FROM A PAGE / IN THE PRESENT - LIVE FROM LYON

From a Page is an unexpected gift from Oliver Wakeman who decided after the death of Chris Squire to re-work on some lost recordings from the 2008-2010 Yes period. These four tracks shows what Fly from Here could have included if Oliver Wakeman had not been replaced by Geoff Downes to recreate the Drama formation. I will not says these tracks would have increase the quality of Fly From Here as I already consider Fly From Here as one of the best Yes album ever, no less. But it would not have decreased it either.

To The Moment is the hit single. Let's say, in other times, with another band, on another planet, it could have been a hit. Nice song with great vocals from Benoit David and really good instrumental section. Wakeman's keyboard shines all over the song.

Words On A Page is a delicate piece with great vocals and harmonies and an instrumental section in the middle starting with Wakeman's beautiful piano and followed by a perfect slide guitar section from Steve Howe. If you think Sad Night At The Airfield is a great track, this one should also do the trick. Probably the best track of this mini album.

From The Turn Of A Card is probably the least Yes style of the lot. It is a new version of a track initially recorded by Oliver Wakeman, Benoit David and Gordon Giltrap in 2013. Wakeman took the vocal part and re-recorded a softer piano-only arrangement. This is a great track nevertheless and it is very interesting to hear Benoit David's "real" voice (a lower pitch), once he had not to mime Jon Anderson anymore.

Finally, The Gift of Love is a combination of two different compositions. One from Oliver Wakeman and the other from Chris Squire which will resurface later in a very different version as The Game on the beloved Heaven & Earth album. Very interesting to see how you can create such different songs and atmosphere with the same basis.

In the end, the only default of this mini album is its length: only 26 minutes long. Wakeman states that they were also working on Into the Storm, The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be and Don't Take No For An Answer during these sessions. It would have been interesting to see Wakeman's versions of these tracks (specially Into The Storm that he co-wrote) and it would have give us a full album, the third version of Fly From Here that we could have called "Fly from Here - Final Boarding Call For Passengers.