New YES album "The Quest" out 1 Oct

[bondegezou]

I haven't really had the desire to play this one again but I'll try again later today.

The album apparently came and went. It didn't even crack the top 200 on billboard and I doubt it will next week. Part of that could be because of how the physical release date was different than the digital.

It's 100% going to be because it's only had a digital release in the North American charts so far.

Henry

[Downbytheriver]

It's 100% going to be because it's only had a digital release in the North American charts so far.

Henry

I received my physical copy Friday. So we will see how it charts.

[rdclark]

If the “sale” occurs when a physical copy ships from an online retailer, then many copies sold this week in the US.

[Digital_Man]

I rolled the dice on The Quest and both my wife and I have really been enjoying it.

Everyone is different and what may appeal to one at one time, may not for someone else.

For a lot of people money is tight these days, and with limited revenue we have to hope our choices give us pleasure for the $$ spent, so I feel bad it's not working out for you.
Been there done that, and it sucks.

I played it again today. Fortunately, it wasn't worse the second time around but not really that much better either. While I think there are some good moments on here(especially the first few songs)it just starts to bore me at some point. I think maybe if they took out three songs from the main album and put in the bonus disc songs it would be better (all just my opinion of course). I remember feeling the same way about a few of the later Flower Kings albums too especially Desolation Rose and maybe the one before it too. So will this latest Yes grow on me? Maybe. At the very least it's good for background music. Plus since I'm a very big Yes fan I don't mind having it in my collection.

[moecurlythanu]

Only 41 pages? C'mon guys. This is a new Yes album!

[Mister Triscuits]

Only 41 pages? C'mon guys. This is a new Yes album!

I was disappointed we didn't get cake for reaching 1,000 posts.

[Digital_Man]

I received my physical copy Friday. So we will see how it charts.

I don't see it entering the US Billboard charts at this point but we'll see. I'll gladly be wrong when it comes to something like this. Maybe a really low entry(140 or lower) but that's about it. I kind of doubt even that will happen though.

[Digital_Man]

It's 100% going to be because it's only had a digital release in the North American charts so far.

Henry

What I meant was the digital release by itself might not have been enough to put it on the charts and the album release a week later might not be enough. If they both came out similtaneously that would have been a different story(as evidenced by the fact it did well in other countries). It seems you agree with me though but not sure.

[Splicer]

This album has grown on me. After multiple times all the way through, I find the main album (I'm not too keen on the bonus tracks) enjoyable and very listenable all the way through.

[bondegezou]

If the “sale” occurs when a physical copy ships from an online retailer, then many copies sold this week in the US.

Yes, but all the digital sales were 2 weeks ago, so that's going to hit the chart position.

Henry

[bondegezou]

What I meant was the digital release by itself might not have been enough to put it on the charts and the album release a week later might not be enough. If they both came out similtaneously that would have been a different story(as evidenced by the fact it did well in other countries). It seems you agree with me though but not sure.

I concur.

Henry

[Sean]

Been giving this new one a listen this week. My early takeaway is it hangs together as one album better than the previous one, Heaven and Earth. That one was all over the place stylistically and they did a few side steps into some styles that aren't really Yes' forte. This new one manages to stay in it's lane. It's pretty laid back, save for a couple uptempo tunes like the opener, "The Ice Bridge" and "Leave Well Alone". Then again, albums like Going For The One were more cerebral than rocking. The more laid back tunes have a lot of layers that give it all nice blend. Steve Howe uses a lot of classical guitar on this one and it adds some nice texture. He works in a lot of different guitars throughout the album. "Dare To Know" sounds like his Les Paul Junior that he used on "Ritual". That's pretty cool.... The Fender lap steel is ever present too. Kudos to Billy Sherwood for bass that conjures up Chris Squire's vibe while going new places. That line for "Ice Bridge" is pretty nifty. I like Geoff Downes choices in keys on this one a lot more than H&E. I think I saw pic of him playing a Hammond, among others. This is yet another version of what Yes can be.

[bondegezou]

I like Geoff Downes choices in keys on this one a lot more than H&E. I think I saw pic of him playing a Hammond, among others.

Hammond on 1, 2, 8, 10, 11
Mellotron on 7, 10
Fender Rhodes electric piano on 10 (+ Sherwood playing Fender Rhodes on 3)

Henry

[Jacob Holm-Lupo]

Hammond on 1, 2, 8, 10, 11
Mellotron on 7, 10
Fender Rhodes electric piano on 10 (+ Sherwood playing Fender Rhodes on 3)

Henry

I noticed, leafing through the album booklet, that Geoff’s credits don’t line up exactly with the keys/synths heard in each song. Does that mean that Sherwood is handling some of the synths, or did Geoff just list the keys he thought were important?

[bondegezou]

I noticed, leafing through the album booklet, that Geoff’s credits don’t line up exactly with the keys/synths heard in each song. Does that mean that Sherwood is handling some of the synths, or did Geoff just list the keys he thought were important?

Sherwood is credited with keys on the 2 tracks he co-wrote. It's possible that the detailed credits aren't 100% accurate. Schellen did percussion, but is omitted from the detailed credits. Was there a particular song you felt there was a mismatch?

Henry

[arturs]

What I meant was the digital release by itself might not have been enough to put it on the charts and the album release a week later might not be enough. If they both came out similtaneously that would have been a different story(as evidenced by the fact it did well in other countries). It seems you agree with me though but not sure.

And now the USA 2-cd is sold-out pretty much everywhere. OOH, that's good, right? A lot of sales. OTOH more likely to not have a good chart position if people who want it can't buy it.

I didn't pre-order because I wanted it to be a part of a larger order. I snoozed. I lost.

[Dan Roth]

And now the USA 2-cd is sold-out pretty much everywhere. OOH, that's good, right? A lot of sales. OTOH more likely to not have a good chart position if people who want it can't buy it.

It is in stock at Amazon, so pretty easy to find if you don't mind buying from them. At the moment, Amazon lists it as #31 in CDs & Vinyl and #11 in Rock (CDs & Vinyl), #38 in Digital Music, and #13 in Digital Music - Rock.

[arturs]

^^^ Thanks. I see it is back up now. For a time there was only a blu-ray version listed for $56. I'll wait a few days and see if Ken gets a new shipment in, before going the Amazon route.

[mkeneally]

The tune that jumped out at me on first listen was “The Western Edge,” which I’ve seen little mention of. I think it’s gorgeous and I hope they bust it out onstage someday, it could really take off beautifully in a live context. Maybe it’s kind of a sleeper in the way something like “A Venture” was - not calling a lot of attention to itself initially but growing on people over time.

[Gizmotron]

And now the USA 2-cd is sold-out pretty much everywhere. OOH, that's good, right? A lot of sales. OTOH more likely to not have a good chart position if people who want it can't buy it.

I didn't pre-order because I wanted it to be a part of a larger order. I snoozed. I lost.

I had ordered the 2 CD with Booklet ages ago on Amazon, at least I thought that is what it was, the site was very vague about it when I ordered. But they still don’t seem to have any clue when it might ship. As well, I cannot even get the site to even list exactly what version it is. So I dumped that order and started a new one for what seems to be the deluxe version.

Since completely off-topic discourse seems to be encouraged here, I’ll bite:
Has anyone else noticed that in the last two years one can not really search properly on the Amazon site? If one searches for a specific product, let’s say Men’s yellow watches, one gets almost nothing yellow (despite products existing). One instead gets women’s watches, black watches, green watches, food products, books, etc.

If however, one searches outside the site, finds a specific product, and then searches the site with that specific product, one can often find it immediately, despite that product not showing up on previous, well-defined search terms.

It is especially frustrating when searching musical titles. Things just don’t show up in searches…

Must be Steve Howe’s fault, eh?

[Jacob Holm-Lupo]

The tune that jumped out at me on first listen was “The Western Edge,” which I’ve seen little mention of. I think it’s gorgeous and I hope they bust it out onstage someday, it could really take off beautifully in a live context. Maybe it’s kind of a sleeper in the way something like “A Venture” was - not calling a lot of attention to itself initially but growing on people over time.

I agree. Here's what I wrote about my second, more matured impression of the album after having lived with it for a couple of weeks:

So, Yes - The Quest, second take, now that I've lived with the album for a while. My initial reactions upon hearing the two singles were basically wrong. I did quite like The Ice Bridge but didn't like Jon D.s performance on it. I didn't like Dare to Know at all. When I heard the full album, I liked The Ice Bridge better, but Dare to Know still not. I now like it quite a bit more.

My initial ALBUM reactions still mostly hold - it's a very good album and it keeps growing on me. I have made a playlist where I leave out the songs I plain don't like: The bonus tracks and Music to My Ears.

I find The Ice Bridge to be a genuinely great Yes tune, a sort of 21st century Roundabout with its bouncy rhythms and the natural imagery in the lyrics. I like the back-and-forth soloing - Geoff's a bit more than Steve's. The bass playing is fantastic, and I have gotten Jon's complex melody under my skin now.

While Dare to Know still suffers from the banality of Steve's guitar melodies, the rest is quite gorgeous. It's a lush, romantic piece. Does it border on schmaltz? Yes, but so did Onward, and that's still a good tune. The acoustic coda is very nice.

Minus the Man is still one of my faves on the album. Everyone in our house goes around humming the melodies, it's just very catchy and captures some real Yes magic, with the added bonus of Sherwood's odd metering in his writing.

Leave Well Alone I actually like a bit less than on first hearing, but mostly like Dare to Know because of Steve's somewhat lackluster guitar melodies. The rest I like, even though I still think they could've expanded that outro into something a bit more intense. The vocal melodies are great, and again, it feels a bit like Yes of old.

The Western Edge is probably THE favorite track for me, but way too short. Stunning soundscapes, great melodies and gorgeous progressions. And the lyrics match the music to a tee. The swirls of synths and slide guitars is pure effing Yes magic. I hope this is an avenue they explore further if they make another album.

Future Memories - this was sort of my gateway into enjoying Jon's writing and melodies, and I still love it. Very delicately arranged too, and touching lyrics.

A Living Island - probably my second favorite tune on the album. Like I said initially, there's a bit of Bruce Hornsby in there which I dig. This evolves like a Yes song should, and the lyrics really touched me, since I did spend the entire pandemic on an island I only wish, when it seems like Geoff is about to start a Hammond solo, that he really did.

All in all, having lived with the album a bit longer, I can honestly say that I genuinely enjoy the album, and I have listened to it every day since it came out.

Do I wish there were one or two more energetic tracks like The Ice Bridge? Sure, but it's not crucial.

Do I think there are some superfluous songs here? Sure.

Does it bother me that Steve Howe's melodic ideas on the guitar are a bit on the simplistic side? Yes. That's at this point my main gripe about the album. But thankfully there's only a few places where it happens.

Does it bother me that Steve Howe plays with less flair and fire than he used to? Well, listen: For those of us who have seen Yes at regular intervals, since the late 80s in my case, it's been clear for a very long time that Howe was not the sort of instrumentalist who got, from a purely technical perspective, better like fine wine. I remember the change occurred somewhere in the 2000s. One concert in the early 2000s he sounded fine, the next, around 2004 or thereabouts, he was suddenly struggling in all sorts of ways. But let's be honest: Howe was one of the great guitar gods. On Relayer he played guitar like a fusion guitarist - except he really knew how to rock'n'roll as well. So if he's stiffened up a bit, it doesn't mean that he's not still a great guitar player. And I'll say one thing: His acoustic playing on The Quest is absolutely gorgeous, and a pure joy to listen to.

Does it bother me that they didn't get Jay Schellen to play most of the drums so he could've progged it up a bit? No, not at all, and that's part of an important realization about the album. First of all, Alan White is and always has been a drummer with a songwriter's perspective: He plays what the music needs, not what sounds fancy or clever. That's always been one of his strengths and why he has been in demand as a session player as well. And on the album he does exactly that: Serves the songs.

And that brings me to the realization I had about the songs: This is not a prog album, nor is it a Yes West AOR album. This is an album of artistic pop songs, more in the tradition of Beach Boys' Pet Sounds/Smile era, The Zombies or obviously late-era The Beatles. And the subtle but effective orchestration sort of underscores which tradition this album places itself in. And as such, I think the album succeeds brilliantly.

[mkeneally]

Nice to know I’m not alone on The Western Edge Jacob :-) And, yes!, precisely: an album of artistic pop songs. And a very nice one.

(I haven’t heard the three bonus songs yet!)

[jamesmanzi]

Nice to know I’m not alone on The Western Edge Jacob :-) And, yes!, precisely: an album of artistic pop songs. And a very nice one.

(I haven’t heard the three bonus songs yet!)

You definitely are not, I think it's my favorite track. The first thing that jumped out at me was hearing all the comments about how there are no uptempo tunes after The Ice Bridge, and the Western Edge comes trucking thru the middle of the album at like 180 bpm.

[Firth]

Got the box from USPS and they laid the box on the grass next to the mail box at the street, 5 yards from my front door. The USPS should be canceled, unless it can compete. Time to license special delivery services from private companies.

[Scott Bails]

Got the box from USPS and they laid the box on the grass next to the mail box at the street, 5 yards from my front door. The USPS should be canceled, unless it can compete. Time to license special delivery services from private companies.

Not to go off-topic, but no, it absolutely should not.