KEYS TO ASCENSION

Some album has to be the worst Yes album, and I think it's Keys to Ascension. Or, at least, when Keys to Ascension came out, Tales from Topographic Oceans and Tormato could breathe sighs of relief.

Quite a big deal was made when, in 1995, it was announced that the "classic lineup" of Yes was back: singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and drummer Alan White. I wasn't as hyped; after all, these were the guys responsible for Tales from Topographic Oceans and Tormato. (To be fair, this lineup also produced Going for the One and later, Keys to Ascension 2.) Sadly, 1995 is the precise point where Yes became a nostalgia act.

Keys to Ascension contains about a half-hour of new material in the form of two songs, "Be the One" and "That That Is." Each appears to have been a rough outline into which the band poured whatever 1970s-Yes-sounding material they had lying around. It seems somehow fitting that the songs were tacked onto the end of the second disk of a heavily overdubbed double-live album of 20-year-old songs like "The Revealing Science of God."

But enough negativity! Keys to Ascension doesn't detract from the band's classic work. I assume that every band releases a dud every so often. Luckily we have Close to the Edge, Drama, Relayer - - and many others - - to enjoy.

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