FLY FROM HERE

'Drama' being my favourite Yes album ever, I had great expectations about its line-up reunion (sort of)...and they were almost fully fulfilled: although I prefer the former, I must say that this later release is an outstanding effort!

Thanks to Trevor Horn's production, its sound is definitely compacter and more solid than the previous albums, and its quality grows with each repeated listening. I belong to the rather infamous "Open your Eyes Appreciation Society", and so I don't care much about suites clocking at over 15 minutes...and I privilege songwriting over technical ability, so I don't complain about the lack of complex keyboard parts. And 'Fly from here' displays some fine songcraft, rich in hooks, opposed to 'Magnification' or the 'Keys to Ascension' pair, for instance.

Talking about David replacing Anderson: his voice is definitely pleasant, a nice compromise between Jon and Trevor Horn.

That said, let's move on to the songs.

The 'Fly from here' suite is definitely the masterpiece of the album: the 'Overture' provides a strong welcome, with its 5/4 theme, suggestive chord progression and powerful orchestration, somehow reminiscent of 'Talk's 'Silent Spring'.

Then comes 'We can fly': if it weren't for David and Squire's vocals, you could hardly tell it apart from an Asia or Buggles number...a GOOD Asia o Buggles number, I mean. As someone pointed out, once in a while the lyrics DO make sense...and this provides some added value to the songs, starting with this one. The vocal harmonies blend together very well and the mood, the chords and even the light chorus outbreak (which will prove useful in its reprise at the end of the suite) define a song that's pleasant to the ears, and easy to be remembered.

The next section, 'Sad night at the airfield', has a Floydesque flavour, mainly thanks to Steve Howe's acoustic picking and electric slides and glides and Geoff Downes' keyboard layers: the melody line is very good, especially in the chorus part. Chris Squire's playing is fascinating and timbrically rich as always, and Benoît David provides a good dramatic delivery, with vocals that from time to time resemble Gareth Jones from The Reasoning.

I consider 'Pt. III - Madman at the screens' the highlight of the album: the irregular rhythm, the strong beat, the unusual chord progression, combined with Horn's production and the vocal orchestration make it the closest connection with 'Drama'...it's almost a pity that the songwriting credits involve Downes and Horn only...I particularly love the verse, and the bridge (on notes that sound like they were taken from 'Awaken'), ornated by tubular bells! Very well done, folks!

A quieter section leads to 'Bumpy ride', in my opinion the least successful part of the suite: its grotesque structure and the guitar antics it displays have probably been conceived that way to lighten the overall dark mood of the suite, but to me it's a sort of square peg in a round hole. I would have expected a longer section to follow, before the closing part.

The last section is an obvious reprise of the main theme: it starts just like Asia, it carries on just like Asia, and it closes just like Asia, adding little or nothing to the ensemble.

However, the whole is superior to the sum of the parts, and I really consider the 'Fly from here' suite to be one of the best tracks by Yes (and by Asia, btw... :-)) in recent times.

Moving on, we come across a Chris Squire composition: 'The man you always wanted me to be', which atmosphere brings us back to the days of 'Going for the one' and 'Tormato' (and also 'Fish out of water', his 1975 solo album), featuring his first lead vocals on a Yes album. A light ballad, it takes a few runs growing little by little, but in the end it turns out to be a very nice song (though lesser in comparison to 'Onward'), with a noteworthy bass line, especially in the outro (which strongly reminds me of 'Run through the light').

Next up, the second highlight of the record: 'Life on a film set'...it starts slowly, echoing ancient songs like 'The Court of the Crimson King', with many twists and turns in the rhythm pattern in the second half (introduced by a vocal harmony that sounds like the one from 'Roundabout'), building layer upon layer until the grand finale. Great acoustic guitar landscape by Howe and magnificent bass patterns by Squire, in a track that clearly is a Buggles outtake, but an astounding one!

The following couple of songs have been penned by Steve Howe alone: I'm not particularly fond of his compositions, and as a matter of fact they took more than two runs to grow on me, but I must say that they perfectly counterbalance the other tracks with their light mood. I must also state that 'Hour of need' features the only proper keyboard solo on the whole album (courtesy of mr. Oliver Wakeman), and a nice one. David's vocals sound definitely more like Anderson on this track, and the overall feel once again takes me back to 'Going for the One' and 'Tormato'.

The solo piece 'Solitaire' continues in the tradition of acoustic Howe showcases, without adding anything particular: to be clear, this is no 'The Clap' or 'Mood for a day', but it is nevertheless relaxing and pleasant. I would like to see him performing this live, since the last time I saw him (august 2007 with Asia) he impressed me negatively playing several wrong notes and even playing an entire song in a wrong key throughout...

'Into the storm' seems to me 'On the silent wings of freedom part 2': far from being a downside, this must be the most classic-Yes-sounding track on the whole album, and is easily my third favourite on par with 'Madman at the screens' and 'Life on a film set'. Here Benoît David provides his closest Jon Anderson impression, without hitting the high notes the previous singer was renowned for (and was also often annoying because of), while his bandmates perform like clockwork bringing the album to a suitable ending.

The bottom line is: this is a GREAT album, full 4 stars bordering 4,5! I'm eager to see them live: maybe this time they will finally give us 'MACHINE MESSIAH'!!!!