FLY FROM HERE

"Fly From Here" is the 19th full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Yes. The album was released by Frontiers Records in June 2011. "Fly From Here" sees quite a few lineup changes as original vocalist Jon Anderson has left the band because of health issues and been replaced by Canadian singer Benoît David and keyboard player Geoff Downes makes a return as Oliver Wakeman has also left the ranks.

With a new vocalist on board you´d think Yes would sound very different from the Jon Anderson led version, but that´s not exactly true. As it turns out Benoît David has a voice that´s very similar to the voice of Jon Anderson. Slightly less hoarse but otherwise very similar, so the music on "Fly From Here" actually sounds unmistakably like Yes. The centerpiece of the album is the six-suite 25 minutes long title track which opens the album. It´s also the most interesting piece on the album as the rest of the album don´t quite live up to the quality of the title track. At least not if you like Yes when they are most progressive and not when they are AOR friendly.

It´s no surprise that the musicianship is outstanding, the songwriting professional and the Trevor Horn production polished, layered and clean. "Fly From Here" is overall a very decent Yes album and allthough it´s not nearly as adventurous as their "classic" releases I think it´s one of the better post 1980 Yes albums. A 3 - 3.5 star rating is warranted.