KEYSTUDIO

Easily Yes most satisfying and inspired album since Tormato (yes, I´ll be dammed, but I love that record!). After the good, but incharacterisctic, Talk, the classic line up reunited (sans Bill Bruford, but I you can´t have everything, right?) and the magic was back. For a long time I thought the only good thing Keys To Ascension produced was a terrific video that I own for a long time. I ddin´t bother to listen to the album for fear of another disappointement. Recently I decided to face it and got the Keystudio album, the one that has only the studio tracks of 1996. And I was amazed of how good the new stuff sounded.

Ok, this is no Close To the Edge or Fragile, but the chemistry is still working when those guys do reunite. It´s been a long, long time since I heard an Yes studio album that has such strong, progressive and convincing tunes. And they don´t really sound retro: the arrangements, the production and even some song strutures are quite modern and slightly different, but the results are inequivocally Yes. It´s a great pleasure to hear them doing a 74 minute CD without any fillers.

Even if some tracks are better than others, none is crap. Wakeman´s keyboards are a bit subdue in parts, but still they have the old feeling, while Howe and Squite are shining all over the place. The former is indeed in great form, using very well his great technique for subtle effects and doing a fine team work. White´s drums are also much better recorded than on Talk. His playing is much more looser, organic and progressive. Anderson´s voice soars with confidence.

For a Yes fanatic like me, it was a great discover that I like to hear from beginning to end without skipping a single track. I thought I´d never do that with their post 70´s output. Listen and judge for yourself

Conclusion: best Yes album since their heydey in the 70´s. A CD that will remind everyone of what they are capable of when the right line up gets together. Without any soubt Yes is bigger than the sum of its parts. A great find, albeit a late one, that I´m proud to have in my collection. Rating: something between 4 and 4,5 stars. Highly recommended.