OPEN YOUR EYES

Nowhere near essential, yet nowhere near what I was thinking. The melody and other factors are through the roof here, which is why I like it enough to give it four stars. Coupled with a clean, excellent sounding production, what's not to like?

My fave tracks are as follows:

Man In The Moon: A great guitar line, coupled with massive sounding harmonies, make for a catchy tune. It also seems to reach back to the Wakeman years (somewhat), with that well-played organ.

The title track gives me goosebumps. Despite some clumsy lyricism on Anderson's part, it flows and comes together nicely, which is always a good thing. Again, strong guitar melodies MAKE the song.

Wonderlove is, I feel, masterful. Off-kilter drums, swirling guitars and thudding bass make for a great tune, and when you put Anderson's glass-clear, crystalline voice atop it, you get a great song.

New State Of Mind has a catchy beat and some more excellent vocals from Anderson and company.

The arrangements are another thing I like. It doesn't harken back to the 70's...it's not supposed to. The music is tight, catchy and streamlined, but not overly simple. I like it!

Dream Theater once said The 90's bring new questions...new answers to be found... and that fits in nicely with the music presented here. This was a new era, full of possibilities, and I feel Yes took full advantage of the capabilities offered to them. It's a fun-sounding disc, and at the end of the day, I feel people are too quick to judge. You have to give all records a chance, poor, excellent, or mediocre.