OWNER OF A LONELY HEART (PROMO SINGLE)

This is another hidden vinyl I found hiding away in a cupboard some where, and I already had heard '90125' so I was not especially enthralled with it. This promo single has both a long and short version of "Owner of a Lonely Heart", the only difference being that the short version ends very soon after Trevor Rabin's guitar solo. The official version also came with a single version of our song. This single reached very high places around the world and it went to no. 1 in America and a respectable no. 28 in the UK. I must say that this EP doesn't especially stand out in my opinion and there is no real point getting it. But because of it's significance to Yes and prog in general I give it a border line two stars. Mind you this is an absolute gem for collectors. Collectors/fans only

This promo 12-inch single is only of interest to completionists or those of you trying to collect singles from prog bands that decided to make pop/dance music in the 1980s (although this had its origins with Cinema). Owner of a Lonely Heart performed quite well across the world on the Top 40 singles charts, making it to number 1 in the United States. They even made a rather dull and uninspired music video for this song that I believe was in fairly high rotation on MTV. I suspect this 12-inch single is quite rare nowadays. Basically an okay pop single, but poor as an entry for the progressive rock genre. One star.

' Owner Of a Lonely Heart' off 90125 spelt 'traitors' from the main Yes fan base. Trevor Rabin's beginning with Yes went down like a soup sandwich. However this was agreat release from Yes. Musically a direction they had to take to survive with Jon Anderson repeatedley going AWOL and coming back just in time for the credits on the album sleeve. Cynicism aside JO and Trevor Rabin tolerated each other quite well lyrically and musically. OOALH is proof of that. A great single, a megabuck earner for the band and an interesting new ' Americanised' AOR sound.

'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' - Yes (Single)

Despite the flak that the so-called 'commercial' Yes gets, this is actually a pretty great pop/rock track. While some may scream 'sell-out,' I think it was wise of them to go down a route like this. As the eighties rolled around, the mainstay of people really didn't care about progressive rock anymore; people were moving on to less demanding forms of music and discarding the epic suites of old for danceable tunes and non-threatening hooks. In this sense, Yes was 'progressing' and adapting their style in order to stay afloat.

While I have not heard much of the other 'pop' Yes, this song is both catchy and intelligent. While there obviously isn't alot of depth here, some quirky production techniques, a functional band performance and great vocals from Jon Anderson make this a welcome song for FM radio. The short version here isn't worth mentioning (why make a radio edit of a song that's already radio-length?) at all, so this is essentially a one track EP.

This is not the sort of song that has the replayability for more than a few listens at a time, so buyer beware. However, it's a good example why this band (like Genesis) didn't fall into obscurity at the turn of the decade.