OPEN YOUR EYES

This 1997 release is surprisingly not the album its bland cover and obvious rushed packaging suggested... Oddly enough its promotional sticker claimed it to be the first Yes studio album since Talk- In his intrinsic, erratic relationship with Yes, Wakeman left the group half way through the 1996 reunion tour and is replaced by Billy Sherwood.

Fortunately, Howe stayed on and once again contributed some fine guitar work, in a seemingly deliberate reaction against the last two live/studio Keys To Ascension albums.

The accent on songs and not epics this time is what makes this for the most part- an enjoyable listen. The opening track 'New State Of Mind' stomps in with a big riff and lushly blended vocal harmonies and is followed by the title track which succeeds in blending the Progressive and commercial elements of the band in more compact form.

This approach continues with 'Universal Garden' which feels like an updated version of 'It Can Happen' from 90125 a decade earlier, an impressive song in its own right. 'Fortune Seller' is the killer deep cut for me- great playing from Squire and White, richly layered Beach Boy-esque vocal harmonies and some gorgeously tasteful jazz picking from Steve Howe. This is a fun album in many ways and perhaps deliberately eschews the trappings of the band's Prog Rock excesses in favour of more concise songwriting.

In this respect, both Squire and Billy Sherwood deserve credit for re-inventing the wheel and not following the well- worn path- this beginning as a songwriting project between the two of them. As with most Yes albums since the 70s, it is nowhere near perfect and there is also a handful of trite filler material like 'No Way We Can Lose', "Man In The Moon', and 'Loveshine'.

The better moments ('Open Your Eyes', 'Universal Garden', 'Fortune Seller', 'Wonderlove','From the Balcony', 'The Solution') certainly make up for it and make it worth investigating for any fan of Yes. NB: My version of the album also included an extra 10-15 minutes of tropical rainforest sounds with occasional bursts of isolated vocal harmonies. Was this just music for a CD ROM or DVD menu, does anyone know??

Social review comments

Review related links

• Send comments to Etherea
• Report this review (#3186024)
• Buy YES music online with PA partners
• Show all YES MP3/Stream
• Go to YES page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Open Your Eyes page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for YES related discussions