Part 4 – 1990’s to Today
I graduated from High School in 1990. During my junior and senior years I got introduced to Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd by a friend and spent some time exploring each bands discography. I also picked up CD’s by the Eagles and Kansas as I continued to expand my music collection from just hard rock and metal. So when I heard Lift Me Up on the radio I knew I would get the new Yes album when it came out.
Union
I know many don’t think highly of this album but I think it’s pretty solid. The only song I don’t care for is Dangerous (Look In The Light Of What You're Searching For). If I’m not in the mood I’ll skip Angkor Wat – it’s pretty cool and atmospheric but I don’t listen to it every time. The rest is pretty good stuff.
Talk
This was another new album for me and I was very excited to check it out based on comments I read. It wasn’t until I listened to it that I realized I’d heard The Calling on the radio when Talk came out. I Am Waiting is another top shelf song. Real Love starts with (to me) a really annoying keyboard melody that makes me hit skip every time I hear it. It just does nothing for me. For this review I listened to the whole song and there are some redeeming parts to it after getting through the first two minutes or so. I get why others like it. It’s mostly up from here to the end of the album for me: State Of Play is good, Walls is okay, Where Will You Be is good and Endless Dream is phenomenal! I don’t know if I would call it the best of the three but it rounds out the trifecta of Rabin Era albums on a very high note.
Keys To Ascension
I’m one of those who happened to get the 4 CD / 1 DVD box set because it was the only copy I could find. I’ve since seen various versions of the packaging show up at ‘the Den” in the past few years but not the box set. To me, the studio tracks are a return to form of sorts with a modern polished sound. I like every song. The long form / epic tracks don’t sound padded out or overlong to me and IMO sound like a natural evolution to what they did in the 70’s.
I know this is heresy but I actually like some of the live tracks and here’s why. I typically don’t listen to live albums because of the lack of quality. (Besides, having seen them in concert I know the statement “you had to be there” applies to Yes) There are some live albums I like but not many. I like some of the Keys tracks because they overdubbed and cleaned up the sound. Yes, they are not really live but they are not really studio and that is why I like the sound. It's different.
Open Your Eyes
I don’t have a copy of this album but I pulled it up YouTube and gave it a listen. It’s not as bad as I expected based on comments I read. Most of the songs have the sound of the short form style that they had been making since the 80’s. Every band I listen to makes a style of song that I don’t like – for Yes this would be New State of Mind. It has the clunky, plodding beat that just turns me off. Best few are Open Your Eyes, Universal Garden, Wonderlove and From the Balcony. To be honest I could put it on in the background and only skip a few songs. If I can find a cheap copy I’ll pick this up on CD.
The Ladder
I like this album a lot and consider it on par with Keys To Ascension. The short form songs are all really good – no clunky, plodding ones here. But, there is some real diversity that I can see would turn a purist off. Lightning Strikes and Can I incorporate that “world music” concept that has always been an element in prog. Both are enjoyable to me even though they are a bit out of my usual music taste. It Will Be A Good Day, Face To Face, If Only You Knew, To Be Alive, Finally and The Messenger are all really good and contain some really nice music and vocal melodies.
Both long form songs are excellent – long enough to develop but not padded out.
Both Keys To Ascension and The Ladder have the modern, contemporary feel of the 70’s era Yes music to me. It doesn’t sound re-hashed and shows the band could evolve beyond their early years. It’s not as bold a statement as it should have been because they only put out these two albums before changing again.
Magnification
I’ve only listened to this album twice. There are a few songs that stand out but there’s nothing I have heard so far that really grabs me. It’s one that I can put on in the background while working and enjoy.
Symphonic Live
I got it, and I like it! The sound is fantastic and you get Close to the Edge, The Gates of Delirium and Ritual in one package - nothing more to say.
Fly From Here
Since I like Drama I was really interested in hearing this album. For the most part it’s good to excellent with The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be and Hour Of Need being the only songs I skip sometimes. They’re not bad but definitely aren’t very Yes sounding to me by a long stretch.
The epic is excellent – bumpy ride doesn’t derail the song to me as much as others feel it does. The rest of the short form songs are diverse enough and sound pretty good.
I’ll admit that I have not listened to Heaven & Earth and will refrain from doing so based on what I’ve read here. In my mind I am going to let the current line up end their tenure on a high note!
Many thanks to Orbert and everyone else who contributed to this thread – as a result I’ve added hours of incredible new music to my library and greatly expanded my enjoyment of music.
Yes was just the beginning of adding new music to my collection though and I then moved on to another big 70’s progressive rock band discography thread…