FLY FROM HERE

Regardless of whether you became a fan of Yes, when they pioneered progressive rock music in the early Seventies or when they reinvented themselves as successful pop-streamlined rock band in the Eighties, you have probably not been satisfied with their output over the last 20 years.

In their attempts to satisfy their artistic ambitions, their customers, their labels and/or to make a living, Yes has meandered between the unexplainable ("Union"), and attempts to revive either their Eighties' success ("Talk"; "The ladder") or their Seventies' heroics ("Keystudio"; "Magnification"). No doubt, there have been enjoyable moments captured during many of these works and most of their albums are still hands down above much of the other musical output that we seem to be blessed with these days.

But, where are we left with their latest offering "Fly from here" and how do we value and opine on a new record from our heroes in 2012? Do we dare to compare the new material to the old? Do we have to? Given our own experiences and expectations, can we even think of an unbiased review or would we want to, if we could? Would we look at "Fly from here" different, if Yes were a band of fresh unknown faces?

Ok, I have no answers to any of these questions, but here are my random thoughts on the new record:

Easy listening, a feeling of airy lightness in the title song (Part 1)

The title song suite is really nice, but they are really more interconnected individual songs similar to the second side of "Abbey Road", rather than a longer composition such as "Close to the edge" or "Gates of delirium")

Love the Hammond organ at the end of FFH Part 3 (very late Sixties; Tony Kaye is still alive somewhere in there!)

Grand entry into FFH Part 5 (think Fifth Dimension meets Nice; "Hey, wait a minute wasn't that one of Mr. Anderson's visions for Yes?!?")

Well produced, clear sound (courtesy of Trevor Horn)

Really happy they still make music (every line up has brought enjoyable moments into my live)

I could easily live without the Steve Howe guitar solo (the term "filler" comes to mind; the solo stuff seemed to make sense in the context of "Fragile" but here it seems to interrupt the flow and feels like an outlier. And believe me, I say this while I am still enraged that Rolling Stone did rank Steve only #69 among the top 100 rock guitarists of all time; "Where they thinking??")

I could easily live without the Chris Squire sung "Man with no use" or something like that and not because I mind his singing but because it is such just a weak and forgettable song (think "Union")

"Drama" lite?? Nah, more like Buggles'-Phase-Yes leftovers revisited in 2012

Just wondering, will I still listen to this record twenty years from now with the same awe that strikes me when I listen to "Tales from topographic oceans" today, almost 40 years (!) after its creation? (Am, I really that old? "What happened to wonders?")

Great energy and drive in last song "Into the storm"; they still have it if they want to...

2.5 Stars

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