TORMATO

Yes had lost it with this album. The main problem with this album is that most of the lyrics are completely usless from most points and do not reflect anything from previous albums. The music is okay, but the production isn't very good. Thank god their next album was Drama, if it wasn't for that album and the following studio album, Yes probably won't exist anymore today with their popularity. The lineup is pretty classic, Jon Anderson (Lead Vocals), Chris Squire (Bass guitar, backing vocals), Steve Howe (Guitarist, backing vocals), Alan White (Drummer) and Rick Wakeman (Keyboards) which is probably one of the best lineups for yes, the same lineup that created Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973) and Going for the one (1977), but they made this album, which is to say, subpar.

The album starts with a decent opener. "Future Times/Rejoice" is pretty good. The lyrics are a little odd, but some of the best from the album. The music is very good here, though the guitar and keyboard sounds get a little annoying for me. First off, the guitar is very thin sounding to me, and it just dosen't sound like the good old Steve we know. The bass guitar is pretty awesome for this song, Chris is pumping some good effects and good harmonies with Jon and Steve. Alan plays a good military-style drum beat. "Don't Kill the Whale" is a very good non-prog song (in fact, most of this album isn't prog at all!) it clocks in at four minutes, and its filled with some great soloing by Steve, and some cool basslines. The lyrics are really wierd, well, they are great for an animal protest song, which is what this song it. Rick plays some really "different" keyboard soungs on this track, but they sound really cool to me. "Madrigal" is really short, but incredibly sweet. Its by far the best song besides the last track. The lyrics are definatly excellent, and Jon plays the harpsichord on this track! Its song great playing by him, and it makes the track unique. The vocals are very good, and the guitar is very good, not much I can say about this two minute track other than its awesome. "Release, Release" is a different song, its kind of cool though. The lyrics are honestly terrible, but I can stand that, though the vocals aren't great either, the overall music is alright. Chris isn't playing a Rickenbacker 4001 like he has been playing for a very long time. The bass tone he is getting is much more bottom-end, without much distortion or effects like his usual sound. I'm sure it might be his Fender Jazz Bass that he plays a few times around this era. Rick plays some mean keyboards, but the guitar is definatly lacking. "Arriving UFO" is one of the wierdest and worst tracks on here. It's wanna be futuristic sound, and its so wierd. The lyrics are absolutly terrible, nothing very speicial to me, and not very futuristic to me, like the music. The piano should not be in this track, it kind of ruined it a little bit. The vocals are alright though. "Circus of Heaven" is another silly track, the bass guitar and the drums are the only good thing about this track. Everything else is really uplifting and odd. The lyrics are silly and wierd, the guitar is very uplifting and odd to me, its just an odd and silly track to me. I don't get uplifted by this track because of the lyrics, though. "Onward" is a good track, its very sad. The piano into is really depression and somewhat scary. The vocals are very good on this track, and the lyrics are acutally very nice here. The guitar is very good, Steve at his best on this part of the album. "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" is very good, another great track. The music is definatly excellent. The guitar part is great, and the keyboards and guitar are simply stunning for this song. The vocals are great for this song too, but the lyrics, again, are really odd for this type of song.

There are some moments where this album is excellent, really good, and there are a lot of moments where this album is terrible. There are too many terrible spots to give it anymore than a one star rating. I love Yes, but this is the only album I can't stand.