Yes - Heaven and Earth (2014)

At their worst Yes are terminally boring. I could see this being boring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuI2fev8omE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xhskp7YIic

Hmm, "Believe Again" doesn't sound that terrible.

The songs are barely songs. They're a loose assemblage of bits and parts all stitched together. There is no coherence or unity in the writing and execution.

U.Yes Maple

I agree that the sample doesn't seem so bad but remember that A) this song is over eight minutes long, and B) that chorus sounds really, really limp

It did take a while to remember that it wasn't Jon Anderson singing. New Jon's voice is even more ridiculous than old Jon.

lyrics are just as terrible too

New Jon is an awful singer. He's faking on Anderson by trying to come off "gentle" and "sweet", and it sounds really lame. Jon Anderson has a high and powerful voice, this guy is trying to sound like an angel child and failing.

yeah I preferred Benoit's work on the last album. I know he wasn't a good live singer at all but his work on the record is alright

I never heard Benoit and I don't know how this new singer usually sounds but I find it really unsettling when a singer tries to sound like someone else. Getting a singer with some of the same key virtues makes sense, but trying to copy is just really not nice.

he does clearly seem to be emulating Jon Anderson or what he thinks Anderson would be doing if he were still around. I think he sounds good with Glass Hammer (and I was never distracted that much by his similarity to Anderson) and his songwriting was fine from what I could remember but I don't feel like he's doing heavy lifting songwriting-wise there. meanwhile according to Wikipedia he's the primary guy on here:

1. "Believe Again" Jon Davison, Steve Howe
2. "The Game" Chris Squire, Davison, Gerard Johnson
3. "Step Beyond" Howe, Davison
4. "To Ascend" Davison, Alan White
5. "In a World of Our Own" Davison, Squire
6. "Light of the Ages" Davison
7. "It Was All We Knew" Howe
8. "Subway Walls" Davison, Geoff Downes

I think this kind of says it all, Yes have always felt pretty dysfunctional but having your new guy (who made the band because of his uncanny resemblance to the old guy) write more than twice as many songs as any other member seems extra bizarre

I'll probably do the same with this as I did with the last one. Listen to it once, and then return to the classics.

They couldn't call up a better vocalist from the tribute band bush leagues?

It's not that he wrote twice as many songs as the others but that he collaborated with the other guys individually.

Isn't that lyrics?

Can I just say - I LOVE the sound of this clip. I am a big Geoff Downes fan.

Went ahead and bought the track on iTunes.

It is delightful imo.

Reminds me of the Thai cop in Only God Forgives.

It's not that he wrote twice as many songs as the others but that he collaborated with the other guys individually.

― timellison, Friday, June 13, 2014 11:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Isn't that lyrics?

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, June 14, 2014 1:07 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

4. "To Ascend" Davison, Alan White

http://www.woundedbird.com/white_alan/8167.jpg

for context, glass hammer is the band people who consider dream theater worthy of serious consideration like to pick on.

i like glass hammer but have never been able to hear the appeal of dream theater. glass hammer isn't chopsy so much as into oxbridge mystical atmospherics (they have two (!) 'lord of the rings' concept albums, and one about c.s. lewis' 'perelandra' series), and their last four or five albums are to yes what the second and third feelies albums are to the velvet underground

if he's just writing lyrics then I guess that's understandable, still kinda weird that these dudes aren't really writing together anymore

Glass Hammer are definitely an easy band to pick on but I really enjoy them; they're not all that original but they are a lot of fun, and honestly I'd much rather see them live right now than this incarnation of Yes. They're one of the few bands that seems to get better with every release.

definitely. i wish that for every 1000 bands that want to sound like the platonic ideal of punk rock, there was at least one band like glass hammer and starcastle that wants to sound like yes. the (listening) world would be a much better place

fleet foxes

i hear way more CSN in fleet foxes than yes . . . although there's CSN in yes, for sure! the decemberists are more like it, particularly on 'the crane wife'

i guess the new cast album, 'arsis,' out-yesses yes a little too

i have to say I was pretty surprised by the number of younger hipsters at the yes show I went to last year. that would have been unthinkable even 5 years ago.

i like glass hammer but have never been able to hear the appeal of dream theater. glass hammer isn't chopsy so much as into oxbridge mystical atmospherics (they have two (!) 'lord of the rings' concept albums, and one about c.s. lewis' 'perelandra' series), and their last four or five albums are to yes what the second and third feelies albums are to the velvet underground

― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, June 14, 2014 8:21 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha man you are not playing fair, this is an awesome post that i bet makes glass hammer sound 10X better than they really are...

but now i'm gonna listen to them anyway, which album is best?

'chronometree' or one of the ones with roger dean covers -- 'the incosolable secret', 'if', or 'cor cordium'? i think davison sings on all three of those

I've been meaning to get something by Glass Hammer for quite a few years, starting with Inconsolable Secret (I heard that was their best).

Other than being generally irked by derivative sounds, I hate that they felt they needed to get a Jon Anderson copyist. It's like saying "yes, we admit we are a tribute band now". Couldn't they have got another famous prog singer to sing his own style?
I assume they need the money, otherwise they would be doing solo projects?

I'm surprised how much more attention these new incarnations of Yes have been getting than Jon Anderson. His voice is understandably lacking some of the energy and power he had but I prefer that to any clone.
Living Tree with Wakeman didn't sound that exciting from the samples but I'm very interested in his serialised Olias sequel.

Get a load of this album cover!
http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-in-sheffield-1980-mw0000491926

rainbow hula hooping to the top of the empire state building

from what i've heard/read anderson is a little like plant -- he can't do yes every night anymore, like percy can't pull off a tour of 02s

there've been whispers of an olias sequel forever but so far nothing. 'the living tree' is okay if you fiend for anderson/wakeman contact highs but nowhere near as good as trevor rabin's most recent solo album, 'jacaranda.' dude's in lindsey buckingham territory

squire sorta did a solo project just last year or the year before, with steve hackett -- "squackett," if you can believe that

anyways yeah i wish too they could cohere as solid if not better than their heyday the way van der graaf generator's been pulling it off these past however many years. but yes has always been more of a miami heat supergroup than a seamless san antonio spurs killing machine

I'm pretty sure the mp3 Open is supposed to be the first part of the Olias sequel, it's a 20min track. He has released a few more mp3 singles but I cant find them on amazon and I don't know if they are further parts of the same thing.

Thanks for the Rabin tip, I know virtually nothing about him other than that he contributed to the creation of Pro-Tools.

"more of a miami heat supergroup than a seamless san antonio spurs killing machine"

Haha, not sure what that means. VDGG never got any new guys did they?

Fly from Here is not the type of project one would associate for a band that is in it for the money.

associate with

vdgg's strength seems to be their group interplay imho whereas the heat live or die by how on fire their solo play is

had no idea "open" is an olias ii overture. haven't listened to that in a while

whatever else it is 'fly from here' is a reminder that trevor horn (producer of malcolm mclaren's solo album and the dude who introduced breakbeats sampling alan white's drums during the 90125 sessions) still looks up to one of his favorite bands, and loves fucking around in the studio with geoff downes. must have been interesting for him to work with benoit david on vocals considering how abominably audiences treated him singing on the 1980 'drama' tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLkuKXt-nec

really wish they'd figure out it's time to bring vincent gallo in on lead vocals

anyway, here's a Glass Hammer song I really like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMPux-o_J-A

you can definitely play "spot the reference" with these guys, their Chronometree album was all about that, with a bunch of subtle "Karn Evil 9" quotes everywhere. But they're good at what they do and so damn likeable and dorky, even when they're in full blown suck mode they're at least entertaining, which you can't say about most other modern prog groups.

VDGG get together because they have things to write and don't, I think, care that much about how commercially successful their music is (not at all). they're a totally different sort of band.

Again, not sure how that differs from Fly from Here or, conceivably, this new album.

Was watching some Jon Anderson live videos from earlier this year on Youtube -- would much rather hear him sing in a lower key (and we are talking about a half step or a whole step at max) than this other schmuck. But I guess Squire and Howe don't own enough instruments to have a few differently-tuned ones around, ha ha ha. Stylistically, Anderson is still all there, although there are some funny catches which, if they aren't neurological, indicate he might want to see a good voice coach soon. The voice is still there to save .

Why are the not playing together again?

*they

who, anderson and the rest of Yes? He can't commit to long term touring so they canned him.

"Again, not sure how that differs from Fly from Here or, conceivably, this new album."

I think FFH is possibly true, they had work that they wanted to revisit from the Horn years and a clear project they had scoped out (more or less). The new one, I'm not so sure about that.

full song is on spotify now. It's ok, it's definitely on the lighter and more boring side, but it's not terrible. It doesn't have any edges at all though, where FFH had them all over the place. I'd like to hope there's something on this album as good as Into the Storm but based on this I don't feel that's too likely.

This isn't bad. I like the opening melody and arrangement, but the chorus is a little wandery.

Why couldn't Jon "commit"?

Even before getting unceremoniously replaced, Anderson had grown disillusioned with Yes. The group toured relentlessly in the early 2000s, even as Anderson's health declined. "I was coughing so much that the only time I wasn't coughing was onstage," he says. "I just needed a break, but the guys were upset about that."

Anderson travelled on a bus with keyboardist Rick Wakeman, while the other three Yes members (Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe) travelled on another one. "We had the happy car," says Anderson. "They were in the grumpy car."

Anderson keeps a much lighter tour schedule than Yes, who often do five or six shows a week. "I would never do that kind of tour," says Anderson. "It's stupid. Some people haven't got a life I suppose. They want to be on the road all the time." Guitarist Steve Howe performs with ASIA when Yes are off, which means maintaining a punishing schedule. "He hasn't got a home," says Anderson. "He's a journeyman, like Willie Nelson."

Despite all the turmoil, Anderson doesn't completely rule performing with Yes again someday. "If we ever get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame we'll all get together," he says. "We'll give each other a hug and let bygones be bygones." How about a reunion tour? "You never know," he says. "It would have to be two or three shows a week, though."

-- Rolling Stone, 2011

it's grueling to sing those songs. anderson's replacement, benoit david, couldn't manage either, hence davison

anyways good for yes for getting syd arthur to open some shows. sound mirror is nice

Anderson had COPD or lung failure or something too. I can see the band's point. And I don't think they're necessarily sunk without him. He's the most annoying member anyway. There is a snippet of another new song up. It's alright.

Not saying that Yes can't make good music without Jon but I really feel he is a big part of the band's soul and approach.

There been a lot of talk of band members being very unpleasant but aside from them probably not letting Peter Banks play the Union gig
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130613004441AAv0Zci
I haven't heard anything substantial. Jon Anderson being a bit bossy doesn't really cover raging asshole territory. I heard Squire is a bad man, but again, no stories to back it up.
There were some tabloidy news reports that Jon's spiritual adviser convinced him not to play a charity gig but it didn't seem reliable.

I'm really curious about the revolving door policy they were so frank about, that they were all willing to replace a member if they found a better substitute. This only seems to have happened with Kaye/Wakeman and Banks/Howe. Anderson was replaced because of his physical problem, others were replaced because they left or had other commitments.
I doubt anyone dared talk about replacing Anderson(before his problems) or Squire to get a better member.

doesn't have any edges at all though, where FFH had them all over the place.

What constitutes an "edge?" I don't remember FFH being any more jarring.

I think what happens in "Believe Again" is that it's mostly developmental within verse/chorus standards. Two instrumental breaks, but they happen at classic points in the structure (middle and end).

But hey, that's over six minutes of song development if you subtract the instrumental breaks. A lot of play with antecedent/consequent phrasing. Verses that start in the middle and don't end the same way as the last one. Choruses with new words.

Middle instrumental break is poignant to me because it's so classic.