HEAVEN & EARTH

Yes were the soundtrack to my life as a teenager in the 1970's. Their music made high school bearable for me and I really wanted to love this new album. But try as I might - I don't. The major letdown seems to be that none of the music is memorable. Or passionate. Here's what I mean: As complex and intricate as Close to the Edge is - I can still hum the chorus and some of the verses to myself when I take the dog for a walk. Classic Yes knew how to offset challenging time signatures with musical and vocal hooks. This version of the band seems to have lost that magic component. It's funny, but the Davison's former band Glass Hammer seems to have more in common with classic Yes than the actual band (Yes) as it is now. The Glass Hammer disc 'If' comes to mind. On further reflection, Downes' keyboard prominence gives the whole project a tired 'Asia' feel to it in the end. And the Roger Dean cover? I really like the blue background structure and also the foreground organic element as separate objects but my brain has trouble reconciling the perspective to merge them together... So: It's not a horrid effort but falls far short of what I had hoped for.