Yes - Heaven and Earth (2014)

some of it is alright but it's not any better than the ladder or keys to ascension.

Well, that's too harsh actually. I think "The Meeting" is lovely and there are little flashes of beauty - especially between Howe and Wakeman. But it sounds like a record that wants to embrace that classic 70s Yes vibe while still wearing the shiny 90125 gear.

Which is pretty much "beurk".

(I meant my original assessment of it being all around unpleasant was too harsh)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXocjFQ-erw#t=1661

I jumped 20 min in to get a feel for it and see that Bruford plays electronic drums through the whole thing... woof.

Eddie Jobson posted a story about the very brief time he was a member of Yes during the 90215 recording. Never knew he was approached to join after Wakeman's first departure.

Later that year, with the Green Album finally completed, I happened to be visiting London as part of a promotional tour when I received a message (in the U.S.) that ‘Cinema’ was now ‘Yes,’ Jon Anderson had joined the band again, and that the album had come out really well. Oh, and they still needed a keyboard player... When they found out I was actually in London, new boy Trevor Rabin arranged to come round to play me the finished album. Trevor Horn (my favourite producer at the time) had done a fantastic job. All in all, though musically a little superficial, it was a fresh and contemporary recording, and with the ‘Yes’ name, a potential hit song (“Owner of a Lonely Heart”), Atlantic Records, and a well-funded support team behind it, it was clearly destined for considerably more commercial success than my struggling Green Album. With unlimited amounts of money flying around, my living in Connecticut was no problem; Jon was living in France, and Rabin and the new manager were living in Los Angeles. After all these years, maybe it was time for me to finally join Yes?

A couple of days later, we got together in a rehearsal room and thrashed through a few tunes, including ‘Roundabout’ (actually not knowing the song too well, I had to figure out Rick’s tricky keyboard parts on the spot – no easy task). But everyone seemed happy, so I returned to the U.S. as a full member of Yes and with a world tour only two or three months away. There was virtually no contact with anyone for several weeks as I learned all the Yes material in my home studio, although I did attend the mastering of the album with Rabin in New York. In fact, now I think about it, not one single band member ever called me, for any reason, during my entire stint with the group (or since).

The illusion of ‘equal membership’ soon became apparently false, especially once the filming of the “Owner of a Lonely Heart” video took place. Lord Squire’s indulgences (and the ubiquitous Bentley) were back in my face, and money was being squandered at an alarming rate. It was time-warp back to the 1970s. Roadies followed you around making sure you never had to lift even the smallest bag, and Chris was insisting on a private Boeing 707 for the tour! The grand lifestyle was being funded once again and egos were newly inflated. Despite my considerable experiences with Roxy, Zappa, UK, and Tull (a wonderful group of guys who treated me with considerable respect), and with more than 30 albums and a self-managed solo career under my belt, no one was interested in any wisdom I may have been able to impart, on any subject… even on the keyboard rig design which had already been decided upon. It was an inflated ‘Spinal Tap’ on so many levels, and I had unwittingly been sucked back into almost the same world of disregard that I had rejected so many years earlier. But I had made a commitment and I wanted to see it through.

Several weeks later, back in the U.S. where I continued to work on the considerable Yes repertoire, I did finally receive a phone call from someone—it was the manager who had been given the unceremonious task of informing me that Tony Kaye was re-joining the group and would be sharing keyboard duties with me. No discussion, no conferring… a done deal. And the reason? They needed three original members to put to rest a dispute with Brian Lane (their old manager), Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman regarding the legitimacy of the new band using the ‘Yes’ name. My youthful instincts were reawakened, there were red flags waving, and sirens going off... why was I doing this exactly? Still no call from anyone in the band, no discussions of alternate remedies, no apologies, just take it or leave it… so I hearkened to the words of their own song and chose to ‘leave it.’

Of course, the album and world tour went on to enormous success; Tony Kaye’s playing was supplemented by another player hidden off-stage; and the embarrassingly lame video had to be edited at the insistence of the BBC (to remove the disgusting ‘maggot’ scene), during which time they also removed as many of my scenes as possible.

Thanks, guys. All in all, the most disrespectful and unpleasant of all my band experiences (as brief as it was), and, with the occasional derisive remark from Squire or Allan White still showing up on the internet, one that still causes me undeserved anguish, embarrassment, and regret.

Post-script 1: The above description of the smug coterie that made up much of the British music-business elite in the ‘70s and ‘80s also serves the purpose of explaining much of the ill-feeling left percolating in the memories of more than a few of us more music-focused professionals. It also explains, in some part, the continuingly rude behaviour of some of that scene’s most indulgent subscribers (not mentioning any particular Arschlock by name, of course). It is ironic that those most included in that most exclusionary clique, now seem to be the most embittered and malicious.

Post-script 2: Some might ask why I would have a Yes page on the website. My answer is that I don’t have a category for ‘Bands I Didn’t Join and Should Have’ or for ‘Bands I Did Join and Shouldn’t Have.’ It was not a Guest Appearance; I was a member; there is a long history of connectivity (from Bruford to Asia); I am still in the video; I have pictures; it is part of my story.

Post-script 3: Jon Anderson has always been friendly, welcoming and respectful. His only culpability in this hurtful episode was in being so passive.

That is quite the commentary on the prog scene. Yikes.

Thanks for that, I've heard that Dave Stewart (Egg and many other bands) and Bruford have plenty of dirt to tell. I've always wanted to read Bruford's autobiography, apparently lots of fights with Squire.

Just looking up lots of members and what they are doing now, I'd never heard of Prog Collective? Anyone?

It's not good.

Even watching Squire, White and sometimes Howe speaking in recent interviews you get a strong whiff of not-very-nice. Too bad for Jobson - getting yanked around like that.

you can guess more why anderson might not want to spend his 60s/70s on tour with them, for sure. there's probably lots of bizarre overachiever jedi mind games going on backstage about this and that, i bet

I always found Howe immensely charming from watching interviews. Whenever I watch one of those Yes or general prog documentaries, I always want him to get more screen time.

I think there are some serious class and North-South issues in Yes and there always have been.

anderson delivered milk as a boy in lancashire iirc

I find it funny when Anderson talked about the class divide because he just seems like a guy from another planet. Wakeman has always had that affable bloke thing. Bruford in old footage sounds astonishingly posh, he seems to have lost that a bit.

Not that there's anything wrong with posh mannerisms.

wiat tony kaye didn't play on 90125? I didn't realize that. He only joined after the album was done?

oh just read up on it. what a mess.

Another clip up this morning.

whole album leaked

so far it just sounds kind of wimpy and generic.

this is not a good album

I'm not gonna seek out a DL - I'll wait for it to hit Spotify/Rdio.

you aren't missing anything. believe again is the best track on here. imagine a whole album of. . . 'the man you always wanted me to be' or 'it will be a good day'. a little of that is fine, 60 minutes is really , really dull. this reminds me of what I imagine a new Styx or Kansas album sounds like.

subway walls is also alright but it's no Into the Storm

I think there are some serious class and North-South issues in Yes and there always have been.

― Three Word Username, Friday, June 20, 2014 12:34 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If somebody could enlighten a yank on this I'm curious.

Going back a bit...I've had a few pops so excuse the effusiveness.

I've spent the last several days digging into Fly From Here. Honestly, it's a really, really good record.

The suite is, at it's worst, very listenable. Part 1 is as good as anything they've jammed on for a really long time, full of classic Trevor Horn groove transpositions and Squire counterpoint. Madman Across the Airfield is a total jam. And yes, Into the Storm is Tempus Fugit-level good – a Squire jam that transcends.

Benoit may not be much as a Jon imitator but he does an excellent Trevor. Actually, if FFH does anything, it's that it takes Trevor Horn from a somewhat aberrational stopgap role in Yes (replacing Jon for one record, producing another 1 1/2) to being one of the core players in the Yes story – where Drama and 90125/Big Generator left you feeling like he was transplanted into and self-consciously dragging the band into the modern world respectively, FFH recasts him as one of the key composers and aestheticians in the band's history.

Ok, back to the new one...all I can add is that Believe Again, if nothing else, is a nice sequel and a bit of an earworm. And it may be nothing else.

Wow. Listening to all of "Believe Again" now. This could be anyone - literally. Howe's signature sound is nowhere here, Downes keys sound like tinny plug-ins. Dull mix. smdh.

This album is awful.

I dunno – that opening riff with the volume pedal dynamics sounds like pure Steve Howe to me. It's a really nice little riff.

That said, this wouldn't be the first time Yes seemed like they got their act together (Going for the One) only to piss it away almost immediately (Tormato).

The implication being Yes didn't have their act together on Relayer?

I was going to say...

well, GFTO came after a 3-year layoff which was rather significant at the time. compare to say ELP's Works, Vol. 1 - Yes definitely seemed to still have it going for them, hell GFTO even hit #1 for a brief period. but that's besides the point...

I d/led the leak out of curiosity, it's almost hilariously trite - there are moments where you think "oh yeah that's Squire" or "that definitely sounds like Steve Howe" but man, this is so fluffed up and amounts to so little. there were some parts I dug at first listen because they were kinda catchy but it sounds like this takes the sort of anthemic AOR of "Walls" from Talk and neuters it even further. even though Anil Prasad tends to be quite opinionated sometimes I think he's on the money with this one...the critics are going to savage this.

boring boring boring boring. deadly dull. maybe their most boring record, it doesn't even fail in spectacularly bad ways like Talk or Tormato, it just sit there. completely unnecessary and irrelevant; makes FFH sound like Fragile.

"If somebody could enlighten a yank on this I'm curious."

Bruford, Howe, and Wakeman all from old money around London and went to fancy schools, Squire came from no money but went to fancy schools because of his boy sopranism, Anderson a milkman's boy from the North. Bruford and Anderson have both gone on record as saying that accent and education have played a large role in the tension in the Yes formations throughout the years ("These three-way fights with Chris and Jon where none of us could understand each other"), with Bruford (the fanciest of them all in terms of background) having over the years come more and more around to Anderson's way of seeing things.

to be positive, I do like "Step Beyond" - it's maybe the dinkiest song they've ever come up with, with those doodly-diddly-doodly-doo keyboards and all, but the vocals are nice

this really does sound like Jon Davison and four corpses. cripes.

at the same time the melodies are so agreeable that it's hard to actively dislike. hell if the tempos had been kicked up a few notches and had Squire/Howe bothered to show up this may actually be alright. though any goodwill I may have runs out right when "In a World Of Our Own" shows up - Chris Squire wrote this????

I tried to give it a second listen but just couldn't. Doing that would just turn me off from listening to any Yes for a long time. This is why I avoid "Tormato" - which I now have to rank high above this beige, lifeless lump of sad haha.
Have never listened to "The Ladder" or "Talk" ( don't ever plan to) but I can't imagine they're as goofy as this.

Thanks for the explanation TWU, i never realized that.

xp - you at least need to hear "Homeworld" off The Ladder - IMO one of their greatest songs and one of the few post-Drama tunes that matches up with their classics. To be honest I never minded Tormato much - it's goofy as hell, but the band clearly still had their chops, and there's still some energy (albeit misguided in places). It's not great but sadly it's better than a lot of what came after.

I fucking LOVE Tormato! Never understood the dislike. It's a really fun album.

"homeworld" is awesome and so is "new languages"

first impression with this new one is it sounds like squire white downes and howe. the tempos are sloooooooooww. hard to hear this yet as yes (more like starcastle rehearsals) until "to ascend"

like i wish there was as much proggy intricacy and intensity in this as there is in like owen pallet's "riverbed"

but it picks up a little in the second half for sure after that sloooooooooow beginning

After my immensely fruitful return to Topographic Oceans, I returned to Going For The One.
I had always thought it was very overrated but the consistent praise of "Awaken" by fans made me think I was probably missing something; since I love the Yes epics so much, I couldn't resist going back.

I had indeed underestimated GFTO. There is a lot of detail going on in the album that I never picked up before.
"Awaken" is easily the best thing on it, those "master of images" parts where it sounds like you are rising into heaven are incredible; the watery ending is gorgeous too.
The other tracks have a number of atmospheric and powerful moments, appealingly odd touches in some of the lyrics too.

I still feel some of the songs aren't quite all they could have been. Maybe the warm-up section of "Awaken" is too long.
I think the chorus of "Wonderous Stories" is the weakest part, it breaks up the hypnotic mystery of the rest of the song.
Probably a few other bits could have been different too but the examples above are the only things that really stuck out.

But still, wow, I can't believe I missed so much of the great stuff on the album first time around.

I just found out the other day that Anderson guested on a Glass Hammer album.

Doubt I'll ever get Heaven And Earth. I've still to get 13 Yes albums and piles of solo albums I'd prefer.

Glad to read you've come around to GFTO! I don't understand why some hear bad production on this. I think it's one of their most majestic and -except maybe for the title track which can border on the claustrophobic (though I love it!) - expansive sounding productions. "Tormato", for me, is pretty much ruined by its tinny mix and cluttered production.

GFTO always sounds like it needs a touch more treble to my ears.

Tormato has some good songs on it, it's an admirable Failure. So, for that matter, is Union. I rank both of them above this, because at least they aren't this dull.

Davidson is the least of the problems on the record. And since Downes wrote one of the only half-good songs here, I think the problem must be with squire and howe now; they soundlike they just phoned these compositions in, and no-one seems to have put much thought into arranging anything. get trevor horn back and let him and downes write the next album, if you must make another one.

After my immensely fruitful return to Topographic Oceans, I returned to Going For The One.
I had always thought it was very overrated but the consistent praise of "Awaken" by fans made me think I was probably missing something; since I love the Yes epics so much, I couldn't resist going back.

I had indeed underestimated GFTO. There is a lot of detail going on in the album that I never picked up before.
"Awaken" is easily the best thing on it, those "master of images" parts where it sounds like you are rising into heaven are incredible; the watery ending is gorgeous too.
The other tracks have a number of atmospheric and powerful moments, appealingly odd touches in some of the lyrics too.

I still feel some of the songs aren't quite all they could have been. Maybe the warm-up section of "Awaken" is too long.
I think the chorus of "Wonderous Stories" is the weakest part, it breaks up the hypnotic mystery of the rest of the song.
Probably a few other bits could have been different too but the examples above are the only things that really stuck out.

But still, wow, I can't believe I missed so much of the great stuff on the album first time around.