Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Yes
Label: Eagle Records
Release: 1994
Length: 55:04
Rating: 3/5
After the megalomaniac »Union« tour wrapped up, which put eight musicians on one stage who had all left an important mark on prog rock history one way or another, Yes decided to bring back their most commercially successful lineup from the eighties, the one that hit unbelievable success in 1983 with the smash »Owner Of a Lonely Heart« and recorded the albums »90125« (1983) and »Big Generator« (1987). That meant the cheerful vocalist Jon Anderson, bass innovator Chris Squire, South African guitar virtuoso Trevor Rabin, drumming powerhouse Alan White and original keyboardist Tony Kaye joined forces once more and got down to recording a new album, while Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford (the latter never came back to Yes after the »Union« tour) went back to their solo projects.
The new Yes album was called »Talk« and became notorious at the time of its release mainly because it was one of the first (prog rock) albums made with the help of a computer. That didn’t mean, of course, that all the music was played on a computer, as plenty of fans wrongly assumed back then, since all the instruments were still played the ‘natural’, regular way. Only the way the music was recorded got a bit of a ‘modernization’ thanks to Rabin’s Apple computer. Rabin was the driving force behind the new project, and »Talk« was his last album as a member of Yes, because right around then he’d grown tired of it and was drifting toward film scores, eventually becoming a successful film composer. Partly because the South African guitar maestro, who also handled the superb production, poured his maximum creative effort into it, »Talk« was the most ambitious project of this version of Yes and at the same time their most experimental achievement, even though on some tracks it’s still closer to pop rock or melodic rock than to the symphonic prog rock Yes were known for through most of their career.
Even though its cover was once again in the typical (boring) minimalist style of this version of Yes, »Talk« was stylistically still the closest to prog rock of all Rabin’s albums with Yes. It helped a lot that Kaye, instead of the synthesizers that ruled the eighties, started using Hammond organ again, bringing back at least some of the classic Yes sonic ‘language’, even if his organ is only sprinkled over the album as a sample. Rabin played the rest of the keyboards. The trademark vocal harmonies were gorgeous, as expected, with Squire and Rabin once again playing a key role in backing Anderson’s lead vocal. Jon also gave Trevor the exclusive ‘permission’ a few times to share the lead vocal harmony with him for a short while. Sure, not every result on »Talk« is all that thrilling, but there were quite a few reasons to be happy, too.
The opener »The Calling« is a typical Rabin-era Yes hybrid of prog and pop with plenty of pompous arrangements, juicy organ passages and energetic guitar phrases, but with a more modern production, which makes it one of the album’s better moments. Jon, of course, couldn’t escape his own skin, and his lyrics were once again full of deep love mantras that often drift into the spiritual realm, but longtime fans didn’t expect anything else from him anyway. »I Am Waiting« is likewise one of the more interesting »Talk« moments, even though it has a rather saccharine, slightly clichéd central arrangement with an inconsolable plea for love. Rabin’s inventive guitar phrases and smart rhythmic shifts do a great job of livening up the pretty slow start of this ballad-leaning track.
»Real Love« provides a nice contrast with its unexpectedly darker mood, tense rhythmic build-up and strong lead vocal melody, and it’s especially fun to hear Rabin cranking out punchier, almost metal guitar passages, the kind that his more famous predecessor Steve Howe never really had a taste for. »State Of Play« also takes a somewhat more aggressive approach with hard-hitting guitar and furious drums, while the occasional, if fleeting, use of a vocoder is a pretty pointless addition. Rabin wrote »Walls« together with Roger Hodgson (ex-Supertramp) in the early eighties, before »90125« was even born. Roger turned down the offer to become the new Yes singer back then. Rabin, Squire, White and Kaye didn’t yet know that Jon would join the band they were in at the time, called Cinema, and in turn bring Yes back from the dead. Trevor and Jon share the lead vocal melody nicely here, and it’s a typical Rabin composition, packed with AOR elements.
»Where Will You Be« is another Rabin songwriting achievement, originally intended for an Australian film. It has a mystical, Eastern-tinged flavor and an almost tribal rhythmic foundation, which means it suits Jon’s vocal approach well. Stylistically, this track would almost fit better on an Anderson solo album. All the songs listed so far are at least solid, if not good, but not exactly exciting either. What saves »Talk« from total mediocrity is the closing track, the ambitious epic »Endless Dream«, which runs just under sixteen minutes and is at the same time the most complex achievement of this incarnation of the famous prog heroes. »Endless Dream is split into three parts. The instrumental opening part, called »Silent Spring«, could easily be the soundtrack to some film. The second part, »Talk«, has a melancholy piano melody and interesting time changes that lead into a complex instrumental section, followed by a triumphant chorus. The third and final part, »Endless Dream«, is stuffed with ethereal vocal harmonies that deliver an epic ending to the album.
»Talk« was a fitting end to an era, even though within the Yes discography it doesn’t hold a particularly distinguished spot next to a whole pile of much better albums. Compared to its botched predecessor »Union« (1991), it was still a step in the right direction, back toward what most fans expected from them, which you can hear especially on »Endless Dream«, with which they at least managed to soothe some of the critics who (unfairly) accused Rabin of turning Yes into a pop band. On the other hand, they were still far from their classic seventies sound, which they were slowly trying to return to. For a short while over the next two years, they did manage it after all. After Rabin and Kaye left in 1995, fans were delighted by the return of Howe and Wakeman, which meant (yet another short-lived) revival of the classic Yes lineup, which hit the road on a new concert tour and released both live-and-studio »Keys to Ascension« albums.
Lineup
Jon Anderson, vocals
Trevor Rabin – guitars, keyboards, vocals, programming
Chris Squire – bass, vocals
Tony Kaye – Hammond organ
Alan White – drums
Production
Trevor Rabin
Track list
1. The Calling (6:52)
2. I Am Waiting (7:22)
3. Real Love (8:42)
4. State of Play (4:58)
5. Walls (4:52)
6. Where Will You Be (6:03)
7. Endless Dream (15:41)
a) Silent Spring
b) Talk
c) Endless Dream
