TALK

Having hugely enjoyed Yes' masterpiece 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' and other earlier works, I was somewhat curious to experience something of the band's later efforts. If this album is typical of Yes' work with Trevor Rabin however, I would prefer not to delve further. How can a band that embodies so fully in earlier times the genius of Synphonic Prog, have stooped so low as to attach their names to 'Talk' - practically a synonym for trash?

Fortunately it's not all bad. In 'The Calling' Yes have created an up beat track which cannot but put one in a good mood. There is for example a pleasent guitar solo, and Alan White's loud, uncomplicated drumming is almost bearable. Don't be fooled; this is a far cry from the rest of 'Talk'.

'I Am Waiting' is awful, revolving around one riff more or less exclusivly repeated for a full seven minutes. Allan White's lead-ins are clumsy, his drumming loud and uninspiring. Chris Squire's presence on the track is almost non-existant. The only saving grace for this song are Anderson's vocals, which have a fullness generally missing when sung at this pitch by other singers.

'Real Love' goes on for far too long for such an uninspring pop imitation. This entails much pointless repetition of uninteresting material. There is an incredibly naff electronic pitched percussive sound played at the beggining of the track, heralding Alan White's clumsy lead in and utterly monotonous drum part. Granted, the song does have the occasional good moment, but all things considered, it's little more than trash. The same may equally be said of 'State of Play' and 'Walls', the latter in which Trevor Rabin actually sings. Anderson's vocals are more or less the only positive aspect to much of the 'Talk'; his taking back stage makes 'Walls' about the worst thing present on the enitre album.

Not that it bring any consolation, but 'Where Will You Be' is perhaps a little better. That doesn't mean its good - just slightly less obtuse. Feuturing a nice keyboard opening sequence and interesting percussion, White at least drops his horrible, load, clumsy drumming. The music however, is childish. The lyrics are particularly infantile. The whole song reminds me of 'The Lion King'.

Another interesting keyboard texture opens 'Endless Dream', an extended piece of music, but my no means an epic. Crashing chords are imposed on top of this Hillage like texture, before the tempo picks up for an instrumental passage, at times almost reminiscant of Rush. Alan White's drumming is a little more complex and Squire a little more prominent than elsewhere on 'Talk'. The tempo and volume subsequently drop again, and a gong heralds the end of part one: 'Silent Spring'. Part two: 'Talk', sees vocals first introduced into the piece, accompanied by fairly pleasant keyboard from Tony Kaye. The vocals at this stage are masked electronicly (but not unpleasantly) and can be attributed to Trevor Rabin. Anderson takes over, his naturally high, full voice in pleasant contrast to the electronic Rabin. A rather silly musical passage briefly marrs this promising start, approximately five minutes into the piece, before a guitar solo and breath taking return back onto the main theme restores the music to its former self. The music ebbs and flows, before yet another return to the main theme, Rabin and Anderson's vocals intertwined effectivly. The concluding section to the piece is quiet and peacefull, pleasantly bringing 'Endless Dream' to its conclusion. Sometimes pop, sometimes new age, occasionally just silly, 'Endless Dream' is however a little better than most of the material elsewhere on the album.

Much of 'Talk' is only really worthy of one star. 'Endless Dream' and 'The Calling' might make a case for three, if considered outwith the context of the album as a whole. Perhaps two stars is therefor the most fitting, however I seriously doubt that any Yes fan actually likes 'Talk', so even a two star rating would serve only to mislead. Probably best left then, for rabid completionists - and awarded only one.