^
One can always make a union of ABWH based on the best of each.
I'd take off the weakest ABWH and add the last five songs on Union, minus "Dangerous". That would replace 15 minutes on the first album.
^
One can always make a union of ABWH based on the best of each.
I'd take off the weakest ABWH and add the last five songs on Union, minus "Dangerous". That would replace 15 minutes on the first album.
I think that best part of the Union is first five songs minus Lift Me Up.Originally Posted by yamishogun
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Love that album!
The 'ABWH' element is far superior as far as I'm concerned.
I've said before that it's unfortunate that in this period, Jon Anderson didn't do Yes alongside ABWH.
if anyone thought that ABWH2 was strong enough to be released on it's own they wouldn't have been shopping around for more ideas and drag Trevor's songs into the mix. if history has said anything it's that Yes moves on.
Just played this thing from beginning to end for the first time in years.
"Saving My Heart", "Dangerous" and "Angkor Wat" are the worst tracks by far, and among the worst tracks in Yes history.
The rest I actually still don't mind. It's not a good Yes album... but taken purely as music, it's fine IMO.
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I always kinda liked Saving My Heart...
I have a particular, personal dislike of songs which are kind of 'cod reggae' and 'Saving My Heart' falls foul of that. That and 'Dangerous' are the two major duds on the album. I don't think anything else is as offensively bad, but seldom great either.
Based on what's on Union, I would have to completely agree.
But one funny thing: I remember Bruford speaking circa 1990 on Ed Sciaky's show (was it MMR? or YSP?). Jon A had been on the show a few months earlier (I didn't hear that episode) and Sciaky said "Jon says you have another Close to the Edge in the can [for ABWH2]". Bruford answered something like: weeeellllll, I'm not sure I would want to prejudice the new material in that way, but we are happy with it. IIRC Sciaky then bugged him about the length of the track "20 minutes?". Though my memory is foggy on this point, I believe Bruford agreed. Based on that interview I was so excited about ABWH2 and then Union. Ever since the latter came out, I have wondered what actually happened to that supposed 20-minute track. Was it Mind Drive perhaps?
I can't think of anything resembling that description from the material we know about. The rhythm pattern of "Mind Drive" was an XYZ thing originally, so the other side of the band.
Henry
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Thanks Henry, if you know nothing about it then it probably doesn't exist. Either Jon was over-exuberantly exaggerating or maybe I dreamed the whole thing! I would love to hear from anyone else though who may have a memory of either of those long-ago interviews.
There's plenty that happens that we don't know about: it could all be true. I am not dismissive of the possibility: I merely note that I can't connect it with anything else we do know at this time. But, yes, it could also be that Anderson was exuberantly exaggerating: at other times, he's talked of epic pieces when it appears that he had short demos and big ambitions.
Henry
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Yes west got dragged in for money reasons. JA after leaving Yes west to do art rock again---changed course and went back with the offer of money. Much to the horror of Bruford and Howe. Lot's of money went into the Union of the two bands.
ABWH stuff is way more interesting musically than yes west who's material is some of their all time worse AOR songs they ever did.
"Dangerous" is far more interesting than "Lift Me Up"? "Evensong" is a song? (I do like the sounds, though.)
Surprised Anderson didn't rename it 5 Percent for Nothing Part II
I saw it once too, and I rarely watched MTV by then. (Or maybe it was VH1 where I saw it?)
It was also before Nevermind broke which I suspect coincided with no longer being able to hear new music by the likes of Yes on the radio.
I actually think the leftover track "Give And Take" could have gone on this album instead of the weakest ones I mentioned - not that it's great either.
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"Give and Take" is good to listen to as a lesson in how some songs just don't come together. "Don't Go" has a similar problem but somehow got on Magnification.
Both are worse than "Dangerous", "Angkor Wat" and "Saving My Heart".
Well, I agree about "Don't Go", another in the bottom few tracks of their career (I like Magnification a lot, otherwise).
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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Lift me up is horrible--Dangerous is the worse song of the ABWH songs but it is the only truly bad ABWH song---Evensong is fine---and Angkor Wat is a moving song and certainly not a bad Yes song.
I kind of liked Union at the time - but then it was new Yes during a period where new prog of any kind was at something of a premium. I've totally lost interest in this album over the years, however, not least because so much of the bland, uninspired music reflects the depressing cynicism of its creation. That said, it sounds like Mozart compared to the dross 'Yes' have been putting out in recent years, and at least they could still present reasonable facsimiles of their back-catalogue live back then. Personally, I would suggest that anybody who wants to hear decent versions of much of the material that Union became should pick up Howe's Turbulence instead, a much better, not to mention honest, album than this bloated turkey.
"Lift Me Up" isn't horrible. It's arena rock, yes, but it's pretty decent for what it is. I actually thought that YesWest had some decent songs on there, notwithstanding "Saving My Heart". "Shock to the System" was a dud, and it was even more of a dud live. Howe's live performances of it were cringe-inducing. "Angkor Wat" was interesting, and somewhat unusual.
So there's quite a splattered opinion of what works and what doesn't on Union. To each their own, I guess.
Gnish-gnosh borble wiff, shlauuffin oople tirk.
Oh, I do remember Leave It. Guess there's more than the obvious.
Union may have ben one of Atlantic Record's Ahmet Ertagun's last Svengali like record moves and that might excuse the band from this dire album somewhat. Ertagun also orchestrated putting arch rivals Neil Young and Stephen Stills together for CSN&Y, and even encouraged Phil Collins to go solo, which hit pay dirt. The idea of combining the disparate elements of ABWH and Yes together was solely his idea, but no one put a gun to the musician's heads when it came time to sign the recording contract.
Last edited by StevegSr; 05-09-2016 at 04:01 PM.
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