HEAVEN & EARTH

The seventies were many many years ago and one can produce, if one is so inclined, works that mimic the masterworks of that time. Some very good albums arose that way and i do enjoy listening to bands that adhere to the use of vintage instruments and recording techniques, and most of all, the musicianship ethics and free for all spirit of the decade i most love, BUT..those bands did not produce those masterworks themselves and therefore i can accept Yes not being inclined to attempt to produce CCTE 2 or Re- Relayer or TFTMountains..or even anything similar to GFTO or TYA. What i cannot apologize is the fact the band became an uninspired bunch of geriatrics that make albums without really wanting to, without any spirit or inventiveness. I do enjoy most of this pop album and that's why i give it 2 stars, in particular 'Subway Walls' is quite pleasing. But it just isn't good enough, not by a long shot, to merit the hallowed YES stamp on it. At least Open Your Eyes had some spirit to it. The previous effort deserved at least 3 stars. Not this one. And let me finish by elaborating a bit on the performance of the involved musicians. Jon Davison is a good singer, far from having the quality of Jon Anderson he still does well enough..as for his writing skills it is obvious Jon D. does not care much for prog..pop is definitely where he feels at home. Alan White is actually, imho, a bit better here than most of the band's albums since Keys. Steve plays it nice and clean and safe here, very unedgy and bland. I do not think Geoff Downes is a good fit for Yes. He never was. It suffices to listen to the myriad crap he was mostly responsible for in Asia to reach this conclusion.Chris's tone is present but that's it..very basic and average performance from my favourite bass player. The production lends an helping hand to the blandness of the album. 2 stars. To give it more would be highly unfair to the band's back catalogue and to the inspired prog work that fortunately keeps flooding our ears and soul.