90125

At a rating below three stars, 90125 is underrated on Prog Archives. I guess I can see why; the commercial success of the leadoff single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart;" the subsequent fifteen minutes of MTV fame the band enjoyed with the "Leave It" video; the influence of the not-completely-vanquished new-waver Trevor Horn; and the conspicuous presence of new guy Trevor Rabin. Plus, it was the 1980s.

But taken on its merits, 90125 is a very good album - - and a very good Yes album as well. I've been a serious Yes fan for thirty years and I've come to the conclusion that too much Trevor Rabin is not a good thing, and that neither is too much Jon Anderson. Even a balance of the two, as on Talk, can be insufficient. But 90125 includes not only the influences of guitarist Rabin and lead vocalist Anderson, but also significant contributions from bassist Chris Squire. And it seems that Horn, as the project's producer, oversaw the balancing act.

Horn was the lead singer on Yes's prior album, Drama, and largely for that reason, Drama was the album that featured the most prominent Squire vocals, mostly as a co-lead support singer. This continues on 90125, where Squire's voice is pronounced on "Hold On," "It Can Happen," and "Leave It." Rabin, meanwhile, is the lead singer of "Changes," one verse of "Leave It," and another on "Hearts." This still leaves lots of room for Anderson, who is the primary singer on every song except for "Changes" and the instrumental "Cinema." Anyway, Horn has taken advantage of the diversity of vocalists in the band (he also sings here and there himself, most noticeably on the "hello, goodbye" section of "Leave It").

The instrumental performances on 90125 are good, although they're restrained compared to most Yes albums; you won't find Bill Bruford's odd-beat jazz drumming, Steve Howe's Spanish-guitar interludes, or Rick Wakeman's zany keyboard solos here. Actually, you won't find much in the way of lead keyboard playing at all. Tony Kaye is listed as the band's keyboardist on 90125, but Yes folklore has him in and out of the band, though mostly out, up until the album's release. Rabin is also credited with playing the keyboards, and two additional synthesizer "programmers" are listed in the credits (J.J. Jeczalik of Art of Noise and Dave Lawson of Greenslade). At any rate, most of the keyboard parts seem to have been sequenced.

Squire's bass parts, while technically challenging, are nonetheless restrained and integral to the compositions, such as during the bridge/outro of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and throughout "Our Song." The only apparent improvisation takes the form of Rabin's near-metal solos across the album. Despite Rabin's reputation as a shredder, he turns in some soaring, stirring solos à la David Gilmour, most notably on "Hearts," alongside virtuosic runs, such as on "Our Song."

Given Horn's involvement, it's not surprising that 90125 is comprised of well-written material; I doubt he would've signed on to the project otherwise. Not every song is a gem, of course; the album's first two songs, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Hold On," are satisfactory art-pop. Squire's "It Can Happen" is in the same vein as "Hold On," but, as we can see by comparison with its demo form, later contributions by Anderson and Horn give it a dynamism that elevates It above the other songs on the first side. Side-One closer "Changes" is the weakest song on 90125, but its intro/outro, written by drummer Alan White, is a cool minimalist piece reminiscent of Steve Reich. The rest of "Changes" is only a notch or two above standard-issue, early-1980s AOR.

Side Two also has a somewhat ho-hum track, "City of Love," which is really not bad at all, but pales in comparison to the rest of the songs here. The one-two punch of "Cinema" / "Leave It" is a great opening to Side Two; were it not for the obvious commercial appeal of "Owner of a Lonely Heart," these would be the first songs on side one. As it is, "Leave It" hit #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's third-highest charting single behind "Roundabout," #13, and "Owner," #1 for two weeks.

90125 contains two latter-day Yes classics: "Our Song" and "Hearts." Oddly, "Our Song" was released as the b-side to "Owner of a Lonely Heart," the album's first single; that is, it was selected as the song least worthy of being released in its own right, as any "Owner" purchaser would be one fewer potential buyer of an "Our Song" single, should one have been released. In the event, American AOR DJs, having already put "Owner" at #1 on the rock airplay chart for the beginning of a four-week run, flipped over the single and began playing "Our Song," which peaked on that chart at #32. Part energetic rocker, part soaring anthem, "Our Song" clocks in at just 4:16.

90125 closes with its finest moment, "Hearts." At seven and a half minutes, "Hearts" is the longest song on 90125, which isn't saying much for a band whose songs could reach twenty or more minutes in length. But seven and a half minutes is long enough for "Hearts" to move from a plaintive opening section to an anthemic chorus and back, through a hard-rock bridge and stately guitar solo, to a fitting coda. With "Tempus Fugit," "Machine Messiah," and "I'm Running," "Hearts" is one of the very best Yes songs of the 1980s.

I'm a fan of Steve Howe; next to Chris Squire, he's my favorite member of Yes. But I don't miss him on 90125, even if he's a better composer than Rabin. Similarly, Wakeman could play rings around Kaye, and Bruford is a superior drummer to White. But 90125 is a package deal, and the synergy created here by Anderson, Horn, Rabin, and Squire resulted in an excellent album, even without these luminaries.

I'd recommend 90125 to any fan of progressive rock, especially those who also like 1980s pop and rock, or who are curious about the quality of 1980s Yes music beyond "Owner of a Lonely Heart."