FLY FROM HERE

A fairly good try at attempting to recapture the spirit of classic Yes - this is 2011's 'Fly from Here', the legendary prog-rockers' twentieth studio release. Few bands get to release this many albums, which from one side, speaks about the significance and the creative spark of this particular behemoth of a band, but from another, hints at the fact that the vastness of such a catalogue will certainly contain a couple of stinkers, amongst the more stellar releases. 'Fly From Here' lies somewhere in-between this fine line of being very good and very bad, and it kind of is both simultaneously.

A unique lineup is in place for this record - alongside Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan White, we also have vocalist Benoit David, most well-known as the singer of Canadian prog rock collective Mystery, and a Yes tribute band named Close to the Edge, obviously replacing the hardly replaceable Jon Anderson, former keyboard player Geoff Downes, and former frontman Trevor Horn taking care of the production; Finally, there is Oliver Wakeman contributing keyboard parts to some parts of the record.

Essentially a six-track album, 'Fly from Here' opens with the 24-minute six-part epic title track, based off on music by Oliver Wakeman, and further developed by Downes and Horn (and to a lesser extent by Squire and Howe), who are responsible for the fantastic suite that is the big winner of this 20th studio album by Yes. This is the closest that this lineup of the band comes to emulating, or recapturing the spark of the cerebral, classic Yes sound - gorgeous melodies, both quirky and mind-blowing instrumental parts are present, the vocals are lovely, the song is engaging, fun, each member is at the top of their game, and the end result is simply beautiful! Perhaps some would argue that 'Fly from Here' is not on par with something like 'Ritual', or 'Close to the Edge', or 'The Gates of Delirium', but it certainly is a fair competition. Then comes the second half of the album and this is where the problems start because it is either unlistenable, or plain boring and forgettable. The shorter songs here ruin the otherwise phenomenal experience of the title track: 'The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be' is a pleasant AOR-tinted song, Chris Squire's vocals are quite enjoyable throughout the whole album, and also on this song, but it is still a slightly nappy composition. 'Life on a Film Set' is weird, 'Hour of Need' is just a bad Yes song, 'Solitaire' is a Steve Howe solo piece (and do we really need it here?) and 'Into the Storm' should definitely not take seven minutes to go through. With all of this being laid down, one can conclude that this album is worth hearing for the epic title track alone, some might also like the shorter songs, some might not; They are not the highlight of the record, not of the band's discography. A fair album overall, certainly containing some excellent moments, and some weaker ones.