Anderson/Stolt
Invention of Knowledge

Jon Anderson and Roine Stolt, two guys who shouldn’t really need any introduction. Really capable musicians combining their craft to great an invention of knowledge that is this album. An album with a cool artwork and for long musical suites making up this album that plays for over an hour. And it has to be good as I read a very positive review claiming it was a timeless classic, more or less, although looking at the ratings from that site it became clear that they consider all albums to be amazing and near classics. And the story is the same in the comments of the teaser video, so it has to be brilliant, the guys of the band claim so themselves and who can distrust such brilliant musicians? And they have some really amazing musicians helping them out with their instrumental parts.

Great sound and production and impressive performances, there is no doubt that these guys are great musicians. But it does sounds like a polished version of good old Yes from times long gone and I cannot really shake the sensation of listening to 65 minutes of déjà vu. I don’t think that is the sensation one should experience from listening to a progressive album. Fans of old Yes will probably find this much appealing and it is well made and well produced so why shouldn’t they. But you cannot really claim that it is a particularly original album and how to you motivate another album that sounds more or less exactly as a stereotype of what these guys have already done many, many times before? Well, I can’t think of a way.

No denying that this is a good album but I don’t really see a need for a revival of the style of old Yes, they had their time and I don’t really believe in reviving the past. And Yes is still alive and kicking, as is Flower Kings and all other stuff that these guys participate in, so why not make something different? Maybe it is the weight of these guy’s past that prevents them from finding a more new and novel approach to their music. Kind of a disappointment really, I was really hoping for something other than a revamp of something that have already come and gone, it is kind of like revamping all those old movies for no real reason other than that they were popular in the past and people like things predictable.

For all those who think it was better in the past it is probably a likeable album, I personally already have things like this, some of it better so I will not buy this album even though the cover looks great and the songs are okay. So in the end I think this album will please all those longing for the times of the old Yes, or those who can’t get enough of Stolt or Anderson despite the fact that they have done millions of recordings already. But I am not totally convinced and I think that if you want something of this style, Yes did it better in the past and this year have presented many albums that are better than this one.

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