KEYSTUDIO

If you're like me and have made one too many forays into the most recent generation of Yes--read, bought a lot of CDs but have received diminishing musical returns--you may view Keystudio as "the one with Mind Drive", and possibly one or two additional keepers.

Mind Drive is a solid song, with a heavy 7/4 intro/outtro and a pleasant, if just a little cheesy, verse. It may not truly be classic Yes, at least according to most of our definitions, but it does sound like it at times, with Squire cutting loose, Howe getting in his shots, and Anderson leading the way, with plenty of that perfectly imperfect Yes vocal harmony.

I also enjoy Be the One. It's definitely in the vein of Yes' newer positive psychology perspective, but because of the catchy melody, the nice middle section, and the overall low levels of cheesiness (tacky synths, etc.), this one gets me, and I get it. We all have at least some recent Yes that can get us interested again I hope!

Children of the Light is a nice closer, if only for the soothing atmospherics in the final minutes with Howe working his magic on the slide.

That, That Is has its moments--you'd sure hope so with 19 minutes!--but Howe's nice contributions throughout are not enough to keep me involved for the duration.

It was definitely a suboptimal, perhaps hamfisted, way to release this material, but there still apparently is a demand for Yes material--even the stuff that probably isn't all that great. I have to admit I'm still pleased if I can just get a few nuggets to resonate with me, and in that regard, Keystudio delivers.