I think Talk is hyped up and not all that interesting--tried to listen to it recently and couldn't get thru it---but I don't listen to The Ladder, OYE at all and if I had to chose I guess Talk is better than those two---but not by much. No Yes album past Drama doesn't have it's fair share of clunkers---including ABWH--but still listen to that CD more than the others.
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
I think Drama has a few 'clunkers' as well. 'Man In A White Car' is nothing much and 'Run Through The Light' is them trying to be trendy and 'New Wave' IMHO. The other four tracks are rock-solid, thankfully!
Talk is honestly one of my least favourite Yes albums, although I recognise it as being objectively a better, more coherent effort than Union or Open Your Eyes, so I place it above those. But those three are certainly my least played Yes albums.
The Official Clunker List
Drama: none
90125: none (City of Love is close)
Big Generator: none (except for Love Will Find Away, Big Generator and Holy Lamb)
Union: none (except Shock to the System and the disco one -- three good songs)
Talk: none
Keys Studio none (except not much is that interesting)
The Ladder Whatever the ballad is called
Magnification Don't Go, and the song that sounds like a Coca Cola commercial to close it
Fly From Here The Man You Always Want Me to Be, Bumpy Ride
Last edited by yamishogun; 09-26-2015 at 01:23 AM.
Ok I am very late to the game here....don't think I had ever heard this album, or maybe the first track only. Considering 1994, the circumstances around this crazy band, etc this is a very impressive work and demonstrates Rabin as a very talented cat. It has a wall of sound at points, but the writing is good-to-great. I'm very pleasantly surprised.
I have always been a fan of 90125 and Big Generator but generally thought Union was a stinker (saw it live twice though; maybe I need to revisit that with 2021 ears) so I probably just jumped ship. This is light years beyond the stuff I've heard since the real Jon exited imo. I just ordered a used CD for $6 from Discogs. The final track is just excellent. Very surprised.
I had a vague memory of participating in a Talk thread a few years ago, and there it is... 5-11-2014. Funny, my opinion of Talk has gone up again over the last seven years. Largely on account of the boots: Canandaigua, Maryland Heights, Binghamton, and as above the Santiago DVD.
Sorry, Talk is perhaps my most loathed Yes album, it suffers from a lot of things not least the disappointment of Howe, Bruford and Wakeman being ejected from the band..
I know a lot of people like Talk. I never understand what they hear in it. I love 90125 and Big Generator, and generally prefer the YesWest tracks on Union, so I'm not hostile to another YesWest album. But what is here? It's all just so safe and middle-of-the-road. "Silent Spring" is good, but the rest is forgettable.
Henry
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
I don't hate Talk but rarely listen to it nowadays. I really like The Calling, though.
Get stoned and throw on headphones at night. Worked for me. I listened to it critically from a production and engineering standpoint, it contains a shit ton of musical detail which I appreciate. Rabin is no beginner - he knows his shit. He is in total control of his vision on this...this wasn't just haphazardly thrown together. Far from the greatest Yes album but I would place it in the "keep" pile. There are some in the "dogshit" pile too. Jon sounds as good as he ever sounds on this too.
I can hear it wasn't haphazardly done. I can hear that everything is exactly as Rabin wanted it. But why does Rabin want a bunch of bland melodies and simple arrangements? I can barely even remember "I Am Waiting", "State of Play" or "Where will You Be", and I've listened to this album loads. "Walls" is at least quite catchy, and "Real Love" has an OK Squire part. A big problem I have with this album is the frequent absence of Squire, White and Kaye.
Henry
Last edited by bondegezou; 08-02-2021 at 02:42 AM.
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
PS...to my ears its not a million miles away from his solo album Can't Look Away of which I grew up with. Definitely an improved production and also benefits from Jon and Squires vocals (and bass). I can sort of view it as a Rabin album with special guests Yesguys on it, although I hear Jon's ideas on this too. I can care less about the drama surrounding this band...if the music is cool I'm in. If not then I'm not. I even like ABWH with occasional cheeseball synth patches notwithstanding, but that's a different story.
This album has sort of finished the Rabin arc starting with 90125 and ending here. All in all I view this era more fondly in retrospect with 2021 ears.
IMHO "Side 1" of Talk (the first four songs) is really well constructed proggy AOR. Memorable hooks. Attention to detail. Well produced. "Side 2" is a little more iffy, but that's where I think the live versions help. On the boots I mention above Endless Dream comes alive in a way that the studio version does not. If you haven't done so yet, download some of those Talk boots from yessongs.nl and see if they improve your view of the Talk studio album.
To each his own of course but I would rate the YesWest period from best to worst as 90125 > Talk > BG > 1/2 Union.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
I'll have to check out that Talk tour on YT from the South Side of the Sky Channel. Endless Dream studio is the best thing on here imo so I'm curious to hear the live version. I think it totally works on the album and is the best track this band ever did along with Final Eyes, Shoot High, I'm Running, Holy Lamb, Leave It, Hold On, and Hearts.
That's cool. We all hear things differently. Maybe I have the benefit of hearing this as virtually a new Yes album, so I didn't have any history attached here? I dunno.
Kaye is irrelevant to me - I haven't really heard him play anything since the Yes album anyway Doesn't Rabin play all keys on these albums anyway? (serious question). Squire is definitely present here and White's kit is so over the top - I read something like 27 mics and many GB of HD space for his tracks alone. He can't be ignored here if you tried!
I recognise 'The Calling', 'I Am Waiting' and 'Real Love' as good AOR songs. 'Endless Dream' has some good things within it but it doesn't cohere. I admit I have not heard a live version.
The middle part of the album is very poor IMHO. I particularly hate that pitch-bend thing in 'State Of Play'.
Tried giving this a play after not having heard it in years. I had to turn it off within five minutes--couldn't take any more of that ham-fisted, whomping drumbeat. Not what I come to prog music for.
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
I'm pretty sure that's Rabin on the keys for Talk.
This was one of the first 2 Yes albums I bought as a teenager (the other being Fragile), and I loved it. Especially "The Calling", "State of Play" and "Endless Dream". It's not an album I revisit very much, but when I do I still enjoy it. Doesn't rank quite as high as 90125 or Big Generator for me, but I'm glad it exists and that it's in my collection.
White sounds so good here, I think. Sounds like he's really hammering those drums, and I love it.
...and now it's 27 years. How is the time going so quickly?
I've always said that during the time Rabin was in Yes, he was the best thing about them. Rabin haters don't like hearing that, but I have yet to hear a contrary argument that proves me wrong. He was certainly the most focused and the most dedicated to the albums he wrote and appeared on.
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.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Perspective Vortex - my new solo project available now at http://perspectivevortex.bandcamp.com
Mahtrak Progressive Jazz Rock - www.mahtrak.com
Bookmarks