Label: Eagle Records
Release date: 11/25/1997
Production: Yes
Album length: 72.02 min
Genre: Progressive Rock
Rating: 7.5/10
Yes put out »Open Your Eyes«, their seventeenth studio album, after the classic and best-loved lineup (vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and drummer Alan White) fell apart yet again. The split came soon after the release of the live-studio hybrid »Keys to Ascension 2« (1997), when Wakeman couldn’t stick it out in the band any longer and, over a (officially) banal reason (a disagreement about the cover art for »Keys to Ascension 2«), once more ‘ran off’ to do his own thing, which didn’t surprise longtime fans in the slightest.
His spot went to Chris’s American buddy Billy Sherwood (World Trade, Conspiracy), who was actually more comfortable as a bassist, but who ended up playing most of the keyboards on »Open Your Eyes« in addition to extra guitar. The remaining keyboards were handled by two guest players: young Russian keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, who became a full-time member of Yes soon after this album came out, and Toto founding keyboardist Steve Porcaro.
»Open Your Eyes« went through its birth pangs as the future album of the Conspiracy project, which consisted of Squire and his ‘protégé’ Sherwood. Sherwood eventually developed an almost identical Rickenbacker bass technique and, after Chris’s death, became his successor on bass. After some persuading by the then-new Yes management, the two decided to use two new songs, »Open Your Eyes« and »Man in the Moon«, on the next Yes album. Anderson, Howe and White soon joined the creative process, and new songs started taking shape. The new management therefore played a considerable part in the making of this album, having decided that the Conspiracy songs would come off much better as Yes material.
Of these three longtime Yes members, only Howe had doubts about the direction of »Open Your Eyes«, feeling that too many songs on the album leaned toward pop rock and a commercial approach, while lacking the classic Yes songwriting and arranging touch. The eccentric guitar maestro wasn’t wrong in his assessment of the album’s sound, since it’s a thankless task to compare it with the classic Yes albums in terms of songwriting and production.
Compared to their classic albums, this is a record with mostly much simpler, lighter arrangements and a lower level of rhythmic complexity than usual. As a whole, »Open Your Eyes« was a perfectly solid album, but it had the bad luck of coming out in the same year as, and right after, both »Keys to Ascension« albums, which contained live and studio tracks in the classic Yes style. Next to those, it naturally got the short end of the stick, even though it had some really high-quality pieces.
The opening stretch of »Open Your Eyes« serves up three well-judged tracks that leave a good impression and can still be proud of themselves today. »New State of Mind«, the first of the album’s two singles, was a relatively punchy effort by usual Yes standards, with a strong emphasis on rich vocal harmonies, which got even better than usual once Sherwood came on board. Sherwood has a voice similar in color to Squire’s, which is one more reason he became the ‘perfect’ successor after the legendary bassist’s death.
The title track, the album’s second single, boasts an excellent multi-voice chorus infused with that typical, distinctly positive, atmospheric energy, so it’s no surprise it ranks among the best moments on »Open Your Eyes«. Originally called »Wish I Knew«, this song was supposed to come out on Squire’s solo album. Next up is the excellent »Universal Garden«, a somewhat more complex piece that also features a distinctly melodic, awakening chorus with exuberant vocal harmonies, orchestral arrangements and subtle guitar passages. Of everything on »Open Your Eyes«, this composition comes closest to classic Yes atmospheric magic, and that makes it one of the album’s highlights.
After the successful opening stretch comes a handful of weaker efforts that would have sounded great under the Conspiracy banner, but as Yes songs land somewhere in the ‘second league’ compared to their classic achievements. »No Way We Can Lose« is an acoustic-leaning, cheerful little number with yet another ‘awakening’ chorus courtesy of the eternal ‘meditative guru’ Jon Anderson, marked mostly by Howe’s distinctive guitar work. The occasional harmonica from Squire comes off as a not-so-successful addition.
»Fortune Seller«, a relatively interesting piece, features dramatic and slightly frenetic vocal harmonies in the style of the classic »I’ve Seen All Good People«, nostalgic guitar-and-keyboard harmonies and plenty of well-executed tempo changes. The strongly melodic »Man In The Moon«, another song that was originally meant to be part of Squire’s solo project, is a considerable stylistic departure from the classic Yes sound thanks to its pop-rock elements. Even so, it’s worth highlighting the dramatic orchestral arrangements and the melodic, multi-voice chorus in which Anderson’s vocal is very well harmonized with the other singers.
»Wonderlove« is another lighter song that would have sounded impressive as a solo piece from Jon or Chris. Within Yes, it’s at best a solid, somewhat repetitive track that’s at least a minute too long. »From The Balcony«, the product of the Anderson-Howe tandem, is a short, pretty, acoustic-leaning love ballad that doesn’t leave much of a deeper impression. »Love Shine« is almost a pop rocker by usual Yes standards and, with different production, would have fit right in on the albums with former guitarist Trevor Rabin. »Somewhere, Someday« is another cheerful, uplifting song with a very simple arrangement and lyrical concept that wouldn’t have sounded out of place as part of a Squire or Anderson solo project, but as a Yes piece it’s anything but thrilling.
The closing track, »The Solution«, whose vocals sound a little overly off-key, isn’t the longest piece in Yes history despite its seemingly almost 24-minute running time, since it’s actually under five minutes long. After two minutes of silence comes the 16-minute ambient-leaning »The Source«, which has more in common with ambient music than with the symphonic prog rock of classic Yes. Despite its impressive length it contains little actual music, so of course it’s not another one of Yes’s many super-epics. This move royally annoyed plenty of fans, who felt cheated, and some count »The Solution/The Source« as the biggest songwriting swindle in Yes history.
»Open Your Eyes« rightfully belongs in the ‘lower tier’ of Yes’s discography to date, though it would be unfair to call it a bad record. As mentioned, it had the double bad luck of coming out after two classic live-studio Yes releases and of not originally being intended as a new Yes album at all. Had it come out as part of the Conspiracy project, the way Squire and Sherwood first envisioned it, »Open Your Eyes« — which would of course have sounded quite different — would surely have been received much better by Yes fans. Even so, compared to the other Yes albums released in the nineties, which, apart from both »Keys to Ascension« albums, likewise weren’t marked by the classic Yes style, »Open Your Eyes« was a perfectly solid effort.
Author: Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. New State of Mind (6:00)
2. Open Your Eyes (5:14)
3. Universal Garden (6:16)
4. No Way We Can Lose (4:56)
5. Fortune Seller (5:00)
6. Man In The Moon (4:41)
7. Wonderlove (6:06)
8. From The Balcony (2:43)
9. Love Shine (4:37)
10. Somehow, Someday (4:47)
11a. The Solution (5:25)
11b. The Source (16:22) – hidden track, after a 2:00 minute gap
Lineup:
Jon Anderson – vocals
Steve Howe – steel, electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, banjo, backing vocals
Billy Sherwood – acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Chris Squire – bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals
Alan White – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Guest musicians:
Igor Khoroshev – keyboards on tracks 1, 4 and 5
Steve Porcaro – keyboards on track 2
