Is 90125 the most underrated Yes album?

And maybe the more rock than traditional prog moments on the record didn't do it a lot of favors with some long time Yes fans.

Will it go down as one of the greatest in Yes history?

Maybe not. Glad it's there though. It kind of breathed some different life into the band.

 

 

Seriously, next to the KTA material, 90125 does happen to be the post-Drama Yes album I like the most.

It seems underrated because there are many proggers and also old Yes fans who hate it. 

For me it's a great album. (but I like Union, too)

All of which are great albums. 

I think not. It hasn't hold as well as some of the classics because it was too much of a pop album from its time. The song Cinema held up well but that's because it was composed when the band's intentions still were to do progressive music. All of the fans that "grew up" with that version of Yes will disagree with me on that but, most of us who were around for "Close To The Edge" forth know a more adventurous brand of Yes.

90125 is a good pop album with streaks of progressive but it is not an essential album to the Yes experience. As a matter of fact, it feels out of place in regards of the rest of the catalogue (same goes for Big Generator and most of Talk).

I will agree with brainstormer in the sense of Tormato being the most underrated album. It seems that 1978 was a straining year on progressive rock acts. Genesis came out with "...and then there were three.." which the band members dismiss today as one of their weakest (I tend to disagree. After all, they are the same band that came out with "Invisible Touch"). Tormato to me has the most incredible performances that Chris Squire has ever put on an album. "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" has to be one of the best instrumental moments the band has ever had.

Perhaps the conditions from which the album was produced weren't the best and most fun. Band's will tend to relate those experiences to what they think of their albums. I know that was the case with Genesis' ATTWT. Phil often speaks as how much he disliked the album but in reality it is a good album its weakest piece happens to be their first big hit ever ("Follow You, Follow Me"). I think they actually did a great job considering they just lost a huge contributor (Steve Hackett).

The members of Yes don't have a great recollection of the recording sessions for Tormato. Given that, plus the fact that the music tastes were changing in favour of punk and more of a techno sound, Tormato never had the chance it deserved at the time. However, in time the album went platinum which is not easy for an album that wasn't really a commercial piece to begin with.

90215 was Yes more commercial effort ever as it shows by its sales (triple platinum). The downside of it comes not from the sales but from the way the music held with time. To me, it is a reminder when MTV played music. Catchy tunes that are almost danceable. Something reminiscent of radio and people not really familiar with the music from Yes' illustrious past.

The album was a reflection of the industry at the time. It wasn't too soon after when JethroTull came out with "A", a synth-heavy version of the band. Yes and Genesis found new life at the time in doing pop music. Genesis was able to keep it up until almost the end whilst Yes pop stint lasted for a couple of albums before they resorted to go back into a less radio-friendly format.

If there is one thing that's very wrong with Yes, it is that for the last thirty or so years, they have seen themselves as a business more than a band. Therefore, business-like decisions are made which aren't necessarily the best thing for their creativity. Hence, no more Jon, no more Rick and not even Oliver (whom I really liked filling his dad's shoes).

Trevor Rabin came in and went out of Yes as a business decision. These decisions are made to the benefit of the band's income but, as it happens with anything artistic, emotional inspiration is the real driver and motivator and when that is gone, you loose something big. 90125 made the band the biggest monetary payoff they had ever seen but, when people talk about Yes, they still talk about "Close To The Edge' or "Roundabaout" and both are world's apart from "Owner Of A Lonely Heart".

That's my two cents anyway.

And why do you think Atlantic "suggested" that hey called the project Yes? Far from the truth? I don't think so. The band wasn't called Cinema after all. Rabin was supposed to be the new lead singer until management objected to it. Isn't management the business branch of a band? The whole reason that the name Cinema was dropped was because it didn't make good business sense not to capitalise the leverage from the Yes brand. Also, Yes didn't split because of the direction that Downes and Horn were taking them. As a matter of fact, that's exactly the direction they've taken today. They split up because Trevor Horn didn't want to be in a band any longer he took a turn in his career to become a very well known record producer. That was the catalyst for the band's disintegration at the time. So, as you see, my statement is not only far from the truth but closer to it than what the popular version may be (whatever that is).