Mirror to the Sky (2023)Jon Davison - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Geoff Downes - Keyboards
Steve Howe - Guitars, Mandolin, Autoharp, Vocals
Jay Schellen - Drums, Percussion
Billy Sherwood - Bass, Vocals
FAME'S Studio Orchestra - Oleg Kondratenko, Conductor
Paul K. Joyce - Orchestra Arrangements
Produced by Steve Howe
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Cut From the Stars
5:25All Connected
9:03Luminosity
9:00Living Out Their Dream
4:45Mirror to the Sky
13:53Circles of Time
4:54Bonus DiscUnknown Place
8:12One Second is Enough
4:04Magic Potion
4:08----------
Yes continues their trend of never releasing more than two albums in a row with the same lineup, and after the 1970's, rarely more than one. While the trend continues, the reasons are sadly different now. Chris Squire passed in 2015, making
Heaven & Earth his final album. We lost Alan White in 2022, making
The Quest his final album.
Just as Billy Sherwood was Chris Squire's understudy and was specifically chosen by Chris to continue in his place after his passing, Jay Schellen was the obvious choice to replace Alan White full time. Jay had filled in for Alan on the 2016
Topographic Drama tour when Alan injured his back, and due to Alan's ongoing health issues continued to join them on stage as a second drummer/percussionist. On May 22, 2022, Yes announced that Jay would be the sole drummer on the upcoming tour, again citing Alan's health. Alan died days later, on May 26, 2022.
Mirror to the Sky is dedicated to him.
To be honest, this album caught me by surprise. I think there'd been a few announcements in 2022 saying that they were working on new material, but these days, I'll believe it when I see it. Then on March 10, 2023, the lead single "Cut from the Stars" was released, and that same day the release date of the album itself (May 26, 2023) was announced.
"Cut from the Stars" (Davison/Sherwood) is the opening track, and it's a good one. The first thing we hear is the FAME'S Studio Orchestra, but I guess I hadn't really thought about that on my first few listens and assumed it was keyboards. I'd avoided reading any credits or even previewing the single when it came out. I wanted my first listen or two to be as unspoiled as possible. Anyway, it's a quick little orchestral line, then the rest of the band comes in and the first
real thing that catches my ears is Jay Schellen's bass playing. He's totally channeling Chris Squire here. Not Chris' trademark bi-amped Rickenbacker, but a solid "lead bass" sound and his fingers giving us very Squire-like licks. I don't care if Jay is deliberately trying to sound like Chris or it's just how he feels the bass in Yes should be (probably a bit of both), it works for me and sounds great. The song continues to open up, good old Yes three-part vocals come in, and off we go. There are a some tempo changes and other proggy things, but at 5:25 we're not going full epic or anything. Still, it's a proggy yet pretty accessible song, and sets the tone.
Hmmm. The second track "All Connected" (Davison/Howe/Sherwood) in an interesting choice, in terms of placement. To me, after that great opening track, I'm ready for more, but also half-fearing that I'll be let down by the next song. It's happened before, more than once, by some of my favorite prog rock bands who are still progging but not always bringing the rock and roll. But from Steve Howe's point of view, a longer, proggier tune is what we need next, and yeah it starts pretty mellow, but give it some time and let it grow. We're still building here. Also, he's obviously been aching to break out a wailing steel guitar solo, so here it is. It's a pretty good song, if a bit light, and has some nice changes.
"Luminosity" (Davison/Howe/Sherwood) went through a few changes during its development. It started as "Luminous" and they recorded it that way originally, but they continued to work with the song, adding more and more parts until Steve decided that they should rename it because it was now "a bigger tune". So they recorded it again, renaming it "Luminosity".
Up to this point, most of the vocals have been in harmony. It may be cynical, but I almost think that this was intentional, a way to hopefully minimize the ongoing criticism that Jon Davison is simply not as a strong a lead singer as Jon Anderson. He sings in the same range, and when blended with Steve and Billy, the three-part Yes sound is there. But as a solo vocalist, his voice is just naturally lighter in timbre. With "Luminosity" we get more solo vocals, so the comparisons are going to come. Still, it's a pretty good song, if still a bit on the lighter side, and ends nicely with another wailing steel guitar solo. Go, Steve.
You noticed that he produced this album, just as he did the last one, right? Hey, someone has to carry the Yes torch, and at this point Steve is obviously the one to do it. Also, Geoff Downes is on the album, but I still feel like he's not really there the way a Yes keyboard player should be on a Yes album. Nice pads and fills, some synth here and there, but not a lot to make you take notice and go "Yeah, Geoff Downes on keyboards!" Not that we did that a lot anyway. But seriously, where is he?
And then the next song, "Living Out Their Dream" (Howe/Downes), finally gives it to us! Drum fills, rocking guitar, weird unison things, another steel guitar solo... wait! That was a synth, wasn't it? So he
is on this album. Jon and Steve do a "vocal duet" on this track. It's interesting. I think they credited it that way because it's really got a lot of Steve Howe on lead vocals, and that's all I'm going to say about that for now. But hey, a rocker! I am pleased overall.
"Mirror to the Sky" (Davison/Howe) is the title track, the longest track, and the only real "epic" on the album. "All Connected" and "Luminosity" at nine minutes apiece are pretty cool, expansive songs, no doubt, but "Mirror to the Sky" really feels like it takes you on a journey. Rocks out, mellows out, rocks out some more, and goes through some really nice changes, yet so organic sounding that when one of the changes includes an orchestra coming in, it sounds perfectly natural. Definitely one of the highlights of the album.
"Circles of Time" (Davison) closes the main album. * After the title epic, it's a nice little song to wind things down, if a bit "twee". IMO it's probably the weakest track on the album, but Steve heard it and insisted that they develop it and put it on the album. So here it is.
* Yes, they've again given us a two-disc set, with a main album and a "Bonus Disc" when everything could have fit onto a single CD. But who buys CDs anymore anyway? And if you do buy CDs, more is better, right?
"Unknown Place" (Howe) is the first track on the Bonus Disc but is one of my favorite tracks on the album overall. Jon and Steve once again share vocal duties, but it's somehow not as offensive as before, perhaps because they're clearly going for something different here. Steve's voice is still dull and lifeless, but the contrast between his and Jon's voice is interesting and at least adds a different texture. Also, the song rocks out a bit, with Geoff finally rocking out on the Hammond, swapping fours with Steve a few times, and even a jam involving church organ and acoustic guitar (with some tasty bass and drums as well).
"One Second is Enough" (Howe) opens with keyboards, Geoff on the Hammond again, and you realize that you've heard as many interesting keyboard licks on the bonus tracks so far (only 10 seconds into the second one) as on the entire main album. I don't know why that is. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I always thought that there'd be more collaboration between Steve and Geoff, due to their being mainstays in both Yes and Asia for years, but we have the one co-written song (which is pretty good) which features them both, but beyond that Geoff's contributions are largely relegated to the Bonus Tracks. I won't suggest that that's intentional on Steve's part, since it's also entirely possible that these last three tracks were considered weaker overall for different reasons. But it's weird.
"Magic Potion" (Howe) closes the second disc with a nice little song with a message right out of the 60's: "love is the magic potion". But what the heck. Vocals are fine, bass work is great, Steve's hook line is cool (though a bit repetitive after a while), and at 4:08 it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Total play time of both discs is 1:03:34.
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Final thoughts. Just as
The Quest was a step up from
Heaven & Earth, we take another step up here. I've actually returned to this album a few times just to listen to it because it's new Yes music and it's pretty good. No, it's not going to displace
Close to the Edge or
Going for the One any time soon, or ever, but it's a good listen, easily the strongest of the Davison-era albums.