The Quest (2021)
Jon Davison - Vocals, Guitar
Geoff Downes - Keyboards
Steve Howe - Guitars, Mandolin, Steel Guitar, Vocals
Billy Sherwood - Bass, Keyboards, Vocals
Alan White - Drums
Jay Schellen - Percussion
FAME'S Studio Orchestra - Oleg Kondratenko, Conductor
Paul K. Joyce - Orchestra Arrangements
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The Ice Bridge
a. Eyes East
b. Race Against Time
c. Interaction
Dare To Know
Minus The Man
Leave Well Alone
a. Across The Border
b. Not For Nothing
c. Wheels
The Western Edge
Future Memories
Music To My Ears
A Living Island
a. Brave The Storm
b. Wake Up
c. We Will Remember
Bonus DiscSister Sleeping Soul
Mystery Tour
Damaged World
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As we all know, Chris Squire died, in 2015. He was the last original member of Yes, the only person to appear on every Yes album, and in many ways the heart of the band. Yes had had multiple lead singers, guitarists, keyboardists, and drummers over the years, several members have come and gone and come back again, but there had only ever been one bassist for Yes. With other bands, this
might have raised the question of whether they would continue, but in his final days, Squire made it clear that he wished the band to continue, and furthermore, he named his good friend Billy Sherwood as his successor. Sherwood was previously in Yes from 1997-2000, having played on
Open Your Eyes and
The Ladder, as well as the tours for both albums. Sherwood was Squire's partner in The Chris Squire Experiment, later Conspiracy, which had led directly to
Open Your Eyes, and his relationship with Chris had continued since then. While some believe, perhaps cynically, that Squire naming his successor was meant to give Sherwood credibility and/or help smoothe over any negative feelings about anyone daring to replace Chris Squire, it was in fact the most logical choice. When Squire became too ill to continue the 2015 tour, it was Sherwood who replaced him on stage and finished the tour with Yes. Thus began his second tenure with the band, and he's been playing with them ever since.
The album starts strong with "The Ice Bridge", an upbeat seven-minute song with excellent synth and guitar work and many other hallmarks of the Yes sound. Vocals are strong, with excellent three-part harmonies, powerful drumming, and of course prominent bass work. Sherwood is clearly channeling Squire's signature "lead bass" sound, though primarily on Spector and Spector fretless bass rather than Squire's renowned bi-amped Rickenbacker (Sherwood does play a Rickenbacker on one track). Anyway, it's a nice opener.
Okay, let's get it out in the open. If there was one complaint about the previous album
Heaven & Earth, it's that it was too "soft" or too "mellow". Yes has always had a lighter side to balance their heavier side, but
Heaven & Earth seemed to have forgotten to bring the heavy at all. I would consider most of
Heaven & Earth to be Light Rock more than Rock & Roll. Opening the album with "The Ice Bridge" was clearly meant to dispell the fear that
The Quest is more of the same. It works. It's a strong opener, with some progressive feel, and I think it's a good song overall.
It could have gone a few directions from there. Hopefully, the rest of the album continues to kick some ass, at least a little. But for me "The Ice Bridge" is the high point of the album. Some of the other songs have uptempo sections that are reminiscent of Yes of old. Nothing as fiery as "Heart of the Sunrise" or "Sound Chaser" but there's some decent, meaty stuff here. It's just scattered kinda thin. Overall we're more rocking than
Heaven & Earth which is a step in the right direction, but still distinctively lower energy than anything that came before it. Somewhere between
Fly From Here and
Heaven & Earth.
It all
sounds fantastic. Steve Howe decided to produce the album, having gotten tired of working with producers who clearly didn't understand Yes as far as he was concerned, and the rest of the band supported this decision. As such, Steve's soaring guitar work is on full display. The vocals are mostly very good, and while the three-part harmonies sound great, I'd like to hear more actual lead vocals. And please, someone tell Steve Howe that he should not sing lead. The duets with Jon D are okay, but they let Steve sing lead sometimes, and quite frankly, that's a mistake.
Oh yeah, real orchestra, too! Tracks 2, 3, and 4 have the FAME'S Studio Orchestra, which is exactly what it sounds like. You can get session guys. If you know someone, you can get a good horn section, or a choir. But sometimes you want a real orchestra to play on your album, which is apparently what the FAME'S Studio Orchestra is for.
The website has information about them, but I couldn't find any explanation for why they spell it that way. Anyway, they sound pretty good, too.
Yes has stated that this album represents "where they are today" or something like that. In other words, don't expect another
Close to the Edge, or you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Reviews are mixed though mostly positive. Everything I've read praises how great it all sounds, and that's true. Most mention that the writing and playing could use some more fire. There aren't a lot of melodies that stick with you. Well, there's one chorus that sticks with me because it's repeated ad nauseum, but that's not really a compliment, I'm sorry to say.
One review said that the correct way to listen to this album is with headphones and no expectations. Just let it play, and listen to it. I realized that that was something I hadn't really done, and I should have. In the past, my first listen to a Yes album was always with headphones, to catch every nuance. More recently, it was in the car, cranked up. But I'd been listening to it here on my computer, over the dumb little speakers, and that is not how you listen to a Yes album.
So I listened to in the car, cranked, and it really was much better than I'd thought. It was not the 50-minute snoozefest I'd thought it was (well, 43 minutes after that opening track). There's a lot going on. There's a lot of music here, but you do have to listen actively. It's not all mellow. A few days later, I listened with headphones. Wow! Again, there's a lot music here. I urge others to give this album a listen, a real listen. That's all I'll say about that (for now).
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The credits are weird.
Six band members, right? Jay Schellen is the sixth photo. He's been playing percussion with them live, and some say that this is because Alan is having trouble keeping up these days. But the booklet has individual credits for each song, who plays what, and Jay is not listed in there anywhere. So my belief is that this is their way of acknowledging Jay's contributions. Bottom line is that he didn't play on the album, but is listed as a member of the band.
Visually, it reminds me of the back of
Close to the Edge:
Eddie Offord was honored in a similar way because of his contributions to the arrangements of the songs. The final arrangements that the band learned and reproduced live were literally what he had cut and pasted together.
The standard version of the album on CD is a two-disc set. InsideOut wanted a 50-minute album, so the main disc is right about 50 minutes, and the second disc has three "bonus tracks". Yes, it could have all fit on a single disc. Deal with it.
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Final thoughts. Overall, a bit better than I'd dare hope, but that's mostly because I tried to keep expectations low. Like, none at all, which is hard to do. Still somehow a disappointment, because it started strong and I really wanted to believe that this band still had some fire left in them. And there is, a little bit. But this is them now.
Topic: The Yes Discography: The Quest (2021) (Read 76834 times)
