90125

I've never understood the hatred of this album from Yes fans. Without this album, I'm pretty positive there would be no YES today. It put them back on the map with an entire new generation of fans. I saw them in concert after this album and there were actually WOMEN in the stands. Trevor Rabin pulled this group out of the morass it had been in during the early 80's and kicked them into high gear. Sure the songs are more poppish (try putting that it your spell checker), but they are better than 99% of the crap that came out of the 80's. As a progressive band, by definition you're supposed to progress through different sounds and head down different paths. I've enjoyed most of the variations the group has gone through and can't figure out why there are so many T.R. haters out there. As much as I enjoy listening to 'classic YES', you can't say, "Honey, I'm putting Relayer and Tales from Topographic Oceans in the CD player for our trip!" without serious repercussions. So, I'm giving an enthusiastic 4 stars to the band for this effort, and thank the heavens it came out, or YES would no longer exist.