ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE

Difficult to rate this album. On one hand it's the lineup we've been dying for especially after the Trevor Rabin-you-can-actually-dance-to-YES-music-in-a-bar fiasco of late. On the other, it didn't quite measure up to what we expected (especially with Chris's absense). But it still comes close to the edge while the results are a bit fragile (not bad, huh?). My biggest disappointment is as a big admirer of Bill is his obession of electronic drums at this point in his career. Electronic drums are fine for occasional effect, but to have your entire set of these takes away the human element of drumming. Thank God he eventually got away from this later on. All in all, the songs are well crafted and all four are in good form. Jon's voice is more seasoned and richer, Steve's guitar is more cleaner and precise than ever and Rick's orchestral keyboards sound even more expansive (although I miss the dirtier sounds of the old Moogs he used to have). I'm not much for song-by-song analysis, but the highlight for me is "Quartet" (yeah I know, the title is a joke. The overdubs total to about 12 people playing!), but this song really sums-up the YES sound. Parting thoughts, this album was certainly a breath of fresh air on their part to show that the YES family can still more or less get together and let bygones be bygones. Oh, and hats off to Tony Levin's work here for filling in for Chris. Can't think of a better bass player to do it. 3 1/2 stars.