It is still an excellent album!

[Whitefish]

Been re-listening to Open Your Eyes. Overall, it is an excellent album.

[Meng]

Nah. Excellent really isn't the word I'd use. The opening track is a stormer - who said Yes can't rock? - but the rest of it ... don't hate it exactly, but if it wasn't there I wouldn't miss it.

And I've never been able to get my head around that 20 minute trip to planet Jon that closes the album.

[Wakey's #1 Fan]

Nah. Excellent really isn't the word I'd use. The opening track is a stormer - who said Yes can't rock? - but the rest of it ... don't hate it exactly, but if it wasn't there I wouldn't miss it.

And I've never been able to get my head around that 20 minute trip to planet Jon that closes the album.
exactly my opinion, good post! :D

[oliasdoug]

I think it's a great and very under-rated album, but there are a few clunkers on it. But I agree, "New State of Mind" kicks major ass. And I enjoy listening to the ambient track at the end of the CD...very unusual and unique.

[90125yes]

OYE should never have been released as a YES album

[gitsy]

A mixed cd but it is still good with I think some great songs such as the title track.

[90125yes]

should have been a biily sherwood / chris squire album

but YES sells so that it why it was a YES album

very rarely played i have to say

[CybrKhatru]

Yeah, it is more of a Sherwood/Squire project.
One of the reasons I initially resisted it was that it was so different.

Now it's one of the things I really dig about it.

The first three tracks, plus Wonderlove, are my faves.

Aren't Yes records supposed to be different from each other?

[shortexchanges]

The production is first rate. My screen name comes from the title song. What really stands out is the vocal harmonies. The ladder and magnification were better products.

I miss new studio output.

[AmericanKhatru]

should have been a biily sherwood / chris squire album

but YES sells so that it why it was a YES album

very rarely played i have to say

I think it was a Sherwood/Squire project at first, which kinda explains the odd sound (by Yes standards). I actually like the album quite a lot. New State of Mind and The Solution (minus the strange 15 minute thing) are my faves off this album. I also like Fortune Seller too.

[somissound]

Yeah, it is more of a Sherwood/Squire project.

The first three tracks, plus Wonderlove, are my faves.



I think its more of a Sherwood/Squire/White -with Jon.

New State of Mind rocks, it always gets me moving!

OYE, Fortune Seller, Wonderlove, and the one about the bluebird, are good too... :headset:

[YESOLA]

When it first came out I was excited becuase I bought it and Keys 2 at the same time. Lots of satisfying music on Keys 1& 2 so I didn't mind that OYE sounded a bit funky.

The title track was the last song I heard form Yes, that I heard on regular radio before I have the CD. I knew it was Yes from the first seconds of it.

I have always liked the first five tracks and one or two others. It's interesting to hear the Consipracy work-ups of the songs without Jon.

[Jonah]

I still think it is a dreadful album. Honestly, if you weren't a Yes fan and therefore will always buy the next release - say, if you just heard it in a shop whilst looking for the Jackson 5's greatest hits - would you prick up your ears and think: 'Wow, must have this in the collection'?
No. thought not.

[Sharp on Attack]

It is not that bad at all. And I found the ambient track with all the vocal harmonies from the rest of the tracks totally groundbreaking. A great idea.

[RickyG]

I still think it is a dreadful album. Honestly, if you weren't a Yes fan and therefore will always buy the next release - say, if you just heard it in a shop whilst looking for the Jackson 5's greatest hits - would you prick up your ears and think: 'Wow, must have this in the collection'?
No. thought not.

Hi Jonah,
While I agree with you entirely, particularly your first sentence, I am really trying hard these days to not say anything bad about any music that I might find to be painfully dreadful, particularly if it has a horrid ear scratching insanely over-compressed "what were they thinking?" kind of sound to it.
Therefore I will refrain from saying anything like that here in regard to the album in question, assuming that I would even think such things about said album.

Instead I will offer good thoughts:
I find "From The Balcony" to be a wonderful little jewel of a YES song. A great Jon/Steve acoustic moment that we get too few of but always are a treasure when they offer it. And I think the production values are excellent on that song.

[marklovesyes]

I like the "Open Your Eyes" album. I just have to get to the skip button before 'Love Shine' starts.

[YESOLA]

I still think it is a dreadful album. Honestly, if you weren't a Yes fan and therefore will always buy the next release - say, if you just heard it in a shop whilst looking for the Jackson 5's greatest hits - would you prick up your ears and think: 'Wow, must have this in the collection'?
No. thought not.

No it's not a must have by any means, but that doesn't automoatically peg it as worthless... but if you are a fan of the band, you normally get it and give it a chance. Being a Yesfan is part of the point. You know thier tendencies and strengths and weaknesses.

There is no question that album is on the bottom of the Yes catelogue, and it's more of a conspiracy project, but a question could be also asked : If you weren't a Yes fan ( not having their previous work to compare) would you call it dreadful?

[Jonah]

Hi Jonah,
While I agree with you entirely, particularly your first sentence, I am really trying hard these days to not say anything bad about any music that I might find to be painfully dreadful, particularly if it has a horrid ear scratching insanely over-compressed "what were they thinking?" kind of sound to it.



I'm so glad you managed to rein yourself in!

LOL

[Earl Grey]

I LOVE the opening track, as well as Universal Garden.

Yes, it is a YES embellishment of a Sherwood/Squire album, but it has it's magical moments ('From A Balcony' was always an underrated track to me, Steve and Jon never sounded better).

Man In The Moon is a little silly, but being honest here, I'm glad OYE is out there. As time moves on, I'm grateful for everything YES has done.

Could OYE have been better? Sure. But the songs that are really good are really good!

I think the guys hit their stride on The Ladder, which is a better representation of this particular line-up, but OYE has it's moments, and when listening to the CD, I'm always reminded of the tour, which was amazing (and which I had 2nd-row/center seats for!).

Earl:yesbird:

[rememberer]

Yes, it is a YES embellishment of a Sherwood/Squire album, but it has it's magical moments

Not that there is anything wrong with a Sherwood/Squire album. All of the Conspiracy stuff is incredible IMHO, as is the material on Union.

If OYE really suffers from anything, it sounds to my ears like maybe it hadn't quite decided whether it was a Yes record or a Conspiracy record and didn't quite manage to achieve the brilliance of either because of it.

I think the guys hit their stride on The Ladder, which is a better representation of this particular line-up

Agreed 110%, great album!

[rmig68]

The production is first rate. My screen name comes from the title song. What really stands out is the vocal harmonies. The ladder and magnification were better products.

I miss new studio output.

I prefer OYE to Magnification, by a long shot. Whereas I feel OYE was two or three songs from being a very good album, I just can't listen to Magnification. It has it's moments, but I've tried and tried and can never warm up to it. It's just blah in most parts.

I haven't listened to one note of Magnification for at least five years, probably more, but I guess I should hear what everyone keeps writing; that it's a great album and the best of their modern era.

...but, then again, I've been through that already, the ol', "With Yes, you have to give it a few listens, etc."

Trust me, I know that, but it just amazes me how much praise Magnification gets.

...I just don't see it.

[rmig68]

I still think it is a dreadful album. Honestly, if you weren't a Yes fan and therefore will always buy the next release - say, if you just heard it in a shop whilst looking for the Jackson 5's greatest hits - would you prick up your ears and think: 'Wow, must have this in the collection'?
No. thought not.

...If I heard "New State of Mind," "Fortune Seller," and "The Solution" for the first time, I'd think it was pretty good music. Some of the rest is OK, but admittedly, there are about three songs that are really bad, in my opinion.

"Love Shine" might be the worst Yes song ever (I hate to write this but I honestly picture The Partridge Family singing it )and "Man in the Moon" just gets to be too much silliness with the "...round and round" stuff. C'mon guys, huh? Not that I'm any reliable barometer, but, man.

Although I kinda dig "Universal Garden" and don't really have an issue with "No Way We Can Lose" in and of itself. The problem there is, when there's too much sugary sweet songs already, then that doesn't help much.

[rmig68]

I think it was a Sherwood/Squire project at first, which kinda explains the odd sound (by Yes standards). I actually like the album quite a lot. New State of Mind and The Solution (minus the strange 15 minute thing) are my faves off this album. I also like Fortune Seller too.

Funny, I just wrote about those exact three songs before seeing your post.

[YESOLA]

...If I heard "New State of Mind," "Fortune Seller," and "The Solution" for the first time, I'd think it was pretty good music. Some of the rest is OK, but admittedly, there are about three songs that are really bad, in my opinion.

"Love Shine" might be the worst Yes song ever and "Man in the Moon" just gets to be too much silliness with the "...round and round" stuff. C'mon guys, huh? Not that I'm any reliable barometer, but, man.

Although I kinda dig "Universal Garden" and don't really have an issue with "No Way We Can Lose" in and of itself. The problem there is, when there's too much sugary sweet songs already, then that doesn't help much.


I think that's the main reason OYE gets derision. The presence of some really weak tracks.

The first five tracks are pretty solid in my view. Nothing monumental perhaps. I like The Solution as well.

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[RickyG]

I think that's the main reason OYE gets derision. The presence of some really weak tracks.

The first five tracks are pretty solid in my view. Nothing monumental perhaps. I like The Solution as well.

Well some of us feel that there are about 9 or 10 really weak tracks on the album.

To my ear, there are things that could have been pretty good (though not monumental as you say), if it weren't for the painful production. For instance I like the way "Universal Garden" starts, but then when the cheesy digital synth "waterfall" comes in it starts going downhill... in terms of sound production as much as anything. It's just so digitally harsh and way over-compressed. Particularly the vocals which are just so squeezed and tightly packed into a small space. I truly and honestly find that sound to be nearly unlistenable. It is only on "From The Balcony" where Jon's voice is allowed to sound like Jon's voice.

I much prefer music that open's a space instead of music that seeks to fill every space. By contrast, say much of TFTO, or even that whole opening movement of CTTE - even with all of the intricate playing going on there is space in the music... there's air around the instruments... the sound spectrum breathes. I prefer it when the music breathes... you know like humans and nature do. The forest may get dense in places but there is still air around the trees... space for the birds to fly....

On the other hand, too much of OYE is like an audio steamroller compressing everything in it's path into flat dense matter.

To be fair, this digital harshness issue also plagues parts of The Ladder.... and the "fill every space" approach also plagues parts of Magnification.... but never the consistent extent it does on OYE. And on Mag, out of all three of these albums, there is more breathing space to be found, more air allowed to move around the instruments and vocals.

So there's my honest and legitmate critique....

(Sorry Jonah, I just couldn't hold it back any longer....! :sneaky: )

[GLee2112]

i thought this was one of the weaker albums, by far. seemed slapped together (and i found out later it was). i like the title track a lot and the ambient stuff at the end. the rest is, unfortunately, rather forgettable. GREAT tour, though. go figure!

[rmig68]

Well some of us feel that there are about 9 or 10 really weak tracks on the album.

To my ear, there are things that could have been pretty good (though not monumental as you say), if it weren't for the painful production. For instance I like the way "Universal Garden" starts, but then when the cheesy digital synth "waterfall" comes in it starts going downhill... in terms of sound production as much as anything. It's just so digitally harsh and way over-compressed. Particularly the vocals which are just so squeezed and tightly packed into a small space. I truly and honestly find that sound to be nearly unlistenable. It is only on "From The Balcony" where Jon's voice is allowed to sound like Jon's voice.

I much prefer music that open's a space instead of music that seeks to fill every space. By contrast, say much of TFTO, or even that whole opening movement of CTTE - even with all of the intricate playing going on there is space in the music... there's air around the instruments... the sound spectrum breathes. I prefer it when the music breathes... you know like humans and nature do. The forest may get dense in places but there is still air around the trees... space for the birds to fly....

On the other hand, too much of OYE is like an audio steamroller compressing everything in it's path into flat dense matter.

To be fair, this digital harshness issue also plagues parts of The Ladder.... and the "fill every space" approach also plagues parts of Magnification.... but never the consistent extent it does on OYE. And on Mag, out of all three of these albums, there is more breathing space to be found, more air allowed to move around the instruments and vocals.

So there's my honest and legitmate critique....

(Sorry Jonah, I just couldn't hold it back any longer....! :sneaky: )

...yeah, what he says. ...that and "Love Shine" make it very hard for some of us to listen to it.

"Spirit of Survival" off Magnification "hurts" too, but specifically the song itself.

Actually, I need to stop. I've written way too many times of my distain for the last three Yes albums. Sonically, though, parts of Magnification sound too compressed to me as well, or something akin to what you were describing. Artificial and plasticky, like a shower curtain draped over the tape heads.

...oh well, so much for my stab at descriptive analysis.

Although, I can't seem to understand, for me, why Yes can't seem to make an energetically and beautifully diverse song such as "Heart of the Sunrise" anymore.

What is it about the years from 1970-1977 that Yes just can't seem to approach anymore?

...and why does that happen to so many bands?

Naively ignorant am I.

Someone posted on the "Yes Elimination" thread something about no song now being newer than 1977. It's true. I can still listen to that era, 25-30 years later, and put on "the newer stuff" very rarely. Good stuff, a lot of it is, but albums like Fragile and Close to the Edge really end up being masterpieces of modern popular music.

[CybrKhatru]

I agree that OYE as an album sounds very compressed. I wonder how much of that was done in the mastering stage.

I wound up winning a Surround Sound copy of OYE, which will play as a standard stereo CD. Although it may be my imagination, I believe it is less compressed than the standard CD version. I'll have to track down an original CD and compare.

[YESOLA]

Well some of us feel that there are about 9 or 10 really weak tracks on the album.

To my ear, there are things that could have been pretty good (though not monumental as you say), if it weren't for the painful production. For instance I like the way "Universal Garden" starts, but then when the cheesy digital synth "waterfall" comes in it starts going downhill... in terms of sound production as much as anything. It's just so digitally harsh and way over-compressed. Particularly the vocals which are just so squeezed and tightly packed into a small space. I truly and honestly find that sound to be nearly unlistenable. It is only on "From The Balcony" where Jon's voice is allowed to sound like Jon's voice.

I much prefer music that open's a space instead of music that seeks to fill every space. By contrast, say much of TFTO, or even that whole opening movement of CTTE - even with all of the intricate playing going on there is space in the music... there's air around the instruments... the sound spectrum breathes. I prefer it when the music breathes... you know like humans and nature do. The forest may get dense in places but there is still air around the trees... space for the birds to fly....

On the other hand, too much of OYE is like an audio steamroller compressing everything in it's path into flat dense matter.

To be fair, this digital harshness issue also plagues parts of The Ladder.... and the "fill every space" approach also plagues parts of Magnification.... but never the consistent extent it does on OYE. And on Mag, out of all three of these albums, there is more breathing space to be found, more air allowed to move around the instruments and vocals.

So there's my honest and legitmate critique....

(Sorry Jonah, I just couldn't hold it back any longer....! :sneaky: )


I agree, compression is the devil and Magnification breathes better.

I don't know why bands see this as a good thing. But like you say some of the ideas are good...sort of like Union some decent ideas there, didn't all pan out like they could of , but for different reasons.

Overall though like I mentioned before, I didn't mind OYE because of the Keys material I was getting to know at the same time, and I liked the production on that.

[CybrKhatru]

I agree, compression is the devil and Magnification breathes better.

I don't know why bands see this as a good thing. But like you say some of the ideas are good...sort of like Union some decent ideas there, didn't all pan out like they could of , but for different reasons.


Often, compression on recordings is a record-company decision. It might not have necessarily been the choice of the band....

[Sharp on Attack]

Well, I've read your posts but my ears aren't as technical as yours. I'm less sensitive to the sound qualities. I do like the vocal harmonies work on the whole album. And that's a YES trademark. And also, I was thrilled to get so much new YES music in a couple of years.

I'm surprised by people who seem to be disappointed that YES can't produce work worthy of their glorious days. Ask Carl Lewis to do now what he could do 20 years ago. Oh surprise, he no longer can ! I accept that time passes and inspiration wans and technical abilities decrease with age. Still, I'm happy to listen to OYE and Magnification. I will be the happiest if I get to hear a new YES album, fully knowing that the new CttE, Gates or Awaken won't be on it for these are masterpieces that can't be repeated. you're asking for something that no band in history has achieved. Some people will say they should have stopped, not me. I'm glad they gave us I'm Running, Endless Dream, Homeworld, Universal garden, In the Presence of, etc.

[Jonah]

(Sorry Jonah, I just couldn't hold it back any longer....! :sneaky: )

It's ok - now just breeeatthheee....

[Write a punch line]

Talk was the end of the road imo, I'm honest to god afraid of the newer Yes albums

[rmig68]

Talk was the end of the road imo, I'm honest to god afraid of the newer Yes albums

I agree. I too feel that was the last Yes album that I could hit play and keep it there till the end. I can't even say that for the whole Key's thing either.

[Jonah]

Talk was the end of the road imo, I'm honest to god afraid of the newer Yes albums

I loved The Ladder, although my enthusiasm did not last very long. I think Magnification is a very good album - a return to some kind of form (excepting the hideous 'Don't Go').

[rmig68]

Well, I've read your posts but my ears aren't as technical as yours. I'm less sensitive to the sound qualities. I do like the vocal harmonies work on the whole album. And that's a YES trademark. And also, I was thrilled to get so much new YES music in a couple of years.

I'm surprised by people who seem to be disappointed that YES can't produce work worthy of their glorious days. Ask Carl Lewis to do now what he could do 20 years ago. Oh surprise, he no longer can ! I accept that time passes and inspiration wans and technical abilities decrease with age. Still, I'm happy to listen to OYE and Magnification. I will be the happiest if I get to hear a new YES album, fully knowing that the new CttE, Gates or Awaken won't be on it for these are masterpieces that can't be repeated. you're asking for something that no band in history has achieved. Some people will say they should have stopped, not me. I'm glad they gave us I'm Running, Endless Dream, Homeworld, Universal garden, In the Presence of, etc.

I don't think equating a world-class athletes lessened abilities because he's older (that's obvious) to Yes is a usable comparison. Carl Lewis' whole life revolved around measurement in 1/10th's of a second. Lose a little there and you consistantly place 5th. Keep adding on years to a person completely relying on physical attributes and you obviously have a coach or TV personality in the making.

Up until recently, I felt most Yes members hadn't lost too much of their ability to play most of their material. I agree that they have lost some of that more recently. Besides, there have been unbelievably great songs written and played on just an acoustic guitar and sung by countless artists over the years. Simple, beautiful, and loved by many.

I'm going back 30+ years where the vast majority feel that Yes created their best work. There is no Close to the Edge or Going for the One of the 90's and 2000's.

I understand on some level why it's happening. Record companies try to gauge what bands should play and wield their influence. Band members change and band members change their philosophies, trends come and go, but just when you think the world has played and written every conceivable song, every day I hear something new and go, "I love that."

It's just been so long since, in my opinion, Yes has created a strong, solid album, start to finish, that I have these questions. If I have to be blunt, it always seems like just when a newer Yes album get's rolling, there's 4 songs in a row that stop the train. Then they finish strong. When we're talking about 3 and 4 guys writing, and being professional, full-time musicians, sometimes it's hard to believe they can come up with so little.

I liked 90125. I liked ABWH, so I don't need to go all the way back to Relayer to feel Yes' creative heights, but, for me, it is going on 15 years since I've really loved an album. Judging by the fact that Yes doesn't play a lot of material from the more recent times, and sluggish sales, that might tell you that it hasn't worked for them on some important levels either.

With the world going through some very heavy times the last 5-10 years, you'd think there wouldn't be a lack of inspiration from which to draw from.

...and again, a lot of me just doesn't understand. Maybe you're right. It's age, but I don't really believe that. I think it's a direction thing.

[90125yes]

Talk was the end of the road imo, I'm honest to god afraid of the newer Yes albums

____--------

More of a trooper then ?

[Sharp on Attack]

Rmig68, please give me just one example of a rock or pop band that did release great masterpieces in any given period and then again 25 or more years later. It has nothing to do with "musical directions" or record companies policies. it simply is impossible. Rock music is based on youth and inner fire, anger and naive arrogance, things you have plenty of in your 20's or 30's but that you no longer have when you're a 60+ grandpa. We should feel lucky we got TALK, KEYS, LADD, EYES, MAG because those albums, though inferior to YES albums in the 70's, are still much better than 95% of the rest of the musical output, particularly in the neoprog a,d metal prog new waves.

[rmig68]

Rmig68, please give me just one example of a rock or pop band that did release great masterpieces in any given period and then again 25 or more years later. It has nothing to do with "musical directions" or record companies policies. it simply is impossible. Rock music is based on youth and inner fire, anger and naive arrogance, things you have plenty of in your 20's or 30's but that you no longer have when you're a 60+ grandpa. We should feel lucky we got TALK, KEYS, LADD, EYES, MAG because those albums, though inferior to YES albums in the 70's, are still much better than 95% of the rest of the musical output, particularly in the neoprog a,d metal prog new waves.

I agree to a certain extent, but you can't discount record company tentacles either, nor, like I say, personal and personnel changes.

Somewhere I did write how it happens to almost every band, so I totally agree with you there.

I just don't fully understand.

Plus, I'm not talking about 60+ year old grandpa's either. That's where I agree age starts catching up. I'm talkin musicians in their late 30's-their 50's too. Surely, by anyone in the working worlds standards, not even far from middle age yet. Hell, retirement for a lot of very hard working people isn't until 65, and they're thinking of bumpin' that up.

[rmig68]

We should feel lucky we got TALK, KEYS, LADD, EYES, MAG because those albums, though inferior to YES albums in the 70's, are still much better than 95% of the rest of the musical output, particularly in the neoprog a,d metal prog new waves.

I don't agree with feeling lucky about that at all. I enjoy some of that, and god bless these guys for touring so long and putting out good music, but I simply don't much care for the last three albums, no matter who created them. I often, very often in fact, hear new music from all sorts of places that is incredible. Most of those bands, though, can't even string a couple of great albums together though they have created some unbelievable music in a wonderfully brief moment in time for them.

Like I said, seems to happen to most bands.

I am a creative person. Even get paid to do it. I understand something about the ADD of creativity. For me, I often leave half done projects unfinished, seem to love a blank canvas (not a literal canvas, I work in video, audio and computer, multimedia) and that clean, blast it out feeling of something about to be started, but I often tire of it before it comes to it's full potential. I'd say, too, that if you're not in an inspiring atmosphere, or don't feel particularly spirited by your environment, you can sour and just want to lay in bed for awhile, trapped in an unhealthy environment.

All these things must seep into the mix over the years as well. You get a little less tolerant, forget the vision, not sure you have the right to tell people (through your songwriting) what the deal is, the focus changes, you change, etc.

Not because you're old, but because you're older. There's a huge difference.

[RickyG]

I agree to a certain extent, but you can't discount record company tentacles either, nor, like I say, personal and personnel changes.

Somewhere I did write how it happens to almost every band, so I totally agree with you there.

I just don't fully understand.

Plus, I'm not talking about 60+ year old grandpa's either. That's where I agree age starts catching up. I'm talkin musicians in their late 30's-their 50's too. Surely, by anyone in the working worlds standards, not even far from middle age yet. Hell, retirement for a lot of very hard working people isn't until 65, and they're thinking of bumpin' that up.

Hey, retirement for some people, particularly many musicians and artists is never, or death, whichever one comes first!

[RickyG]

I don't agree with feeling lucky about that at all. I enjoy some of that, and god bless these guys for touring so long and putting out good music, but I simply don't much care for the last three albums, no matter who created them. I often, very often in fact, hear new music from all sorts of places that is incredible. Most of those bands, though, can't even string a couple of great albums together though they have created some unbelievable music in a wonderfully brief moment in time for them.

Like I said, seems to happen to most bands.

Of course there's the subjectivity thing at play here... as there are a good number of us here who feel that "Magnification" is a YES masterpiece - all the way through, excepting one or two of the shorter pieces. Back in the classic period you only needed about 40 minutes of music for an album. Many of us could cut out several of our not so favorite Mag tracks and have a masterpiece album worthy of standing on the same sacred ground as the 70's oeuvre.

One of the good things about the LP was that it forced bands to trim the fat and focus on perfecting the best tunes.

And of course there are more than a few fans around here who think that TFTO needs to be trimmed down to a single album, that it is bloated with "filler" and sub-par music..... (as sadly misguided as they obviously are in such views.... :sneaky: )

And then there are those who think that "Talk" is somehow a masterpiece or "the last great YES album"...... :dunno: ;)

[rmig68]

Of course there's the subjectivity thing at play here... as there are a good number of us here who feel that "Magnification" is a YES masterpiece

True

One of the good things about the LP was that it forced bands to trim the fat and focus on perfecting the best tunes.

True

And of course there are more than a few fans around here who think that TFTO needs to be trimmed down to a single album, that it is bloated with "filler" and sub-par music..... (as sadly misguided as they obviously are in such views.... :sneaky: )

I think some of the best parts of TFTO are found in the meandering, symphonic areas of The Remembering, because they emmerse you in the ocean, and set up some great upbeat moments later. The whole Yin Yang, contrasty thing I loved in older Yes material.

And then there are those who think that "Talk" is somehow a masterpiece or "the last great YES album"......:dunno:;)

Great album, I'll leave it at that.


...I am one who claims to be able to steer Yes into a dimension that produces unbelievably and dauntingly,yet commercially successful, beautiful music; could manage the band, write their lyrics, write strikingly moving music, sing, play and produce all new music for them, produce, arrange and promote their tour, but.......


....just can't seem to get the multi-quoting thingy.:pat:

[kingfisher1031]

Believe it or not my favorite track on OYE is Love Shine...a very fun track. After that Fortune Seller (great bass), New State Of Mind and The Solution all rock. I've never liked Open Your Eyes (too busy and disjointed for its own good), Universal Garden (never takes off), No Way We Can Lose (too simple), Man In The Moon (too moronic), From The Balcony (too wimpy), and Somehow, Someday (a rehash of O'er).

[gitsy]

Man In The Moon (too moronic)

Your comment made me laugh. a bit harsh maybe but it ranks as one of if not the worse song Yes have produced (imhi).

Having said that I love the title track.

[90125yes]

..and what was this hidden track stuff all about

hardly inspirational

[jaynote1]

I, too, just listened to it again for the first time in ages, and i am once again filled with both awe and disappointment.....really, I like the album, and it was nice to hear it again(almost like getting a new Yes album!).....the production is a little too slick, too Yes-west, if you get my drift.....other than that, its very listenable, and it shows a more pop side to Yes than weve seen since 90125....I am well aware of the dislike this album has generated among Yes fans, and i do see their points....The album certainly is no GFTO....but, taken for what it is, i can sit and listen and sing along and enjoy a bit more Yes.....my two cents.........

[Faceintheplace]

The more I think about it OYE reminds me a lot of the Who's It's Hard album. With both, there are some good tracks but also some really bad filler and you can tell both were done in a rush in order to have something to promote while on tour.

[yesman1955]

YES toured this album, I bought it and yes like others there were parts of this album I didn't like but like any Yes' music it grows on you as you listen to it. I saw them In a small venue Union Hall here in Phoenix which had once been a High School Auditorium. There were no bad seats in that house. I was blown away as I thought I would never see them live. I soaked in every minute. And I felt like the luckiest man on earth to have heard RSOG played live. I never saw it when it toured the first time. My heart/chest vibrated to the music and I would say it is one of my happiest moments. . .

[Faceintheplace]

The OYE tour certainly was a great thing. I won't argue that. The show I saw in '97 in Toronto on that tour is one of my favorite Yes shows I've seen. The excellent performance of Revealing Science wad defenitley one of the big highlights, as was the standing ovation it recieved after it finished.

[Borris]

Some interesting points in this discussion. I agree the over compression isn't too good. The production is too 80's.

The lack of significant keyboards is one of the main problems for me, it just lacks the colouring that keyboards give. But I think the material is fine, not great. But the goofyness of Man in The Moon actually endears it too me. It is primarily a Sherwood/Squire album, they weren't working as much as a unit as they should have.

I much prefer, ABWH, Keys, the Ladder & Magnification, but OYE is a nice album that i like to listen to every so often.

I think the points about ongoing creativity are interesting and it really is an issue in the pop and rock world. But I can think of exceptions Phil judd made Mental Notes with Split Enz in about 1975 which i think is a great album and recently he has done two excellent solo albums Mr Phudd and His Novelty Act and Love is a Moron. Brian Wilson has recently done an excellent album in his 70's with That lucky Old Sun, true his voice isn't what it was but it is still an excellent album, amazing arrangements fabulous melodic and harmonic play, great twists, changes and hooks.

I don't think getting old and losing some speed in your chops is a major point, good music isn't just about speed of chops, I also have nothing against adding studio enhanced chops if is what the music needs.

As for Yes I also think that Keys, the Ladder and Magnification are all worthy additions. I would feel a gap without them, they don't have that focus of CttE, but I can listen to the Ladder with intensity and have a continued sense of Joy throughout. I like the way they incorporate some new musical ideas like, To Be Alive as well more classic Yes tracks like Homeworld. I think these later albums are possibly more open hearted than classic Yes too, they really give me a deep sense of happiness, I think Jon is mainly responsible for that. Chris and Steve do great playing that that is integral to the success of the music. Igor's keyboards on the Ladder are good enough so i don't mourn Rick's absence too much. Some of my favourite drumming from Alan is on Keys, he is consistently good on these later albums.

[MorningGlory]

this Album Opened my eyes! I had so many doors open while it played, What can I say.. Critics should find another site to use for their own purposes...

[Alpheratz]

This is one of the few Yes albums I hardly ever listen to. Apart from Universal Garden, which I think had the makings of a classic, and From the Balcony, which is at least pleasant, it just doesn't sound like Yes to me - I found it a major disappointment.