BIG GENERATOR

It took Yes four years to follow up 90125 with this album. During that time, they tried recording in various locations, in various ways, to come up with something that might have the dynamite commercial success that Owner of a Lonely Heart had brought them. But the truth was that Yes was not that kind of band, and trying to be that kind of band did not work for them, even with Trevor Rabin still behind the guitar and helping with the songwriting.

The fact that this album took longer to produce then it took for Yes to lose three members, break up, reform, bring in three different members including two former members, and record a hit single, pretty much is indicative of what you are going to hear. Eight songs that were constructed well and could have been pop hits had Yes still had the inertia from 1983, and that were even a bit proggier (if still distant from their previous works) than 90125. The reason for this being that Jon Anderson actually got to be involved in the songwriting this time, instead of just appearing to help sing vocals after the album was mostly complete.

There's not much about this album to attract the fan. If you liked 90125, you'll probably like this (and I know there is a caste of Yes fans who exist solely because of the Rabin era), but it still shies away from the music they were making in the '70s.

I tend to think of this album as "the one with Holy Lamb", which is my favorite track off the album and very clearly a Jon Anderson track. And that is probably what this album will be to most Yes fans ... the album with maybe one song that stood out to them.