The press release from their web page: http://yesworld.com/2021/07/yes-ann...zVnAEzUHWr2S6KHQaWClHUgaR5wVNFarBMMK29_Xi-Rls 11 songs, with a 3 track bonus disc. Roger Dean artwork. Coming October 1st.
Yes!! I’ll be getting this. Thought the Arc of Life album was great so hoping this will be even better
Think this is where my collection of Yes studio albums will become incomplete. Come on. It's a Steve Howe solo album with a guest singer and orchestra. And I stopped buying Steve Howe solo albums after #2.
I can’t help but remain optimistic about this release...can’t be worse than H&E, and if it’s anywhere in the ballpark of Fly from Here I’ll be pleased. First day vinyl preorder for this fan.
YES, who are Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood, release their new studio album The Quest on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music on 1st October 2021. Pre-orders will start from 23rd July. “It is simply an honour for me to have the opportunity to bring together the band members in the development of a well-refined set of songs that capture the band’s true potential,” said Steve Howe, who produced the album. He added “Much of the music was written in late 2019 with the rest in 2020. We commissioned several orchestrations to augment and enhance the overall sound of these fresh new recordings, hoping that our emphasis on melody, coupled with some expansive instrumental solo breaks, keeps up the momentum for our listeners.” Additional percussion was provided by guest Jay Schellen who supplements YES’ live performances. When I saw this version of Yes live, a couple of Summers ago, Alan White wasn't really up to the task of playing much. I imagine the reality is that Schellen is doing most of the heavy lifting here.
Heaven and Earth also had a godawful producer in Roy Thomas Baker, who managed to take every ounce of power out of the songs, so even if they *were* good -- and we heard an alternate version of at least one of them and it *was* good -- they sounded thin and reedy. Howe's solo album was great, Downes/Braide was *exquisite*, and I was quite fond of Arc of Life, and not one of those had the soppy qualities that brought Heaven and Earth down. Considering Howe is producing himself, I predict something pretty good.
Alan is looking a little better lately. I'm not sure if he quit drinking or what, but in pics he looks much improved.
RTB is hardly a "godawful producer". Maybe he's not the right guy for this band, but his resume indicates that he's pretty great at what he does. I hate to be the "but it's not Yes" guy...but...it's not Yes. Having a Jon Anderson soundalike on stage is one thing (lame as it may be), but using him on an album is another. And it's one of MANY reasons that Heaven & Earth sucked. This album will probably not have much Alan White on it. It won't have Chris Squire. The combination of Howe/Downes says "Asia" to me more than it does "Yes". The current incarnation of the band seems more like Steve Howe beating a dead horse than anything else, unfortunately. This isn't Yes.
It's looking like this album was driven mainly by Howe and Downes. That would make it pretty different from Arc of Life (mostly Sherwood/Davision) and H&E (largely Davison/Squire).
Noooooooo… Well, let‘s hope they haven‘t overdone it with the strings. I remain cautiously optimistic.. although I don‘t know why.
I don't think my expectations could be lower for this. Latter-day live albums that I haven't heard aside, Heaven and Earth was for me the worst album the band ever put their name on. So yeah, maybe it can only get better from here, but that's a low bar. Geoff Downes is the only hope on this. I think the one tune he contributed writing to on Heaven and Earth was the only near-listenable one. For Chris Squire's last Yes album, sadly I feel he barely registered on it. To me, the biggest problem though is Davison. His lyrics (if they were his) on Heaven and Earth were toothless rehashes of the blandest Andersonisms, and his voice is milquetoast - obviously Jon Anderson was no Lemmy but he did have an edge in terms of the sound of him reaching for something. Davison to me just sounds like he opens his mouth and new age-tinged sine waves travel out. Sorry, y'all, my bad mood opinion is harsh. If you dig it, rock on, I envy you.
After what I felt was the incredibly average H&E, my initial reaction to this news was that it would probably be a streaming-only thing for me. But the 5.1 got my attention. Still, the singles they release prior to the full album had better grab me in a big way to make me want to invest in another new Yes album, 5.1 or not.
I wish I could be with this. No Squire to even write anything gives me no hope, though. Sherwood can hardly cover what Squire played and sang originally. I don't think he can write bass lines, or vocal harmonies that will sound very Yes-ish. It's honestly just not Yes anymore to me. ARW sounded like Yes. Steve Howe plus some other guys barely pull off the Yes catalog.
Did nobody here listen to "From A Page?" Granted, it's from the sessions *just before* Heaven and Earth, pre-Davidson, but it's great. Just in terms of playing and arranging, it's heads and tails above H&E, and proves that in recent memory they were still operating at a very high level post-Anderson. Go have a listen to that. I think H&E was more of an anomaly than the new norm.
For the old dogs who were there in real time at the shows buying the records for The YES album , Fragile. ,CTTE ect did you ever think you would see the day. I don't know who but someones turning in a grave somewhere.
From A Page is from before Fly From Here. It's what they started to make when Oliver Wakeman was still the keyboardist. H&E was a new low. Without Squire to temper things, I fear the new album will be worse. Plus, Sherwood's bass tone is super lifeless on Arc of Life. If the songs on Arc of Life are songs that were vetoed from the new Yes album, I have little hope it will be any good at all.
I dread the thought of a new album without Squire, but that said Howe’s last solo album was in my mind the best of the Yes solo projects in recent years. Hopefully we’ll have some preview tracks soon.
