Yes
Heaven & Earth

Well, here we are again with another unavoidable discussion about when a band can continue after their vocalist has left. Or some other important musician, for that reason. With their last album I thought there shouldn't be any reason at all to why we should argue around Yes continuing without their original vocalist, especially since the new guy had roots in a Yes cover band and sung in the same kind of style as Jon Anderson but I soon realised that there were conflicting opinions out there and thus we'll end up in a discussion wether or not a band can continue without their vocalist (or other important musician).

In my opinion a band is a collective and thus bigger than every individual musician and if someone ends up being impossible to have in the band while the other members still want to continue they should have the right to do so, regardless of whom they continue without. There are of course exceptions, like with Tobias Sammet's Avantasia or Richie Blacmoore's Rainbow - bands built around a specific musician that's also writing (more or less) all the material and definies them. The question then lands in wether or not Anderson was such a character or not and that is of course possible to discuss considering he did write and co:write plenty of songs and had his part in giving Yes that sound we relate to them but in my world he still was a part of the collective performance and no the one defining it. That's the view of the band as well, I suppose, since they've continued without him and to all you No-sayers out there I can only say: though luck! Drop it and move on, accept the band for what they are now instead of complaining.

With that discussion ended, let's move to this 21st studio album by the band and once again we see a new face behind the microphone in Jon Davison (also on guitars) as Benoît David left due to health issues that haltered his live capacity. Had they wanted it, Yes could have taken back Jon Anderson for this album but they didn't and hence it's another Jon that now handles the vocal performance. And he does it so similar to Jon the 1st that it could have been the ghost of his golden days echoing on this album. Except for the vocalist change there are no other surprises to report: the cover looks Yes, all other members are still there and the sound can't be described as anything but Yes sound. Perhaps somewhat toned down in progressiveness compared to the core Yes sound we've learned to recognise but otherwise nothing different.

The album starts off with a weird hit song, if we can use that expression. Believe Again sounds very much like a radio friendly hit but there are a few bumps on the way to become one. Like the length, with 8 minutes from start to finish but also how they end their verses that sort of make a somersault around its own shoulder both instrumentally and vocally which ends up interrupting the whole song - its flow and melody and everything - kind of like how From Dusk Till Dawn twisted their storyline totally out of track when they changes a gangster action in to some sort of vampire slaughter. Besides the twist, I'm not sold on the keyboards being treated like some sort of toy in the verser where they just end up bashing as many keys as possible over and over. Despite some nice choruses, the song ends up feeling a bit twisted and weird and it's a bit of the same feeling in the next song too. The Game is a minute shorter and perhaps more radio friendly because of that but it seems to lack verses - or at least they don't make it very clear what's what on that part. I feel that what they call verses in this song is mostly an interruption in tempo, but also here they have a great hit-friendly chorus. Step Beyond feel surprisingly ordinary for a Yes-song and sounds more like the work of a duet with Irish folksingers. A good song, all though taking the radio friendliness to an extreme in my opinion. To Ascend is a ballad, or at least something in that fashion and works hard on the piano keys and less on the guitars. It's definitely one of the better songs on the album but I feel it lacks something on the emotional level. The best song is instead In A World Of Our Own, the fifth track, which succeed in having that "Yessy" progressive sound while it comes home with the probably most radio friendly chorus on the album. Light Of The Ages follows and in my most personal opinion that has the most typical yes sound of all songs on this album. I think that 80's west coast rock wibe in the guitars, the thriller film sound from the keyboards and that lower mid-tempo makes it very Yes. The shortest song of the album follows that and is the penultimate track on this album with only four minutes. This is another flirt with the radio and actually the only song where the new name in the band haven't got a writers credit, but since it's Steve Howe that has done so it shouldn't be a surprise to hear some crazy instrumental outbursts that only makes the track complicated and more difficult to enjoy. The concluding song is called Subway Walls and is another complete outburst in true Yes-spirit where no single vers or chorus can go without its own instrumental solo outbreak that makes the song difficult to just sit down and enjoy. As with most songs on this album it has a good chorus but this nine minute conclusion just have a few too many crazy ideas going, like completely changing the tone seven minutes in to the song to something almost completely different - it almost turns in to an ending from the musical theatre.

In some ways I think this album actually is better than 'Fly From Here' but for some reason it sounds like they've forgotten to tie it all together in a good way. The really big screw ups are all missing and it seems like they've tried to go in a more easy accessed direction with this album - like getting more radio friendly and hit-friendly, but the fact that they've just never been this seems to harm them as they constantly fail in making these hit-friendly choruses to get the radio-friendly context. I also think they've messed up the production somewhat as it's a bit too featureless and neither lifts the performance of the musicians or the actual music. I think the best news from this album actually is that despite loosing a great vocalist in Benoît David they've gained an even better replacement to Jon Anderson in Jon Davison as he also writes songs and plays the guitar.

Despite their 45 years as a band, Yes still feels like a band with plenty of future ahead of them. This album feels like a taste of what they can achieve, too bad they haven't achieved what they can. It's a decent album, it's a Yes album and when you play it you can leave it on. It's neither heaven, nor is it he… earth.

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