UNION

The thirteenth album by YES, with probably among most problematic YES albums in the making. YES 'Big Generator' line up (without Jon Anderson) was working on some tracks while on the other side, ABWH was also preparing their second album. In short, with old connection among YES then and past members, and perhaps some business consideration, those two ongoing works were merged. So we have two players on each of drums, guitar and keyboards, and then Jon Anderson and Chris Squire (most of ABWH tracks had the bassline already recorded by Tony Levin).

Well, unfortunately a league of great musicians does not always produce a masterpiece. Instead, this album has a rather ambiguous identity and musical orientation. The return of Steve Howe in YES is a great joy to me, even I also like Trevor Rabin works. I think both of them give the profound influence to the album. Steve's sound in 'Silent Talking' and 'I Would Have Waited Forever' are great, and represent his established sound, more developed that those in 'Drama' or his works with 'Asia'. Besides, the solo acoustic guitar 'Masquerade' is indeed a great treat. Trevor Rabin guitar works in 'Lift Me Up' and 'Saving My Heart' are very nice.

All compositions are unfortunately quite light, even there are good moments here and there. The merging is unfortunately just a wrap up of tracks from both ABWH and YES and there is no concept innovation. Some tracks are indeed catchy and very enjoyable, but this album to me has not yet recovered the full potential of the band (even using their 80-90 era's standard). In my opinion, compared to three YES albums in 80's (represent the commencement of their era of more accessible music), the musical creativity has not yet exceeded 'Drama', but is better than previous album 'Big Generator'.