BIG GENERATOR

Many see this as a disappointing album by Yes, and its easy to understand why. The music is far removed from "Close to the edge", "Fragile" etc,. In place of the lengthy prog compositions we have an almost AOR sound, closer to the music of say Styx or Toto.

It's therefore essential before listening to this album to put any preconceptions aside, and hear it as if you were unaware who it was by. This I admit is a little difficult as Jon Anderson's distinctive voice is of course still present. I have to say that having (eventually) managed to rid myself of the disappointment of not hearing the Yes I expected, I am mightily impressed, this is an excellent album.

There's a freshness and energy here which had been lacking from recent albums by Yes, they seem here to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Most of the tracks have a pace and urgency to them which had been missing from "Tormato" and "90125".

Songs such as "Rhythm of Love" and "Love will find a way" are simply structured as little more than melodic pop rock pieces, and even the longer "I'm running" is hardly challenging. This however is the beauty of the album, its stark simplicity, this album is Fun with a capital F. When things do slow down, such as on "Shoot high, aim low", the power is turned up, only the final "Holy lamb" stands alone as a more traditional Jon Anderson led softer piece.

If you're looking for "Close to the edge" or "Yours is no disgrace", you won't find anything like that here. What you will find is high quality melodic rock.

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