Is it time to reassess Yes in the 1990s?

[1yesfan]

I recall the first time I heard LMU was on the radio. Made me some happy. Pulled into a gas station and some dude asked it that was YES, new YES.

[yamishogun]

But the Rabin songs aside, 'greatest hits' doesn't resonate at all with me because I think there's nothing else that could be a hit - even in earlier times.

"Lift Me Up" was at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 for six weeks on their Rock Tracks chart which is maybe a minor hit even if it didn't enter the Top 40.

[rabin105]

The 90s are the second best decade of Yes behind the 70s.

Frum really... I am surprised by this comment to be honest

[Frumious B]

The 90s are the second best decade of Yes behind the 70s.

[Chris2210]

Fair enough, we all have our own reactions. Myself, going all the way back to a stronger back and no internet 1991, without any real sense of whatever the hell was going on in the band, and coming off of the ABWH & Yesyears high, I really liked way more of Union than not. Some of the straighter AOR stuff didn't grab me — Shock to the System, Dangerous — and I'm not the biggest fan of Steve Howe solo acoustic number *as part of Yes band albums*, but there was lots to enjoy, some of which was just awfully fun and sunny in its own way — I Would Have Waited Forever, Silent Talking — and some of it actually quite exciting as it expanded the sonic palette of what the band could/would do — Without Hope, Holding On, Evensong (!), Take the Water… And that's just the ABWH/Cast of Thousands side!

Yeah, I wondered what the hell was going on with all the extra credits and what not, but when the co-producer is credited as a songwriter more often than not, it wasn't hard even in the naive daze of my youth to figure out what was going on. Regardless, I liked it, and still do, a lot. It might sound like its own greatest hits compilation, even (maybe even like Big Generator?), but if it doesn't have the focus of an album like ABWH or 90125, the songs are good, and that's good enough for me.

As you say - our own reactions - and while it's surprising to me those can be so dramatically different, I've learned it's not so unusual when it comes to this band. While Masquerade is probably my least favourite solo Howe piece on a Yes album, in this case I think it's the best track on the album - and I'd forgotten it simply on the grounds that when I think of it I don't think Union, which is strange, but perhaps a mark of how disparate the material is here. I think at least that's one thing we may agree on. I suppose one man's 'expanded sonic palette' is another's dog's breakfast of odds and sods.

But the Rabin songs aside, 'greatest hits' doesn't resonate at all with me because I think there's nothing else that could be a hit - even in earlier times. I think the project was a misguided attempt to produce something commercial or perhaps Hollywood style, heavily edit the 'script' to mould it toward a perceived market. Like a lot of Tinsel-Town celluloid camels, it succeeds most in betraying its art by committee sensibility. As I said earlier, I didn't know it was a Frankenstein's monster of an album at the time, but the roughly stitched together grave parts are all too audible.

Rabin's trio and Howe's solo are the product of a more honed, singular vision. Perhaps the integrity of that shines through or perhaps I just like the noise they make.

[rabin105]

I feel the 90's was an attempt to combine 70's and 80's yes fans

some albums were more successful then others in doing that


that being said when I want to get nostalgic I do listen to the 90's stuff more often then not as that is what i grew up on

Talk being also my favorite yes album of all time due to it being the last album I listened to with my Father who died that year.

if I had to rank them

Talk
Open your Eyes
Keys 2
The Ladder
Keys 1
Union

I feel the 2000's are also an interesting decade as that reads like a choose your own adventure. as yes either released 1 album or 2 or 3 or if you want to get really crazy 4

the 10's also has a lot of great material sadly overlooked

[Homemade Parachute]

I do find the idea that Union, OYE or [insert here] would be more palatable if approached with an open mind a bit annoying. To illustrate the point - as anyone who recalled my posts would know - I'm not the world's greatest Rabin fan. But my reaction to Union before knowing any of the tortuous history was that it was a really poor affair overall - with the exception of the Rabin tracks which I'd assess as fairly good pop/rock.

Fair enough, we all have our own reactions. Myself, going all the way back to a stronger back and no internet 1991, without any real sense of whatever the hell was going on in the band, and coming off of the ABWH & Yesyears high, I really liked way more of Union than not. Some of the straighter AOR stuff didn't grab me — Shock to the System, Dangerous — and I'm not the biggest fan of Steve Howe solo acoustic number *as part of Yes band albums*, but there was lots to enjoy, some of which was just awfully fun and sunny in its own way — I Would Have Waited Forever, Silent Talking — and some of it actually quite exciting as it expanded the sonic palette of what the band could/would do — Without Hope, Holding On, Evensong (!), Take the Water… And that's just the ABWH/Cast of Thousands side!

Yeah, I wondered what the hell was going on with all the extra credits and what not, but when the co-producer is credited as a songwriter more often than not, it wasn't hard even in the naive daze of my youth to figure out what was going on. Regardless, I liked it, and still do, a lot. It might sound like its own greatest hits compilation, even (maybe even like Big Generator?), but if it doesn't have the focus of an album like ABWH or 90125, the songs are good, and that's good enough for me.

[Mr. Holland]

I do find the idea that Union, OYE or [insert here] would be more palatable if approached with an open mind a bit annoying. To illustrate the point - as anyone who recalled my posts would know - I'm not the world's greatest Rabin fan. But my reaction to Union before knowing any of the tortuous history was that it was a really poor affair overall - with the exception of the Rabin tracks which I'd assess as fairly good pop/rock. I'd also place Talk as my second favourite album of the 90s [after Keys and once The Ladder started to pale on me a bit]. My preferences here would surprise me if I'd never heard the music since they'd go against my expectations.

But I find that if something catches my ear [Duran Duran's Ordinary World is a good case in point], it doesn't matter if I think previous work was piss-poor. I like [or don't] what I hear.

Can you stop being so damn sensible?! It kills the discussion

[Chris2210]

I do find the idea that Union, OYE or [insert here] would be more palatable if approached with an open mind a bit annoying. To illustrate the point - as anyone who recalled my posts would know - I'm not the world's greatest Rabin fan. But my reaction to Union before knowing any of the tortuous history was that it was a really poor affair overall - with the exception of the Rabin tracks which I'd assess as fairly good pop/rock. I'd also place Talk as my second favourite album of the 90s [after Keys and once The Ladder started to pale on me a bit]. My preferences here would surprise me if I'd never heard the music since they'd go against my expectations.

But I find that if something catches my ear [Duran Duran's Ordinary World is a good case in point], it doesn't matter if I think previous work was piss-poor. I like [or don't] what I hear.

[downbyariver]

One thing that I feel is underappreciated about 90s Yes is their prolific creation and release of new studio albums even though they were past the era where their music could be expected to top the charts. They managed 5 albums in 10 years- not bad at all quantity wise. I'd be estatic if the band ever returned to that level of output.

Quality wise, I think this era falls beneath the peak decades of the 70s and 80s, but that's to be expected. Almost every band that was popular in the 70s and 80s saw a little bit of a dropoff in the 90s if they were still together. The question is: Was the music still good in general terms even if it couldn't match the almost impossibly high standards of decades past? I feel the answer is Yes. Did it still sound like the band that recorded those earlier albums? I would say Yes to that, too, the essential elements, quantifiable and unquantifiable that make something Yes were there.

There are plenty of good songs to found in that decade's output.

I would even say my two favorite 90s albums are better than my two least favorite 70s albums.

This is my ranking of the 90s albums:

1. Union
2. Talk
3. The Ladder
4. Open Your Eyes
5. Keys to Ascension

Over time, the main change I notice is that The Ladder climbed one spot in my evaluation. In the first few years I had it, it seemed a little cheesy, but eventually more and more songs jumped out to me as being of high quality and I began to rethink that, climbing to the percise middle of the Yes 90s pack.

While Open Your Eyes might not make a top five or top 10 list of my favorite Billy Sherwood albums (i.e. A lot of his non-Yes work is better), I still think it was a pretty creative attempt to reimagine Yes for a new era and that the level of criticism it gets seems uncalled for.

Where maybe my views differ the most from others is that Keys to Ascension might be my least favorite of Yes' 21 albums. Still, "Children of Light" is pretty catchy when it comes up on shuffle. Even the worst Yes album still manages to have some highlights, at least when one isn't listening to them very often.

[Davy]

The one thing that I don't like too much about Union is the way 'I would Have Waited Forever' starts - it just explodes out of the speakers with no warning. No spacey 15 second intro to ease you into it, just KLANGGG!! 'I WOULD HAVE WAITED FOREVERRRRR'. God help you if your volume is up too high when you stick the CD on. That was my introduction to it when I first bought it in 1991.

Jimmy Haun said that they were going for a Starship Trooper effect - the crashing chords and arpeggios - because of Arista.

[madbear]

Talk , The Ladder and Open Your Eyes are good albums. The Keys studio tracks are ok, Union is ghastly. The Ladder tour was fantastic.

[Soundwaveseeker]

I happen to really enjoy Union. Bruford and Levin are great here, as Levin is finally up in the mix. Jon's vocals are fantastic too. Doesn't bother me if it is Jimmy or Steve, or whoever on keys. I really like it! As well as the Yes-West tracks are great... 8/10

Talk has some great moments. The Calling, I am Waiting, Real Love, State of Play, and Endless Dream are all excellent. 7/10

Keys 1, Awesome live tracks!!! I can't stand the 2 studio tracks though, yuk... I remember thinking, after all that time, they finally get together, and THAT is what they did!??? weak....
Keys 2. Awesome studio tracks!!!, The live stuff doesn't sound as good as Keys 1???

OYE starts off great! It's like the return to 80's Yes. But then the rest is patchy. 6/10

The Bladder is the same. Starts off great but also has a couple clunkers... But much better production and sound than OYE. 7/10

The 90's were an active time for Yes and fun to see them back in live action playing songs of old and making new music! They definitely could have used some better management around the Keys period, but it got sorted out...

It's interesting, the ABWH album always struck me as more of a Jon & Rick album to some extent, while what was shaping up to be a second ABWH album - 'Dialogue' wasn't it? - was more of a Steve, Bill and Tony Levin album. 'Evensong' could well have been on a King Crimson album, you have a Crimson track on a Yes album! Union is a fun album. Could it have been better, yeah. Does it trail off towards the end and doesn't leave on an epic note? Sure, but I still like it. Union and Queen Innuendo were my two favorite albums that month, played them non-stop when they were new.

The one thing that I don't like too much about Union is the way 'I would Have Waited Forever' starts - it just explodes out of the speakers with no warning. No spacey 15 second intro to ease you into it, just KLANGGG!! 'I WOULD HAVE WAITED FOREVERRRRR'. God help you if your volume is up too high when you stick the CD on. That was my introduction to it when I first bought it in 1991.

[Homemade Parachute]

Now, gotta disagree with this Dean assessment. Both Keys covers are absolutely thrillin'to me. They introduce the exciting FROZEN VOLCANIC SKIPPING ROCK ERUPTION CONCEPT.

Or the FVSREC if you will. Roger could imagine a spewed lava explosion skipping across the ocean's surface, cooling and freezing midair. Rock splash!

In a million years I could never imagine such a thing.

The FVSREC then is at once impossible but he paints it into life, into possibility.

I'm still not 100% convinced the cover to K2A2 isn't a printers error that the label was all, f*ck it, ship it…

[Gilly Goodness]

Actually I do like the more appealing purple color scheme of Keys 2 over Keys 1's standard blue. Keys 1 cover is merely ok, but we've seen that world before. As far as Roger Dean covers go, I may be getting fatigued with the whole blue sky motif from this guy. Beautiful artwork to be sure, but blue, blue, blue. I think he may not have explored black and pink as the main colors in an album cover design or if he did I may have forgotten about it. Imagine black rock, hewn from eons of volcanic activity, with some sort of pink lights imbedded in the cliff walls overlooking a black walkway of some sort, disappearing behind some pink foliage. Inside sleeve could show some more FVSREC, that would be great.

There was also this one. The back of Keys 1? Can't remember. But dark and moody. No clear blue skies. Mossy. Dramatic. I like when he goes "dark". Like Drama. Asia. Dark and stormy nights. Nighttime snowy scenes like Live in Las Vegas. He should mix it up.