The Yes Discography: Mirror to the Sky (2023)

[KevShmev]

A buddy recently got the 5.1 of Fragile, and last night we cranked it up after getting into the right "state of mind" ...and it was awesome.

[Orbert]

Yes is pretty awesome anyway, but yeah

I've got all four of the Steven Wilson 5.1 editions, and that's always how I listen to them the first time.

[KevShmev]

There ya go.

I still think Five Percent for Nothing is pretty useless, and Wakeman's tune is pretty unimpressive when you consider some of the stuff you know he was capable of, but Fragile is still freaking awesome, nonetheless.

[Orbert]

Wakeman's tune was a last-minute thing.  He had planned to include (I think) an early version of what would become "Catherine of Aragon" from The Six Wives of Henry VIII, but wasn't allowed, because he was contracted to a different label.  I like what he came up with for the Brahms arrangement, each keyboard playing one section.

Bruford is not a composer, and had never written anything before.  Most of the stuff on his solo and group albums later were at least co-written by others.  He wasn't really into the idea of including a piece, but the rest of the band seemed pretty into it, so this is what he came up with.  I've always considered it a bit of a throwaway, too, but in 5.1, there was a lot of stuff I didn't notice before.  It really is a clever arrangement.

Now that I'm getting more into arranging things, maybe I'm appreciating arrangements more.  I just realized that that's what I like about each of these two pieces, more than the actual content, which is minimal.

[KevShmev]

I can understand that. I guess, for me, as someone who hasn't heard much of Wakeman's solo material, whenever I hear the live version of the tunes he played on the ABWH tour, it's hard not to think, "How come his solo piece on Fragile isn't as awesome as any of those?"

[Orbert]

Also remember that Wakeman was not really a "solo artist" as this time.  Six Wives hadn't even been released yet.  In some ways, it was working in Yes that inspired him to really dive into keyboards and their full potential; he hadn't really had an opportunity to do that previously.  Up to this point, he was always "just the keyboard player".  In Yes, he was encouraged to contribute fully to the compositions and arrangements.  Bruford once said that playing in Yes was like entering a competition to see who can play the most notes.

These are still very young musicians, most of whom had never really developed solo pieces before.  So yeah, the concept of each player having a solo spot is kinda cool, but the results vary a bit.  Comparing what they did here to what they were able to do many years later might be a bit unfair.

[KevShmev]

All fair points. I suppose I just think about what could have been, considering how awesome the solo contributions were from Howe and Squire.

[stargazer18]

Part 1

I’m not a frequent poster here in the DTF due to time constraints and a busy personal life but feel the need to post to a number of these discography threads as they have really helped expand my personal CD collection with a tremendous amount of really great music. They are all well written and enjoyable to read even years after the OP and my initial read.

I came across this thread during the last break in the Dream Theater album cycle leading up to the release of the Astonishing. My music collection was pretty stale as I was only picking up releases by Dream Theater and Iron Maiden – my two favorite bands for most of the 2000’s. (Iron Maiden has been my favorite band from way back in the 80’s when I first heard them)

I was not new to Yes, however. I was very familiar with the “pop” hits of 90125 and Big Generator that were played on the radio and like them all. When I purchased my first CD player (~1986), 90125 was one of the first CD’s I purchased due to its polished production and the fact that it was so radically different  sounding from everything else I was listening to at the time (Maiden, Sabbath, Priest). Not knowing the details, I just assumed that Yes, like Genesis and Rush, made a conscious effort to change their sound to something more commercial and distance themselves from the style of music they made in their early days.

Everyone here knows what an influence Chris Squire was for many bass players who came after him including Steve Harris of Iron Maiden and John Myung of Dream Theater. Most statements I read regarding Squire’s playing always referred to his work on the early Yes albums as being the source of their inspiration. So, sometime in the late 1980’s I went off to the mall to find some classic Yes. I played it safe and left with the Classic Yes compilation from 1981. I remember liking it a lot especially because the music had quite a bit more “texture” than I had imagined. There wasn’t a bad song on the disc.

Sometime later I picked up The Yes Album, no doubt as my entry into collecting the rest of their discography. The Yes Album was a safe purchase as three of the four long tracks were also on the Classic Yes compilation. But for some reason I didn’t venture any further into their back catalog at this time.

When Union came out in 1991 I picked it up right away after hearing Lift Me Up on the radio. I count myself among the select few who really like this album. I revisited it years later and I still like it a lot. Interesting story time. The local promoter here in NE Ohio for the Union tour was situated in a quaint little town called Chagrin Falls. Their office was located on the second floor of a two story building with a well-established Italian restaurant on the first floor. A very good friend of mine worked as a cook at the restaurant and called me the day after the concert to tell me that the previous night the restaurant closed and they served dinner to Yes! All of the band members and select staff! He was (is) a big Motley Crue, Cinderella, Bon Jovi fan and even though he liked the modern Yes stuff and respected their history, it was no big deal to him. I was in awe.

In 2004 a friend at work asked me if I wanted to go see Yes at the outdoor theater in August. By now I was a DT fan, knew of Squire’s influence on John Myung and was also a fledgling prog music fan so said yes to Yes. The concert was billed as the Return of Rick Wakeman but I think this was also part of the 35th Anniversary Tour. (At the time I didn’t know the humor of the “Return of Rick Wakeman” statement printed on the ticket) I was blown away. I knew some, but not all of the songs played that night but the show ranks up there as one of the most enjoyable and memorable concerts I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe how powerful the music was live. Not from a decibel standpoint but from an emotional one.

Fast forward to the summer of 2015 and this thread. I read the first few pages and then decided to head out to fill in the large holes of my Yes CD collection. And…., I stumbled and fell right out of the gate. For years my MO was to shop at the local bookstore (BN or Borders) or Best Buy stores for music. They typically had a pretty good selection of music and in my community the BN and Best Buy are within walking distance from each other. I rolled through both and came away with nothing. I don’t think between the two of them that they had two or three CD’s and nothing I didn’t have. There is a happy ending however. I knew of a Record Den tucked away in a small shopping center nearby. I had never been in there but decided to stop by and check it out. Words cannot express how shocked I was when I stepped through the door. This place had it all! Stacks of vinyl and bins of CD’s from all of my favorite bands including Imports and singles. I was floored. This was no cheesy mall store – this was the real deal. (I felt pretty dumb knowing this place existed all the while heading to the big commercial places close by only to be disappointed with their music selection)

They must have had a 100 Yes related CD’s including members side projects. I decided to purchase and listen to the discography in order and since I already had The Yes Album I left with Fragile and Close To the Edge. I decided to skip over the first two and get right into the meat of the catalog.

[Orbert]

Nice!

I await Part 2.

[Architeuthis]

I'm with you on Union, that's the album that got me into Yes. Shortly after I got the Union album, TALK came out with a mind-blowing tour!  I've seen Yes several times since then with different line-up's but the Talk Tour is by far the best Yes show I've ever seen.. ☀

[KevShmev]

Thanks for sharing that, stargazer18.

While I think Union is one of their weaker albums, the first half is mostly good.  Miracle of Life, Shock to the System and Lift Me Up are all keepers.  The back half is pretty dreadful, however.

The Talk tour was the first time I saw Yes and to say it kicked my ass would be an understatement.  It sure helped that we scored 5th row center , but I am a big fan of the Rabin era (90125, BG, Talk), and getting a show of mostly songs from those three albums was pretty awesome.  Endless Dream live was bananas.

[jammindude]

Surely there must be SOMEONE that got an amazing sounding bootleg of that tour....

[Stadler]

... and a busy personal life ...

Oh, SNAP!   

Frankly, Union is my go-to example of an opportunity squandered.  It has all the pieces, just not put together correctly.   The harmony vocals on "I Would Have Waited Forever", the excellent songwriting on "Lift Me Up" and "Miracle of Life"...   but the AWBH stuff suffers for not having Squire, and the YesWest stuff suffers from not having Anderson and Wakeman.   

Jonathan Elias, I smite you!

[Architeuthis]

Surely there must be SOMEONE that got an amazing sounding bootleg of that tour....

I got one. It's an audience recording using an ADAT. It was the show at the Gorge 7-10-1994.  It's pretty great to listen to. The audience sounds cool with that outdoor feel but not overbearing. The band sounds good over-all and you can hear the wind interrupting the sound waves at times.  It doesn't quite capture the energy of that show, but it is worth listening to. I treat it like gold, and all three cd's don't have a scratch. 
 I was at that show with my wife, and it was absolutely incredible!

[Setlist Scotty]

Surely there must be SOMEONE that got an amazing sounding bootleg of that tour....

Not into collecting Yes bootlegs, but I remember reading somewhere that on the Talk tour, they offered head sets to people. This is what Wikipedia has to say:

Rabin supervised the development of Concertsonics, a quadraphonic sound system that allowed people seated in selected seats to hear the concert's soundboard mix with headphones and personal radio by tuning into a specific FM frequency.

Some clever souls hooked up recording equipment and managed to get (essentially) soundboard recordings of some of these shows. So these recordings are out there - you just gotta look for them Ben!

[The Letter M]

Surely there must be SOMEONE that got an amazing sounding bootleg of that tour....

Not into collecting Yes bootlegs, but I remember reading somewhere that on the Talk tour, they offered head sets to people. This is what Wikipedia has to say:

Rabin supervised the development of Concertsonics, a quadraphonic sound system that allowed people seated in selected seats to hear the concert's soundboard mix with headphones and personal radio by tuning into a specific FM frequency.

Some clever souls hooked up recording equipment and managed to get (essentially) soundboard recordings of some of these shows. So these recordings are out there - you just gotta look for them Ben!

That's very interesting! I think I had found a few about a decade ago when I was heavily using DIME to download bootleg concerts of bands I liked, and I think I got at least 1 Talk tour soundboard.

-Marc.

[The Curious Orange]

But that would basically be another Yes, and Trevor has stated that they (Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman) are trying to be very careful about not making this a version of Yes.

 

[Orbert]

Yeah, funny how that turned out. 

To be fair, though, I actually believe Trevor Rabin when he said that.  He has been the pragmatic one throughout this entire debacle, and has tried to keep to the high road.  I honestly believe that all he wanted to do was play some music that he likes playing and had a hand in creating, though I'm sure he knew in the back of his mind that once the suits got ahold of it, it would become Yes somehow, just as it did so long ago with the Cinema project.

Anderson meanwhile is all "We are Yes!  I am Yes, therefore anything I do is Yes!  I could do a fucking solo album, play every note, sing every word, and it would be Yes!  But Trevor and Rick are on this, too, and there were also Yes, so this is Yes!"  And Wakeman literally wanders from one extreme to the other, sometimes over the course of a day or an hour or a few seconds, because he loves to talk and doesn't give a shit how true or sensible any of it is.

And six years later, we still haven't heard a single note of new music, so really, who cares?

[stargazer18]

Part 2 – 1970’s

For those who like owning a physical copy of CD’s, 2015 was a great time to buy Yes music. There were two different style reissues of the classics from Rhino that year that included pictures and notes about the making of each album and, the lyrics. Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer consisted of a cardboard trifold case with a cardboard slipcase over the trifold to keep it all together. Going for the One, Tormato and Drama are standard issue plastic jewel cases with the text “Expanded and Remastered” after the band name.

In this day and age of the electronic medium I still like to have something to hold in my hand and look at. I tell my wife I’m really buying my “backup” copy 

I learned a few things while working my way through 70’s Yes. One was that I knew a lot more Yes than I thought. The local classic rock station was / is pretty bold and digs deep into the Yes catalog on occasion. The other thing I learned was that, in the context of the album, I could listen to the worn out radio hits and still enjoy them.

I don’t have any of the 70’s live albums but I’m considering picking of the 2 CD Progeny disc set someday. I also don’t have their first album nor do I think I’ve heard a song from it.

Time And A Word

This was the last of the 70’s Yes albums that I listened to around the same time as Tormato. There isn’t a whole lot here that is really interesting to me other than the title track which I really like. However, knowing my musical taste, it's possible that I'll put this in again in a year or two and come away with an entirely different opinion.

The Yes Album

In essence I already owned both The Yes Album and Fragile by having the Classic Yes compilation CD since it is comprised mostly of songs from these two albums.
Yours Is No Disgrace, Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People are standout tracks.
A Venture is a quick little song that is catchy and enjoyable.
Perpetual Change is good but I don’t think it’s as strong as Yours Is No Disgrace or Starship Trooper. 
This album is a huge leap forward to the style and sound of Time And A Word and is, to me, the beginning of the Yes-ish sound. I can listen to this album all the way through and not skip a song.

Fragile

Like The Yes Album, I was already familiar with the songs on this album with the exception of the four short tracks and South Side Of The Sky. I don’t mind the short tracks at all and feel they put some separation between the longer songs on the disc. South Side Of The Sky is a pretty cool song that I had heard before but didn’t know the name.
I also agree with what others have written here about Long Distance Runaround should always be followed by The Fish!

Close to the Edge

I have to admit that I was really looking forward to this album and especially the title track after reading this thread. After a few days of listening I was pretty impressed with the song and listening to it now a few years later it is still impressive. The different sections don’t sound out of place at all (or patched together) within the context of the song. It’s certainly one of their most accessible long form songs given what would come after this.
The rest of album is just icing on the cake.
I already knew And You And I and loved it. Dynamic and diverse, the recurring themes really hold my attention. I can’t really add anything else to what others have written – a fantastic song.
Siberian Khatru is a great album closer and was one that I recognized from the concert, as well as the radio but didn’t know the name. I love the sections where the music slows down and the vocals take over, then there’s a slow build up before exiting back into the main riff. My favorite part is from about 5:20 – 6:20.
It’s pretty clear to me why this album gets the high ratings it does – it’s truly a remarkable achievement for Yes. I listen to this album at least once a month all the way through.

Off to “the den” I went to fetch Tales from Topographic Oceans, Relayer and Drama. They didn’t have Going for the One so I hit Amazon for that one.

Tales from Topographic Oceans

This is an impressive double album with four songs all building on what they had done before but each song sounds unique in their own way. The songs are complex and required a few (!!) listens to help “assemble” them in my mind. I’ve probably listened to all four songs in one sitting about a dozen times now and agree that it’s similar to sitting down and listening to a symphony.
The Revealing Science of God -- Dance of the Dawn is on par with other large epics of the 70’s Yes output. It has distinct sections that flow very well. There are some very catchy vocal melodies interspersed with some great music.
The Remembering High the Memory is just a small step below the opening track. The first few minutes feature a guitar and vocal melody that wander around a steady pattern before being joined by the rhythm section. The pattern continues but numerous times the music and vocals shift, leading the listener to think that a change is coming, only to return to the steady pattern. After about 9 minutes the song finally moves out of the steady guitar and vocal melody, first shifting into some nice acoustic guitar by Howe and catchy vocals by Anderson, then mixing in a number of changes before revisiting the same pattern heard in the beginning before ending. The second half of the song is clearly stronger than the first half.
The Ancient Giants Under the Sun is the only dip in the album. It’s not a big one but just enough to rank it lower than the other three songs. It may be Howe’s screeching guitar that appears at both the beginning and in the middle that seem to wander a bit too long. The song ends with some excellent acoustic guitar by Howe and vocals by Anderson but it's a bit of work to get to this point.
The album ends with Ritual - Nous Sommes du Soleil which to me is on par with the first song. As Orbert described, this song brings back the themes from the three previous pieces. It seems livelier than the previous three tracks meaning that there are more shifts between the fast and slow sections. It is not without a bit of screechy guitar by Howe but not enough to distract.

Relayer

Like Tales this is another album of previously unheard Yes material for me. The opening track is a monster that is mostly interesting. The “battle” rages a bit too long for my tastes and gets a little out of hand to me as the listener but the segue into the closing Soon section helps the listener relax. The Soon section is awesome and really brings the song to conclusion. To me this song is a lot busier sounding than Close to the Edge which isn’t necessarily bad but requires a little more listening time.
Sound Chaser is the weakest song on the album to me. It’s not bad but it really doesn’t grab me either. The recurring themes aren’t quite as interesting to me to come back to.
To Be Over is a good tune that ends the album on a somewhat quiet note. It’s not on the level of And You And I but it’s enjoyable.

Going for the One

This is an awesome album from start to finish. Going for the One is a great lead off track and for the first three minutes the rocking guitar by Howe should really annoy me but it doesn’t.  This all changes after three minutes though when the song begins its overly long build up to the end. Here Howe’s “solo over everything” with a wailing guitar just wears the listener out. Combine the guitar with the repetitive vocal melody and by four and a half minutes into the song I’m done. Relief for the listener happens at about 4:40 when the repetition stops and the song transitions to the ending which I like.
Next they slow it down and present the listener with one of their best acoustic songs ever with Turn of the Century.  When I listen to the abbreviated version of this album I typically listen to this song and Awaken.
Parallel’s took some time to grow but I like it a lot now. It’s a more straight ahead rocker for Yes but it’s good enough to keep the middle of the album from dipping in quality.
I knew Wondrous Stories from the Classic compilation and always liked this song. Short but sweet – the vocal melodies are very catchy and really carry this song.
I agree that Awaken could be their best epic of the 70’s. The hard rocking intro featuring some excellent riffing by Howe and rhythm by Squire and White. The transition to a much slower, more peaceful middle section dominated by Wakeman is awesome. It ends on a slower quieter note.

Tormato

I wasn’t sure if I would even buy this CD based on what I read here but I’m somewhat of a complete-ist so made the purchase not sure of what I would hear. In the end I like five out of eight songs on this disc: Future Times/Rejoice, Don't Kill The Whale, Madrigal, Onward and On The Silent Wings Of Freedom. Mind you, this adds up to about 25 minutes of music, only a little longer than some of their epics from earlier in the decade! 
I don’t find it as bad as some find it to be, but it’s certainly behind everything from The Yes Album thru Going for the One.

Ranking

The Yes Album
Fragile
Close to the Edge
Tales From Topographic Oceans
Going for the One

Relayer

Time and a Word
Tormato

[KevShmev]

I think Relayer is far better than Tales or Going for the One, but your top 3 is right on (I suspect many Yes fans would have the same top 3, regardless of the order).

Tales is a good listen from start to finish, but I don't think the middle tracks hold up well on their own. 

For the 384th time, I hate the sound of Going for the One, which I know greatly impacts my opinion of it.

Good to see a new fan!

[Stadler]

And for the 385th time, Going For The One is my favorite album of all time by any band ever.

Of these albums:

Going for the One
The Yes Album
Tales From Topographic Oceans
Fragile
Close to the Edge
Tormato
Relayer
Time and a Word

[NoseofNicko]

And for the 385th time, Going For The One is my favorite album of all time by any band ever.

Hard to beat an album with songs like Awaken and Turn of the Century (one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard). It’s my second or third favorite Yes album.

[jammindude]

Going for the One is probably my favorite as well...but honestly the worst sounding record in the entire catalog. Maybe the reason SW skipped that one was because the problem was in the way it was recorded in the first place? In any event... he managed to save Relayer, so I don’t see why he couldn’t salvage GFTO.

[Fritzinger]

Relayer is one of my top 3 albums of all time. To Be Over is so beautiful, I always think I hear church bells at the end of it, although there are no church bells to be heard. Just listen to it and tell me I'm not crazy

I love Tales from start to finish, and I mean every second of it. The Ancient needed some time to get into. But it's brilliant. Steve's "drunk" guitar is all over the place, but he doesn't just play anything. He's constantly reprising melodies from the whole album! And the acoustic ending? What a surprise...

I guess there's not much left to say about Close To The Edge. I just want to say something about Siberian Khatru: this song is so packed with amazing ideas and combined so perfectly with a lot of groove. I would like to recommend the Yessongs-version of it, because Steve plays a great solo at the end. And when the song ends (it has a real ending there which should have been on the album instead of the fadeout) you just feel the release of all the energy packed into that performance.

My ranking of these albums:

Relayer
Tales From Topographic Oceans
Close To The Edge
Going For The One
The Yes Album
Time & A Word
Tormato

Drama would have been either between Close and Going or between Going and The Yes Album. I can never decide if I like Going or Drama better.

[Mladen]

1. Close to the edge
2. Fragile
3. Relayer
4. Drama
5. Tales

I keep on going back and forth with the other ones.

[Zydar]

1. Close To The Edge
2. Fragile
3. Drama
4. The Yes Album
5. Time & A Word

[stargazer18]

I wasn't clear in my ranking. The top five are listed chronologically and are really interchangeable in my book. Relayer is just a bit behind but I have listened to this album less than the others.

I read the comments regarding the sound (production) of Going for the One but listening to it on my home stereo system that produces a pretty full sound I don't hear anything really off about it. Could be my hearing.... I suppose listening to it on a pair of ear buds may accentuate the high end.

I think Relayer is far better than Tales or Going for the One, but your top 3 is right on (I suspect many Yes fans would have the same top 3, regardless of the order).

Tales is a good listen from start to finish, but I don't think the middle tracks hold up well on their own. 

For the 384th time, I hate the sound of Going for the One, which I know greatly impacts my opinion of it.

Good to see a new fan!

[stargazer18]

I love Tales from start to finish, and I mean every second of it. The Ancient needed some time to get into. But it's brilliant. Steve's "drunk" guitar is all over the place, but he doesn't just play anything. He's constantly reprising melodies from the whole album! And the acoustic ending? What a surprise...

I've listened to the album about a dozen times all the way through. Between the four songs there are some really fantastic guitar and vocal melodies for sure. I can see why some don't care for it but I think it's a cornerstone to their 70's output.

[KevShmev]

I read the comments regarding the sound (production) of Going for the One but listening to it on my home stereo system that produces a pretty full sound I don't hear anything really off about it. Could be my hearing.... I suppose listening to it on a pair of ear buds may accentuate the high end.
 

Oh, trust me, I have listened to it many times on my home stereo over the years (I am 44 and have owned the CD for around 25 years now).  The sound of it works on Turn of the Century, given the nature of that song, but on all of the others, the lack of low end is glaring.  Think of how incredible Chris Squire's bass sounds on all of those other 70's albums.  It's like they cut the balls off of it during the mixing of Going for the One.

I've listened to the album about a dozen times all the way through. Between the four songs there are some really fantastic guitar and vocal melodies for sure. I can see why some don't care for it but I think it's a cornerstone to their 70's output.

Tales is a nice "stream of consciousness" album in that you can just turn it on and it sounds nice from start to finish, even if some parts are clearly better than others.  There is enough really good Yes music throughout where it works as a whole.  I just find the two middle tracks not standing out at all on their own.  The Revealing Science of God and Ritual, however, are really good standalone songs.  Tales was a difficult mountain for me to climb, though.  It took me forever to really get into it.

[Fritzinger]

Tales is a nice "stream of consciousness" album in that you can just turn it on and it sounds nice from start to finish, even if some parts are clearly better than others.  There is enough really good Yes music throughout where it works as a whole.  I just find the two middle tracks not standing out at all on their own.  The Revealing Science of God and Ritual, however, are really good standalone songs.  Tales was a difficult mountain for me to climb, though.  It took me forever to really get into it.

I can listen to The Ancient as a standalone track, but I see what you mean. But while Revealing and Ritual function well as standalone songs, they still all function best as a whole. Especially The Remembering as the second, quieter movement and The Ancient as the faster, Scherzo-like movement.
I get that Tales might be too much for some listeners... but for me this is an absolute masterpiece.

[Mladen]

The Ancient is a brilliant standalone piece in my opinion. It's Steve Howe's masterpiece.

[ytserush]

Of the '70s stuff,

My least favorites are Tormato followed by Going For The One. (Not the fan of Awaken many others seem to be. My faves are Wonderous Stories and Going For The One.

[Stadler]

Maybe it's me, but I don't see the problems with the sound of Going For The One that others do.  I tend to think that some of the earlier Yes was muddy and thick(er).   I like the sort of sparseness, and the way the guitar cuts through.   (And this coming from someone that feels Chris Squire was the heart and soul of the band, and feel that ABWH sounds like some here are describing GFTO.  ABWH misses Chris Squire like Jimmy Page misses Robert Plant.)

[stargazer18]

Part 3 – 1980’s

Drama

I remember during the mid-1980’s, while searching the bargain cassette bin at the local Camelot music store coming across this album. Back then you could buy the tape for $6.99 – a few bucks less than a new release.
 
From this album forward I can understand why those who had been fans of the band in 70’s might not know what to think of the Yes sound.

Although this album sounds a bit dated with its keyboard sounds, it is a solid album all the way through. I like what The Buggles bring to the Yes sound and consider this to be a unique contribution to the Yes catalog. The songs (White Car excluded) are all pretty dynamic with lots shifts and changes. This is one album I can put in and let play all the way through without feeling the need to skip a song.

90125

This is the first Yes album I purchased and consider this to be an outstanding rock album. Like others who have posted this album was my introduction to the band and a springboard to their earlier catalog. I don’t really listen to Owner... anymore and with the exception of City of Love, the only song on the album I don’t like, the rest is very good to excellent. I even played Hearts at my wedding.

Now that I know the real truth about this being mostly a Rabin effort I can see the dilemma the record company faced in how to market it. It would have been proper to call the band Cinema IMO but for all practical purposes marketing it as Yes made more sense. The sound is radically different but is it any more different than when Howe came aboard and they released The Yes Album? Sure, The Yes Album was a group effort while 90125 was mostly Rabin, but it is somewhat coincidental that once again the new guitarist brings the new sound.

Big Generator

I bought this CD not long after I bought 90125. I liked the radio hits Rhythm Of Love and Love Will Find A Way which is why I bought the album in the first place. After listening to it though, the two longer tracks, Shoot High Aim Low and Final Eyes became the two songs I liked the most.

I went back and listened to the other tracks on this CD before posting. The title track does nothing for me. It’s loud and groovy but lacks anything I find interesting. The same can be said for Almost Like Love – it’s hoppy and skippy but uninteresting. I’m Running is better than I remember and is a pretty cool song. Holy Lamb is an outstanding short track that really showcases Anderson’s unique vocal style.

ABWH

I bought this CD based on the (mostly) positive reviews on this forum. I am not disappointed one bit! I remember when it came out hearing the DJ on the local classic rock station say Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe a million times it seemed so that term stuck in my head for some reason.

On first listen I was pleasantly surprised to hear Brother of Mine, a song that I had heard before and really liked. The rest of the album is very good. Along with Brother of Mine my favorites include Themes, Birthright, The Meeting, Quartet, Order of the Universe and Let’s Pretend. Not a fan of Teakbois and First Of Fire seems kind of boring.

[Orbert]

Interesting observations, and your comments are quite similar to my own.

Except for "Man in a White Car".  Sure it's very short, barely a vignette.  But during that minute and a half (or whatever it is), Downes displays a flair for orchestration that exceeds that of Kaye, Wakeman, or even Moraz.  I think it's brilliant.

I understand why a lot of people don't like "City of Love".  That driving, plodding beat which I love probably drives most people nuts.  But it's another really unique Yessong.  Yes rarely got really "heavy", not like this, and that's what I like about it.