Big Generator at 30

[revporl]

This was my first "New" Yes album and I remember being relieved that they were still going after such a long gap

At the time I preferred it to 90125, but now it seems less coherent than that. I still think Aim High and I'm Running are better than anything on 90125 but not sure about the rest

I do like the title track, its really weird, that section that ends with "praise oh praise the anthem generator" is fantastic, strange harmonies, really striking.

Best ever drum sound on an album ever, although people really seem to hate it, its like THOR himself playing snare. Close second is ELPowell's mighty tubthumping but BG wins.

So yeah, I quite like it, but not as much as I did. Bit of a curates egg but the best bits are brilliant.

[Fracktured]

Song one on side two of the album is a piece of crap [emoji90] the rest of the album has great moments.


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[profusion]

I was very disappointed in BG upon its release. A pale shadow of 90125. It's grown on me over the years, though. The mix is terrible, and I'd love to see Steven Wilson take it on (not that he'd probably do it).

[Vic2012]

I had this album. Ditched after about a month.

[rghammill]

I wanted so much to love this album when it came out. The tour also.

90125 was my introduction to Yes, although I quickly gravitated to the Howe era - including Drama.

I still can't deal with most of the pop tunes (pretty much everything with the word "love" in the title. "Almost Like Love" may be the only Yes song I won't listen to at all. The song "Big Generator" is another one that's very hard to listen to now. At the time I remember liking it for some reason...although I do agree with @revporl about those cool harmonies in that one point. It's the brass stabbing chords and the main progression, though, that makes it something I can't really say holds up as a great piece now.

The tour, for whatever reason, was quite disappointing too. I think the setlist was weak, and didn't hold together well.

But half the album was decent, and I find myself enjoying it a lot more than I think I will when I listen to those parts.

"Shoot High, Aim Low" still works well for me. I think that like "The More We Live...Let Go" it needs to be played as loud as possible. It works much better. Kind of a study in minimalism, in some ways the variations on a single three-chord progression is reminiscent of the "Wurm" portion of "Starship Trooper." Of the four good songs on the album (in my opinion, anyway), this is perhaps the weakest.

"Final Eyes" is probably my favorite song on the album. Certainly shares a feel (especially in the middle) of "Momentary Lapse of Reason" Floyd. But it has many of the same strengths of "Hearts" in that I think it sounds like a true collaboration between Anderson and Rabin. Jon's performance is very strong. This is one that has a very 90125 sound to it. One of the ones Trevor Horn helped produce, maybe?

"I'm Running." The non-calypso parts also sound like 90125 Yes, and Jon's performance throughout is strong here too. Wish the calypso parts were left off, but then the final vocal lines over that progression is very Yes.

"Holy Lamb" is one that I think is a great Anderson-penned Yes tune, and could have been even better if the band took it an ran with it. In a lot of ways it sounds a lot like an Anderson solo piece. In fact, the way ABWH often seems like an Anderson solo project, it's interesting to hear the difference between the two. In many ways I think the arrangement and production is stronger here than ABWH (that might be sacrilege). But frankly the dynamics and form are quite good on this, compared to the oddly static form of most of the songs on ABWH. Was weird to segue into "Wurm" live, though.

Of course, with the length of time it took to produce the album, replacing this with a different second half wasn't really an option. And despite the fact that I'm not really a fan of "Rhythm of Love" and "Love Will Find a Way," they sold well enough as singles. Take those two pieces and compare them to the 4 tracks I think are strong, though, and it kind of shows the two different directions the band were going (being pulled?).

I also much preferred the color of the cover on the vinyl version than the cassette/CD. While it's not the most interesting cover they've done, that coloration alone does quite a bit to improve it and it's quite fitting for the time, if not the band.

[3LockBox]

^yeah, I hated the calypso section, in fact, there's plenty of peeling back that cold have happened on nearly every song. I wished Horn could have won the day and been the sole producer on BG. If Horn had stuck around he could've reigned some of the kitchen sink approach and probably released it a couple of years earlier as well.

[aith01]

I liked the Latin/Calypso elements in "I'm Running"; not sure how I'd have felt about the song had those been taken out.

[rghammill]

I liked the Latin/Calypso elements in "I'm Running"; not sure how I'd have felt about the song had those been taken out.

I have to admit after listening to the album, well the half I like, quite a bit since this thread started, I find that they form a much smaller part of the song than I remember. Jon's melody and singing over that part is really strong and I like it quite a bit. And one might make a case that bringing such influences into Yes music is "progressive."

The real issue I think I have with it is that it seems too obvious. Squire's bass is fun, but they could have layered something completely different on top and achieved much more. But at this stage it's there to stay, and I can live with it.

I'm also finding I like more of the song "Big Generator" than I remembered. It's really the main riff that kills the song for me, along with the pointless brass accents. But I find I like the verses and a lot of the guitar work.

Like @3LockBox said, Horn's continued production probably would have helped a lot.

[MudShark22]

For this listener, Shoot High... and Almost Like Yes completely kill Side 1.

I enjoy the rest of it

[yamishogun]

Squire's bass is fun, but they could have layered something completely different on top and achieved much more. But at this stage it's there to stay, and I can live with it.

Not if Steven Wilson has anything to say about it!