Yes West (Rabin Era)

If you notice my nickname you'll realize that I'm a "Trooper" and not a "Generator", but still I consider YesWest as a good artsy 80's rock band. 90125 was fresh and exciting and rather progressive for its time (specially my favorite track, "Changes"). Big Generator was weaker and Talk included two great tracks (The Calling and Endless Dream) but also some uninteresting ones. Rabin was an incredible guitar player, more skilled than Howe from a technical pont of view, and rather creative and emotional as well...

I'm happy with what Yes did with Rabin.  He was the right thing for Anderson and the rest of the guys to add to create dynamic and quality new music (much like Belew did with KC.)

Eh definately naw,have tried to like this version of Yes, it will never be Yes.Dress it up whichever way you want ;West Yes,American Yes, it just isn't Yes.The only redeeming feature is the great man singing.

FragileDT wrote: I HATE that cheesy 80s sound that almost every band had. I didn't think Yes could've fallen off more after the masterpiece of "DRAMA." (even though it wasn't really the same band. At all.) Terrible stuff IMO. Yet I still bought them all.

I had just gotten into "classic Yes" (the era not the album) just before 90125 came out, so when I first heard it, I was primed to be a fan (was also the first time I got to see Yes live). While I certainly agree that the best albums from this band were the usual suspects (TYA, Fragile, TFTO, CTTE, Relayer (my personal fave)), I also have a soft spot in my heart for the Rabin era albums. Kinda lost track of them after Talk, (although did see ABWH live...great!) my interest was renewed in the late 90's when they started playing more "classic" (Revealing Science live...so sweet) stuff live, and Magnifiaction sealed the deal.

All in all, a band that has the staying power of over 30 years is gonna go through changes (pun intended), and if you judge each work on its own merit rather than as a comparison to CttE, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Just my two cents.

Well I never!

Lots of Trevor Rabin fans coming out of the closet, all of a sudden!

Terribly sorry, folks, but I could never STAND the guy, no matter how great a virtuoso (???) he might be. Horrible playing, horrible singing!

Rabid Rabin-era Yes? 'We hates them!'

fuxi wrote: Well I never! Lots of Trevor Rabin fans coming out of the closet, all of a sudden! Terribly sorry, folks, but I could never STAND the guy, no matter how great a virtuoso (???) he might be. Horrible playing, horrible singing! Rabid Rabin-era Yes? 'We hates them!'

This period of Yes seems to be a bit dubious to Jon Anderson- in an interview with Anderson I have, he expressed some bitterness over Trevor Rabin's supposed dominance. Even Trevor Horn, the producer, said that Rabin had been very forceful and the dynamic was affected. However, I believe Rabin and Rick Wakeman are good friends.

I like the Rabin trilogy, especially as stand alone works. 90210 is quite good, Big Generator has some very good moments mixed with some crap, also does Talk, which in my opinion has better parts and worse parts than its predecessor.
I do prefer the classic era, but these 3 records are good.

Every era of Yes has it's highs and it's lows. I like the rabin era as much as any other era. There's still tons of truly enjoyable music to be found.