YES, SOLO FAMILY ALBUM

Various Artists (Concept albums & Themed compilations)

Various Genres

3.02 | 6 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

Fish out of water

This was one of the earliest of the Yes family albums. It differs from the "Friends and relatives" pair in several ways, the most obvious being that the selections are from older albums, and there are no songs at all by the band. The tracks here are mainly from around the time when the Yes members all made solo albums with varying degrees of success.

Rick Wakeman's tracks are therefore from his most creative period, with "Catherine Howard" from "Six wives." and "Merlin" from "Arthur" both appearing. Thankfully both are the original versions. Jon Anderson contributes several tracks, the best being the extract from his first album "Olias of Sunhillow". For many, including myself, he hit an early peak in his solo career with that album, which he has never since managed to repeat. Anderson's collaboration with Vangelis is represented by the creditable single "I hear you now".

Steve Howe's section is occupied by a couple of tracks from his technically fine but ultimately dull "Beginnings", while "Hold out your hand", the first track on Chris Squire's "Fish out of Water, gives a good indication of why for many his was the best Yes solo album of the lot. Patrick Moraz and Alan White's albums from around the same time also contribute one track each. In the case of Moraz, "Cacha�a (Baiao)" is certainly not the strongest track on the story of !". Alan White's "Ramshackled" album was not great, as is evidenced by "Spring" here.

Other former Yes members for whom space is found are Tony Kaye (Badger), Bill Bruford, Trevor Rabin, and Peter Banks.

The main purpose of this album would appear to be to act as a taster for the numerous side projects of Yes members past and present. To that extent, it works well, generally giving a pretty accurate picture of what to expect. The diverse nature of the tracks however makes this an rather disjointed affair which is unlikely to appeal to many in its entirety.

Easy Livin | 2/5 | 2007-11-5

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