YES - 90125 (1983)

love the drums on it can happen and sitar sound on that song

tony kaye keys on our song are wild.

I especially like the chorus to "It Can Happen". Kind of a empowered marching sort of beat. I visualize the band with their instruments unplugged and walking forward together in formation on some road while singing. Trickier for drums, but maybe a drum platform that moves! LOL

I'm one of those rare weirdos who first got into prog in the 80s. As such this was the first Yes album I bought. My dad had The Yes Album and I heard that first but 90125 was the first I really got into which might have had something to do with the fact that it was sort of arena rock sounding and I was already into stuff like Journey, Styx and Foreigner. Many years later I probably don't think of as highly of it as I used to but it's still a very good album with what it tries to be and I have to give it credit for helping me get into the band Yes. If it wasn't for this release I probably would still think of Yes as just another weird band from my dad's record collection (I think TYA is the only one he had that could be considered prog). 

^ quite honestly I have never understood this view of Yes. I've seen similar views ventured about the Emerson, Lake and Powell album that was also painful to my ears while 90125 is very souless and lacking any real 'feel' IMO. As soon as I heard Fragile (in the 80's because I was also late to the party) I was sold. The problem was that a lot of musicians bought into the idea that the 70's was a dead duck and the 80's was the decade that was going to put everything right. It took a while before the overproduced and under creative nature of that decade was left in the rear view mirror. 

Psychedelic Paul wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Valdez1 wrote: It definitely brought YES to the Great unwashed masses.  Some certifiable "Hits" for good reason. Yeah, briefly it did. Today it seems like most hardcore Yes fans are those who first got into them in the 70s though. Those who heard this at the time probably got scared when they heard their earlier material.  90125 was the first YES album I ever bought back in 1983, and other than the Classic YES compilation, I didn't buy another YES album for nearly thirty years. Ironically, it was the Relayer album that scared me away from YES in the 1970's, but I love it now.

verslibre wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Ironically, it was the Relayer album that scared me away from YES in the 1970's, but I love it now.  Going for the One didn't reel you back in?

My first experience with Yes was probably hearing songs like Roundabout and I've Seen All Good People (and a few others no doubt) on my local radio stations in the '79-'80 timeframe. I had The Yes Album on cassette. I also had 90125 and enjoyed it very much. As an entire album I never listen to it anymore but a few of the songs are still enjoyable.

Big Generator never clicked with me but it's been ages since I heard it. I should give it a spin.

Steve Wyzard wrote: kirk782 wrote: Also, is that a sitar on It Can Happen or a guitar simulating the sound of one? Everything I've ever seen says it's Rabin playing electric sitar, but I remember hearing a radio interview with him where he discussed having to record it in two run-throughs, because the instrument is too cumbersome for fast playing. Can't find a current source for that quote. The album also credits someone named "Dipak", but I'm not sure if it has to do with song. Here's a fabulous commentary on "It Can Happen": https://www.reddit.com/r/yesband/comments/uw29mf/the_rabin_diaries_1_it_can_happen/

Steve,

I remember an article in a guitar magazine ( can't remember which one) with Trevor Rabin that appeared not long after 90125 came out. It touched on a number of things including the music. If I remember correctly, Deepak Khazanchi ( credited on the original album with just his first name) played Sitar on It Can Happen. But, it's just the melodic line and not the repeated pedal point. Rabin went back and doubled the Sitar's melodic line and added the pedal point. I can't remember if Rabin used a Coral Electric Sitar or if he played his Stratocaster using studio effects to approximate Deepak's Sitar.

I would have to listen to the song again to figure out the actual key, but to give you an idea it's a 8th note line that involves two strings that alternates notes between the ascending and descending melodic line and the pedal point.