The Yes Discography: Mirror to the Sky (2023)

[Orbert]

I've been getting a lot of my insights from the Tim Morse book "Yesstories: Yes in the Own Words".  It's basically a collection of quotes collected from every interview, magazine article, etc., that he could get his hands on, including a number that he did himself.  For example, when I say stuff like "Other members of Yes were generally unhappy with the results", it's generalizing, but it's because there are quotes from Steve and Jon expressing their displeasure.  I've also been hitting up AMG and Wiki for tidbits, discussions with folks on the Yesfans boards, and of course a lot of it is from liner notes and stuff I've read myself over the years.

[Orbert]

Classic Yes (1981)


(click for full painting)

Jon Anderson - Vocals
Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion
Steve Howe - Guitars, Vocals
Tony Kaye - Keyboards
Chris Squire - Bass, Vocals
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Alan White - Drums, Percussion

----------

Heart of the Sunrise
Wonderous Stories
Yours is No Disgrace
Starship Trooper
Long Distance Runaround
The Fish
And You And I
Roundabout (live)
I've Seen All Good People (live)

----------

When a band is taking a break, or has actually broken up, there are a number of things that a record label can do to keep them in the public eye and ear, and of course make some more money off of them.  One is to release a live album, which they did in 1980 with Yesshows.  Another is to release a "greatest hits" compilation.  The problem with Yes is that while they were well-known and one of Atlantic's mainstay acts, they didn't have a lot of hits, certainly not enough to fill an album.  A variation of the "greatest hits" collection is the "best of" collection.  Classic Yes is more the second variety.

It is an odd collection, assembled by Chris (the only person to appear on every Yes album).  "Wonderous Stories" from Going for the One is here, but it is the only song not from their classic three-album run starting with The Yes Album.  Their two biggest hits, "Roundabout" and "I've Seen All Good People" aren't included in their original studio incarnations, but as live versions.  They were originally included as "bonus tracks" on a 7-inch record slipped inside the LP jacket.  CD versions of this album include all nine tracks, of course, but the focus here is clearly on album tracks which have become FM staples rather than on hits.

Appropriately, the album features cover art by Roger Dean.

----------

Just as Yes was on a break and the label was providing filler albums, I'm doing the same.  I just got back from a long weekend, and will be writing up the next studio release in the next day or two.  It's actually a coincidence, though. I knew from the beginning that I was going to include these last two releases, as an excuse to include their awesome cover art if nothing else.

[The Letter M]

IIRC, Classic Yes was the only studio album, at the time, to feature "Heart Of The Sunrise" without the "We Have Heaven" reprise tacked on the end of it, so if you wanted a version of the track without it, this was the album to get!

It's got a good track list, especially for its time, and probably one of the band's best compilations. Also, the cover art is pretty awesome.

-Marc.

[Orbert]

90125 (1983)



Jon Anderson - Vocals
Tony Kaye - Keyboards
Trevor Rabin - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Squire - Bass, Vocals
Alan White - Drums, Percussion

----------

Owner of a Lonely Heart
Hold On
It Can Happen
Changes
Cinema
Leave It
Our Song
City of Love
Hearts

----------

When 1983 began, Yes did not exist, having officially broken up after Drama and its disastrous tour.  Steve Howe and Geoff Downes had left to form Asia, which had released its very successful debut album and was working on a follow-up.  Geoff had also briefly rejoined Trevor Horn for the second album from The Buggles, Adventures in Modern Recording, although he only appears on three tracks.  (Adventures is really more a Trevor Horn solo project than a true Buggles album.)

Alan and Chris were working on creating a new band, and joined up with South African guitarist/singer Trevor Rabin.  The band was to be called Cinema.  Trevor Rabin already had an album's worth of songs completed or nearly completed, and after two solo albums (on which he played nearly everything himself), he was looking forward to playing in a band again, as he had with Rabbit in the 70's.  Original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye was brought in, but the band still needed a strong lead singer and front man.  Chris suggested Jon Anderson.

At that point the band was 4/5 former Yes members, and it was suggested that the band resurrect the name Yes.  Trevor was strongly against it.  Other than the lead vocals, the music didn't really sound anything like Yes.  And while Yes had had different drummers, keyboardists, and even lead singers over the years, Steve Howe had been the only guitarist since the classic Yes sound was established, and Trevor knew that he would be accused of daring to replace Steve, or at the very least, changing the Yes sound, just as Trevor Horn had met resistance when he replaced Jon.

In the end, the band was called Yes.  And while Trevor's fears did prove true -- longtime fans were thrilled to hear that Yes had a new album out, but shocked at the new sound -- the band's only #1 song ever ("Owner of a Lonely Heart") did much to soften the blow.  Yes was back, with their most commercially successful album ever.  Many people attribute part of that success to its excellent production, by none other than Trevor Horn, who also has writing credits on two of the songs, including "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

The album's one instrumental, "Cinema", was originally called "Time" and was part of a 20-minute suite written by Trevor Rabin that was never completed.  It was most likely retitled as a way of preserving and honoring the name Cinema, the original name of the band.

As with most things Yes, there are numerous, conflicting stories about this album, and how the band name went from Cinema to Yes, but the most likely scenario is that the label was more willing to promote a new Yes album than a debut album by an unknown band called Cinema.  With four Yes alumni, including the lead singer, the band had a legitimate claim to being called Yes, so Yes it was.

As 1984 began, Yes was at the top of the charts.

[splent]

This was one of the earliest albums I remember ever hearing.  Love it, even though it's sound is so different than other yes.  My dad listened to it all the time.

[KevShmev]

90125 was my introduction to Yes, and I still think it is a damn good pop rock record.  And a borderline top 5 Yes record...from any era.  I stand by that.

[Unlegit]

Owner of a Lonely Heart is good, the rest is kinda...meh. I think it's not the worst Yes album, but it's definitely down there.

[lonestar]

Cinema was also the only Grammy Yes ever won, for rock instrumental.


90125 was a special one for me actually. It was the first Yes album I grew into on my own, every other one was fed to me by my brothers. Even though it was drastically different, I still fell for it hard. Then the magic moment happened, I went to my second concert ever(the first was The Tubes at a smaller venue), Yes at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The enviornment was insane, the lasers on the stage as Yes opened with Cinema and Leave it. Then went straight into Yours is no Disgrace. My life as I knew it was over, but Yes wasn't done, they continued on, busting out new songs with classics like And You And I and All Good People mixed in, then came the knockout blow, Long Distance Runaround and Squire's amazing solo, the stage was rushed, the crowd went insane, I walked out of that concert a different person. I also didn't miss a single Yes tour until Jon left the band.

[Nekov]

Well, Owner of a lonely heart was the first Yes song I ever heard. Several years ago I lived in Mexico and I remember that I my parents used to go to a place where books were sold for very low prices. There were stands in the streets with lots of them and I remember that this song played there every time.
The rest of the album is also quite good but that specific song is in my heart.

[Perpetual Change]

The guy who got me into Yes hated everything after Relayer, so for the longest time I completely avoided 90125 and the entire post-70s output. I got The Yes Album first and then eventually went from there, until I'd finally run out of 70s Yes album. When I finally did pick 90125 up out of a bargain bin, I distinctly remember thinking that it was actually not a bad album at all. I was never a big fan of "Owner of  Lonely Heart", but other songs on the record, like "Hearts" and "Cinema" became instant favorites.

[Orbert]

I liked 90125 when it first came out, and I stuck with it for a while.  After a while, I found myself playing it less and less, and instead reaching for the 70's stuff when I felt like hearing some Yes.  I listened to this album again for the first time in a while, then again, and remembered why I like it so much.  There's some excellent writing, musicianship, and production.  Of course, it's pretty different from 70's Yes.  It was also pretty different from anything else out and the time, too, and I can understand why it was so popular.

It came out during my "lost years" when I'd quit my day job and was playing in a band, which meant that I was perpetually broke, so I didn't buy this one right away.  I remember being in a record store, and they kept playing "Owner of a Lonely Heart" over and over.  The guy working there must've really loved it.  They were playing the LP, so sometimes after "Owner" ended, you'd hear "Hold On" start up.  Those snare hits, then that guitar grooving in and the slow 12/8 sounded awesome.  Then the guy would start the album over so he could hear "Owner" again.

But that groove on "Hold On" intrigued me, so I bought it.  I had to hear the rest of the album.  I remember thinking that I could probably buy a meal or two for what I was spending, but this is Yes we're talking about.  Gotta have your priorities.  ♫♫

[KevShmev]

My preference of the songs on this album goes like this:

1. Changes
2. Hearts
3. Cinema
4. Leave It
5. It Can Happen
6. Owner of a Lonely Heart
7. City of Love
8. Hold On
9. Our Song

It speaks volumes when songs that strong are at the bottom.

[Jaq]

This might come as a shock to some Yes fans, but when I rank Yes albums, the only ones I rate AHEAD of 90125 are the truest classics, Close to the Edge and The Yes Album, and it's TIED with Fragile. I like it that much. It's true that it doesn't sound much like classic Yes, but then again it wouldn't given Rabin's completely different approach to guitar playing and songwriting. Given that prog had moved into a paradigm where the long, flowery epics of old had been replaced by more concise, compact songwriting, it was probably better that Yes present themselves this way musically, even if they hadn't intended to BE Yes at the start. But really, once Jon Anderson arrived, how could they have been anything else? A Trevor Rabin fronted band wouldn't necessarily have sounded like Yes, but Anderson's voice made it inevitable that the band had to be called Yes, he was that associated with the band's sound by then. Plus I'd put Changes and Hearts up against anything you'd want to name short of the songs on Close to the Edge and they'd have come out looking decent.

The album is definitely helped by its otherworldly production sound, which holds up far better here in the 21st Century than a LOT of 80s albums. Trevor Horn knocked it out of the park. Overall, while it wasn't meant to be Yes from the start, it turned out to be the precise album the band NEEDED to make to survive the 80s. Add a couple of visually interesting videos-anyone remember all the different versions of Leave It-and you had a band that, albeit inadvertently, had updated itself for a new decade.

[Orbert]

Excellent post!  The "new" Yes was exactly what had to happen for the band to continue, even if that wasn't the original plan.

It was only a year earlier that I'd picked up the debut album from some band I'd never heard of called Asia, because there was a sticker on the front that listed the band members.  Whoa, a prog supergroup!  I was massively disappointed by what I heard when I put it on.  My expectations were probably too high, but they were also very high when I picked up 90125, and I was not disappointed by 90125.

[Orbert]

Cinema was also the only Grammy Yes ever won, for rock instrumental.

True!  I was going to mention that, but forgot, so thanks for bringing that up.

90125 was a special one for me actually. It was the first Yes album I grew into on my own, every other one was fed to me by my brothers. Even though it was drastically different, I still fell for it hard. Then the magic moment happened, I went to my second concert ever(the first was The Tubes at a smaller venue), Yes at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The enviornment was insane, the lasers on the stage as Yes opened with Cinema and Leave it. Then went straight into Yours is no Disgrace. My life as I knew it was over, but Yes wasn't done, they continued on, busting out new songs with classics like And You And I and All Good People mixed in, then came the knockout blow, Long Distance Runaround and Squire's amazing solo, the stage was rushed, the crowd went insane, I walked out of that concert a different person. I also didn't miss a single Yes tour until Jon left the band.

I was wondering about that.  I know you've mentioned how deeply Yes music has touched you, especially Tales from Topographics Oceans, and while 90125 is very good, it seems to lack that special something -- the magical, mystical Yes element that transcends words -- that the 70's stuff has, so I was curious as to how you felt about this one. 

[Orbert]

9012Live: The Solos (1985)



Jon Anderson - Vocals
Tony Kaye - Keyboards
Trevor Rabin - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Squire - Bass, Vocals
Alan White - Drums, Percussion

----------

Following the huge success of 90125, Yes did the unexpected and took another one of their unexplained long breaks between albums.  In the absence of new material, Atlantic was again forced to come up with something to keep them in the public eye and ear, and this was their solution.

Integral to any Yes concert are the solo segments granted to each of the members.  When releasing a live album, capturing these segments can provide a more all-encompassing picture of a Yes concert.  But here, we get a single 34-minute disc, originally a single LP, consisting mostly of these solo segments, without the rest of the concert.  The tracks included here would be worthy additions to a full-length live release, but standing alone as they are, the result feels incomplete and is unsatisfying overall.  It is particuarly disappointing because, with the dramatic change in the Yes sound, this would have been the perfect time for a full-length live album, showing off the "new" Yes takes on the classics as well as exciting versions of the newer material.  Instead, we get two of the stronger songs from 90125 (but not their hit "Owner of a Lonely Heart") and little else.


"Hold On"  We hear Jon introduce Alan on the drumkit, and we know that the song starts with a drum fill, so the assumption is that we'll be treated to an extended section or even a drum solo to serve as an intro, but we merely get a few extra bars and then a fairly pedestrian version of the song itself.

"Si"  A short keyboard excursion from Tony.  Some nice patches and textures, but it's a bit telling that the quotes from Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D minor" -- barely more than the three-note riff -- get the best response from the audience.

"Solly's Beard"  Trevor's guitar solo is interesting but somewhat disjointed, though it does show off his versatility.

"Soon"  Apparently extracted from a performance of "The Gates of Delerium", as it fades in and fades out.  It's lovely, but at only two minutes, it almost seems like it was included just so that Jon would have a "solo" section.

"Changes"  After a slightly extended intro, which could conceivably count as a keyboard solo, we get a rather standard live performance of the song itself.

"Amazing Grace" / "Whitefish"  The classic hymn, performed by Chris on solo bass, segues into the final track, a bass-and-drums duet from Alan and Chris ("White" + "Fish").  It is the longest track on the album, and probably the most interesting musically.  But when the most interesting thing on your live album is the track showcasing your rhythm section, there is probably something wrong with your track selection.

----------

I've tried to limit my editorial comments, but found that without them, I don't have much to say about this very short album.  It baffled me when it came out, and it still baffles me.  What was the point of this release?  Why didn't they just make it a proper double or even triple live album and include these tracks?  It could have been great.  I like hearing what each of the guys can do without a net, but that alone isn't enough to make an album, and including two full-length songs literally just feels like they'd tossed us a bone.  A very odd release.

[Perpetual Change]

I never have listened to this, and probably never will. I like 90125, but nothing about an album full of live solo performances entices me at all. What where they trying to prove? That this era of Yes was still technically proficient, or something?

[Orbert]

That would seem to be the case.  My understanding is that the "Rabin-era" versions of 70's classics were not always well received.  Lonestar's account of his 90125 concert isn't a total anomoly; good music is good music, and I'm sure the show was great.  Yes earned a lot of new fans who were very excited to see this band play, and the 70's prog stuff inspired many of them to dig into the back catalogue.  But many hardcore Yesfans had trouble with the new interpretations of the old songs, and I would guess that that ambivalent reaction is evident on the audience recordings, so maybe that scared them away from releasing a full live album from this era.

The solo spots are cool, but they make a lot more sense as part of the concert.  Even if they'd included "Owner" and one or two more songs from 90125, they'd have had a nice document of this band performing live, but they didn't even do that.  And they had room, even on the original LP, so that really makes this album for completists only.

As much as I love Yes, when I got to this album, I realized that it is one of the few official releases that I do not own.  I "borrowed" a copy from off the Internet to review for this Discography, but don't worry, I'm not going to be keeping it.

[Jaq]

Never had much interest in getting this, nor did I understand why these solos and performances weren't worked into the 90125 Live video release. That's pretty short-an hour and nine minutes-and I know there's more than they had in the video since Roundabout is a bonus feature on the DVD. I never understood why this wasn't just a full double live album. Especially since this was around the time that the double vinyl live album was having its last hurrah, notably with Maiden's Live After Death. These days I imagine we'd get a 90 minute version of 90125 Live as a DVD bonus for a 2 CD live disc. Other than that, my only lasting memory of this album was the video for the live version of Hold On.

[Orbert]

Big Generator (1987)



Jon Anderson - Vocals
Tony Kaye - Keyboards
Trevor Rabin - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Chris Squire - Bass, Vocals
Alan White - Drums, Percussion

----------

Rhythm of Love
Big Generator
Shoot High Aim Low
Almost Like Love
Love Will Find a Way
Final Eyes
I'm Running
Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)

----------

As mentioned in the writeup for 90125, most of that album was written before Jon Anderson was brought in to sing lead vocals, the move which led to the band becoming Yes rather than Cinema.  Jon insisted on reworking some of the parts he was asked to sing before recording them, and ended up with some writing credits.

When the band reconvened to begin work on the follow-up to 90125, things were different.  90125 and the current lineup had essentially developed together as members were added and jam sessions evolved into rehearsal sessions and eventually into recording sessions.  This time, Trevor again contributed the majority of the music.  Jon and Chris were not getting along well, leaving a vaccuum which Trevor was happy to fill.  Jon, however, had certain ideas about what Yes was as a band, and how the music should be approached.  All would state later that there was no clear direction to the music, but it might be more accurate to say that there were multiple, conflicting directions.  Chris and Alan wanted to continue exploring a heavier sound, the reason that they had formed this band to begin with.  Jon wanted to return to the progressive 70's sound.  Trevor mostly wanted to expand upon the sound they'd created with 90125.

Big Generator actually does each of these things to some degree, and all things considered, it is a remarkably cohesive album.  The sound is heavier overall, reminiscent of the heavier parts of 90125.  There are some longer songs with contrasting parts, orchestral bits and the occassional acoustic guitar.  And the album stylistically is clearly a successor to 90125.

Sessions for Big Generator began in Italy in 1985, as Trevor Rabin felt that a change of scenery would do them good.  After some writing and recording, producer Trevor Horn suggested that they return to London.  The London sessions resulted in more tracks, but at some point Trevor Rabin pushed for a return to Los Angeles, where the album was ultimately completed.  Trevor Horn was having difficulty getting along with Tony Kaye, and at some point actually told Jon Anderson to stay away from the studio for three months so he could work with the rest of the band (without Jon's interference).  Trevor Horn eventually left the project.  Trevor Rabin took over production and managed to finish the album.

Citing The Beatles' Abbey Road as a model, he assembled some longer tracks from shorter bits of music that didn't have clear roles as verses or choruses.  Trevor also took it upon himself to re-record some of Tony's keyboard parts.  After two years in the making, Big Generator was finally released in late 1987.

[KevShmev]

I like this album a lot.  Shoot High Aim Low, I'm Running and Final Eyes are all awesome, and everything else is good, even Almost Like Love with its 1,094 "It's almost"s near the end of the song.

[Perpetual Change]

I guess I'm a rarity in that I consider Big Generator to be on par with 90125. Jon always has disappointing things to say about it, but I do wonder how much of that's sincere grievance, as opposed to how much is just him still being sour for not completely getting his way with that record.

I'm curious, why does my copy have a greenish background with purple letters, as opposed to the yellow/red version I always see?

[MasterShakezula]

Rhythm of Love's a cool tune, never bothered to listen to the album. 

[Perpetual Change]

I like this album a lot.  Shoot High Aim Low, I'm Running and Final Eyes are all awesome, and everything else is good, even Almost Like Love with its 1,094 "It's almost"s near the end of the song.

That's how you know "it's almost" over, finally!

[Orbert]

I guess I'm a rarity in that I consider Big Generator to be on par with 90125. Jon always has disappointing things to say about it, but I do wonder how much of that's sincere grievance, as opposed to how much is just him still being sour for not completely getting his way with that record.

I'm curious, why does my copy have a greenish background with purple letters, as opposed to the yellow/red version I always see?

When I did a Google image search to find a cover picture, a bunch of different color schemes showed up.  There's the light green with purple letters that you mention, also the same with much darker letters, almost blue.  Against the yellow background, I've seen the letters much lighter, almost pink.  But the big red-on-yellow is the original, I'm pretty sure, since that's what's on the vinyl and all the copies I remember seeing back in the 80's.  I didn't start seeing the other colors until later.  Different printings, I guess.  It was a thing for a while.  abacab by Genesis had four different color schemes, Synchronicity by The Police had I think 20 different covers; all those pictures were different, or in different orders or something.  In Through the Out Door by Led Zeppelin I believe had six possible covers.

[Orbert]

As for the album itself, I listened to it twice in the past two days, and liked it a lot more than I remembered liking it originally.  Back then, I was probably thinking that it still wasn't "real" Yes, therefore it sucked.  Or maybe it just sounded like more of the same, nothing really special.

I have a better perspective now, and this is actually a very strong album.  It brings the heavy, it brings some intricacy (though not quite enough -- it's still mostly heavy), and the production is again excellent.  If I liked this kind of music more, I'd really love this album.  Trevor Rabin is very good at writing this kind of music, pop with a bit more going on than most pop crap, though not what I'd call prog.  Good pop, though.

[Jaq]

Big Generator isn't bad, it's just following up a completely brilliant album in 90125 and doing it with a band that can't clearly decide on its direction. It's highs are pretty high-I love Final Eyes, and Shoot High Aim Low would easily make a top ten of Yes songs if I ever made one-but where 90125 found Yes, as I said earlier, inadvertently re-inventing itself for the 80s, Big Generator finds the band not quite certain where it should take that reinvention next, and suffers for it. It's a good album, but not a great one, and of the three albums this line up did, it's the least, behind 90125 and Talk. I am interested in when this thread gets to Talk, because I love that album to death and I'm wondering what the general Yes community reaction to it is.

Another thought I've had: Shoot High Aim Low would have been perfect music for the end of a Miami Vice episode that ended on a down, brooding note. In fact I'm shocked that, as near as I can tell, it wasn't...it just seems to FIT that show when it got darker and more thoughtful, like when Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms was used to devastating effect in one episode. These were the thoughts I had late at night in the late 80s halfway through a 12 pack of beer in front of my television set. 

[Orbert]

Yeah, Shoot High Aim Low is a pretty grim song when you check out the lyrics.  Interesting thought about Miami Vice using it.  The music on that show, both upbeat and not-so-upbeat, was often very effective.  In the 80's, a lot of TV shows were basically music videos anyway.  I didn't actually watch the show a lot, but I caught it a few times, and I remember the Brothers in Arms episode.  I couldn't tell you what was going on in the show, but I remember hearing the music and thinking Damn!  It was shortly after I'd bought the album, and I was kinda psyched that I recognized it.

[Orbert]

I guess I'm a rarity in that I consider Big Generator to be on par with 90125. Jon always has disappointing things to say about it, but I do wonder how much of that's sincere grievance, as opposed to how much is just him still being sour for not completely getting his way with that record.

Before leaving Yes after Tormato, Jon had begun to see himself more and more as the "leader" of Yes, not just the lead singer.  I was trying to hint at that without being too blatant, because some don't see it that way, and some who do don't really have a problem with it.  Jon didn't have much input into 90125 because of how and when he joined the group, but with Big Generator, he saw an opportunity to exert his influence from the ground up.  Since the band was Yes, Jon felt that it should have a certain vibe to the music, and Jon saw himself as the one to spread that vibe.

The problem is that Trevor Rabin had come to see the band as his vehicle as well.  In researching the 80's Yes for this discography, I was surprised to learn that he was not the actual leader.  The story I'd heard long ago was that he was putting together Cinema, and Chris and Alan were brought on as the rhythm section.  This made perfect sense, as it's well-known that Trevor wrote most of the music and was looking to put together a band to break into the U.S. market.  I found three sources that say that it was Chris and Alan who were putting the band together and brought in Trevor, but those sources were all focusing on the history of Yes, so it's possible that they were simply relating events in a rather Yes-centric way.  The truth is probably somewhere in between, that they all found each other.  It's not like Chris and Alan had "a band" and added a guitarist.  Prior to that, they were just a rhythm section.

Anyway, it's pretty clear that Trevor and Jon were fighting for control and direction of the band.  Jon says that it wasn't really what Yes is about.  The opening track, Rhythm of Love, is literally about sex, something Trevor seems rather proud of, but something I would never have imagined Jon singing about on a record.  The overall heavy vibe on the album is something the others seemed fine with, but look at Jon's contributions to the album: Holy Lamb, and some of the mellowest sections of other songs.  It was not a surprise to learn that he'd left Yes to make music that he considered more "Yes-like" -- by contacting former Yesmen Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe.

[FreezingPoint]

Have to catch up on the last couple of albums here.

As for 90125, I love it. It was the first Yes album that I got into, back when I was young, and I still like it quite a lot today. It is a fun rock album with outstanding production. What is not to like? Of course, since I did not grow up in the 70s era Yes, and that era was not my introduction to Yes, I really did not have any problem with Yes making this type of album.

A funny sort of story regarding this album as well. Back when I was in 2nd grade, which I think would have been in 2000, we were allowed to bring in music and play it from time to time. Well, I brought in 90125 and played Owner of a Lonely Heart. And it went over well! In fact, as a class, we played that song constantly. One day I said, "Hey, there is this other good song too." Well, I put on Changes. It was promptly turned off and back to Owner. People thought the intro was too weird . I was kind of miffed, but what did I expect in 2nd grade ?

On to Big Generator. I enjoy most of this album. I used to love the title track and thought that that guitar was the coolest thing ever. Since then I've become more of a fan of Shoot High Aim Low and some of the others, especially Love Will Find A Way. Personally, I think that it is still a weaker album than 90125, but certainly not a bad album.

[FreezingPoint]

Another thought I've had: Shoot High Aim Low would have been perfect music for the end of a Miami Vice episode that ended on a down, brooding note. In fact I'm shocked that, as near as I can tell, it wasn't...it just seems to FIT that show when it got darker and more thoughtful, like when Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms was used to devastating effect in one episode. These were the thoughts I had late at night in the late 80s halfway through a 12 pack of beer in front of my television set. 

Yeah, Shoot High Aim Low is a pretty grim song when you check out the lyrics.  Interesting thought about Miami Vice using it.  The music on that show, both upbeat and not-so-upbeat, was often very effective.  In the 80's, a lot of TV shows were basically music videos anyway.  I didn't actually watch the show a lot, but I caught it a few times, and I remember the Brothers in Arms episode.  I couldn't tell you what was going on in the show, but I remember hearing the music and thinking Damn!  It was shortly after I'd bought the album, and I was kinda psyched that I recognized it.

In case you are interested, that is Season 2, episode 3 - Out Where The Buses Don't Run. There were a couple of seasons that were available to watch on Hulu for a while, but I am not sure if they are still up there or not now.

[Orbert]

FreezingPoint, feel free to post more.  Your views on 80's Yes and later are interesting to me and probably others since you didn't grow up with the older proggy stuff the way we did, and thus don't have that bias.  I liked what you said about Going for the One and how some of it seemed to foreshadow what the individual players would go on to do with other bands.

And of course more prog fans, especially Yes fans, are always welcome around here! ♫♫

[ColdFireYYZ]

I've only listened to Big Generator a couple of times but it didn't do much for me. 90125 is much better.

[The Letter M]

As someone who didn't really listen to Rabin-Era Yes when I first discovered the band, this was my least-favorite album of the 3 (90125, Big Generator and Talk). However, over the past couple of years, I revisited the album with a more open mind set (especially after having really enjoyed the other 2 Rabin-Era albums, as well as Union, The Ladder and Magnification). Being the one album I have listened to least, it was the most fresh to me at the time, and so the songs have actually gotten better for me! Not being over-played had the added benefit of sounding fresh.

It's a pretty good album for what they did, but you can tell there were some creative differences, but not in the way of Tormato or even TFTO, but it's pretty consistent for having more than one (or two) driving forces pushing the album along over the course of 2 years. Unfortunately, it has the problem living up to the greatness of 90125.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

FreezingPoint, feel free to post more.  Your views on 80's Yes and later are interesting to me and probably others since you didn't grow up with the older proggy stuff the way we did, and thus don't have that bias. 

That sums me up as well.  I didn't hear a single Yes song from the 70s until probably 1989/1990, and by then I was already a big fan of both 90125 and Big Generator.  I do sometimes wonder how I would have reacted to those albums had I gotten into the 70s material first, but things happen how they happen.