Have people warmed to this album over time?

[soundchaser09]

Personally I think this album has a few songs (To Ascend, Light of the Ages and Subway Walls) that work well, but overall is still one of the worst yes albums- not a bad record per se, but for Yes' standards very low on the list. My opinion hasn't really changed since release, have any of you learned to enjoy some of the material here more over the years?

[Olorin]

Right after it came out, I listened to it a lot, I guess trying to will myself into liking it. I think at that time, I thought it was ok, not very Yessy and maybe more like Air Supply, but I didn't dislike it. A few weeks ago I listened to it for the first time since that era, and I was shocked. It is very, very weak, far and away the worst album in Yes' catalog, and a sorrowful swansong for the great Chris Squire. I think the only two songs on it that are halfway decent are the first and last songs. I think I've only listened to the Quest twice since I got it and haven't formed an impression yet, but it can't help but beat the phenomenally low bar set by Heaven and Earth.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

As with all Yes albums, I only listen to the songs I like. In this case it means it’s a lovely (extended) single.

[Gary Betts]

There is far enough great music out there to worry about this below par release. To be fair it’s not all bad the opening track and closing track as already mentioned but apart from that I struggle.

[Gilly Goodness]

Never got through it initially. It was a step too beyond.
Then one day had it playing in the background as I read Obama's autobiography "A Promised Land" and lo and behold the sea parted and I walked into a wonderland of subtle, pastoral prog. The Game was emotional. BA, TA,LoA,SW....all had their charms. Chris sings a lot . Warmed to Juano. It's more in my wheelhouse than loud,crunching "look at me, look at me" corporate Rawk'n'roll.

[Grey Wolf]

No.

[luna65]

I can't say that I have, and I've given it many chances over the years.

[RelayerI]

I liked around a half of it when it came out, perhaps a smidge more, and felt the same about Quest. Still do - there's a damned good album across the two of them.

Both come above stuff like Yes, TAAW, OYE, 90125, BG, Drama and FFH on my favourites list.

[Chrisklenox]

I liked around a half of it when it came out, perhaps a smidge more, and felt the same about Quest. Still do - there's a damned good album across the two of them.

Both come above stuff like Yes, TAAW, OYE, 90125, BG, Drama and FFH on my favourites list.

It blows my mind when people say the first two albums are not great. To each their own, I suppose. They are solid classics in my home and get lots of play.

Heaven and Earth has definitely warmed up to me over time. Like some others here, I really like about half of it. The rest is ok. I would rather have it than not. Like most Yes albums, it has it’s own vibe and it makes it hard to directly compare it to any other single Yes album.

[SunshipVoyager]

Perfectly pleasant, indifferently mixed and as dull as dishwater.

[Mr. Holland]

Judging from the many comments over the years I think the only way people would warm up to this album is if they put it on fire...

[Soundwaveseeker]

Never had a problem with Heaven and Earth album, but it's not without its flaws. I know it's a lesser album, but I can still enjoy it for what it is. It's a strange listen. It has a watery, wispy sound if that makes any sense. The drums are too low in the mix, production is paper-thin. Something off about the album. The songs still have the melodies and tunefulness found on all Yes albums, but perhaps a bit more in terms of emotional content. There is a wistfulness and melancholy to some of the material, like To Ascend, Believe Again and Light Of The Ages. A bittersweet vibe going on here, but not necessarily because it's the last album with Chris before he died. Lyrically at least three or four songs deal with some sort of nostalgia or looking back at more magical times. I noticed that element when I first got the album in 2014. It's the saddest Yes album.

The album gets a lot of stick from Yes fans, and true, it lacks the arrangements and razzle-dazzle of their best work. Very lite on the sections and bursts, but high on the melodic content. I don't find anything to actively hate here, though I do agree it is a weaker effort. But not really in the songs themselves, just the arrangements or presentation or production. Yes changes around, it's in their fabric. I guess this is the Yes soft-rock album in the same way 90125 was kinda the AOR/Journey-type album or Relayer was the fusion album. They just went for a more laid-back album that time around. I would almost call it their Yacht-rock album if it weren't so sad. Something is still off here, but still plenty to enjoy.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

but high on the melodic content. I don't find anything to actively hate here

The melodic content is the part I actively hate. O, there are melodies, obviously. But to my ears they rarely get passed nursery rhymes. Seriously, take any song from The Ladder, and they’re full of hooks and themes and sub themes, and a lot of them you haven’t heard a million times before. You rarely get that on Heaven & Earth. That’s a treasure trove of cliches. Is it that bad? Yes it is. End of rant.

[pianozach]

Perfectly pleasant, indifferently mixed and as dull as dishwater.

I, sadly, have to agree about it being "indifferently mixed".

I have a remix made by a Yesfan that brought up drums in the mix, and re-EQd the bass, and it is far more listenable.

[Homemade Parachute]

No, I haven't really warmed to it (but in Canada, is anything ever really "warmed"?), but I have found its purposes, as I've said before: it works ok for me as background music when working, where other albums just wouldn't (and conversely, it doesn't work on my walk *into* work, where something like Union or OYE fits the bill much more). Almost eight years on, and very little of the songs seem memorable to me, although that might be a part of just getting older and not being able to differentiate new music so much any more, it all just kind of blends together. Although The Quest is much more successful in this regard, so kudos to it. So I won't call it "terrible", but more inessential, or unobtrusive, although that might be even more damning for a rock and roll band… Say what you want about King Crimson, it's not unobtrusive!

I think if the band had been more prolific in the 2000's, it might be easier to see this album as part of a deliberate plan, but as only the second album in, what, 12, 13 years? and the first album to be newly written material, the first with Jon Davison, and the last album with Chris Squire, gives it a weight it just can't hold up. Now, who knows what the band had been thinking of at the time or what their plans were — probably not a seven year gap between albums.