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Full Disclosure :

I've been a huge YES fan since I first heard The Yes Album back in 1971. Some of my most favorites are Close to the Edge, Drama and Big Generator. I've seen the band live twice with one of the concerts being the Union tour.

Production :

As mentioned by many others this album is somewhat of a throw back to the 80's sound that YES had. I found it a little thin and lacking in the richness of previous recordings much more in line with the Buggles I Am a Camera, which YES did a much better version of. Sure the band draws on the YES conventions of Drama era guitar sounds but overall it feels bland and uninspired. Excessive use of reverb and tremolo on the keyboards to give the dreamy effect wore thin by track 3. Most of the percussion seems lost in the mix except for the snare. Squire's bass gets the best treatment and is the lone star of the rhythm section.

10/20

Song Writing :

This is another area where this album falls short. Overall the song writing sounds more like they just went through parts of the Drama and 90210 albums and picked pieces here and there to interject into the songs. Perhaps the well has run dry. It sounds more like a YES version of an ASIA album. And if this is thought of as a follow up to the Drama album, considering the personnel, it pales in comparison. This recording leans far to the pop side of YES and turns its back on the truly progressive music YES is mostly known for.

11/20

Originality :

This is a hard one, while YES is most definitely an original band but this particular recording draws too heavily on the segments of sounds and songs of the past to be truly original. But since there are a few key original YES members absent this may explain why. Even though YES has undergone many personnel changes and rotations in the past this the songs on this recording are mostly forgettable as a result.

8/20

Performance :

YES are a group of extremely talented musicians individually as well as in group form. They play well enough but for the fact that it all sounds uninspired. Like they're playing music they don't really believe in. I certainly appreciate Geoff Downes as a keyboard player but his work on Drama is far superior, as is most of the rest of the band. I'm not overly impressed with Benoit David's vocals even if he is a Jon Anderson imitator. Most of his parts appear to be heavily overdubbed and harmonized to give a choral effect. The odd times I hear a solo voice I'm thinking it might be Trevor Horn even though Benoit is credited with lead vocals. This begs the question, could YES still be thought of as YES if the vocalist didn't sound like Jon Anderson or is that such a part of the YES mythos that any other vocal styling would necessitate a change of band name? Since the music here is more pop than prog I find the performance to be, for lack of a better term, lazy. There also seems to be a real lack of emotion conveyed in the music which it present in most other YES albums.

12/20

General Impressions :

Yes, I did invoke one of Progs most hated albums (Love Beach ) by another of one of my favorite bands at the beginning of this review because for me that's what this recording represents. A complete and total break down of what the band has produced during its varied career. More like an obligation to produce or an expectation than an inspired and creative endeavour. When the last song finally ends I'm left hanging there wondering if there should be more although to be honest, I'm glad there isn't. This album is a huge disappointment given the amount of time since their last recording. While I'm willing to concede they didn't spend that entire decade preparing this album it sounds like they didn't spend all that much time at all on it. YES needs very badly to redeem themselves in my eyes if they aren't going to be relegated to the status of a self tribute band.

8/20

Total = 49/100 (49% of 5 stars)

2.45

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