That That Is intro

[soundchaser09]

Now im not a huge fan of Keys 1's studio material, a 5/10 overall, but the intro to That That Is features some of the most beautiful guitar work from Steve Howe, I feel it completely outclasses the rest of the song how about you?

[Ceasar’s Palace]

I wouldn’t say outclasses, but it’s a highlight, yes. I think it also exists as a seperate stand alone Howe acoustic. Don’t know which album of his...

[Soundwaveseeker]

I wouldn't say it outclasses either, but it is a beautiful passage and it recurs later in the song. That That Is is one of my favorite Yes tracks of the 90's, and possibly the best track between the two Keys volumes.

It probably does appear as a demo on a volume of Steve Howe's 'Homebrew' albums, but not sure which one either. Some of those blur together. That intro section/movement of That That Is is called 'Togetherness', not sure what it's called on a Homebrew album. He often has different working titles for his demos.
The 'All In All' section and 'How Did Heaven Begin' part are also very nice. I love That That Is, shame they've never played it live. Doesn't seem to be acknowledged in their catalogue, maybe it's the lyrics about crack babies and drive-by's. But I like it better than Mind Drive.

[Chris2210]

I wouldn't say it outclasses either, but it is a beautiful passage and it recurs later in the song. That That Is is one of my favorite Yes tracks of the 90's, and possibly the best track between the two Keys volumes.

It probably does appear as a demo on a volume of Steve Howe's 'Homebrew' albums, but not sure which one either. Some of those blur together. That intro section/movement of That That Is is called 'Togetherness', not sure what it's called on a Homebrew album. He often has different working titles for his demos.
The 'All In All' section and 'How Did Heaven Begin' part are also very nice. I love That That Is, shame they've never played it live. Doesn't seem to be acknowledged in their catalogue, maybe it's the lyrics about crack babies and drive-by's. But I like it better than Mind Drive.

Ditto. It’s more developed later on in the track. I’ve also the feeling it’s on one of the Homebrew albums, but without either listening through all of them or digging out the physical copies and looking at the notes, I couldn’t say which either.

From initially having a problematic reaction to the lyrics and preferring Mind Drive, I’ve come around to thinking “Why lay dead a child's life” is the single most moving line in all of Anderson’s output. Without offering any sort of easy answers to tragedy it does resolve in quite a satisfying way.

I think it’s the most successful ‘side long’ track post Awaken, albeit not without its flaws. I don’t think the Keys material sounds very organic or cohesive in execution and that seems to be indicative of internal relationships at the time. It’s still a great piece of music for all that.

[Soundwaveseeker]

For me it's a toss up between That That Is and Endless Dream for the best post Awaken epic, sometimes it's one and sometimes it's the other. Great sections and passages. Fly From Here is on that level too, but that's more of a song cycle/suite than a 15-20 minute long song, so I often don't count that. It's more of a Rush 2112 than a Close To The Edge.

I think it's time for a new post-Anderson long 20-minute epic track in the That That Is/Revealing Science mold. Not a suite with separate songs strung together in a concept - a 20 minute track increment that reads 20:46 on your CD player. Next album, if there is one, should be the time for that.

[Chris2210]

Endless Dream is just too much of a curate’s egg for me. Bits I like and bits I just can’t take to at all. While it seems more cohesively planned out than the Keys material it also seems to me of irreconcilable parts. I’m with you on Fly From Here - connected songs that are quite distinctive. I like all the constituent parts (even the weird stepchild, Bumpy Ride, is not our of context), but it’s not really a whole in quite the same way.

[Khatrooper]

I wouldn’t say outclasses, but it’s a highlight, yes. I think it also exists as a seperate stand alone Howe acoustic. Don’t know which album of his...

The demo is “Together” on Homebrew 2, using Spanish guitar, synth bass, and percussion. Steve says”This version contains more improvised sections.”

[cybrkhatru]

How did heaven begin?

That That Is -- one of my very favorite 90s Yes pieces.

[Yesjim]

IIRC there is a version on the "Steve Howe Guitar Player" CD that was floating around in the early 90's.

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=46612

[Soundwaveseeker]

Endless Dream is just too much of a curate’s egg for me. Bits I like and bits I just can’t take to at all. While it seems more cohesively planned out than the Keys material it also seems to me of irreconcilable parts. I’m with you on Fly From Here - connected songs that are quite distinctive. I like all the constituent parts (even the weird stepchild, Bumpy Ride, is not our of context), but it’s not really a whole in quite the same way.

Endless Dream has that wonderful anthemic ending section and the Silent Spring section is pretty musically happening. I think the bits some can't stand are the more abrasive Rabin moments, the 'tin Jesus' part, I can see that being kind of annoying. But the atmospheric section after the main 'Talk' theme is nice. Endless Dream is kinda like a 90's Awaken, while the Keys epics look to Tales for inspiration it seems.

The Bumpy Ride part fits in with the FFH suite and it reprises the Madman At The Screen theme. I see a lot of people dislike Howe's Bumpy Ride, I'm not sure why. It serves the suite and album ok to me.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

To me the Tin Jesus and the Crack Time lines are a fun parallel ... over time I'm less uptight about things I found too silly or weird.

Kind of hilarious that any of us think Yes lyrics are anything but silly and weird.

But I hear the Love Shine lyrics and I'm like whut happened

[cybrkhatru]

To me the Tin Jesus and the Crack Time lines are a fun parallel ... over time I'm less uptight about things I found too silly or weird.

Kind of hilarious that any of us think Yes lyrics are anything but silly and weird.

Preach it.

I love my buddies in Total Mass Retain. But I cannot tell you how many people who see my t-shirt and say "What the hell does that even MEAN?" and I get to smile and say "Nothing at all!"

[Homemade Parachute]

I love my buddies in Total Mass Retain. But I cannot tell you how many people who see my t-shirt and say "What the hell does that even MEAN?" and I get to smile and say "Nothing at all!"

My failed weight loss plan…

[Homemade Parachute]

Really happy to read all the love for That, That Is… I've always enjoyed K2A far more than K2A2, which has always seemed a little half-baked and cobbled together from demos or other sources, and nothing on 2 soars like the Agree to Agree section. Be the One is also a really, really strong tune in my regard, and together the two feel pretty much like the band picking up after Going for the One, and better than Tormato, hashtag heresy. Had things turned out differently, and K2A2 been "Know", can't help but wonder what a third album from this lineup have sounded like (and which also, if I recall correctly, would have been unprecedented to have been a third consecutive album from one lineup — I guess they were forced by the laws of god and man to splinter and reform again)…

[Chris2210]

I honestly think a lot of Anderson’s lyrics mean exactly what you want them to mean.

Actually a lot of the lyrics from the classic period are by Howe, but they’ve been ‘Andersonified’. It really isn’t just random. Sentence structures are deliberately broken down and unusual juxtapositions made.

That does a few things. Firstly it’s a break from the frequent banality of pop lyrics (you need go no further than Wetton to see how bad that can get). Secondly it paints images that are more abstract -again a departure from the mundane. That in turn allows a great deal of personal interpretation and a tapping in to reactions and feelings that can be deeply personal. Further - and perhaps most importantly- we know Anderson is very heavily invested in the spiritual - a connection to the divine. So it’s an approach to the essentially ineffable - and a damn good one being so open-ended.

I think Howe’s lyrics are usually pretty sound and so are Horn’s. Anderson has got a bit repetitive, a bit less careful over more recent years. But he was and to some degree still is one of a kind. His best lyrics are in an entirely different league to every other lyricist mentioned. Eccentric yes. But also visionary.