^I get where you are coming from on that but strip away the filigree and 'Lightning Strikes' sounds very much like a Yes song IMHO.
I think this is the most unfairly underrated album in their catalogue.
Not a bad album but FLY FROM HERE easily remains the best post-Rabin era YES album.
In your opinion! Anyway, even if I were to agree(which I definitely do not) that's not saying a whole lot since they haven't exactly put out anything that rivals the classics in a long time. In fact, although I do like like a lot of the post Drama stuff I will say that their output has been spotty mostly and they haven't put out a masterpiece or prog classic since at least GFTO if not earlier. But imo(see how this is done?) the Ladder is a better record than Fly From Here. Yes I admit I am biased in that I prefer Jon's voice but other than the epic suite that one doesn't do a whole lot for me unlike the Ladder which I found to be a breathe of fresh air.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
I took the two songs that I like from this disc "Homeworld" and "New Languages" and mixed them together to make a good 20 minute track. It's the only thing I play from it anymore. Cover is one of the better Yes covers though, but the cd isn't for my liking. It does remind me more of a Jon Anderson solo album.
^Ok, so then if it's not an epic and or sound at least a little bit like their classic seventies sound then you don't like it? Let me guess you love the Keys to Ascension tracks that are over ten minutes long right?
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Then explain why I love Tormato or Magnification? There's no epics on them. It has nothing to do with epics. I just liked the way the two songs blended together and listen to them that way.
And just for reference I think at least half of Talk and Magnification are outstanding, 90125 is in my top 20 albums ever and I think the so-called epics on the Keys albums are garbage. And as stated I like a lot of OYE. Everyone gets different things out of this nutty animal called Yes...
I think there's a few. Personally I don't think any YES record polarizes fans as much as 90125(especially when it came out). I think pretty much any Rabin era Yes record can do that. I can understand a fan not liking or not preferring the post seventies YES but some go a bit too far in my opinion and seem to have the need to trash all of it(even without actually hearing it). There are even fans like that over on the Yesfans site. It's like they are stuck in the past and can't get over the fact that YES eventually adopted a more mainstream/ less stereotypical prog sound. You could say the same about Genesis as well.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
YES were at one point probably my favorite band of all time(from the mid eighties up until maybe a few years ago). They are still in my top two or three favorite bands of all time(although these days I try not to have one favorite band which partly explains why YES got the boot from the top slot).
Anyway, I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Keys tracks are all garbage(although I think that takes guts and I think I respect that opinion more than those who love them which they seem to do just because they are epics)but I will say that I think they sound like they are trying too hard to sound like "old YES"(mostly epics and I guess this is an album Mike Portnoy would spooge over for that reason alone) and that annoys me. It's like they were deliberately trying to cater to the oldschool YES crowd and throw them a bone or something. Are those fans showing up at Chris Squire's daughter's graduation are they giving free beer to Alan White during the superbowl? No! So YES shouldn't do that but then on the opposite end they put out something that seemed to be the exact opposite called OYE. A cross between the two would be preferable and that's what I consider the Ladder to be and one reason I like it so much.
Last edited by Digital_Man; 12-05-2014 at 09:32 PM.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Indeed. Regarding Open Your Eyes, I drink the kool aid that says it's a pile of crap, but every time I listen to it I end up thinking "Hey, it's not really that bad!"
My main complaint with OYE is how the Chris Squire Experiment songs (the title track, for starters) were emasculated by having to accommodate Jon's airy-fairyness. That stuff should have been recorded live and released on its own IMO. It was white fucking hot (pun intended) when played by Chris' live band. On OYE, not so much.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
No, that's 'Talk'. A total mystery to me how 70s Yes fans rate that more than 'The Ladder'. To me it's similar to OYE- slick, overproduced pop-rock songs with little that sounds like the Yes that I love*. Better slick, overproduced pop-rock songs, but still.
*I can already hear the howls of outrage, 'what about 'Endless Dream'. Not really a favourite of mine.
Last edited by JJ88; 12-05-2014 at 05:08 PM.
I don't think all of Keys is garbage btw, just the so-called epics. The shorter songs like Footprints I like. Even Be The One which I used to not like at all has grown on me. It's mainly the intro I find cheesy. Well, and the words but I can ignore that.
I hear you. Mind Drive seems to be the one that is the most memorable but I don't mind be the one or even that that is. My issue with the epics like I said is that they seem to be trying too hard to recreate the YES of bygone days. So in a sense it works as a sort of re visit to an earlier sound but if people think that's the more progressive YES they are wrong. It's actually regressive because it's trying to visit something that has already been done. So imo it's ironic if and when fans think Keys is more progressive than say TALK or the Ladder etc. But I suppose I don't expect most people to understand my reasoning here. LOL.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Amazingly, I have the same reaction to OYE... which is crazy considering how much I dislike 1980's Rabin-Yes! However, it's still not good enough to keep a copy in my collection. I just listened to The Ladder on Youtube to see if I was right in ditching this album many moons ago, and yup, I was right. Homeworld is great, Nine Voices is nice with the Howe acoustic exotic stringed instrument, but the rest is at best, "pleasant." No compelling reason for me to listen or have the album in my collection.
You say Mega Ultra Deluxe Special Limited Edition Extended Autographed 5-LP, 3-CD, 4-DVD, 2-BlueRay, 4-Cassette, five 8-Track, MP4 Download plus Demos, Outtakes, Booklet, T-Shirt and Guitar Pick Gold-Leafed Box Set Version like it's a bad thing...
Big love here for The Ladder. "The Messenger" is fantastic through and through; "To Be Alive" and "It Will Be a Good Day" are excellent Yes "pop" tunes, much better than "Believe Again" from the new album (how people defend the new album but dis The Ladder is beyond me); "Finally", "New Language" and "Homeworld" are all excellent, or at least have an excellent majority of parts. And "Nine Languages" is such a great ballad. Yes, this is a very strong album.
Magnification is slightly favored in my book; I never understood the lack of love for that one, either. Great songs, orchestration and playing.
KTA II is the top of post-80's Yes output for me, all high quality tracks there, I love all of it.
+1. When I put this album on my media player, I leave off those songs. A few years ago, I did a little time-wasting experiment to make LP-length albums out of the post-Talk catalog (probably inspired by the shorter running time of FFH), and you can extract a VERY good 40-45 album from The Ladder. I left off those two songs, plus one other that escapes me at the moment. By contrast, the good stuff on Open Your Eyes amounts to about an EP's worth of music.
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