90125

This was the new Yes, and I must admit that I didn't enjoy the different sound as much at first. I have been revisiting all of the post Drama albums and am glad I have done so. It may be more polished soft rock that lacked the grit the earlier Yes works had. I am not the first to say that I think, but it is better not to compare this to the Yes of before. This is a good album and I think a lot of people underestimate the performances on it. The good song formulas are there, strong arrangements, melodies and instrumentation and the dueling vocals are brilliant. It is well produced and fresh sounding, a lot better than Tormato. Concerning some of the individual tracks, I have never been overly keen on "Owner of lonely heart" but it is made better by Anderson singing it. "Hold on" stands out more, it is essentially arena rock, but there is improvement again in my opinion with "It Can Happen" which is one of the best, an interesting song with a very memorable melody. The sitar/guitar riff is great. "Changes" is the most complex piece on the album. It is another highlight for sure. Trevor Rabin's guitar playing is well worth listening out for in the instrumental passages and it keeps the excitement up. "Leave It" actually has some good multi-layered arrangements in it as well. For those who did enjoy the old Yes more, "Hearts" is on a more epic scale, and the rock guitar parts are great. Three solid stars for this as a whole. There is lots of variety and energy in the songs, some songs don't work as well as others, but it's worth going back to if you didn't like so much the first few listens.