90125

What a schock it was for me back then when i saw this new album at my favorite music retailer back then in 1983!!!! From the most beautiful artworks in the 70s, YES will do the opposite now trying to have the ugliest covers possible!! and YES, the classic logo is gone as well! welcome to the 80s!

You know all the story of this reformation, one old member at a time reuniting around a ''project'' named CINEMA from guitarist TREVOR RABIN meaning don't look for STEVE HOWE name on the credits. Anyway HOWE at the time was becoming a millionnaire with ASIA.

This is the album a lot of YESfans love to throw their anger at. I think you can judge this album under 2 angles; compare it with CTTE or FRAGILE, or just think of it as new product made by a new band in the 80s! And i think we have to be fair to this album and just listen to it not waiting for a ''And you and i'' moment. The prog bands, at least the ones that have survived were only given 2 options at the time by the recording companies: die or adapt; so tell me what do you do in this case?? do you go working as an aisle manager at your neighborhood manager or do you prefer to adapt your sound to the MTV crowd? Damn ,be honest!!!

TREVOR RABIN never wanted to use the name YES in the first place, but the company thought it was making more sense commercially than starting at zero.So this is new YES.

So what do we have here? a lot of AOR songs, but dare i say, well crafted, well arranged, well performed!!! Yes there are some good songs on 90125. Yes they are catchy, yes you can sing them when walking the streets, the choruses are well predictable, but some of the songs are GOOD!!! tell me about IT CAN HAPPEN, CHANGES, CITY OF LOVE or HEARTS? great pop songs, good guitar play.

I always wondered about the relationship between RABIN and ANDERSON as RABIN was then the main songwriter and influence and ANDERSON was trying to recapture the throne he held for a decade within the bandI am sure a battle of egos was brewing at the time nd RABIN wanted to sing as well. Jon anderson had to share vocals duties with him; not a problem he had to experience with Steve howe.

There is nothing wrong with a good pop/rock album and this is one of them! We may not be fond of TREVOR RABIN, but surely he brought o lot of freshness to the band with his guitar sound and compositions.

So i am not bashing this album for the sake of bashing: 3 stars

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