BIG GENERATOR

It sounds like "90125"! It has the same style, and the songs are very catchy. We find the same musicians: Rabin and Kaye, who are responsible of producing a "90125"-like album. But the record is less good than "90125". The guitar sounds heavier, and the sound is more artificial, cold and metallic. Anderson's voice is outstanding. Instrumental bits are interesting, especially the keyboards. There are percussions which sometimes add some latin influences.

Came to this community with the idea of reviewing great albums, but reality is different, great bands also have mistakes. I bought this record believing that after 90125 anything had to be better, I was wrong.

This hybrid (not rock, not prog' not defined), mixes 80's POP, arena rock and some proggy remains of the original band, but has not enough quality to even reach a mediocre status.

Yes without Anderson ( Drama) was not really Yes (even when Jon's voice isn't my cup of tea) but still they played great music, Yes with Rabin instead of Howe is just another 80's arena band.

People who are searching for 80's pop can buy Duran Duran or something similar, it's terrible music IMHO but at least they get what they paid for, Yes fans always expect something different.

One lonely star because te system doesn't allow me to rate it lower.

A power station

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.

In the "Yesyears" video, Trevor Rabin called this album "the most difficult album I have made". Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin (as Rabin said in the same video) had some frictions because they had different views about Yes` music. Chris Squire said that he and Alan White recorded their parts almost two years before it was released. If "90125" was easier to make because Squire, White, Rabin and Kaye had composed and recorded most of the album`s songs before Anderson arrived to the band again, this album was more difficult to make because the different views about the musical direction for Yes. But it has good songs, even if some of them are for Radio playing.Trevor Horn left the production of this album, and Trevor Rabin became the co-producer with Yes and one of the engineers.The best songs are "Rhythm of Love", "Love Will Find a Way", "Final Eyes" (the best of all) and "I`m Running". It seems that in this album Tony Kaye had more freedom for his keyboard arrangements (as Horn left "Big Generator", with whom he had problems during the recording of "90125", and Kaye left for some months in 1983). "Final Eyes" has very good keyboard arrangements maybe done by Kaye and Rabin together (as Rabin also was credited for playing keyboards). "I`m Running" has interesting percussion arrangements (a Marimba?). "Rhythm of Love" has a very good keyboards arrangement at the start of the song, with very good backing vocals in all parts of the song. Jon Anderson left the band again after the 1987-88 tour,maybe because he didn`t want to record pop Radio songs as the record label wanted. Yes depended very much on Rabin. Some people doesn`t like his style, but he was doing his jobs (guitarist/keyboard player/composer/producer) very well, but some people made him responsible for the change of style for the band, but he was only doing his jobs the best he could to keep Yes alive and to please the record label.

Sorry but IMHO this is nowhere near as bad as people make out. I urge you to relisten to ' I'm Running' and ' Holy Lamb' again. They are beautiful songs. The Rabin flavours are there for sure but the commercial ' Rhythm of Love' and ' Love Will Find a Way' are not that bad if you accept the change that the 80's forced onto so many bands.A lot of Big Generator is good solid rock-period!

This record continues the style of it's predecessor, and it is therefore directed to a different consumer group than progressive rock fans. A joyful disco pop rock album is something I wouldn't want to have form a classic symphonic rock band, but it's a world of free will. Luckily these lovely hit ballads have enriched the days of many people, so this terrible release isn't unnecessary when it's evaluated from a bigger perspective.

I can't think of a good way to start this review, so I'm just going to come out and admit it: I like Big Generator and I think it's the best of the Rabin-era albums.

There we go. I think I just managed to offend everybody.

Old time Yes fans hate Big Generator because you won't hear anything truly "progressive" on it. There are no progressive songs here, despite a couple of reviewers who will try to convince you that one or two songs have progressive echoes here and there. "I'm Running" is a really interesting and complex song with a lot of world influences, but to claim that it is progressive is an act of desperation on the part of fans intent on rationalizing the Yes canon. "Holy Lamb" is one of those slow, spiritual meditations that Jon does that would fit in perfectly with his solo work. It's nice work, but you can't really claim that it's progressive. The same goes for "Shoot High, Aim Low," which demonstrates better than any other song just how strong Yes was vocally when Anderson and Rabin played off each other's voices. These guys really brought out the best in each other. And "Final Eyes," the last song where fans look in vain for some hints of progressive sounds, isn't progressive. It's a pop ballad with an awkward verse section, (probably the only part of this album where the word awkward is appropriate.) The rest of the album contains straightforward pop songs where no one would even dream of looking for progressive sounds.

That said, this a collection of pop songs where the quality of composition and execution is fairly high (although without the brilliant production that 90125 enjoyed.) Love Will Find a Way was the single and is a very likable song, although it lacks a bit of the edge that made the 90125 songs so popular. Rhythm of Love, Big Generator, and Almost Like Love are all cut from the same mold and are all generally likable but a bit too sugary songs.

What really makes this album stand out is the vocal work. Jon and Trevor combine so well on this album, whether it is the antiphonal parts on Shoot High, Aim Low, Love Will Find a Way or the amazing group vocals that end I'm Running. This album easily contains the best written vocal arrangements Yes has ever used, and they are executed flawlessly.

I'm submitting this to fight back on behalf of the much-maligned Big Generator. Let's look at the tracks 1. Rhythm Of Love (4:49) - good orchestral opening, but an average Rabin-era song. 2. Big Generator (4:31) - don't like this, especially the discordant chorus. 3. Shoot High Aim Low (7:59) - a bit of a slow one, good drumming from Alan. 4. Almost Like Love (5:58) - speeds things up, do I detect a Motown influence here? 5. Love Will Find A Way (4:48) - now things get interesting. This is one of the best Rabin songs. A good riff, nice chorus and a great solo starting off on harmonica and the guitar comes in alongside it half way through. 6. Final Eyes (6:20) - things get better. Nice vocals with swirling echo effects and a very deep keyboard bass sound. Highlight is the crashing drum and guitar chords in the middle. 7. I'm Running (7:34) - the best song on the album and IMO the best Rabin-era song along with I am waiting. Starts with a bass riff and features a fantastic solo. The vocals towards the end are really good. 8. Holy Lamb (3:15 - a typical Jon Anderson song. Starts with guitar and vocals and gradually builds up similar to Wonderous Stories. I think Rabin said he didn't like this, but it's not too bad. Nice guitar/keyboard work at the end.

Overall I give it three stars, mainly because of the high standards Yes set with their previous albums (up to 90125). It's obviously not as good as these but still better than a lot of bands' best. I prefer it to 90125 on the whole.

SHOOT HIGH, AIM LOW is a more apt title for this album. Whereas 90125 attempted to compromise the band's original progressive yearnings with the market-driven music industry of the 1980's, BIG GENERATOR tosses any thoughts of progressivity out of the window. The album is slickly-produced arena-rock, pure and simple, no better nor worse than Asia. Actually, worse, as there's not even the trappings of prog here. Nothing to distinguish it from say, an REO Speedwagon album. Yes, Anderson's unmistakable vocals are still there, but I get the distinct feeling he had very little say in the most un-Yes-like music.

"I'm Running" and the previously mentioned "Shoot High, Aim Low" are fairly pathetic attempts at placating their old fan-base; a brace of seven-plus-minute...things that meander with no real point, purpose or inspiration. The dated production muddles things even more. Quite possibly the band's artistic nadir: there's nothing here to offer fans of classic Yes. Nothing at all.

I originally gave this a two-star rating without review back in November 2005. I have recently listened to it several times and have decided it isn't worthy of such a high rating. Most of the songs lack any form of progressive rock on them. The only exception is "I'm Running." Unfortunately for this song, it sounds like it was recorded for Sesame Street or Spongebob Squarepants. In other words, kind of silly and childish. I like silly and childish (and Sesame Street and Spongebob Squarepants), but not on a serious piece of music from a group known as one of the foundations of 1970s progressive rock.

The production is, well... 1980s-like. The keyboards are, hmmm.... 1980s-like, too. The guitar work is, well just Trevor Rabin. Jon Anderson sings beautifully, but the musical backdrop doesn't fit him well on this. Alan White sounds like a metronome.

Definitely not worth the two stars I had originally thought it was worth. Downgraded to one star and the only encouragement I can give is to avoid it. At least 90125 was a decent pop rock album. I can't say the same for this.

I can put up with '90125', I actually like 'Talk' but "Big Generator" is one album I just cannot stand. It is the biggest load of drivel I have ever heard come out of Yes, everything about the album seems very weak, and commercial. Something which I liked about Yes is that they never went terribly commercial until '90125.' The Only song worth mentioning is "Holy Lamb" which, coincidently is written by Jon Anderson. Songs "like Almost like Love", "I'm Running", "Shoot High Aim low" I cannot stand. Yes however did get commercial success with "Big Generator", in particular the singles which were released from the album. "Big Generator" reached number 17 in the UK and number 15 in America.

1.Rhythm of Love (1/5) 2.Big Generator (2/5) 3.Shoot High Aim Low (1/5) 4.Almost Like Love (1/5) 5.Final Eyes (1/5) 6.I'm Running (1/5) 7.Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence) (4/5) Total = 11 divided by 7 (number of songs) = 1.5 (rounded down) = 1 star Poor. Only for completionists

"Big Generator" really is a flop ('90125' is not bad) by normal Yes standards and it really disappointed me, I knew it was not very good but not this bad. I recommend "Big Generator" only to hardcore Yes fans. Luckily the band were able to redeem themselves with 'The Ladder', 'Magnification' and in particular the 'Keystudios' stuff. It is with a heavy heart I give a Yes album 1 star but it must be done.

Horns! What is this, Yes or Huey Lewis? Don’t get me wrong, I love brass instruments. It’s just not the kind of thing you really expect to hear with Yes, and you really don’t expect to get completely overwhelmed by them like this album does. I think there’s something like six different guys playing horns on this thing, mostly trumpet I believe. Oh well, the 80’s were certainly a time for changes…

I guess 90125 wasn’t the bottom for Yes, Big Generator was. At least 90125 had a great live tour supporting it, and there was a very faint inkling of a recognizable Yes sound in a couple of tracks (“Cinema”, “Leave It”).

This album doesn’t even have that. “Rhythm of Love” and “Love Will Find a Way” a pure schmaltzy pop, horns and dance-hall beat included, and “Big Generator” is simply forgettable (emphasis on the ‘simple’).

I’m not sure what the band was targeting with “Shoot High, Aim Low”, but they missed. ! Trevor Rabin’s guitar is actually mildly interesting for the first minute or two, but the nauseatingly repetitive arrangement simply gets boring by the fourth or fifth minute (and there are still a couple more minutes after that). This is one of the longest tracks on the album, and also one of the least inspired. It’s clear by the time this track rolls around that the respective muses of Jon Anderson, Rabin, and Chris Squire are not dancing to the same beat on this album. It’s no wonder Anderson wandered off to do his solo thing again after this one.

“Almost Like Love” sounds like Big Country being fronted by an aging vocal queen. I can almost picture Anderson in a flowery polyester blouse doing a lounge-act shuffle while singing this one on stage. Liberace look out!

I actually think “Final Eyes” is the best track on the album, although that isn’t saying much. The vocal harmonies are pretty well done, and the odd key is kind of catchy. This is one of those songs that really stuck in my head back in the 80’s, but for a long time I was sure this was Survivor, not Yes. It was only after I actually bought the album that I found out I was wrong.

Chris Squire finally shows his face on “I’m Running”, some sort of flamenco-meets-cast- of-Hair kind of thing. Again Rabin has a few flashes of brilliance on guitar, but really – I don’t know what the hell is going on here! Sounds like a street party scene from a Broadway musical.

On “Holy Lamb (Song For Harmonic Convergence)” Anderson is trying for a Chris De Burgh reflective let’s-all-hug kind of song or something. Squire’s bass is mildly interesting on this one as well, but not enough to make a difference.

Seriously, this is a really bad album. Totally forgettable and all copies of it should have been buried in a time capsule for some future nuclear holocaust-ravaged generation to uncover and ponder. Move along citizens, nothing to see here. One star.

peace

Strange album this one. So many different ratings (lots of 1 star as well as 4 or even 5; meaning that it is a masterpiece) ! It seems that according your YesBackground you would like it or hate it. Since I am a passionate YesFan since 1973 (aged 14) I belong to the the latter category. The only positive point are the vocal arrangements which are quite good. Apart from that, I would say that this album is on par with "Abacab" and that the YesBottom here is reached. The problem is that we are at the start of an awful trilogy of YesStudio albums.

The intro for the title track sounds hard-rocking with some reminiscence of "Owner", but the chorus is quite awful. "Shoot High, Aim Low" is a long and boring number. Almost no rythm and again very, very poor chorus. The last part is dreadful. "Almost Like Love" is more to be hated than loved. Again, another attempt to hard-rock but it is really a ridiculous number. "Love Will Find A Way" is an AOR ballad. The first listenable track of the album (do not expect a jewel though). "Final Eyes" is the best song of this album. At times, we hear the Yes that most of us once loved. "I'm Running" reminds me a bit some songs from "90125" because of short Oriental sections. But globally this track stinks. "Holy Lamb" is a candid song with stupid lyrics, I quote : "At the start of every day, A child begins to play, And all we need to know, Is that the future is a friend of yours and mine". This shows Jon's attempt to reach his peace of mind trying to convinced the world that love is the key to all of our problems. As far as I remember, peace & love started in 1967 and ended in 1969. My only "Wholy Lamb" lies down on Broadway, on Broadway.

"90125" showed definitely a drastic change in the YesOrientation but it did contain some good numbers which is absolutely not the case here. I am not against evolution in the live of a band. Others did that reaching the highs in the new genre they were approaching (Bowie for instance; but I'll discuss this when he will be available for reviews; which will soon take place I guess). Stay away from this album. BY ALL MEANS. One Star.

I hoped that 90215 was as low as Yes got. Nope, instead the faithful are hit with Big Generator. Whereas 90215 had Owner of a Lonely Heart, a hopelesy commercial yet ever so slightly catchy little number, Big Generator creates, nay generates, a black hole where the band's immense talent is stretched and warped before being sucked through to the great unknown. Only Jon Anderson manages to grab a pipe or something as his band mates are pulled into this gaping maw. His vocal arrangements hint at the glory of yesteryear, but they are placed on some of the worst songs from a once great band since Abacab (Genesis would respond to this challenge to authority when they released Invisible Touch, an album that inspires a brief fit of depression coupled with an eating disorder).

"Rythm of Love" and "Big Generator" open the album with banal dance beats. "Shoot High, Aim Low" is a fitting description of this album's effect on me, as after finishing I felt a throbbing pain below the belt and tasted blood for about a week. This song is FAR too long. Yes has crafted much longer numbers, but they were musically innovative and interesting. This sounds like someone's ABBA record started skipping. If the "Holy Lamb" on this disc is the same from Genesis' controversial concept album, then the lamb must have committed suicide on Broadway. Anderson does some very weird vocalization ("singing" is a stretch).

The rest of the songs offer no standout lyrics, vocals, or musicianship. Trevor Rabin, an underrated guitarist in my mind, gets no chance to shine here, and neither does any other member of the band. Anderson's lyrics, usually thoughtful and metaphorical, now are trite pop that are even less good the predominant crap pop of the day. His vocals are also a disappointment. I hesitate to even call this an album. An album contains music; this is a very portable toilet. In a parallel universe, this would be Yes' greatest work. Perhaps then it is appropriate that it forms a black hole of music; it created its own portal to the bizarro world where it will be loved (or hated, however it works there). I would continue talking about this failure of a disc, but the area between the right and left halves of my brain has threatened to take us both out if I keep hurting him with the memory of this.

Grade: F

Big Generator is probably the most controversial release by Yes.

On this release, they display what was a modern soundscape at the time of it's release, catchy and memorable chorus lines in quite a few songs, and what at first may sound like simple and superficial music in quite a few tracks.

There's archetypical 80's sounding synth work all over the place, a guitarist that is given some space for hard rockin fuzz, strong and catchy melody lines.

Beneath the surface, it's still easy to hear that this is a prog band though; but unlike most of their other releases the complexities are more hidden away on this release. The subtle approach is used instead of the prog complexity overkill Yes more often displayed pre 90125.

But when that is said, this isn't a gem of a release. It's not the trash the diehard fanboys claim it is, but neither is it a forgotten jewel or a hidden musical gem.

It's a collection of tracks with varying quality, in various styles - all of them with a distinct 80's tinge to them due to synthwork and production.

All in all an average release.

YES, TREVOR RABIN IS STILL PRESENT!!

After the mega-success of 90125 ( still the most sold YES album as of today) you could only except the follow-up album to sound kind of similar as like the saying ''don't fix it if it ain't broke''. If the ''modern'' cover of 90125 was ugly enough , we haven't seen anything yet. The band surpassed itself with one of the most horrible artwork i have seens so far ( i am talking about the yellow cover as i have seen another one ,green in this case). We are definitely far from anything ROGER DEAN produced in the heydays.

Musically, the band (same line-up) is just using the same formula than in 90125, but not completely! Yes, we have 2 attempts at AOR top 40 charts with ''Love will find a way'' (what a title, not Siberian Khatru anymore) and the hard rocking''Rythm of Love''. Though they would not be as successful as ''the lonely heart'', they will still get good airplay and garnish a little more the bank accounts of our 5 musicians here.

However the rest of the album is not quite that commercial. You have some indigest features like the horrible ''almost like love'' or the industrial ''big generator'', but the rest of the album is DECENT! ''Shoot high, aim low'' is a guilty pleasure and the rest of the album ,all what comes after ''love will find a way'' is highly listenable with yes, YESmoments ,sure not of the caliber of FRAGILE, but ''final eyes'' ''i am running'' are good YESsongs. And the album even ends up with a acoustic solo tune from JON ANDERSON. I wonder about the reaction of RABIN when ANDERSON came up with the idea to add this solo song; not great i am sure.

The story of the king and the former king who wants to be king again!!!

Not great, but not as bad as some people want you to think: a decent 80s pop/prog album. And TREVOR RABIN is a good guitarist.indeed!! 3 stars

Since 90125 sold millions for Yes, the band followed up with Big Generator. This album is basically 90125 Part 2 as it isn't really any different. It is chock full of AOR/pop rock/stadium anthem material with only the very slightest of "progressive tendencies" (notably on Shoot High Aim Low and Holy Lamb). The harmonies are still there, but they seem more "in your face" and louder than they should be. Rabin's guitar work has improved, but the worst part of this whole thing is that the pop-style songs aren't even any good making this an annoying listen of skipping nearly every track just a minute or so into each one. An uninspired mess that should have been labeled as Cinema's second album, as it is far removed from the skilled performances of earlier Yes works. One star for one of the worst albums by a prog band in the 1980s. For completionists only.

Oh my...

Another title that should be quickly disposed of with little fanfare. There's no need to waste must site space with a long review. I can remember my friends and I standing around laughing as we watched the video for "Love Will Find a Way" simply amazed at how far the band had fallen in 10 years, heck, even since Drama. We savaged it back then and I don't see much reason to go easier on it now. Listen to it again and you'd have to ask yourself what they could have been thinking.

I don't hate pop music at all. Though I love prog I am entirely able to enjoy music that people consider empty calorie music or a guilty pleasure. But this album can't even manage that in my opinion. Perhaps I hold them to a higher standard which may not be entirely objective, nevertheless, "no quarter" for Mr. Rabin and his influence on the band that a decade prior released Awaken and Turn of the Century.

As much as I hate to award a one-star review I feel almost a solemn duty to save Yes newbies from potentially making the mistake of exposing themselves to this unfortunate release. My advice is to avoid this album unless you thought 90125 was a masterpiece.

Yes tries to survive the 80s with a pop-prog offering.

Now, I'll say right now, that I am a very big Yes fan, and I do like this album, I actually kind of have a soft spot for it, so I don't think you should dismiss it entirely if you're a Yes fan, just be ready for something very different from their 70s stuff. However, this is a review from a prog standpoint, and as a prog album it's mediocre at best.

Onto the review.

Throw in the synthesizers and get ready for some 80s pop, it's "Big Generator!" One of the most controversial albums this side of the 80s. Now, it's a fact that prog died in the late 70s and would later be ressurected, so the bands that managed to make it into the 80s were going to have a tough time, Yes being one of them, especially riding on the huge hit, OWNER OF A LONELY HEART, off their album "90125". The result is a very poppy sounding album, with tracks like RHYTHEM OF LOVE and the title track BIG GENERATOR having a very average song structure, something Yes usually avoids. It's not all bad, though, SHOOT HIGH, AIM LOW is a great track as is I'M RUNNING, if you can get over the fact that even they have a dominating 80s sound to them. Other tracks, such as HOLY LAMB are totally ignorable, and a couple of the other "love" songs in the middle all seem to run together at points to create a poppy mess.

This album definately is for fans only, and even the fans need to be warned ahead of tme. This is not a bad album, it's just not a very good prog album. If you are looking for a very good post-70s Yes album just skip right to "Keys to Ascention". 2 stars.

NO!

I was 19 and working as a dishwasher when I first heard 'Rhythm of Love'. I thought, "Gee, that sounds like Jon Anderson, but he wouldn't sing for a horrible band like this". This album is an abomination. Let's examine the songs.
1. Rhythm Of Love - An attempt at being heavy pop. 1 star
2. Big Generator - Had this song been more popular, Homer would sing it in place of 'We built this city on Rock n Roll". 0 stars
3. Shoot High Aim Low - Almost tolerable mellow hit. 2 stars
4. Almost Like Love - Almost like music. 0 stars
5. Love Will Find A Way - Another attempt at a pop hit, AAAAIR BAAAALL! 1 star
6. Final Eyes - Tempo slowed way down for this yawner 1 star
7. I'm Running - Hey! this is actually a good song. Very fun transitions. But wait, the chorus...is that...umm...'Tequila!' ? 4 stars
8. Holy Lamb - This song actually goes somewhere...to the next album! Yay. 2 stars for ending this misery.
One good song does not save this album. .75 stars.

What perverted instinct led me to recently borrow an old audio-cassette of this embarrassment from my local library, after pointedly avoiding Trevor Rabin's pop facsimile of Yes for over two decades? I'd like to believe it was simply a masochistic urge to see for myself if the album is as bad as (almost) everyone claims. But in retrospect it was probably something closer to the rubberneck instinct that makes us unable to look away from a fatal highway accident.

And that ugly metaphor just about sums up the entire "Big Generator" experience: hardly surprising for a born-again Yes fan who first heard the band on their "Relayer" album back in 1975.

But let's not compare bad apples to good oranges here. I carry no grudge against the sort of undemanding pop music Yes was playing at the time, which I'm sure can be enjoyed on a strictly superficial level. And I can even feel a measure of sympathy for the group after hearing how dated (and how quickly) the sound of this 1987 album has since become.

I do, however, have a problem with the crass mercenary decision to continue marketing this band under the same name of the very different group responsible for stretching the limits of popular music in the previous decade. Progressive Rock in the early 1970s, and maybe Yes in particular, was always about (among other lofty ideals) the quest for some sort of spiritual truth / harmony / redemption (take your pick). But in the corporate entertainment culture of the 1980s that aim was corrupted into a simple pursuit of cash, always the death of true creativity.

You can hear it clearly on "Big Generator". At its relative best ("Rhythm of Love", "Shoot High Aim Low") the music achieves a kind of flashy grandeur that at least helps to compensate for the lack of any real depth. But at its worst (which is most of the album, including the horribly slapdash cover art, maybe the anti-prog nadir of its kind) the songs present only the sad spectacle of aging rock stars trying desperately (and failing miserably) to remain hip and relevant.

Exactly how bad is it? Enough to suggest that Alan White's pile-driver drum fills might just as easily have been programmed rather than played. Enough to likewise eradicate any hint of personality from the playing of old veteran Tony Kaye, who all but disappears behind an opaque digital curtain of generic synth patches. Enough to make the technically proficient guitar runs of Trevor Rabin sound utterly anonymous. And enough to note how awkwardly Jon Anderson's delicate high tenor fits within the steroid-juiced testosterone of the music (that's a compliment to him, by the way).

Yes wasn't the only ex-prog band unable to adjust to a dumbed-down music market in the 1980s. The commercial success of "90125" kept them afloat for a while, but trying to reproduce that fluke after four long years out of the studio (compare that to the number of quality LPs they released between 1970 and 1974) should have underlined the sad truth that sell-outs of this caliber, even when successful, aren't designed for anything more than a strictly limited shelf life.

Yes, this album is bad-- easily among the band's weakest releases for the numerous reasons discussed above; however, despite its rather ineffective pop-hooks and general mediocrity, I would STILL reach for it before going for Union, Ladder or even Tormato for the simple fact that is "Big Generator" is completley disposable, idiotic pop music. There is a care-free likeability these songs bring to the table which those bloated, messy disasters utterly lack. Big Generator, when listened to knowing that it is not REALLY Yes, can actually be fun; it's just big, dumb '80's pop-- no more, unlike the afore mentioned albums which try (and fail) in attempting something smart and new. Comparing it to the band's iconic releases is folly and a waste of time... this is hardly the same group.

Songwriting: 1 Instrumental Performances: 1 Lyrics/Vocals: 2 Style/Emotion/Replay: 1

Cinema's second album

This album is only slightly less bad than the previous one. Still, this music does not have very much to do with the Yes of old. Indeed, this is not really the real Yes at all. When this version of the band began work on their first album (that eventually became 90125) they were calling themselves 'Cinema' and not 'Yes'. Big Generator continued the in the style of 90125 and both these albums (plus the 1994 Talk album) should, in my opinion, have been released under the name 'Cinema'.

However, this album is somewhat closer to the original Yes-sound than 90125 was. As with that album this is not bad music. But it just isn't the progressive Yes we all know and love. Personally, I get some pleasure out of listening to this. But that is because I am the biggest fan of the band.

Around this time another band started working on a new album. This band involved Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford. They were not allowed to use the name 'Yes' so they called themselves 'Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe' instead. This band is really the real Yes of the 80's! They released a very good, self-titled, album in the same year as this album was released. This album sounded much more like Yes than Yes (read Cinema). I consider the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album to be the first real Yes album since 1980's Drama.

Well, this review is about Big Generator so let's get back to it. If you like 90125 you will most probably enjoy this album too. If you like the Yes of the 70's you should check out the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album first. The best tracks here are the longer ones plus the title track and Holy Lamb.

Good, but absolutely not essential.

Not much to say about this 'sound-alike' album, except we made it this way. Our trenchant criticism of '90125' meant that YES knew they wouldn't keep us as fans no matter how technically proficient they played, no matter how outstanding the songs were compositionally - so why bother?

This album sounds like '90125' but don't make the mistake of thinking it's in any way related musically to that slice of 80s excellence: 'Big Generator' is fairly awful, a cross between hair metal and dissolute, directionless pop-rock. But what makes it unacceptable are the poor compositions, not its sound or its commerciality. All the sweet or complex intros the band came up with can't mask the paucity of ideas here. In the end it comes down to the songs, not the sound or production or arrangements or style, and there are no songs on this album worth listening to. And no wonder: the major composers did not see eye to eye. ANDERSON wanted to return to YES's former gory, while RABIN wanted to go beyond '90125'. In the end, of course, they did neither. Go with a vision, not a compromise by committee, or end up with this sort of thing.

Having said this, I don't think this is quite as dire as some say. 'Shoot High, Aim Low' almost works - and an early demo of the song definitely does work - and there are moments of cleverness scattered throughout the record. And that's it. Move along.

From the beggining i say - not bad. Well is diffrent from the '70's works, no doubt, less inspiring and creative, with AOR influence, but is not a bad record, seriously. It sounds typical for mid to late '80's prog - AOR but has some very fine moments like Rhythm Of Love, Shoot High Aim Low (maybe the best piece from here) and beautiful slow one Holy Lamb. Not very much to add, i know is a controversial album in Yes catalogue, but i like it, quite far from what is Drama , Going for the one or The yes album( my fav albums of Yes), but is enjoyble to me all the way. The progressive music is here on every track but in other form like in early to mid '70's albums. They change the style and grow with the times, because almost every prog band from early days of '70's, in the '80's they were different or entirely other band, in sound, in manner of composing , interpretation. So a good album to me, not something to listen every day or groundbreaking, not by far, but well played and produce. 3 stars.

Twelfth album by british progressive rock band Yes!Oh ...No,this is a sort of joke.It's the second album by new wave band Yes West.If you listen to this album it's just not Yes really.It's weaker that the debut album of Yes West,but it's weaker even by the debut album by original Yes.That means this is the weakest album by Yes up to that time (1987) and maybe the weakest in overall for the band.Good pop guitar works by Trevor Rabin,but that is everything positive about the album I think.Some songs contain boring repeats,which make some of the fresh Rabin's ideas not quite good.This is the symbolic end of Yes West,because the next album is a return for Yes in terms of genre!

I realy liked '90125' . It wasn´t exceptional, but it did mix well the classic Yes sound with some pop sensibilities and gave them a modern arrangement. Not their very best, but good anyway. The same cannot be said of Big Generator. Here those guys went too much over the top. Their techno-pop approach is no convincing at all. The songs are very weak, the arrangements are forced and the gereranl feeling is of that they´re in for the money.

No that the album is a total disaster. Things improve from Love Will Find A Way on. Ok, that tune looks like a an Asia rip off, but at least it works. It is a good AOR song. Final Eyes and I´m Running have a more progressive feeling to them, but still they are below '90125' best moments (not to mention their classic, 70´s stuff). Holy Lamb is a cute little song that is quite diffferent from the rest of the album. And I really don´t like most of the keyboards and effects (too much Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and the like. I´d rather hear the original ones for this kind of music).

I cannot recommend this CD to anyone but completionists, collectors and hardcore fans. Yes released much better stuff, even in 80´s. 2 stars.

The often maligned _Big Generator_ is an underrated Yes gem. I have always enjoyed Jon Anderson's contributions to Mike Oldfield's mid-80's period albums and this is no different, really. Points of reference for _Big Generator_ would be song structures in the vein of Rush's _Hold Your Fire_ or _Power Windows_, Saga's _A Beginner's Guide To Throwing Shapes_, non-radio tracks from the first ASIA album and the better tracks from Yes _90125_ such as Hearts, Cinema, Changes and Leave It. Yes seem to be more assertive on this album, whereas 90125 sounded like an uneasy experiment not unlike Tormato(although, 90125 had a few hits). A return to form with an '80s bent with longer tracks such as Final Eyes (6:20), I'm Running (7:34) and Shoot High Aim Low(7:59) creating the kind of ethreal prog.rock ambiance form the Yes album _Going For The One_ or Jon Anderson's _Olias of Sunhillow_. BIG GENERATOR doesn't sound quite as dated as TORMATO or 90125...but generally fits right in with Yes albums such as _Talk_ and _The Ladder_. Yes are doing as Yes does here...writing excellent melodic rock. It has its proggy moments, and of course it's no _Close To The Edge_, but the songwriting is very strong. Going out on a limb here - but this could be THE Yes neo-prog album and it's as strong as anything Marillion, Pendragon, IQ, Saga or Rush were putting out at the time. Give it another try. 3.5 stars!

Son of 90125, this album took an age to record and release, had Kaye bussed out to be replaced by Eddie Jobson of UK fame, and then Kaye bussed back in again. It was an attempt to reproduce the commercial success of 90125 but does not pull it off at all. In addition, Anderson left not long afterwards (again) in a huff and so led the way for the farcical situation where there were two Yes bands effectively in existence. And we thought that Floyd had the monopoly on crass egotistical nonsense!

The album itself is nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be, but it is, without doubt, one of the weakest LPs the band released.

The start of Rhythm of Love is encouraging, with dynamic vocal harmonies and rather sampled effects before becoming a stereotypical weak pop tune. It has little of the charm that Owner and It can Happen possess.

The title track is equally poor, and could almost be described as a dance/pop/rock fusion. The vocal harmonies are, at best, confused and the backing guitars merely chug along. Very disappointing after the heights reached with the equivalent tracks on 90125.

Things improve with Shoot High, Aim Low, which shows some progressive tendancies when things degenerate again with Almost Like Love which has the band playing almost as if they have overdosed on gallons of speed. This is the central problem with this album - it's not the fact that they play pop/rock, it's very poor pop/rock.

It picks up with Love will Find a Way, which has, as its central part, a nice Anderson chorus line with the first interesting interplay with Squire & Rabin. I'm Running also is a good track, although, as with most of the tracks, it is far too disorganised to merit anything other than a casual listen every now and again. Whereas I revisit 90125 very often, and (as I will state when I review it) Talk is a terribly underrated classic, this just does not hold any interest, for prog or pop fans alike.

The saving grace for me is the final track, and the one that, allegedly, moved Rabin to fury. Holy Lamb is clearly Anderson's attempt to inject some more traditional Yes feeling into the album. Whereas on the predecessor, he succeeded across the whole piece, with this it is only really with this one track which is essentially a solo effort. I adore the Hold the Light sequence of vocals and Rabin at least has the decency to put in a good guitar solo at the end.

This album should only really be purchased by those who have to own every single Yes album, or who really want to splash out on Anderson at his best on the final track. Otherwise, it really is one to avoid, and it augured in the era of absolute high farce as far as band lineups were concerned. That, though, is a story for different reviews!

Two stars to be generous to a band that has given so much pleasure over the years.

The making of this record involved a laborious two years, due in no small part to Jon Anderson's wanting to create more traditional Yes music, and Trevor Rabin's urging the band in a more commercial direction. While it may have been a point of contention, I'm thankful for the compromise, given that this was the time many great progressive rock acts were taking a pop-oriented approach. A fair bit of what's here is inescapably hackneyed (three of the eight titles have the word "love" in them, for crying out loud), and some of the arrangements are atrocious. However, the vocals are just as sophisticated as they were on 90125, and again make up the album's best quality. While Big Generator lacks the consistency of its predecessor, I find myself drawn to certain songs on this album.

"Rhythm of Love" Beginning with a lovely wave of voices, the music very quickly becomes exactly what one might expect following an album like 90125. It is a great-sounding pop track, full of drive and complex vocal arrangements.

"Big Generator" The initial vocals of the title track are clearly a takeoff of "Leave It" from the previous album. Rabin's guitar is extremely crunchy on this bouncy but really disjointed song. All of the instruments seem to be all over the place with no coherence.

"Shoot High Aim Low" I particularly enjoy this song, from it's slightly experimental introduction to Chris Squire's subtle bass groove. Rabin's vocals are pleasing alongside Anderson's. The organ backing from Tony Kaye adds depth to the chorus, which is catchy without being irritatingly so. Rabin's machine-gun clean guitar helps make this one of the best songs here, and an underrated gem from Yes in my opinion.

"Almost Like Love" This track is an eclectic mess. It has a fair opening, making use of heavy synthesizer, but soon turns into a much-too-fast pop track in double time with Anderson sputtering the copious lyrics along the way. The instrumental section is a noisy jumble, and even Rabin's rapid-fire guitar solo sounds directionless.

"Love Will Find a Way" This is somewhat new territory for Yes- in fact, the first time I heard that chamber orchestra introduction, I wondered if my player had changed to a different album. But once the strings are finished after a brisk fifteen seconds, Rabin's clean guitar punches in, and soon the band joins him. Squire's vocals are especially prominent in the harmonic verses. While nothing to write home to mom about, it's fairly enjoyable.

"Final Eyes" Over acoustic and clean electric guitar, Anderson and Squire sing just as well as they always had together. With the bright synthesizer and the interjecting bass, the first part of this song is really reminiscent of "And You and I." The heavier portions are refined, and Rabin sounds great singing during his part. Kaye's keyboards are not lost among the rest of the instruments. "Final Eyes" is a stellar track, one I would daresay ought to please a fan pining for the arrangement and sound of Yes's 1970s output.

"I'm Running" Squire lets loose a growling bass solo at the beginning of this quirky introduction (that inexplicably comes back later)- I don't know what to say about it except that it sounds kind of goofy; I can't help but picture Pee Wee Herman doing his little dance to it. The song itself makes me think of Fleetwood Mac (I could actually picture them doing this song). Had the arrangement been less ludicrous, I might've liked this one more.

"Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)" A wonderful, gentle acoustic song finishes the album. Remove Alan White's heavy, 1980s drumming, and this would sound very much like something from Olias of Sunhillow. It is quite a lovely piece.

Those Yes fans who were horrified at the direction the band seemed to be taking on 90125 would have been equally repulsed, if not more so by Big Generator, the second Yes album with guitarist Trevor Rabin taking Steve Howe's place. 90125 had seen the band return with a more slick and commercial melodic rock approach with prog moments sidelined. Big Generator continues in that tradition with an even more commercial and popier side on display for the most part. Sounds pretty awful? Well much of it is and this ranks as one of the worst albums of their illustrious career though not as bad as the abysmal Union album which would follow I have to admit.

The lightweight Almost Like Love with its thin sounding and sterile 80's production is a classic example of what I dislike about this album. It's an uptempo pop/rock song with even a mock brass section, its only redeeming feature being a half decent Rabin guitar solo. Anyone remember Haircut 100? Yes really! But for the distinct vocals of Jon Anderson it's heading in that territory!

Other tracks in this commercial pop/rock vein are Rhythm Of Love and Love Will Find A Way though do benefit from a bit more musical muscle and stronger melodies and are listenable. Final Eyes starts with the band in largely acoustic mode and thus suffers less from that 80's sound until it kicks off with full band present and turns into more lightweight fluff.

I'm Running amazingly starts with a calypso feel before descending into more commercial rock though admittedly it does contain more time/tempo changes than most songs keeping it marginally more interesting.

And so it goes..with only a few moments of interest to make me sit up and listen but even they are substandard when put alongside classic Yes. Though not what I want from a Yes album I did quite enjoy the previous 90125 which had some strong AOR moments but unfortunately I can find little to recommend here.

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.

One of the problems with this album is that Jon Anderson is not credible as counterpart of Simon LeBon. Commercial doesn't always mean bad, but the title track is nothing more than a bad imitation of the Duran Duran sound, in addition released when the Duran were already on their "sunset boulevard".

Not everything in this album is totally bad. "Shoot High Aim Low" is a good song in the mood of 90125 with some good acoustic/classic guitar. This is immediately followed by "Almost Like Love" that I think is the lowest peak of the album.

The B-side opens with "Love will find a way". A pop song with a strings intro. Quite poor lyrics.The guitar is something already listened somewhere else. Here we are at the same level of GTR, even if Steve Howe is not in the band. "Final eyes" has a bit more of Yes and is a kind of song that we will find later on "ABWH" and on "The Union". "I'm Running" is not that bad while Holy Lamb is just a filler. Better than the A-side, in any case.

I'm sure that the strong fans of yes will enjoy also this poor album (as I did), but I can't reate it more than 2 stars

The second-lowest rated Yes album (that Union isn't the first still amazes me, but hey!).

This follow-up is not only four years late, but it sounds about forty-four years dated. Strange, when 90125 was actually quite modern, flashy and cool. There are some neat little songs here but they are unsurprisingly buried amongst the cheesy and cheesier, almost embarrassing cuts, which retain all the warmth of this record's vulgar artwork. Pink and Yellow have never been so obviously juxtaposed! The listener's vomit will be of similar colours....

Now that is harsh because 'Rhythm of Love' is a respectable opener, in the vein of 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' of course. But while this upbeat bundle of catchiness is groovy and dignified, the likes of 'Almost Like Love' are not; this track sounds like the soundtrack of an American movie about some high-school cheerleaders. Come on guys. 'I'm Running' is undoubtedly the prog effort, and this song I love, with it's latin percussion and strangely timed interludes. Compiling this and the quite lovely 'Final Eyes' onto 90125 (while dropping perhaps 'Hold On' and 'City of Love' from that record) would have resulted in a monster 80's prog album, better than anything those neo-recycling-Genesis-bands would come up with. The rest of the songs here are mediocre and forgettable, sharing genuinely good melodies and cringeworthy production in equal measures.

Not for any non-Yes fan of course, Big Generator does have it's moments. They can be found in the first track, and the last three. I will state again that the cover is easily my least favourite from the band, and potentially from music in general. Roger Dean must have been laughing for days.... A high two-stars from me.

While this is way down on the quality list of Yes albums, I do not believe it is the stinker that many reviewers here have rated it as. Sure, it is one of the poppiest allbums that Yes has ever done, but is does have some very lush vocal harmonies, great production, and a few very good, but not great tracks. And it's way better than the stinkers by Yes' contemporaries, ELP and Genesis.

I seem to be one of the few people here that likes the title track. While not very progressive in structure, Tony Kaye's almost random synthesizer blasts and Trevor Rabin's occasional oddball guitar synth fills make this, to me, a fun song. And the sound definitely is BIG.

I'm Running is the song most like traditional Yes. It has a bit of a island flavor, like Teakbois from the ABWH album. While not a masterpiece, it still provides some prog enjoyment. And Shoot High Aim Low, if I'm in the right mood, sounds good. But mostly because of the vocals.

All in all, I like this album more than "Talk" and "Open Your Eyes". But I can only give it 2.5 stars, which sadly, I must round down.

Big Generator is even less a significant album that 90125 in that the compositions are less interesting. The pop element on this album has taken over completely. The only song that sticks out as being mildly progressive is "I'm Running", which I actually do like quite a bit. Unfortunately, that one song isn't enough for me to give this album more than one star. I've listened to this album many times and nothing sticks out. As I said before, the only stand out track is "I'm Running", and other than that, this album is quite easy to skip over without feeling bad.

I wouldn't recommend this album unless you are a fan of the '80s material by Yes or stereotypically '80s sounding music in general.

90126? As much as 90125 is better than this album, there is nothing on it as good as "I'm Running." This is easily the best thing 'Yes' had done since "Machine Messiah." This is even the best song they did from 1983-1991 (I'm including ABWH in there too). At times this song almost sounds like a hybrid of The Yes Album and GFTO. This song is simply head and shoulders above anything else on this album in every conceivable way. A Caribbean flavour to this track. Begins with some bass playing you wouldn't expect to hear in the late 1980s. Nice mallet percussion. A little bit of organ in this song. When it gets to the short guitar solo after 5 minutes, I have to remind myself two things: 1) this album was released in 1987; 2) Steve Howe is not in this line-up.

Oh, there are some other songs too. Imagine, in an alternate universe somewhere, that Yes released an album in 1987 and "I'm Running" was the *worst* song on it! Well I'm going to describe the rest of the album we have in this universe. Most of the songs are not bad for what they are: late '80s commercial rock. Apart from "Running," "Shoot High, Aim Low" is the best of the rest. "Rhythm Of Love" was the main single from the album. I like the Beach Boys style harmonies at the beginning. Probably the third best song. The title track starts with some "Leave It" like a capella vocals. You can hear the guitar solo from "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" in this song. Is Jon trying to rap in "Almost Like Love"? "Love Will Find A Way" has chord changes similar to Rick Springfield's song "Jessie's Girl."

"Yes" of the 1980s was a different beast than the Yes of the 1970s. Apart from "I'm Running" you wouldn't notice a connection between the two here. Just as Phil Collins did not ruin Genesis, Trevor Rabin did not ruin Yes. Both these bands just had slowly ageing musicians who had to cope with an era where it was more important to get paid than to make any kind of artistic statement. For fans only. 2 stars.

A toxic bi-product of the 80s

I bought this on cassette for a couple of bucks, as I saw it's horrid yellow cover glaring back at me. it had Yes written on the cover so I assumed it would sound like Yes at least. All the boxes could be ticked: it featured Anderson on vocals, check, Squire on bass, check, Kaye on Keys, check, White on drums, check, Rabin on.... hang on a minute, who the hell is Rabin and where is the brilliant Howe? I can deal with Wakeman taking a hiatus but Howe is another thing all together. So I knew I was in for a bumpy ride with this one from the outset. I had read the reviews panning the album, and I had heard Rabin saying on the documentary that this was the most difficult album he had worked on, with a foot note to the fact that Anderson hated the changes in direction and musical differences were creating tension in the ranks. The result is a genuine mess.

The proof is in the music. The commercial pop sound that began with "90125" was now a feature of the band, never to return to the glorious progressive albums of the 70s. They were all but a distant memory, so hoist the main sail and batten the hatches, make way for the good ship new improved Yes, with delightful slices of pop pap at its worst, and massive chunks of nauseating lovey dovey lyrics such as the appalling Love Will Find A Way. You might say "Tales of Topographic Oceans" was in another universe.

"Big Generator" begins with Rhythm Of Love that is almost unlistenable and a cringe worthy moment of the live DVDs. The radio friendly sound was now cemented in stone and it was a complete turn off for a prog band. What prog? There is not a sceric left. It seemed Yes were trying to appeal to a mass market, and as the girls came flooding in to hear this new Yes sound, the old fans exited because the magic was gone. The track Big Generator is drum heavy loud 80s kitsch at its most inane. The tin can drums sound programmed as was everything else in the techno new wave genre, programmed to squeeze dollars out of the teen saturated target audience. The horns are blaring, the harmonies are over produced and the bass is effects laden; in short, it is a manufactured popsicle, dripping with sugar coated lyrics and fairy floss mixing. It sits well with the likes of 80s icons Duran Duran, Pseudo Echo and Spandeau Ballet, except they are designed to manufacture radio tunes for teeny girls; Yes were not so it did not work.

The album is Yes at their worst with songs that are all but ignored these days, perhaps as a strategic move, such as Almost Like Love, Final Eyes, I'm Running and Holy Lamb, that desperately tries to be prog but is actually an oddity amongst all this mechanised noise. If you are in the right mood and you are doing the house work, this album may make a rather infectious little piece of background music. But the problem is Yes was never meant to be background rubbish. It was always the high standard of excellence that drew in the onslaught of fans and grounded the band as quintessential progressive virtuosos. This album totally alienated old fans who were already disillusioned by the previous album, which is a step up from this thanks to 2 killer singles and some inventive mixing. On the contrary this album is a product of the 80s as prog ground to a halt, and unfortunately, thanks to albums like this, Yes are partly to blame for the hiatus in the 80s prog scene.

I can't blame Yes for falling into the trap. It was bound to happen. After years of earning adulation from the prog rock populace but still having the average man-on-the-street give them a brutally honest "I just don't get it" opinion of their art, the runaway success they experienced via their 1983 album "90125" with its #1 Top 40 smash hit "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was no doubt intoxicating. (Even a dedicated fanatic like me found a lot to like about its fresh boldness and figured that neo Yes was better than no Yes.) The group's inevitable collective attitude was "Wow! Look at all this cash! Let's do THAT again!" and anyone who says they wouldn't be sorely tempted to do the same is either naive or a bald-faced liar. Universal acceptance is a powerful, addictive drug and Yes got hooked on it pronto. Touring the record took over a year but it was their most profitable ever and pushed sales of the CD over the 6 million mark. The members of the band were on top of the pop/rock world and they liked the view from up there so their credo became "When in Rome wear a toga" as they started planning their follow-up record, wanting to make sure it'd be chock full of more of the same catchy fare.

Cindi Lauper had a song out about that time called "Money Changes Everything" and it certainly applies to "Big Generator." The story of the strife and conflicts that went on during the two years it took to finish the project is a soap opera so I'll just say that it got ugly and the details are out there if you care to investigate. The gist is that guitarist Trevor Rabin eventually emerged from the herd as the head honcho of the album (after many attempted coups and threatened mutinies) but he erred in steering the boat way too far into the commercial waters that looked so safe and warm. Instead of using the newly-found fame/attention that "90125" bestowed upon them to expand the horizons of the MTV virus-infected public by now rejuvenating their dormant spirit of adventure with a healthy dose of progressive rock, Yes took the road most traveled. I'll grant them this, however. The disc's sound quality is so remarkable that if you were to hear this record from a distance you'd be duly impressed. But a closer listen would reveal that it's no more than a hollow porcelain doll that lacks guts or substance.

"Rhythm of Love" has an alluring Beach Boys meets ELO beginning that's kinda cool but then they strangle the mood immediately with drummer Alan White's hard rock bass/snare pattern that makes the track indistinguishable from the horde of wannabe bands indigenous to that plasticized era in music. In fact, if it'd been any of those other outfits it would've been a breakthrough song but this was YES, for Pete's sake, and I expected more. Jon Anderson sings (as if to the group) "Your charms are frozen/no emotion falling through your arms" and I must agree. Trevor's monstrous guitar tone is compelling at the opening of "Big Generator" and the contrast they present between the airy verses and the heavy-handed chorus isn't blatantly formulaic but I can tell they were intent on injecting the same startling effects that characterized "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and it quickly turns into a tired case of been there, done that. Again the lyrics ring true. "Second nature sacrifice/even if you close your eyes/we exist through this strange disguise," Jon intones. "Shoot High Aim Low" is next and it's one weird booger of a tune. The fog machine-worthy beginning has prog potential but all they proceed to do with it is decorate the droning atmosphere with a lot of state-of-the-art electronic ornaments. Rabin demonstrates that he's got a bagful of fancy licks to whip out but to what end? The words are of the usual Yes roundabout variety but one line sticks out: "We looked around the open shore/waiting for something," he sings. This uninspiring song is significant not for where it goes but for where it doesn't.

The only one without a credit for writing "Almost Like Love" is Alan White and he should be grateful because this tune is foul trash. The pounding snare they had him play is more in the vein of The Blues Brothers than Yes and its "get up and boogie" vibe is beyond embarrassing. Someone should've told them that Anderson's wispy voice and R&B mesh as well as oil in water and saved them from themselves. This horrible mistake of a song is so patronizing it gives me the creeps. It blows. The chamber orchestra opening to Trevor's "Love Will Find a Way" sounds like another respectful nod to ELO and it does help to clear the odorous air. But soon it morphs into yet another riff-based number so predictable as to be indistinguishable from the vacuous pop/rock offerings of Night Ranger, etc. Guest James Zavala's brief harmonica flurry provides the cut's only interesting moment. "It's so hard for me to draw a conclusion," he warbles. Not difficult for me, pal, this is lame. Hard to believe this was a #30 hit single. Tells you volumes about the dank dungeons where musical tastes dwelt in those days.

"Final Eyes" starts optimistically as one of Jon's signature, madrigal-like ditties and then broadens expansively to a cavernous depth, giving the prog monster in me a ray of hope that these talented boys haven't been completely corrupted. You keep waiting for them to screw it up but, to their credit, they allow it to be the inoffensive power ballad it was born to be and don't overdo it. The intro to "I'm Running" is passably inventive and the tune has progressive elements aplenty. Yet don't get me wrong. It'll never be confused with "Heart of the Sunrise" but, all things considered, this is about as good as prog got in the MTV-shrouded 80s and these two cuts keep the album from French-kissing the coral. They end with an Anderson-penned, can't-we-all-just-get-along-themed tune entitled "Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)" that starts out better than it finishes because they stubbornly force the song to include the prerequisite "rawk" aspect that effectively drains it of any and all subtlety. "See the world we started/is it so low again?" Jon inquires. 'Fraid so, my man, 'fraid so.

To be a follower of Yes one must be willing to fly with their Fragile eagles Close to the Edge as well as suffer the humiliation of being soiled by the occasional rotten Tormato and this one leans heavily toward the latter. Despite sporting one of the most banal covers in the history of prog rock, "Big Generator" rose to #15 on the album charts and sold over 2 million copies, illustrating that slick production that made your stereo system sound good always trumped meaningful or challenging content circa 1987, thanks to the infernal "video revolution." Unfortunately, this wasn't to be the last hurrah for this particular version of Yes as they would circle their wagons once more 7 years later to compile the questionable "Talk" disc, demonstrating that the hit single sirens never stop beckoning once you've slept with them and even groups as revered as this one will risk destroying its sterling reputation in the effort to just get one more taste. A pity. One and a half stars.

'Big Generator' - Yes (52/100)

Although I'm part of the clear minority when it comes to my appreciation for the much- loathed 90125 album, there's no doubt that Yes' music became increasingly difficult to defend as time went on. Even sparing the fact they had shifted gears to the point of being virtually unrecognizable, the pop-centric Yes lost creative impetus pretty quickly. Big Generator was released four years after 90125, and two of those years were spent working on it. Clearly, the honeymoon period brought on by Trevor Rabin was over by this point; Tony Kaye and Trevor Horn had been at each other's throats, and Jon Anderson was expressing doubt around the direction the band was taking. It's this sort of artistic division that first sent Yes on the downward slope with Tormato, and Big Generator saw fit to reproduce this scenario with their pop era. It's undeniably a weaker album than 90125, even possibly the first album the band released I might consider truly weak. Much like Tormato though, Big Generator has some strong moments. It's not enough to earn a recommendation, but its enough to deserve some sort of defence against some of the 'worst album ever' comments made against it.

I'll admit, even if my initial instinct is to defend it, Big Generator is a pittance compared to just about everything that came before it. Had it been received more warmly by others, this review would have likely turned out much nastier- such was the case with the terribly overrated Drama LP. I had written a bit of a review about Big Generator Yesterday after my first couple of listens, and much of it agreed with the generally panned reception. Listening to it on the coattails of the far-superior 90125, it was instantly clear that Big Generator wasn't as coherent or effective- if you take a look at the album's recording history, it's hard to blame it. Perhaps it managed to grow a little bit with some more intent listening, but a few tracks really stand out to me now. As much as I cannot stomach the song titles, "Rhythm of Love" and "Love Will Find A Way" are solid pop tunes. The former even has some surprising Beach Boys-y vocal harmonies, which is totally coming from left-field on a Yes album. The chorus on "Final Eyes" is admittedly weak, but the verse is a beautiful showcase for Jon Anderson's voice- the same goes for the mellowed "Holy Lamb" at the end.

"Shoot High, Aim Low" is probably the most impressive track here, and it sounds like something Rush may have released on Presto or Hold Your Fire. There's an exotic and meditative atmosphere to the song that distances it from the more straight-laced pop rock. Speaking of which, "Almost Like Love" is probably the worst song they had put out up to this point- I guess Anderson's weird vocal phrasing is interesting enough, but I'm probably digging for gold in a coal pit at this point. I suppose its a testament my generally contrarian nature, but the song people point towards as Big Generator's only saving grace- that being "I'm Running"- is probably the most irritating song on the album for me. "Almost Like Love" is easy enough to ignore for how bloody middle-of-the- road it is, but "I'm Running" tries to conjure up some of Yes' adventurous spirit. The result of which is a peppy, unfocused mess that somehow reminds me of Ska enough to cringe. I guess it's a sign of hope that the Rabin-era Yes was still interested in pursuing longer songs, but for the sake of Big Generator, they may as well have forgone it entirely.

There's a certain masochism when it comes to reviewing. Sometimes I find myself looking for albums I know I'll hate, in the hopes that it might result in an enjoyably heated rant of a review. Before giving Big Generator a listen, I might have pegged it as such an album. The album art is atrocious, and any LP with a song called "Rhythm of Love" would almost certainly make faeces smell good in comparison. It's really not the case here; call it a guilty pleasure or an outstretched effort to hear quality in one of my all-time favourite bands, I think Big Generator's got some great moments. Other than that, it's an inconsistent record at best; each of the band members seem to have wanted something different to come of it. Oh well, we'll always have Fragile.

BIG GENERATOR is definitely the point where YES jumped the shark. I can honestly say i love 90125 as much as many of YES' catalogue beginning with the first album to that very one, but on this one it is clear that the great decline has begun. Not saying there weren't some good albums after this but it was never quite the same. Having said all that, i actually like BIG GENERATOR and despite it being a substandard album for one of the best bands ever to grace the planet, it is nevertheless a decent listen.

Part of the decline stems from the fact that the progressive pop era of YES which was supposed to be a new supergroup called Cinema had dropped some of the progressiveness that 90125 had. The sound went a little bit more towards the new wave and pop sound and despite the huge hit they had with 90125 they decided it was a good idea to distance themselves from it. Were they convinced at this point that ANYTHING progressive was lethal? Who knows but it probably is more a result of a group of talented individuals just going through the motions having displayed their utmost chemistry together and now just having to fulfill a contract.

Still though this is YES and even though this is not in the top ranking of their output they are quite talented in crafting clever, catchy and interesting pop songs. Upon my first experience i found a few tracks on here very good such as the total pop sellouts "Love Will Find Away" and "Rhythm Of Love" as well as the title track and the excellent "Shoot High Aim Low" which takes a political stance regarding the horrific illegal wars of the US in Nicaragua. It is a fairly lengthy song for this phase of YES and it has a very subdued melancholic sound.

Many tracks on BIG GENERATOR sound rather new wave but nothing on this one sounds as original and unique as 90125. Despite the pop sounds reigning on this one, there are some moments of past glory. "Final Eyes" has some hippy dippy "And You And I" acoustic guitars going and "I'm Running" has some cool proggy time sigs and instrumental prowess despite its calypso type of island feel at the beginning.

This is a decent album despite being a major step down from anything YES had previously done. I actually don't mind listening to this on occasion. Yeah, i know. This is not what anybody wanted to hear from their favorite supergroup in prog history but this isn't really a YES album. Maybe there should be a human rights law at the UN that mandates anytime a band loses a certain percentage of its members it should be required by law to change its name. Couldn't they have called this era of their career MAYBE? Ugh. It is what it is. Not their best but certainly not their worst.

So, I'll put in my 2 cents worth on this one. I feel that too many people have lambasted this album, and, while I agree it is not their best, it definitely isn't their worst. I would consider "Open Your Eyes", "Far From Here" and "Heaven and Earth" easily their worst albums, especially since the last two I mentioned were recorded by imposters. It is true that Yes has set a high bar on many of their albums that if one comes out that isn't quite as good, it can have a rather exaggerated response from the fans.

"Big Generator" does not deserve a one star rating however. While it is true it has two very radio friendly songs in "Love Will Find a Way" and "Rhythm of Love" which are very poor by Yes standards, the remaining songs are still quite decent, and at least four of them are very good at least. "Shoot High, Aim Low", "Big Generator", "Final Eyes" and "Holy Lamb" are all stellar songs which most lesser bands could be very proud of.

Compared to "Close to the Edge", "TfTO", "Relayer" and several others, it does pale overall, but, really? One Star? It is better than that. I know I have rated it at 4 stars because I round it up from 3.5 since I find it enjoyable. But I don't know how anyone could rate it lower than 3 stars.

Big Generator was the first Yes album I owned, on cassette. Here, I'm reviewing the 1987 Atco CD.

Big Generator does not start off strong. The first two songs on the first side are the weakest on the album, although each has its redeeming factors. Lyrically, "Rhythm of Love" is a dumb song - - so is the Beatles' "She Loves You" - - but, like the side-one closer, "Almost Like Love," it's fun enough. The intro to "Rhythm" is good, as is the bridge, in which guitarist Trevor Rabin, bassist Chris Squire, and lead singer Jon Anderson each sing a solo line overlapped by the next vocalist's line. "Big Generator" isn't much better, although I've always thought of it as commentary on the demand they felt to follow up 90125, their prior album and their biggest hit, with more of the same. Speaking of which, the second side of Big Generator opens with another nice-enough, radio-friendly tune, Rabin's "Love Will Find a Way." This song, taken with "Rhythm of Love" and "Big Generator," is what earns the album its reputation among some Yes fans as Rabin-heavy, commercial AOR.

For sure, Big Generator is commercial AOR, and if that's a crime, leader Jon Anderson is hardly an innocent bystander. He and Rabin co-wrote six of the eight songs with Squire, keyboardist Tony Kaye, and in most cases, drummer Alan White.

Generally, the album's songs are sequenced from worst to best. The strongest song on the first side is "Almost Like Love," and the best two songs on the album are the sixth and seventh (of eight) in the running order. "Final Eyes" seems to be a mostly successful merger of separate ideas by Rabin and Anderson. Other than bits and pieces on earlier tracks, "Final Eyes" is the first really Yes- sounding song on the album. This is followed by "I'm Running," the only song on which Squire stands out. It's clear from interviews that Squire's addiction problems were significant at this point, and, in my opinion, it would be another decade before Yes albums once again bore his trademark contributions on more than a single song.

"I'm Running," along with "Hearts," "Solitaire," "Endless Dream," and "Mind Drive" is one of the absolute best Yes songs of Anderson's second era with the band (1983 to 2004). It's a severely underappreciated masterpiece, rarely included in compilations and hardly ever played live - - not that playing it live would be an easy task. It doesn't approach the heights of "Close to the Edge" or "Yours is No Disgrace," but its vocal arrangements equal those of either of those Yes classics, and it is expertly executed, especially by Rabin and Squire.

Anderson's solo composition "Holy Lamb" closes the album. In a strange way, it reminds me of how the "Soon" section closes "Gates of Delirium." Musically, "Holy Lamb" is pretty elementary for a Yes song. But it is a nice compliment to "I'm Running," especially given the feverish way "I'm Running" ends.

Big Generator is not as good as other three-star Yes albums, but in my estimation it's better than two-star albums like Tales from Topographic Oceans and Tormato. It's also both "good" and "not essential," so I rate it three stars.

When I first started listening to Rhythm Of Love with that very hopeful introduction that we were returning to the more progressive Yes, Alan White's drum kit reminds us that that time was already past. In 35 seconds the illusion is over. It is a warning that we are once again facing a new stage of the group, with a strong rocker influence from Trevor Rabin, who is undoubtedly a great composer and excellent guitarist, and who led the group in other ways, such as in 90125, a little more accessible and commercial. And so we find the promoted Love Will Find A Way, a beautiful melody that has little to do with the group's sources and a style similar to Rhythm Of Love.

I do think there are two songs that are very remarkable. One of the best they did at this stage with Rabin, the stormy and powerful Shoot High Aim Low related to war and humanity, with a slow but dramatic development, the best song by far from the album. And on the other hand, we have Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence), with which the work ends, an excellent melody by Anderson, which seemed more appropriate for a singer's solo album.

Of the rest of the songs, the introduction of Final Eyes is interesting, with the voice of Anderson and the acoustic guitars of Rabin, and of the others (Big Generator, Almost Like Love and I'm Running), except for some isolated flashes, they don´t add much value to the album.

Big Generator is a correct job that has more to do with hard rock than with the progressive world.

Whereas 90125 offered an intriguing mixture of commercial touches and brushes with Yes's earlier spirit (with Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson serving capably as advocates for the new and old approaches respectively), Big Generator finds the delicate balancing act on the verge of breaking down. The songs are a bit too sprawling and have a few too many quirky New Age moments and intriguing twists to really be straight-ahead commercial all the way through, even if individual moments within the songs may be simpler and more straightforward, and none of those more commercial moments really have much of a shot of being a new Owner of a Lonely Heart.

If you disliked 90125, Big Generator's not going to win you over. If you thought 90125 was very interesting, you'll probably think the same of this, but might need to give it more of a chance since there's nothing on the level of Owner of a Lonely Heart to grab hold of you quickly.

"Big Generator" is the sound of a disintegrating band that has completely lost its identity.

It's normal for Jon Anderson to jump ship after this album, since he delves into the wrong style and mistakes of the previous "90125" to offer us an unfunny AOR pastiche that doesn't even have the value of offering us a single by the size of Owner of a lonely heart.

Only noteworthy is the skill in Trevor Rabin's guitar solos, and the good bass lines of the always faithful (until his death) Chris Squire (the beginning of I'm Running is a good example)

What could you expect from an album with three songs with the word Love in their titles?

Best Tracks: Rhythm of Love (nice guitar solo) and Final Eyes (the only song that managed to replicate some of the magic that Yes had in the 70s, with nice vocal melodies from Anderson)

My rating: **