, this is the reason why he plays generic overdubs over a material he's not interested in at all, just to justify his name on the back cover. So, as a last resort, they contacted Billy. His role was apparently just to contribute decent-looking material, which unfortunately he didn't have that much. They really didn't need him in the lineup as a player, which has proved right since he's been fired now that they can finally play "Gates" and "Ritual" again. Now onto the song content. I really do not understand you when you say this is good, because there is something more to this album than just taste divergences. After repeated listenings, a majority of the "Union" songs managed to slowly get into my head, but absolutely none of this batch. Honestly, I've tried very hard to find a hook in this mess, and when you finally manage to find something looking like a melody, it quickly stumbles miserably upon pitiful pointless arrangements."Open Your Eyes" and "Man In The Moon" are the only actual songs in here, but they are management-suggested late minute Squire/Sherwood collaborations reworked to rescue what sounded like an awful disaster. Apart from a very short moment in the chorus of "Wonderlove", there's an awful lack of ideas and a reliance on automatic inspirationless writing and playing, painfully showing despite all their efforts to hide it behind production tricks and supposedly classic vocal harmonies. How can you compare the random automatic cliche vocal work here with the RESEARCH on TYA, Fragile and CTTE? These harmonies don't do anything for me, except showing how deep they fell this time. "New State Of Mind" is a decent 10 second idea stretched into a 4mn+ mess, "Universal Garden", "Fortune Seller", "Love Shine" and "The Solution" go absolutely nowhere with their totally artificial vocal melodies (I really cannot whistle any of them three years later), "Somehow...Someday" sounds like a lame remix of "City Of Love", and "No Way We Can Lose" and "From The Balcony" are incredibly dull songs, respectively trying to recapture the atmospheres of "Saving My Heart" and "Leaves Of Green" but miserably failing. Lyrics aside, I don't see how anyone can complain about "Circus Of Heaven" after hearing "From The Balcony". The fact these were the only two songs ever played live says a lot about what they thought of this album. Behind the official statements, it's plainly obvious this was just a contractual obligation and that they were inclined to forget about it as soon as possible. What escapes me is how the fans fell in this trap. I definitely doubt their intelligence since then. Give BG and OYE to any non YES-biased set of ears, and you'll quickly realize the first is the only one CONTAINING MUSIC. The only good point in this album was it made me realize "Union" was not that bad. Just when you think they've reached the bottom, they prove you wrong.

(author's note): I'm not letting this one go unanswered. The only other album that I've seen get this lambasted by fans of a group is From Genesis to Revelation, and I unabashedly love that one too. Perhaps the instrumental melodies on both of these albums are simple, yes. But the vocal melodies and vocal choruses and the way they're sung are terrific! You honestly tell me that all you bashers of this album never taught yourself humming the melody to Love Shine or Wonderlove or Open Your Eyes or The Solution and so on (or, since I can use the exact same line of thinking for FGTR, Fireside Song, In the Wilderness, One Day, In Hiding, Am I Very Wrong, and so on?)? And for that matter, No Way We Can Lose, to my ears, is MILES above the Saving my Heart disaster.

Vikki Lockhart (Jacaranda@fieldsofluvandindecision.fsnet.co.uk)

Actually I have to disagree...i find Billy Sherwood's harmonies physically painful to listen to, and the mix here is awful...everything has this way to trebley sound, IMHO. And there is NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for 'Man In The Moon'.

TheRubberCow@aol.com (1/08/02)

wow.  I really like this album a lot too, but one of the biggest reasons is Howe's stuff!  I don't think he sounds lost at all!  If anything, he sound like he has even more of an assured direction, producing sounds that are obviously electronic yet not overly processed, sounding polished and refined, and like they belong to a new world that they just created (i.e. the slide sound over top of the other guitars in the intro to the title track).  That example is also very notable for just being one o' the coolest intros I've heard in a long time, and it is mixed perfectly.

I, on the other hand don't have a problem with "Man In the Moon", but hate "No Way We Can Lose."  Just sounds like a cheap reggae jam that would be on a kids special.

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

I actually don't fall into either category you mention - I like the album but it is not one of their best. That is to say it is no "Union" (thank God!) but it is no "Tales" either. Best song? ard to say but "Man in the Moon" is definitely the worst!

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

A very disappointing effort. This was the first "new" Yes album I heard after rediscovering them last year, and it almost made me not bother with the rest of the new stuff. Not one song really grabs me.

The best of the mediocre bunch is probably the title song. It at least has a catchy chorus that sticks in my head afterwards. From the Balcony is a nice acoustic piece that harkens back to the lovely Leaves of Green section from TFTO. Also tolerable are Universal Garden (nice chorus), Fortune Seller, and Somehow Someday which have decent parts to them. The rest is below average to bad. Man in the Moon and The Solution are both in my bottom 5 least favourite Yes songs. New State of Mind goes on too long with its monotonous rhythm. Wonderlove and Love Shine are just boring and unmemorable. Finally, No Way We Can Lose is ok, but I'm on the opposite side of you-I find Saving My Heart about a hundred times catchier. The 18 minutes of ambient noise at the end is also kind of ridiculous filler. I give this album a 4 (7).

It really shows that they just took Billy Sherwood's songs and rushed them on an album so they could tour, and that Billy Sherwood can't hold a candle to Trevor Rabin when it comes to song writing (take any song off Talk and put it on this album and it would shine like a beacon in the night). Oh well-there has to be one Yes album that is my least favourite. And this album is still better than probably almost anything else that was released in 1997.

Will Hare (element@sprint.ca) (10/11/04)

I can't believe you enjoy this album as much as you do and I almost (but not quite) suspect you do so for the sheer audacity of liking this album and inspiring dialogue on the matter, but given the amount of time and thought you have put into your reviews, I doubt you'd resort to such tactics and I must take you for your word.

I admit that your enthusiasm will prompt me to give this album another chance... or should I say another chance.  Time after time I have tried with this album until I finally learned (with some relief - Surely Yes couldn't make such a forgettable work) that it was a hastily thrown together effort to meet contractual obligations - Anderson has stated that he had very little to do with the lyrical content of this effort, Squire beating him to the punch. 

Aside from the title track I disliked this album so much that I didn't buy The Ladder.  The decline in their original output since Talk left me increasingly frustrated and this album was the final kick in the teeth.  Fortunately I gave The Ladder it's chance and then there is the magnificent Magnification which has since helped to clean the taste of this effort from my palette.

Oh, I did like that long section at the end of Open Your Eyes with the waves sweeping in and the run-through of all the choruses from the album which do have those nice "wall-of-sound" vocals you refer to, but I'm sure they weren't counting on this "hidden" track as the album's selling point.

Great, great site, by the way, but I had to respond to such a positive review of an album that will require me to mine new veins of generosity within myself in order to appreciate to any degree at all.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/09/04)

It grows on me the more times I listen to it. Although it's not that often. About half of it is still pretty unmemorable. A big problem for me is the lack of a strong keyboard presence. And Steve's guitar is far less prominent than Billy's. So, it seems a lot less Yessish than most of the band's albums.  Still, the only song that is totally abominable is the silly "Man in the Moon" -- nothing can save the song from Squire's ridiculous lyrics. Still, "No Way You Can Lose" and "New State of Mind" have rather catchy melodies. I would describe the former as more of a reggae-influnced, as opposed to an actual reggae song. An important distinction, since it doesn't sound as forced as something like "Teakbois." "From the Balcony," while played rather perfunctorily, is a pretty song. "Fortune Seller" has some very clever vocal harmonies. I would agree that the title song is the best here, by a long shot.

The problem here, overall, is that the Squire/Sherwood songwriting is just not compatible with the Yes approach. The group songwriting credit is an attempt to mask this problem, but it's clear that the band is a bit uncomfortable with the material. When the Squire/Sherwood album Conspiracy finally came out, the original versions of "Open Your Eyes" and "Man in the Moon" (as well as "Love Conquers All" and "The More You Live") were included. They sound better in that context than they do here. Even if "Man in the Moon" is still stupid there.

---

The Ladder - 1999 Beyond
8 (11)

Best song: Homeworld

Send me your thoughts

Peter Agnew (peter.agnew@xtra.co.nz)

John!

Loved your reviews of Yes, thought they were great. And the links you provided to those two other sites were interesting too. But...Yes, only a TWO star group, ahead of GENESIS??!? I sure wrote a note about that one! (puke)

Your comments on The Ladder were very interesting. Jon is certainly "up" in the mix, isn't he? He's still in relatively good voice, though, so I can tolerate those mixing decisions. "If Only You Knew" sounds like it belongs on a Celine Dion album, but never mind.

Well John, gotta go. Good luck with your site OK?

RhondaMertes@aol.com

Hi, My name is Martyr and I'm LDS too. I cant beleive there is another LDS member who likes YES. However I don't wholly agree with your comment on the LADDER album. This album has been a great family album for us. I like It , my wife likes it, and our ten year old son loves it; especially HOMEWORLD. It has been a great bridge builder for us. I'm an old time yes fanatic. (1974 YESSONGS my second album I ever bought. I was thirteen.) Taking into contex that Bruce Fairburn was the producer for this album , the Ladder is a great pop album. I can't beleave that it was'nt nominated right along with Satanas album. The Ladder covers the whole range of modern rocks catagories; Prog-Rock, Easy listening, and strait up rock, it has everything. The album isn't a tfto but niether is Relayer and vise-a-versa. The uniqueness of Yes is that you never know what your going to get when they do an album. But each album has to be taken and judged on its own. Making comparrisons to other albums is futile. As an LDS member the Ladder has so much subject matter that can be applied to the spiritual nature of the Church that I find it comforting. For example : If you've ever been inactive for awhile and need a little inspiration, the song "It Will Be A Good Day" is perfect, at least in my opinion.

Laurent MASSE (masse@geocean.u-bordeaux.fr)

Side by side, "Open Your Eyes" and "The Ladder" show one thing: an interesting Yes album has to be a matured group effort, not a late-minute artificial studio construction. It takes melodic inspiration and a songwriting backbone, not just cliche vocal harmonies superimposed on automatic writing. Face it, these really belong to 71-72 and will never be improved upon. To me, this album is the redemption. I had the biggest of fears after the OYE disaster, but from the first minute of "Homeworld" I knew they finally had nailed it. There's much more ideas in the first verse line than in ten OYE. Their strongest songwriting effort since Talk. I would add that this album is the perfect synthesis of the best Yes has offered over the years, and the unexpected point where the 70's and 80's tendencies finally come together in a totally coherent picture. "Homeworld" is impeccable, "Face to Face" is incredibly driving and catchy and reminds me of "It Can Happen" more than anything else, "It Will Be A Good Day" is saved by that magical descending line here and there, "Lightning Strikes" is light, funny and full of energy, the first part of "Finally" is a very convincing tribute to the Rabin years, and "The Messenger", "New Language" and "Nine Voices" are totally OK. Only "If Only You Knew" and "To Be Alive" are clearly a step lower and could have been thrown in the B-bag. The instrumental passages show a lot of verve once again. In short, this is a very convincing effort. They sound happy to play together. Finally the stable lineup everybody was longing for? Well, even if Igor is now officially declared a full-time fully competent member and accepted by the fans, he will forever be a replacement on an ejectable seat, as Jon once again tried to get Wakeman involved before the tour. And Billy has been sacked, now that they don't need him anymore. So who knows? One last thing: you seem to imply simple and memorable melodies on "The Ladder" are annoying compared with OYE. I personally don't care if a melody is simple or complex, as long as it exists and works. And I insist there were NO MELODIES in OYE.

(author's note): Well, I probably did imply that. Of course, this particular review was written a good ways back, and will be probably be redone sooner or later.

kramer (bkramer2000@hotmail.com) (11/05/01)

I bough this album during the summer of 2000 because I went away to camp and met a friend who had it.  He had bought it because the song Homeworld was on a video game one of his friends had and he liked the song.  When I bought it, I had no idea that it was Yes, in fact, I had no idea who Yes was.  I wasn't in to music at that time.  When I bought it, I listened to it every day, still not knowing it was Yes (I thought the band just wanted to write the word yes on the cover for no reason).  I worshipped this album.  As the months went by, my rock collection grew and this album makes my cd player maybe once every two months.  I rated it a four out of five on Amazon.  Now that I am more informed, I can talk about the album.  No song on here is bad out of eleven.  I am also certain that four of them are really good (Homeworld, Face to Face, If Only You Knew, and The Messenger(I could have sworn that I heard the Messenger on the radio before I had bought the album)).  Now that I know a lot about rock music, I can say that this album is a great example that the results when progressive rock and pop are mixed, the results can be great.  .  I just picked up Talk by Yes for $3 used but perfect condition.  And, I look foreward to getting deeper into the band. 

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

Now that's more like it! After the good but unspectacular "Open Your Eyes", hearing "Homeworld" was a breath of fresh air, especially that coda - mind meltingly good! The rest of the album doesn't quite hold up to that quality but neither are there any duff tracks on this one. the instrumental intro to "New Language" is breathtaking, Igor was a mighty fine keys man, shame they lost him (though they have Rick back now - way cool!). One thing though that is a little dissapointing, and that is that there is not enough of Chris in the backing vocals department, something well rectified by the time of "Magnification".

TheRubberCow@aol.com (6/25/02)

Well, I just got this.  And I have only heard it once, but I can already tell that this is one of the best Yes albums.  I like new Yes, but this really stands out far.  There is a lot of variety for Yes, and their use of experimentation in sound is abundant on this album.  I can't really point out too many standout tracks because I just got it and I am still stunned.  But what I can do is give you a confused look for saying the mix is bad.  This is one of the best mixing jobs I have heard in my life!  I did listen to it on headphones, of course (will have to try it on the stereo next), but it definately not over compressed!  If anything, there is a perfectly clear seperation of tracks vertically(Eq) and horizontally(pan).  Some instruments are panned all the way to one side and it seems you can distinuish every cymbal's place on! the drum set...and it's not just done haphazardly, either.  I noticed right away that the bass is very strong and shaped nicely, at a noticably low frequency, but not overbearing like in so many modern recordings.  It proves that many engineers nowadays really want their bass to be powerful but just don't know the right way to do it.  This guy does.  Guitar lines jump out at you, and he's not afraid to occasionally turn up the volume on some tracks a little more than standard for a line or two, really adding a nice accent.  But enough about the mix.  I am confident to say that I my appreciation for these songs will only increase over time, and they are already highly repsected in my mind, even after one listen.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)

Does everyone have this experience? This here album bored me to death when I first listened to it (nevertheless, still miles better than "Union"). Then, months later, I popped it in, and poof! I liked it!! It must be that "adult contempory" vibe that comes off this album from time to time. At any rate, "Homeworld" and "Lighning Strikes" are my favorites off this. (Minor) complaints: no real 'rocking' edge, and not enough Howe! 8 out of 10.

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

A terrific album showing that Yes can still write and play very high quality music this late in their careers. A complete (and welcome) musical departure from their previous album.

I have to agree with popular opinion here and say that Homeworld is the best on the album-however I don't see why some people complain about the closing coda. I find it a great finish to the song reminiscent of the Soon part of Gates of Delerium, the Endless Dream part of Endless Dream, and to a lesser extent the Rejoice part of Future Times/Rejoice. I also consider 3 other songs on the album as classics. Lightening Strikes and Face to Face have great guitar and cook along very nicely. I'm also very fond of the closing Nine Voices even though it does seem to be a bit of a rip off of Your Move (but what a great song to rip off).

The other songs aren't as good as these four, but none are bad. It Will Be a Good Day and If Only You Knew are a little too slow for my taste, but I don't mind them. To Be Alive has a catchy chorus that I enjoy. Finally rocks good and has a nice change of pace ending. The Messenger is decent-I find myself singing along to the chorus. The other long piece, New Languages, also has good moments, but doesn't quite justify its length. And of course Can I? is amusing enough in its minute and a half.

Overall I give The Ladder an 8 (11). I really like how they made a nice pop album without abandoning the traditional Yes sound. Hearing that this exceptional album sold poorly despite good promotion makes me lose all faith in today's society's taste in music.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/09/04)

A smooth and very commercial album. But it - even more than the KTA studio stuff -- has that classic, full-bodied Yes sound. In fact, I would say that it's the most "Yessish" sounding album since the pre-Rabin days, maybe because it was truly group written and not an artificial, contrived attempt to create that sound. With one exception, of course. "If Only You Knew" is an extremely obvious attempt to make adult contemporary radio, the type of song one always thought Yes was trying to rebel against from the beginning. For all it's corniness, it's at least better played and sung than similar Phil Collins-era Genesis crap. "Finally" is really an exciting track, and "Lightning Strikes" shows yet more improvement in working with ethnic rhythms in a Yes context. And although I agree that Steve is merely rehashing himself here, the chemistry of this band lineup is just about perfect. Alas, true to form, Yes can't seem to go more than two studio albums without destabilizing.  You can set your watch by that, so to speak.

---

House Of Yes - 2000 Beyond
9 (12)

Best song: Most are quite good

Send me your thoughts

cookryap@notes.udayton.edu

Hi, I am the reader who totally bashed your review of On the Silent Wings of Freedom, but anyways, I have to debate your liking of Awaken on HOB over KTA. First of all, the keyboards are mixed WAY too low on HOB. That's why I hate listening to it. It also sounds kinda "empty", if you know what i mean. the KTA version has an "organic" feel to it. The HOB version is just terrible I think. You can't even hear Igor's keys right before the big organ solo in the middle of the song. Wakeman did a much better job on KTA, even though it has a lot of overdubs..Well, I would like to hear what you think. Drop me a line. Thanks.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)

A very solid live concert. Now, I have a copy of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" in my collection! (Yes, I still don't own the three Rabin-era albums. This might change soon...) And, it's quite good (brushing aside any biases)! "Yours is no Disgrace" and "Lighning Strikes" are the highlights for me. Howe still seems a bit tuned down for me. Still very enjoyable, nevertheless. 8 out of 10.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/09/04)

It would seem to be a waste of time to have yet more live Yes out there, but this lineup lives up to the promise of The Ladder live. It certainly seemed to have helped to have a solid album behind which to tour. Those cuts are all well performed (I'm personally glad they left out "If Only You Knew," but "Finally" might have been cool). Sherwood seems superfluous, but Igor gets to prove here that he's on a par with any keyboardist that had even been in the band. "Perpetual Change" and "Yours is No Disgrace" are highlights for me, since I'm a big Yes Album freak.  Low points are only, actually, the pointless one minute song excerpts - - a bit to Las Vegas show business for my taste. Still, this wouldn't be too bad an introduction for latter day newcomers to Yes.

---

Magnification - 2001 Beyond
9 (13)

Best song: Give Love Each Day

The two years between the release of The Ladder and this saw a tumultuous time for Yes. Yes managed to create in The Ladder a modern-day minor pop-masterpiece, and the promotional forces working upstairs did virtually everything that could be expected of them to try and make the album crack the mainstream consciousness. But instead, The Ladder was, when you get down to it, a commerical failure, one that (I believe) sold even fewer copies than Talk. The band's vision of a return to stardom had crashed into the cold reality that, no matter how hard the band could try to incorporate modern trends without "selling out", casual listeners were going to dismiss the band's efforts (without even trying to give a serious, unbiased listen) as "pompous, dated prog rock." And just as sadly, the band's efforts to re-crack the mainstream had not only failed to win new fans, but were also beginning to cost them the older fans that had fallen in love with the band during the 70's. In short, the band had entered a complete lose-lose situation.

Well, after touring the album, the band had a few months off before they'd be obligated to go on a North American summer tour. The band (especially Jon and Steve) wasn't exactly jumping with glee at this prospect - without an album to tour, it looked like the band was about to firmly settle into the washed-up greatest-hits circuit, touring for no purpose other than to just scrounge up a few more dollars from the ever-shrinking fanbase. Well, the band STILL didn't feel ready for this, and they desperately looked for some sort of theme that would potentially make this tour worthwhile.

As you might imagine, this was the opportunity Steve was hoping for. He suggested (probably half-expecting to be shot down by Chris, but also knowing that in the wake of Chris' failure to realize the vision of a return to stardom that he at least had a shot to be taken seriously) that the band do a tour where they only play 20-minute songs. Anderson seconded the motion, suggesting that they could call it "The Masterworks Tour." Of course, I'm sure that Chris was utterly dismayed at the notion, since he had stated publicly that he believed there was no longer an audience for the the sorts of things they'd highlighted on, say, the Relayer tour. Eventually, though, the band offered an online poll on their official website, giving fans the chance to vote on what songs they would like to see included on the ensuing tour. The people spoke loudly and clearly, putting Close to the Edge, The Gates of Delirium and Ritual in the top five, and the band went along with the popular consensus. Interspersing these big epics with "medium-length" numbers (Starship Trooper, Heart of the Sunrise, the omnipresent ISAGP and Roundabout), as well as the Leaves of Green section from The Ancient, the band toured North America to thunderous cheers and ovations virtually everywhere they played. Of course, that was enhanced by the fact that Kansas was opening for them, and that by itself was going to make Yes look better no matter what, but I disgress.

As corollary to this new live approach, it became apparent that, since the band was no longer making any pretense of retaining the Rabin-era in its setlist, the necessity of Billy Sherwood's presence was now dubious at best. Steve had been particularly nasty towards Billy over the years, due to not wanting a second guitarist onstage with him, and Billy saw the writing on the wall and departed before the tour began. So it now seemed the band had been reduced to a stable five-piece lineup, with Igor Khoroshev serving as sort of a Wakeman/Moraz hybrid.

Unfortunately, near the end of the tour, controversy struck once more. Allegedly, while piss-drunk one evening, Igor bit a female security-guard in the neck. Needless to say, charges were filed, and while they were eventually dropped, this led to a potential public-relations disaster. After all was said and done, the band parted ways with Igor upon the completion of the MW tour. The future of Yes was uncertain once more.

But the band was not done yet. Focusing on the long-form pieces every night and hearing the enthusiastic responses to them seemingly rekindled the band's desire to push boundaries and do that which wasn't necessarily familiar to them. This did not mean returning point-blank to the 70's (ie going annoyingly retro as on the Keys songs) but rather being honest to themselves artistically and creatively. Anderson even stated that the next Yes album would have to be a sort of Tales revisited, but he did not literally mean going back to Tales form (though he had ruminated how cool it would be to make a 70 minute song) - rather he meant a return to the days of trying new things with song structures and sound and atmospherics and all that.

Of course, there was still the little problem of what to do with the empty keyboard slot. Wakeman didn't want to come back, and the band didn't want to go with an unknown again. So in the risk-taking spirit, the band decided to use a minimal amount of keys and *drum roll* play with a full orchestra on the next album. So the band scoured around, found Emmy-winning composer Larry Groupe (a lifelong Yes fan) to write orchestral arrangments, and set to work.

Now I'm gonna be honest with you. I did NOT have good feelings about this album in anticipation. The description given by the band before the album's release of the material was "like the Keys to Ascension tracks," and I just did not like those as a whole. I had visions of needlessly sprawling, rambling tracks dominated by increasingly awkward guitar work, monotonous drumming and self-parodically mystic lyrics that would end up turning the band into Spock's Beard or something like that. Not to mention, of course, that when Yes last worked with an orchestra on Time and a Word, it was hardly a resounding success - the strings and horns only got in the way, crushing Banks' parts into oblivion. Yup, this had disaster written all over it.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I began hearing tracks from the album and discovered that my fears were unfounded. This wasn't boring nu-prog - this was classically embellished pop and rock with some traces of prog. I gathered mp3's of it slowly while waiting for my import copy to come from amazon.co.uk (it was released in Europe in September, but not in the states until December), eventually was able to form the entire album ... and discovered that not only had Yes created a good CD, they had just unquestionably made their best album since Going for the One. HOW DID THEY DO IT??!!!

The most basic answer is that the band had the intelligence to take virtually every possible negative of this project and execute it in such a way as to make it into a positive. The most important factor, of course, is the orchestrations of Larry Groupe and the way they are integrated into the pieces as a whole. This album is not a case of orchestrations merely providing embellishments for the sound, not by a long shot. On the contrary, the nature of the sound is such that the ensemble in question is a full symphony orchestra with the members of Yes as featured guests. The orchestrations are not a backdrop, but rather a living entity that freely interacts with the guitars and bass and vocals in much the same way that a regular keyboardist would interact them. The album does not end up sounding like Yes playing ten tracks with some orchestrations connecting at times - it ends up sounding like an honest-to-goodness hour-long symphonic piece (not that I'm saying that it legitimately *is* like that, but it sure sounds that way on the surface) with fully-formed "songs" popping out of the woodwork from time to time. Sort of like the orchestrations on The Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed, but superior in that, rather than often sounding like standard Hollywood fare, they freely incorporate the ideologies of such 20th century composers as Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten (well, at least as much as can be reasonably expected in an album like this).

Another key to the album can be summed up in a line from the epic Dreamtime - "Words never spoken are the strongest resounding." To put it mildly, Yes has never been big on the whole idea of minimalism - on the contrary, the band's best work of the 70's was so exciting because the band was playing LOTS AND LOTS OF NOTES while still managing to sound like a cohesive unit. But the band obviously realized that, since it was going to be fully interacting with dozens of musicians in the orchestra, it was going to have to eliminate that approach. This, of course, is fully endorsed by me - one of the main problems with the Keys material, let's face it, was that Howe and Wakeman were playing lots of notes, but they had lost most of their ability to make their instrumental passages engaging as they had been during the 70's. That is NOT a problem on Magnification - Squire is very active, since he hasn't lost anything at all, but he carefully chooses his notes (as opposed to just being actively monstrous a la Relayer), while Steve has FINALLY gotten the hint. Pointlessly wanky-but-unentertaining guitar solos are simply not to be found, as there is simply no reasonable space for them in the compositions, and Steve compensates by making every last note count for something. And as a bonus, he makes up for lack of notes by diversifying his tone pallette - the Howe trademarks (finger-picking on electric guitar, countryish licks on acoustic, lots of slide) remain, but are embellished by such novelties as Frippish soundscapes, Ummagumma tones a la The Narrow Way, and even something as simple as a banjo!

Along the lines of arrangements, White's playing also improves from the predictable doldrums of OYE and The Ladder. He's still mostly playing standard rhythms, but there's a marked difference - on this album, he does a good job of "playing the spaces." One at first only hears the primary rhythmic strike most of the time, yet it instinctively seems more tolerable than before, and the reason is that he is actually quietly gracing the proceedings with sufficient syncopation in the off-beats to give a sort of levitating feel to much of his drumming on the album. It's not a return to the glory days of Relayer, sure, but then again that's not the goal of the album.

But back to the band members and their interaction with the orchestra. The most striking aspect of the album, a feature that makes this album a sonic masterpiece if nothing else, is this - the production is such that many things are going on at virtually any time, yet there is never a sense that the listener will suffocate under a wall-of-sound effect. Except when intentional (the very end of the title track, for instance), the mix always has a tremendous amount of breathing room, making the (often VERY densely layered) sound seem expansive and loose.

And ANOTHER thing - the vocals on this album are utterly INCREDIBLE. Anderson's singing is a step up from The Ladder, combining his newly-found high-pitched huskiness and an unprecedented level of (and I'm serious here) caring and tenderness into a beautiful tone that makes Jon sound like he has honest, deep concern for the spiritual fate of the individual listener. And the backing harmonies ... wow. I don't know if it was just discipline on the part of the band itself, or coaching from the producer, or just well-done sound editing on a computer, but many of the harmonies aren't just beautiful, they are genuinely DIFFERENT from anything produced by Yes before. Squire in particular stretches himself into oblivion, but Howe and even White sometimes combine with him to form unprecedented Yes-voice goodness. Add in that they're richly layered, as it sometimes seems that the vocals of any one person are five layers deep, and I'm simply in heaven.

But ultimately, all of this would be moot were it not for the fact that the songs are just plain good. Not ALL of them thrill me, of course - a 13-rated album with this much praise has to have something going against it. We Agree is enjoyed by many fans as one of the best tracks on the album, and I honestly can see their point, but it only thrills me marginally more than before. The requisite parts are mostly there - a good acoustic-driven foundation, diverse and interesting guitar parts, a sorrowful opening verse melody, atypically dark lyrics about refugees - but the song simply does not end up splicing together correctly for me. The song really seems to develop too quickly, as though an originally lengthy Howe composition had been squished down to a more feasible length by the band members. In principle, I'm ok with this, but the fact remains that the development of the track seems somewhat forced to me, and as a result is probably my least favorite on the album. It's still ok, though, which only goes to show how good the rest of the CD is.

Indeed, the first five tracks of the album are a stretch very close to flawlessness, and it's definitely been a while since I've been able to say that about this long a period on a Yes album. The opening title track establishes the greatness of the album right away, letting the band get their first say before the orchestra comes in and takes root in the music. Anderson's verse melody is untrivial (but pretty), but fears of pretentious inaccessibility are instantly laid to rest by the merrily "skipping" bassline and the gleefully entertaining strings. And then, in a move not before seen on a Yes album, the backing vocals turn into a blissfully laid-back wordless "aah aah aah..." melody before Anderson (aided by Chris) resumes, eventually taking us into a breathtakingly beautiful counter-melody. Strings soar up and down, Anderson burbles, and then a midi guitar pops up over the actual band parts to lead us into a vaguely "modern-sounding" chorus that still makes no pretenses of hipness. Strings and flutes swell back up to lead the theme, taking us back to the verse melody. This time, before the countermelody, Steve gets a simple, tasteful (and naturally gorgeous) line in, and as we bridge into the chorus the STRINGS lead the way this time. And the coda, gah ... the orchestra plays beautiful parts while the band jams underneath with Steve playing all sorts of guitars on top of each other (with the aforementioned banjo popping up) before taking us into a chaotic Day in the Life-style sonic uprising before crashing down....

.... and seguing into the next track, Spirit of Survival, which ominously opens with a quiet Anderson vocal of, "In this world the gods have lost their way." Howe plays a soft, mournful acoustic line while Squire slowly descends down his bass one scale-note at a time as Anderson sings a tense vocal melody while strings build up and up and then *BAAM* Squire plays a killer Peter Gunn-style riff as menacing guitar parts interact with big bombastic Bond-style orchestrations. It quickly becomes apparent that the "gods" referred to are not deities, but rather the gods that people build themselves up to be with material goods, but that's not ultimately important. What IS important is that this song rocks with an absolute vengence, with sweeping strings supplementing restrained-but-still-interesting guitar parts from Steve. The last instrumental passage, in particular (about 4 and a half minutes in) shows the band rocking with greater intensity than it has since Drama, BECAUSE of the more riff-based approach that Howe takes to playing the parts than he has in a while. As for the backing vocals, well, this is one of the aforementioned instances of the band coming together to form a voice that cannot exist on its own. And in the end, the song winds itself down, fading out to the sound of a mournful violin line in a way that can only be compared to the post-chaos David Cross playing on the first title track of King Crimson's Larks' Tounges in Aspic.

The next song is a bit of a disappointment for many fans, since it's *gasp* POP, but while I don't think it worked well in concert, Don't Go is a funny little number that I enjoy freely. The melody isn't nearly as trivial as it might seem on first listen, the chorus is well-constructed, it's novel to have a cowbell in a Yes song, there's interesting Howe guitar work throughout, and I love the midsection. It has a megaphone! It could've been XTC (and the mid-song voice-through-megaphone part could have been The Buggles)! The orchestrations are less inventive here than elsewhere, but hey, it's a poppy love song. Give it a break!

And besides, the BIG highlight is up next. On first listen, Give Love Each Day seemed like a generic anthemic AOR power ballad with a two-minute orchestral opening tacked on, but I could not have POSSIBLY been more wrong. The opening orchestration ends up being an integral piece of the track after all, if only you make sure to think of it as the band joining the orchestra and not just the orchestra diddling on its own. Besides, that opening is pretty in its own right, don't you think? But not nearly so as the track itself. Cleverness abounds here - from the instant that a flute-effect (er, at least, my best guess is flute. Or is that just one of Steve's guitar tricks?) begins, it becomes obvious that the band is about to succeed in making a piece as stupidly titled as this into an utter classic. The verse melody is beautiful, and the simple four-note bass riff menacing, but look! Howe imitating Fripp, creating soundscapes! YES. And then, as the melody moves on, switching over to that feathery Starship Trooper-style (but NOT the same) descending guitar line while the strings do their thing before we go back. And Chris - that's CHRIS singing backing vocals??!!! I tip my cap. Whether in the chorus or harmonizing with Jon in the verses, he sounds utterly incredible, enunciating the "simplistic" vocals in a way that makes the power of his IGUIGD singing seem childish in comparison. And so it goes, with Steve contributing a stunningly uplifting guitar solo before we move into the last verse, and fading out with Jon singing the title over arrangments that make me cry. Simple as that.

Up next is the major surprise of the album - a piece with CHRIS on lead vocals. Can You Imagine? (as mentioned in the 90125 review) is actually a leftover from the XYZ sessions, but that hardly makes it any worse. Chris hits some beautiful notes (though his voice was probably, er, doctored on this track) while Jon harmonizes in the background, and the actual song is a solid combination of hard rock groove and piano-based (Alan plays keys on this track) balladeering. Only three minutes, and only constituting of the song repeated twice (well, sort of - the second runthrough is much more intense than the first) but some of the most enjoyable three minutes you'll ever find on a Yes album.

So that's a good start for an album, isn't it? Mild diversity (come on, there's no way you CAN'T credit diversity to a sequence that has a prog anthem, a Bond-laced hard rock song, a Buggles pastiche, an orchestra-based non-sucking love ballad, and whatever-the-heck Can You Imagine? is) within a rich sonic environment. As one review once put it about the album, "lush without the mush." Unfortunately, the album isn't able to completely hold this groove to the very end. We Agree brings a slight screeching halt to the momentum of the album, and it's not the only weakness to be found in the last tracks. The following Soft as a Dove is the primary culprit here, as the main acoustic melody is horridly simplistic (and in a lot of ways an inferior rewrite of From the Balcony, which wasn't impeccable to begin with). On the other hand, though, it is somewhat rescued by the Renaissance-style orchestral chorale that the piece tries to be otherwise, so I'm not about to condemn it completely.

The album also gets controversial after this point because the band decided to store the big progressive epics back here. The closing Time is Time functions as denoument from these, a fine Beatles-esque pop song with Harrison-style guitars that manages to leave a slight note of non-resolution to the overall proceedings. The lyrics are wholely ambiguous in the nature of their mood, not letting the listener know for sure how to feel at the end, but I guess that was the point.

But back to the epics. The first of these, Dreamtime, seemed overly complex to me on first listen, and sure enough ended up requiring quite a few listens to process, but it was so worth the effort. The experimentalism of the album reaches its peak here, as menacing basslines (with an atypical tone by Chris) merge with diverse guitar lines and true modern classical values in the orchestration to create a virtual sonic onslaught. The rhythm of the piece ends up as something vaguely Latin, with a reasonable resemblence to Birthright from ABWH, and that only makes things weirder. Steve's guitars are at their experimental best on this track, with weird slide things and bubbling tones that periodically explode high above the stratosphere combining with the active orchestrations of Groupe. The track builds and builds, calling up the main theme when necessary, before climaxing in a brief but blazing Howe solo that gives way to the orchestrations which drive things into a fever pitch of intensity before Chris' bass shuts everything down with that wonderfully menacing bassline. *BREATHE* The orchestra then gets a time to ease things with a bit of "solo" time at the end, which again could seem tacked on if you don't remember the whole premise of "band-part-of-orchestra" that fills this album.

Filling out the album, then, is the slightly controversial In The Presence Of. My love for the track has dimmed slightly since I first heard it in concert and then from the tour ep (which I didn't actually buy, as it wasn't sold at the concert I went to, but I was able to find an mp3 of the studio version from that), but only slightly. If you didn't like To Be Over, chances are you won't like this, because the "vibe" of the song is kind of the same. It's based around a simple White-penned piano melody, and if you don't like the idea of prog rock as expanding simple ideas into bigger things, you won't like this. But I dig it, yes I do. Anderson sounds caring and tender like nowhere else in the Yes catalogue, even as he's singing what could be considered incomprehensibilities, and it doesn't hurt that the guitar tone in the first section (the track has four listed parts) is unspeakably dreamy. Then things quiet down a bit, leading us into the Death of Ego section, with a much less trivial melody (that's still not that inaccessible ultimately) but more of the dreaminess that I love so much. Jon is hypnotic when he sings "you'll understand why," and Steve's parts do a swell job of slowly building in intensity through the section.

And then the part I love most. True Beginner is a classic example of form following content, as Groupe had the good wisdom to combine a passage with a line "I get amazed like a true beginner" with simplistic orchestra stabs that SOUND like they were written by somebody just beginning to gain wisdom and understanding. This is the strongest hook of the song, and in many ways quite frankly the defining moment of the whole album (for all its simplicity). But of course the song does not end here, but rather moves in for the kill in the climactic Turn Around And Remember section that follows it and a brief atmospheric interlude. Steve gets the brilliant slide guitar climax that he was probably looking for in Children of Light back on Keys 2, and the swaying strings in the background really do give one the impression of slowly floating down into a sacred area of divine wisdom (or some crap like that).

And that's it. Naturally, the album sold horridly, but if you haven't bought it, I'm hoping this review will get you to. This is the album that should have been able to recover lapsed fans, showing a level of invention and brilliance not found since the 70's. And yet it is not retro prog-shlock - it is something astoundingly fresh sounding, and this is perhaps the greatest testament to Yes' genius yet. Not that it's their best album or anything like that, but for a band to reach THIS level of quality THIS late in their career, after going through personnel turnover at an unholy rate and stumbling around looking for its true stylistic self for years, is simply astounding. What a band.

Send me your thoughts

Daniel and Corine Bosch (dcbosch@optusnet.com.au) (5/15/02)

I love this album! I had to get it off the internet (not released in Australia yet) and I'm sure glad I did. The orchestra is fully integrated, not just tacked on, the songs are (mostly) killer. I love the prominence vocally of Chris, the interplay between his voice and Jon's takes you back to early Yes. Alan is a suprise on piano and Steve is brilliant throughout. A return to form, building on the solid foundation laid down by The Ladder.

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/20/02)

I was initially quite reluctant to buy this, for several reasons. First, Jon Anderson said this was to be 'Tales revisited'. Before I bought this, I was thinking, "Oh god, NOT ANOTHER "TALES"! That was hard enough to swallow!" Secondly, comparisions to "Keys" doesn't really sweeten the pot much either. Finally, the orchestra: I had visions of, say, something similar to the Scorpions or Metallica interacting with an orchestra, which didn't seem to gel well to my delicate ears.

Then, I eagerly awaited your review of this album (truthfully!!). Seeing your warnm reception to this album, and the fact that, minus the Rabin years (for now), our opinions on Yes are pretty close, I finally bought this.

And, it was good! And, sometimes great! This is definitely their best album since "Going for the One". It is astounding how the band and the orchestra INTERACT with one another, unlike in "Time and a Word". The album opens up with a bang with the title track (just as good live this summer). Howe chimes in at just the right times. And, he's very much to the point, and yet still quite memorable. Thanks for the mention of "Give Love Each Day". This song was the first to immediately grab my attention all the way through. Too bad this wasn't played live. Finally, "Dreamtime" is the other immediate attention grabber for me. The 'worst' (still okay though) has to be "We Agree". Perhaps, it's the lyrics that make me want to cringe a bit. Finally, "In the Presence Of" is a good track, though it's very difficult for me, even after multiple listens to remember the overall arc of the structure. In short, this earns a 9(12) from me.

P.S: As for the classic era of Yes, this is how I see their albums on your scale at this point(all the others more or less follow the "+3" rule of yours):

The Yes Album 10(14)
Fragile 10(14)
Close to the Edge 10(15)
Yessongs 9(13)
Tales... 9(12)
Relayer 9(13)
Going for the One 10(14)

Ben Rising (brising@wk-mapeco.com) (11/20/02)

After reading your glowing review of Magnification I decided to take another listen to the CD, which I have to say has not been spending much time in my CD player since I bought it shortly after its release.  My short summary is that it sounds like they are striving to reclaim the musical territory of their early 70’s heyday, with limited success.  Far too often on this album it sounds like they have dressed up some pretty generic pop songs with classic Yes trappings.  The sense of a completely integrated piece of sonic art that you get from the band’s classic albums is missing.  To be sure, there is some wonderful guitar work from Steve Howe, lush vocals from Jon Anderson and the rest of the band but taken as a whole the album rings hollow for me.  The use of the orchestra is done tastefully and it doesn’t detract from the album, but by the same token I can’t say that it really adds a whole lot either.  I don’t know what to say about Jon Anderson’s lyrics other than they have been getting worse with each album.    It was much better when they were incomprehensible stream of consciousness ramblings. Lyrics about flying purple wolfhounds and seasoned witches don’t make much sense but they still sound good.  Give Love Each Day...Yech.  Talk about a gooey saccharine mess.  The song In the Presence Of comes closest to achieving the majesty and grace of their best work.  Unfortunately the True Beginner section ruins it for me.  It just sounds so…clumsy.  Try to imagine something that clunky on Close to the Edge.  It would never fit because that album is operating on a different level.  So overall, I think a nine is way high for this album.  That would put it up with their best albums and I’m afraid it comes nowhere close.  I think a six is about right.

Craig Thomas (Craig.W.Thomas@btinternet.com) (8/10/03)

You're right, this is a highly significant Yes album, signalling as it obviously does, a return to their approach to music making from roughly the Yes album through to Relayer, "The Classic Yes Period." How it fits within any fan "rank order" is irrelevant (as is always the case with puerile listing): how it fits within the Yes history is interesting. How good it is, paramount. It's a very very good record. Why so? Because it seems to me the band is trying to make music with sincerity and passion. In other words, here we have a return to music-making as art. The times when Yes has completely fallen into the river and drowned are the times when they're modus operandi has been fatally compromised by commercialism and or cleavages within the band in terms of direction (probably the same thing).

Whilst most of the music is enjoyable to hear, as a whole the album lacks for something intangible. Reading the most recent Steve Howe interview from Notes From The Edge provided me with the answer, I think. Whilst reluctant to reveal the details, Howe was clearly unhappy with the album and his part in it. This makes for a dysfunctional unit, and while an unhappy band member doesn't always cause flawed music (cf. as I understand it, Bill Bruford and the stupendous Close To The Edge), at others it inevitably will. Or, perhaps what I perceive in the music, a lack of soul, of warmth, is what troubles Howe (though I somehow doubt that this is so). It's a record whose music doesn't invite you in; rather it invites you to stand on the side and watch it, hopefully with some degree of enjoyment or admiration.

What is recordable about the album, for all Yes times, is the inclusion of an inimitable Yes classic, In The Prescence Of. Not remotely reminiscent of To Be Over, in the view of this author, it recalls the great days of the mid-Seventies when the band were able to achieve the production of a heady alchemic brew, based on tasteful and often inspired harmonic constructions (melodic themes, and so on), fully developed and often reiterated. Here we have a piece of around ten minutes in length, where the scope is large, but - unlike the previous compositional disasters of both Keys To Ascension - crucially, the writing has been brought on by the alliance of musical knowledge and the indefinable mystical spirit, the divine, even, that is the genesis of all great works of music. One would sincerely hope that such a view of this magnificent piece is far from controversial.

Thus the album has to be hugely valued for In The Presence Of alone. It's also supported by other really worthwhile pieces of compositional skill and melodic invention as Dreamtime and the maligned (here at least) Don't Go, which managed to move this writer very significantly indeed when performed on the orchestral tour in England in 2001. The title track is fresh and good, the Squire sung Would You Believe It interesting and heartfelt and the short coda track Time Is Time a quirky, off the cuff gem.

Perhaps what Magnification signifies to the fan-listener above all, is that the members of Yes are still capable of writing excellent works, sometimes still ambitious, which aren't laboured and merely manufactured. On this evidence, Yes is close to being still a great working, living entity, as opposed to one wallowing in the mire of merely pleasant reminders of past glories never to be recaptured.

Vandermeer (bkvander@telus.net) (8/10/03)

I've listened to this album well over a dozen times and it still hasn't grown on me. I find almost every song somewhat dull and unmemorable.

Only 3 songs really stand out in my mind. In the Presence Of is probably my favourite with its nice piano melody at the beginning, but I start to lose interest towards the end. Can You Imagine is the only song that pleases me all the way through, with the orchestra helping things along a lot. The only other song that ever sticks in my mind is Don't Go. The chorus at first seemed annoying, but now I've gotten used to it.

Nothing else really stands out. The two short songs Soft as a Dove and Time Is Time do nothing for me. Magnification is ok, but I don't find it too memorable. Ditto with Spirit of Survival. We Agree and Dreamtime are both dull and overlong. Finally, Give Love Each Day seems to be a popular choice for best song on the album, but I just don't see what the appeal is. I've heard it probably about 20 times now and I can't remember anything about it-not the hallmark of a Yes classic.

I know a lot of people have heaped praise on this album, but it just doesn't resonate with me. As such I can only give it a 5 (8). It's probably my second least favourite Yes album. Maybe I need some more listens. It's at least nice background music.

Meldrain@aol.com (9/23/03)

I find it amazing that now, at a time when prog is said to epitomize bad taste, progressive rock appears to be making a true resurgence. This repristination of the genre of perpetual pretentiousness isn't manifesting itself in the form of a plethora of new groups poised to revitalize and reinvent a stagnant genre; no, somehow the dinosaurs themselves have experienced some sort of reawakening, inconceivable as that may seem. When's the last time Jethro Tull made an album as good as J-Tull Dot Com? When's the last time King Crimson made an album as good as The Power To Believe? And when's the last time Yes made an album as good as Magnification (we'll ignore the new Rush for now, but they were never in the same league as the giants of the genre anyway). I'm not implying that these comebacks are on par with their peak output, but they're certainly head and shoulders above the more recent chapters of their discography. The quality of Magnification truly shocked me. My initial enthusiasm cultivated by your review was somewhat diluted by the 10 Starostin gave it, especially since I took him to be moderately less biased than you, given that he's never professed to be a Yes fan; quite the opposite, actually. I'm not saying you're not objective; it's just that everyone, myself included, has a tendency to derive more enjoyment than others from their favorite groups. But as for the album... wow. I never would've thought Yes were capable of an album of this quality in the new millenium. The fusion of pop and prog works perfectly, retaining their classic sound while integrating poppy hooks and song structure effectively. On the Ladder (which is a good album, don't get me wrong), they made a few too many compromises, as the balance was shifted far too heavily to the pop side; here the ratio of prog to pop is so successful that everything comes off completely naturally; neither the elements of pop or prog ever sound forced; it never seems like they're trying to hard to bring in either new fans or reattract their old ones. They're not trying to be hip (ala The Ladder) nor are they trying to masquerade as sages (ala Tales); they're simply trying to produce good music, and they've finally achieved a formula conducive to that endeavor. I honestly wouldn't mind if their next album was a retread of this one, as the formula could probably sustain a few more album without getting too stale (as long as the quality of the songwriting remains consistent). Is this as good as Fragile? Close To The Edge? The Yes Album? Relayer? No. But I don't think it's trying to be. Yes have accepted that they'll never recapture their old heights; they're merely trying to find the niche in the modern world, and I think that, after some desultory experimentation, they've managed to find it. Great album. I've never liked Yes as much as Tull or Crimson, but I think this might surpass their comeback albums from a qualitative standpoint (not sure about that, though, but I never would've thought the question would ever come up). I can't wait to hear their next album (unless they disband again. Howe has a new album coming soon which I'll probably get, but it's not quite the same thing...). Prog lives, amazing, gauche or not. Thank god for that, I sure would've missed it.

Trfesok@aol.com (12/09/04)

Yes was really on a roll! Another solid release. I don't find it that much a departure from the Ladder, though -- just put some orchestration on top of some of those tracks, and you'd have something similar. However, there's nothing as tacky as "If OnlyYou Knew" here, and the orchestral arrangements are an integral part of the songs, as opposed to muzak (as on Steve's Symphonic Music of Yes), or imposed on the songs with no idea if they belonged (as on Time as a Word), or superfluous substitution for synthesizer (Tormato). "Dreamtime" is the peak, but I like everything here as well. The downside is that Steve and Alan (as on Ladder) are pretty low-key. Still, this is a LOT better than anyone could expect from Yes as they all push 60 (Jon is old enough to be a grandfather and can STILL sing like this?!!).  If it's a studio swan song (and it's starting to look that way -- Beyond Records no longer exists),they could have done worse.

---

Amsterdam 2001 - Bootleg
8 (12)

Best song: Ritual

For the tour supporting Magnification, Yes decided to go the logical route and play with symphony orchestras. Oddly enough, the band took a poll on its official website, www.yesworld.com, about whether fans wanted Yes to tour with an orchestra, and the response was FAR from a positive mandate. I must admit, in fact, that I was one of those who voted against the proposal, and I had great skepticism when I planned to go see them. I had visions of a generic greatest hits tour, with the orchestrations just sitting about passively and the band going through the motions, and this did nothing to excite me.

I was wrong, though. As I would later discover, the band had made VERY good use of Groupe's orchestrations on Magnification, and this carried over to the arrangements of older material as well. The orchestrations, above all, are ACTIVE - you wouldn't think, for instance, that the strings and brass would play an important role in the mid-section of The Gates of Delirium, but they DO, and it all sounds GREAT. Even something bizarre like the introduction to CTTE gets heavy orchestral augmentation (and it doesn't hurt that, for the first time in a while, Steve sounds like he actually cares during said intro, which is only true to somewhat the same extent on the DVD), and it goes without saying that the IGUIGD section is made that much prettier because of it.

Anyway, this bootleg, a recording of the first of two Amsterdam shows intended for release as a concert DVD (they ended up using the second night - also, PLEASE note that while this is a recording of the first night, it is NOT a soundboard recording, but rather a typical audience boot), is representative of the stellar performances that made up the 2001 Yessymphonic tour. Aside from three Mag songs (why they only did three is beyond me, but they could have done worse than Don't Go, In the Presence Of and Magnification, though DG is alarmingly weak live), the show follows the basic structure of a typical Masterworks show, with the three biggies (Close to the Edge, Gates of Delirium and Ritual) augmented by other songs here and there (including a pair of nice acoustic pieces from Steve, taken from his solo albums). And You and I sounds (as expected) utterly STELLAR with an orchestra providing the cathartic sonic blast, but while one might have been able to predict the use of an orchestra there, that doesn't necessarily make the use elsewhere very predictable. Long Distance Runaround, for instance, is a most unlikely candidate for orchestral backing, but it receives a very nice extended intro, and the performance itself is quite nice. Don't forget Starship Trooper, though, where the orchestra returns to the stage in time for the coda and helps make this one of the best renditions of Würm you will ever find.

Er, I guess there isn't too much else to say, except that if you didn't get a chance to see this tour, or don't have a chance to pick up the DVD, you simply MUST hear this version of Ritual. Aside from the COOLER-THAN-ANYTHING tribal drum circle, the orchestra manages to raise the tension level to such a degree that, combined with the accompanying strobe light effect, it could have created epilepsy in anybody who had come to see the show. The rest of the track is no slouch either, though, and while it might not be enough to convert a Tales hater, it sure couldn't hurt either.

OH, and one other thing. It's unfortunate that the official recording for the tour, i.e. the second Amsterdam show, won't include anything like this, as it shows better than anything the sort of thing that can happen in a high-tension band such as this. The situation was like this - on the second half of the European leg of this tour, the band finally pressured Steve into playing Owner on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Steve has never made any secret of his loathing of Owner, and this did not sit well with him. Fast forward to this night. The band leaves after ISAGP, comes back for the encore. Steve wants to play Roundabout, Chris wants to play Owner. Chris has grabbed the bass he uses for Owner, which is different from the one he usually uses. Steve begins playing Roundabout, the rest of the band follows suit for a bit, everybody stops. Jon tells the crowd that Steve wants Roundabout, Chris wants Owner, and asks the crowd what they want. There are mixed cheers and boos for Owner, cheers for Roundabout. They begin playing Roundabout, then stop. CHRIS HAS THE WRONG BASS. On try number three, they get started again. Ah, sweet sweet professionalism.

Steve played Owner the next night, btw. You think Chris and Alan scolded him a bit? I sure do.

Send me your thoughts

bsitting@mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/10/02)

A really good concert! There wasn't as much orchestration in the songs as I thought there would be, but when it's there, it's done with taste, embellishing the songs very well. Hence, I regret missing their concert last year (sobs). Easily, the highlight of the show was "Gates of Delirium" as you have descibed why. The keyboardist does a goog job throughout this concert, and even adds a few of his own flourishes, like in the "Wurm" jam. Most of the time, it sounds like Howe cares about what he's playing in this concert, compared to "Keys" and "House of Blues" (needless to say, he was still decent in those too, but for the sake of comparison). 8(12)

Eric B. (sonicdeath10@hotmail.com) (9/02/03)

i actually recently got this DVD and i love it. i was fucking amazed when steve started playing owner of a lonely heart. there are times when steve is a bit sloppy. gates of delirium kicks, and that keyboardist tom brislin was amazing. honestly, i thought they should have stuck with him. he played all era's of yes with equal aplomb, and positively ATTACKED his keyboard during the "battle" section of Gates. everybody is good, jon dooes some completely horrible jokes, the worst i've ever heard, chris makes an ass of himself. great stuff. favorite part: when chris goes up to steve during the battle of gates, and starts making "silly" faces, and steve doesn't do anything. so chris walks away. and steve doesn't seem like he's having any fun at all, not smiling until the end when the orchestra comes out and dances for roundabout and he smiles. still, he does seem like he cares.

Guðmundur Hallvarðsson (g.hallv@centrum.is) (02/11/06)

The Yessymphonic DVD was my introduction to this band.

It was in the month of September 2004, I remember it vividly (as Jon would put it). The school-teachers were on a strike so I had no school to attend to, to a teenager's ear that sounds like a dream come true, and it was ... but then the boredom kicked in and it got a little depressing. So one of those days I was sitting around thinking about what a dreary, boring existence this was when I happened to look at the DVD-shelf, and there was the Yessymphonic DVD.

I put it in not quite knowing what to expect but I was utterly blown away, It was unlike anything I had ever heard before. For the next month that followed I fell in love with Yes, I listened to their music closely and analytically, my favourite songs were Homeworld, Perpetual Change and And You and I wich never ceased to amaze me.

Like most stuff I obsess over I felt the need to introduce (and convert) everyone to Yes, I didn't at all like the idea of being the only one my age who was a Yes-fan. As much as I tried, none of my friends (and some foes) liked them as much as I did, most of the complaints were about Jon's voice or the length of the songs.

This made me want to both cry, and curse my friends to the dust for having such short attention-spans (well, I am quite the dramaqueen).

As time went by, I outgrew my Yes-phase and came to accept that this kind of music is not everybody's taste, wich was a very good lesson.

I still listen to Yessymphonic every once in a while, makes me feel nostalgic.

Well, anyway I just felt like sharing this when I read your review.

Good night

---

Symphonic Live - 2009 Eagle Rock Entertainment
9 (12)

Best song: Ritual

Send me your thoughts

---

Remixes - 2003 Rhino
7 (10)

Best song: Awaken

I'm not sure I've ever come across an album concept more doomed to commercial failure than this one. Ok, so apparently this is aimed at the subset of people who are (a) big enough Yes fans to buy whatever new album is found under the Yes name and (b) able to enjoy (or at least tolerate) electronica in general. Or, alternatively, those who will buy every Yes-related album in the world for the sake of completism and to review it. Which leaves ... me and Mark Prindle. Way to go Virgil Howe (son of Steve)! Sorry I stole half your sales by downloading this!

I actually kinda like it, though. They're not going to stop me from going back to the originals, of course (though I do kinda like the bizarre interpretation of Arriving UFO more than the original), but except for the rambling, uninteresting mess that is this album's Heart of the Sunrise, every one of these tracks is good for at least a few listens. My favorite is Awaken, which focuses on Wakeman's opening piano parts and the hypnotic mid-section, turning those elements into a really cool trance number, but the remixes of Siberian Khatru (which amplifies the funk elements of the opening 20-fold) and Starship Trooper (whose standout moment is when he loops a dark line from the acoustic section that I didn't even realize was there before) come pretty close. Sound Chaser is slammed into a 4/4 rocker format, kinda the same way George Harrison pummelled Within You, Without You into a pop song format, 5 Per Cent For Nothing gets a ridiculously cool jazzy deconstruction, Tempus Fugit has way too much fun with the "Finally answer to YES" part, and lots of other stuff happens too. It's not all very exciting, but it's at least interesting, most of the time.

And, um, that's about it. I don't love it by any stretch, and it's hardly an essential purchase, but it's a novel enough curiousity to merit at least some interest.

Send me your thoughts

---

The Word Is Live - 2005 Rhino
8 (11)

Best song: Big Medley

In the early 2000's, rumors floated around for a good while that Yes was thinking about releasing a boxset of previously unreleased live material, but after a while I started to think (like I'm sure many fans did) that, given how much Yes was dragging their heels on actually doing this, this would never happen. So imagine my surprise when I found out that it would be released in 2005, and that there ended up being only one significant delay from the initial target release date. 'Twas a modern miracle, to be sure, given Yes' habitual tardiness with such releases in the latter part of their career ...

So anyway, this 3-CD boxset is a nice addition to the band's catalogue, and it justifies its existence by (mostly) focusing on periods in the band's history that haven't been adequately covered by Yessongs, Yesshows and the like. The all-music guide actually complains about the fact that the band's '72-'75 peak is ignored on here, but that seems rather silly to me; if this set focused on that period, it would be redundant, whereas in its current state it's largely essential for hardcore fans. It's even nice enough to have some tracks on it that are the exact same versions as ones I review in bootlegs on this site (Sweet Dreams is from the Electric Freedom show, the three 1980 tracks are from the Complete Dramatized Tour show), and it covers some material from some tours mentioned on here, so it's at least a partial solution to hunting down tracks I reviewed in my endless listing of bootlegs.

The set starts off slightly redundant, presenting cleaned up versions of Then and For Everyone done in BBC sessions while Banks was in the band, but quickly moves into Steve Howe's initial period with the band, giving us our first chance to hear the TYA lineup live. We start with solid runthroughs of Astral Traveller and Everydays from 1970, which prove that Steve had his style and technique down from day one, as he mostly reinvents Banks' guitar lines and makes the songs distinctly his. Then it's off to 1971 and nice performances of Yours is No Disgrace and I've Seen All Good People, giving us a chance to hear what this material was like when it was completely fresh and had no stench of overfamiliarity. One thing that particularly stands out in YIND is just how aggressive Howe would get when it was his turn to shine; the band actually sounds a little cautious and unsure when playing the main parts of the song, but as soon as Howe can break out those wah-wah licks, it's like watching a leopard pounce.

From this show, we also get to hear the young, jammy cover-band Yes, the one that would make Paul Simon's America last 16 minutes and It's Love by The Young Rascals last 11. I'll admit that 16 minutes is a little excessive, but it's just so intriguing to hear the band making songs so long not because they'd written them as such, but because they needed to fill space in their shows from not having much of a back catalogue yet, and the ideas that they pull out to try and make it work are neat to hear. Just as it would be later at the SLO shows, America is a great showcase for Steve's prog-country licks, and in this case even Kaye's organ gets some of the spotlight. As for It's Love, I'm betting this cover would infuriate fans of the original (if I knew the original I'd be able to make a surer guess), but as far as I'm concerned, it has a great combination of groove (Bruford is bashing about but also holding the fort well) and great instrumental sounds, so that's enough for me. Chris' bass solo (with attempt to sing along to it) could be a little shorter, but I still like it a lot.

Disc 2 begins (after having the band walk out on stage to Moraz playing Apocalypse from And You And I) with FABULOUS runthroughs of Siberian Khatru and Sound Chaser from 1976 (followed by Sweet Dreams from the already reviewed 1975 show). Sound Chaser, in particular, sounds way way better here than it did as the Electric Freedom opener, and I don't think it's just a matter of sound quality. The band toys with the introduction, making it loads more atmospheric, and the song itself becomes a rocking monster that I think could (potentially) be enjoyed even by somebody who didn't really like the original.

The rest of disc 2 (and the start of disc 3) focuses on the Tormato tour, and thus most of which I can say about this has already been mentioned in my Circus of Heaven review. Big Medley is there in all its glory, and the renditions of Heart of the Sunrise, Awaken and Roundabout are all some of the best you can get from Yes (I'm not thrilled about having these songs on here taking up space, but I guess you have to have a good % of "standards" for a set like this). Of course, I wish that Circus of Heaven and Future Times/Rejoice weren't also taking up space (the Wembly version of On the Silent Wings of Freedom, by far the best rendition of the track I've heard, would have been preferable), but whatever. Next up are Go Through This, We Can Fly From Here and Tempus Fugit from the Complete Dramatized Tour review, and the biggest thing I can say here is that I finally learned to really enjoy Go Through This; it's a fine piece of New Wave rock'n'roll, go figure.

Unfortunately, the set ends on a slightly down note, as the last four tracks are from the Big Generator tour, generally regarded as one of the worst tours the band ever did. The songs and performances themselves are fine (except for Hold On, which still blows), but I can't help but be irritated that, of all the remaining possibilities, the band decided that the world needed to have seven officially released tracks from one of its worst tours (remember, Yesyears contains Heart of the Sunrise, And You And I and Changes from that tour). Ah well.

In the end, I might have been able to do a better job of selecting tracks (it would have been better, for instance, to have Awaken from the Union tour) to go on here, but I'm pleased with what I have. I don't recommend it for anybody but big fans like me, but for big fans like me, it's definitely a necessity.

Send me your thoughts

---

Live At Montreux 2003 - 2007 Eagle
8 (11)

Best song: South Side Of The Sky or To Be Over

As a final twist in Yes' long, turbulent history, Rick Wakeman decided to rejoin the band in 2002. I saw them in 2002 (one of their first shows back together) and in 2004 (when the setlist was better and more varied than it had been in years), but missed out on their 2003 shows, so I'm glad to have this album (which was also released on DVD). It's a recording of the band's performance at the 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival, and while much of the setlist is pretty rote, enough of the performances stand out to make this album worth purchasing.

As became routine in the last decade or so of Yes' existence, the band takes a few minutes to get it together, and unfortunately the beginning of the opening Siberian Khatru is uninspiring, to say the least. Howe's guitar is just way too quiet, and Wakeman's synth horns are just way too cheesy, for me not to fidget as the band runs through the motions of this classic. That said, the ending instrumental passage has some good ideas that I'd never heard from Steve in this context before, and by the end of the track the band has a full head of steam going. Up next is Magnification, sans orchestra, which segues out of the chaotic ending into the evening's first major surprise, Don't Kill the Whale. I still think it's one of the cheesiest songs the band ever did, but I have to admit that it's a lot of fun in this context, and credit has to be given where credit is due for the band digging deep into its past in filling the setlist.

After a rousing In the Presence of, we come to the show's second major surprise: a quick jaunt through We Have Heaven, followed by South Side of the Sky. Yup, the band finally forced itself to start playing the song in 2002, and by 2003 they had it down as well as it was gonna get. It's a little more sluggish than the original (I seem to remember that this was what kept the band from doing it live in the first place), but the band does a good job with the mid-song harmonies and keyboard passages, and the ending portion, with Howe and Wakeman dueling back and forth for eight beats a piece, is pure dorky prog bliss. The song brought down the house both times I saw them do it, and this is no exception.

Following a fantastic And You and I that may be the best live version the band ever did (Howe's control over his pedal steel had only gotten better through the years), we come to Steve's acoustic set. One of the two tracks is Clap, done exactly the same as always, but the other, an acoustic rearrangement of To be Over, is a major surprise. Rumor has it that everybody in the band except for Wakeman wanted to bring back this track, and it would have been nice if he'd relented, but hearing this SPECTACULAR rearrangement more than makes up for what might have been. The nine minute original has its essence boiled down to about four minutes, and while Steve doesn't do anything like attempt an acoustic version of the weird Sound Chaser reprise solo, he keeps the moods of the original in tact, and that says a lot.

Disc two begins with a previously unreleased song called Show Me, featuring Anderson on acoustic guitar and vocals, with some light Wakeman keyboard parts near the end. It's quite pretty, though the vocal melody is a bit too underdeveloped for my tastes in places. After Wakeman then plays a medley of parts from Six Wives, the whole band comes back on stage and launches into a decent performance of Heart of the Sunrise. Next is Long Distance Runaround, followed by nine minutes of The Fish. This is done pretty similarly to Whitefish on 9012Live, but a major difference is that the bits of Sound Chaser are removed and replaced with the opening of On the Silent Wings of Freedom. Apparently the band had considered bringing back the entire song, but rightfully decided it didn't really work for its entire length, so I'm glad that they just kept the most interesting part.

The show ends predictably with Awaken (Howe's ever increasing mastery of the pedal steel is once again the standout part), I've Seen All Good People and Roundabout (with the middle, non-jam section stripped out). It's easy to have feelings of discomfort at hearing yet MORE live versions of those tracks, and I can understand hesitation at buying yet another album with them. The predictable stuff, though, isn't where this album's merit lies, and while paying top price for it might seem excessive, I definitely recommend that any Yes fan should seek this out. I mean, you're not going to have an official live release of South Side of the Sky anywhere else...

Send me your thoughts

"Kreienbrink, Marc J TSgt 72 CONS/CCD" (Marc.Kreienbrink@tinker.af.mil) (05/18/08)

Yessss...another live album from Yes! Woo hoo! I'm really diggin' on this disk. Never thought I'd hear a live version of "South Side...". It rocks! This is one of the best versions of "And You And I"; Steve did it up right and didn't get all crazy with the cheese whiz (if you don't count the end of the song where he went crazy with the cheese whiz).  Actually, I think this is the second best live version of "AYAI" we've had issued to us by Yes.

Usually my Yes MVP is Chris Squire because he usually is the MVP, but this time I have to give mad props to Steve Howe. The old coot's playing is inspired and on-point...very tasty. His solo spot is most excellent. I was surprised with "To Be Over". I'll have to have a drink on him when I get back home.

My WTFs:
1. Not even a slight nod to the Rabin years. What gives? That's almost completely unacceptable.
2. "Siberian Khatru"'s sloppiness and crappy keyboard sounds, but at least Wakeman doesn't have that dumb beard anymore.
3. "Don't Kill The Whale"
4. Steve's apparent lack of distortion on his guitars these days.
I concur with your rating: this one gets an 8(11).  Barely.

Back to the "classic years" of Yes

Back to the main page