Relistening Union

[RABARKS]

After leaving it alone for many a months I'm giving Union another spin.
What I noticed so far?

1) It's still a puzzle how much Howe there is. I understand from all kinds of sources that there's very little. But it all sounds Howey to me. But then again, when I first heard I Would Have Waited Forever, I was sure I was hearing Squire, while in fact it's Tony Levin....

2) Where's Wakeman? I'm sure he's there on I Would Have Waited Forever, Angkor Wat and Silent Talking but the rest is very anonymous, standard keyboard playing to my ears.


3) Last but not least, there's some good music here. Good songs, well played (by whomever), well produced. Period.
(I think...?)

[brotherofmine]

I agree RABARKS I have said on many places in this place I am one of the few here who LOVE Union!

[CybrKhatru]

I've always enjoyed Union, even after finding out about the politics surrounding its recording. There is some very strong material here, and there's no denying the greatness of the tour which followed it! Maybe a few other tunes would have benefitted from live performance (Miracle of Life, The More We Live, Without Hope, I Would Have Waited Forever...).

The truth is: sometimes "special" things must be done in the recording studio in order to make a releaseable album. Having a supporting cast IMO is far preferable to the endless "auto-tuning" that goes on today....

--Matt

[marklovesyes]

I Would Have Waited Forever
Shock To The System
Masquerade
Lift Me Up
Miracle Of Life
Saving My Heart
Evensong
Angkor Wat
Take The Water To The Mountain
Give And Take

are all good songs. The rest I can do without, although they are O.K. background music.

I always thought the best songs are the Yes West stuff, only to later find out that Jonathan Elias ruined the ABWH tracks. No wonder.

[pianozach]

I always thought the best songs are the Yes West stuff, only to later find out that Jonathan Elias ruined the ABWH tracks. No wonder.

Ruined?

Or made them listenable?

[MrZuLu]

OMG... I just found my Union Program from the Orlando Show!

[Melissa]

I bought it last fall and listened a little. [I'm buying everything in order. Just got talk.] My initial reaction was negative. Just gave it another couple of spins and my opinion is softening. Sometimes familiarity doesn't breed contempt. Anyhow, I'd love to wind up liking it.

[nitrus]

LOL, today, on April 1st, I made a fool of myself and listened to all of Union! :-D 'Twas fun...-D But just today...

[Parish]

Listening to "Union" is the aural equivalent of getting detention in school...

[nitrus]

Listening to "Union" is the aural equivalent of getting detention in school...

Nah, a detention doesn't have Lift Me Up and The More We Live. But if they invented a detention with those, the two would indeed be equal...:)

[cinderella]

I like the Union album.









(But then I'm an enigma.)

[Rick N Backer]

I loved it when it first came out. At the time there was very little Yes about and then there was a flood of material. The Yesyears box set and video came at around the same time and there were the wonderful Union shows (saw all three at Wembley) so it was very much a resurgance of Yes after a few years of .........silence. Union even got into the top 10 in the LP charts here, so it was a big deal for those of us who were still fans! Remember that the last real chart activity was 90125 (BG didn't do much here and there was no tour either), and so it had been a good few years since we'd seen anything from the band itself (not including ABWH)

It all seems a little paradoxical that this album is one the band seem to universally hate. The tour was panned by critics as it was seen to be a bit of a circus, yet it all sold very well and they looked like they made a few quid. The shows were amazing. Fantastic setlist, brilliant spectacle of the revolving stage (again) and so on. It was the last time Yes appeared in the UK until the OYE dates in 1998.

There was no internet back then either and Yes were still a mysterious bunch of heroes about whom we knew relatively little. There was no p2p file sharing, bootlegs were very rare and difficult to find and all I had from the show was a program, some b&W photos from a camera I sneaked in with and some great memories. Very much the end of an era in many ways.

Listening to it again today it does seem a bit dated in places and some of the good music is buried in a sea of overdubs. My favourites are the YesWest pieces, especially Miracle of Life - I feel that some of the ABWH stuff sounds like half-finished ideas somehow in comparison and Steve wasn't allowed to really shine through on many of the ABWH songs - I can't quite put my finger on it - and that probably explains why it all came together in this way in the first place.

Overall, not the lemon many people may suggest, but a good example of corporate interference.

[djcub]

OMG... I just found my Union Program from the Orlando Show!

I still have mine from the Houston show...

That was actually the only time I got to see them. I wrote a review in "Forgotten Yesterdays" under the name Ted.

[AmyK]

I did relisten Union recently, and being I had at one time voted it "least favorite", I had wondered what was bothering me about it. It seemed to not be the songs or the performance, but the sound quality.

On another post I revealed my solution. "Graphic Equalizer". Tweak up the low end bass, and turn down the 7-10k high end to defeat. My amplifier also has a 10K filter which I turned on. The results were awesome. The tinny qualities and overdubs were softened creating for me a listening pleasure. I took a media grade marker and made note of the tweaks on the CD, and now I'm happy to say it gets regular enjoyable listening.

To all out there who didn't like this one give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

[illusion]

I'm of the rather different opinion to most that the Rabin/Squire tracks are brilliant, and I'd have loved to hear a full album of them.

Can take or leave the rest.

[AmyK]

oops, tried to delete an accidental duplicate post

[orpheus]

I really like Union. It got me back into Yes after a whole lot of years and helped me through a hard time.

I was like rediscovering a childhood friend

[Faceintheplace]

Union's one for me where what I like on it I like alot and what I strongly dislike on it (Dangerous, Angkor Watt) I hope I never have to hear again. I used to strongly dislike Saving My Heart too but I've warmed up to it a bit. I still don't think it's that great on the album but the Union tour versions I've heard I don't mind. Union does have what I think is one of Yes' best 90's tracks, The More We Give Let Go and listening to the bits of it I can get into brings back nastoligia for the early 90's to me now.

[Yesed]

Been listening to Union alot recently and found that its a good album with quality playing and sound. The live stuff from the tour is great especially Shock to the System. Would love them to do it live.

[moe712002]

Have always loved Union and loved the tour even more. Never understood why it got such a bad rap at the time. Some great music.

[taximan]

I really like Union. It got me back into Yes after a whole lot of years and helped me through a hard time.

I was like rediscovering a childhood friend

I too, echo orpheus's sentiments,when Union was released I was going through a very acrimoniuos split with a partner. Some of the songs softened the blows,I listen to it now & wonder what all the fuss was about,regardless of it's bad rap Union has a special meaning for me.

[luckeydoug1]

Some of my all time favorite Yes songs are on Union:

The More We Live/Let Go
Lift Me Up
Miracle of Life