BIG GENERATOR

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It sounds like "90125"! It has the same style, and the songs are very catchy. We find the same musicians: Rabin and Kaye, who are responsible of producing a "90125"-like album. But the record is less good than "90125". The guitar sounds heavier, and the sound is more artificial, cold and metallic. Anderson's voice is outstanding. Instrumental bits are interesting, especially the keyboards. There are percussions which sometimes add some latin influences.

Came to this community with the idea of reviewing great albums, but reality is different, great bands also have mistakes. I bought this record believing that after 90125 anything had to be better, I was wrong.

This hybrid (not rock, not prog' not defined), mixes 80's POP, arena rock and some proggy remains of the original band, but has not enough quality to even reach a mediocre status.

Yes without Anderson ( Drama) was not really Yes (even when Jon's voice isn't my cup of tea) but still they played great music, Yes with Rabin instead of Howe is just another 80's arena band.

People who are searching for 80's pop can buy Duran Duran or something similar, it's terrible music IMHO but at least they get what they paid for, Yes fans always expect something different.

One lonely star because te system doesn't allow me to rate it lower.

90125 only worse. This was actaully a painful listen for me. They sound totally uninspired on here, and Trevor Rabin was quickly dragging them down the crapper. This will cause your respect for the musicians involve to drop significantly if you listen to it. Only go anywhere near this thing if you absolutely MUST have everything Yes ever released, or if you really liked 90125 and figure there's a chance you could enjoy an even more wattered down version of it.

A power station

Many see this as a disappointing album by Yes, and its easy to understand why. The music is far removed from "Close to the edge", "Fragile" etc,. In place of the lengthy prog compositions we have an almost AOR sound, closer to the music of say Styx or Toto.

It's therefore essential before listening to this album to put any preconceptions aside, and hear it as if you were unaware who it was by. This I admit is a little difficult as Jon Anderson's distinctive voice is of course still present. I have to say that having (eventually) managed to rid myself of the disappointment of not hearing the Yes I expected, I'm mightily impressed, this is an excellent album.

There's a freshness and energy here which had been lacking from recent albums by Yes, they seem here to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Most of the tracks have a pace and urgency to them which had been missing from "Tormato" and "90125".

Songs such as "Rhythm of Love" and "Love will find a way" are simply structured as little more than melodic pop rock pieces, and even the longer "I'm running" is hardly challenging. This however is beauty of the album, it's stark simplicity, this album is Fun with a capital F. When things do slow down, such as on "Shoot high, aim low", the power is turned up, only the final "Holy lamb" stands alone as a more traditional Jon Anderson led softer piece.

If you're looking for "Close to the edge" or "Yours is no disgrace", you won't find anything like that here. What you will find is high quality melodic rock.

In the "Yesyears" video, Trevor Rabin called this album "the most difficult album I have made". Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin (as Rabin said in the same video) had some frictions because they had different views about Yes` music. Chris Squire said that he and Alan White recorded their parts almost two years before it was released. If "90125" was easier to made because Squire, White, Rabin and Kaye had composed and recorded most of the album`s songs before Anderson arrived to the band again, this album was more difficult to made because the different views about the musical direction for Yes. But it has good songs, even if some of them are for Radio playing.Trevor Horn left the production of this album, and Trevor Rabin became the co-producer with Yes and one of the engineers.The best songs are "Rhythm of Love", "Love Will Find a Way", "Final Eyes" (the best of all) and "I`m Running". It seems that in this album Tony Kaye had more freedom for his keyboard arrangements (as Horn left "Big Generator", with whom he had problems during the recording of "90125", and Kaye left for some months in 1983). "Final Eyes" has very good keyboard arrangements maybe done by Kaye and Rabin together (as Rabin also was credited as playing keyboards). "I`m Running" has interesting percussion arrangements (a Marimba?). "Rhythm of Love" has a very good keyboards arrangement in the beginning of the song, with very good backing vocals in all parts of the song. Jon Anderson left the band again after the 1987-88 tour,maybe because he didn`t want to record pop Radio songs as the record label wanted. Yes depended very much on Rabin. Some people doesn`t like his style, but he was doing his jobs (guitarist/keyboard player/composer/producer) very good, but some people made him responsible for the change of style for the band, but he was only doing his jobs the best he could to keep Yes alive and to please the record label.

Sorry but IMHO this is nowhere near as bad as people make out. I urge you to relisten to ' I'm Running' and ' Holy Lamb' again. They are beautiful songs. The Rabin flavours are there for sure but the commercial ' Rhythm of Love' and ' Love Will Find a Way' are not that bad if you accept the change that the 80's forced onto so many bands.A lot of Big Generator is good solid rock-period!

This record continues the style of it's predecessor, and it is therefore directed to a different consumer group than progressive rock fans. A joyful disco pop rock album is something I wouldn't want to have form a classic symphonic rock band, but it's a world of free will. Luckily these lovely hit ballads have enriched the days of many people, so this terrible release isn't unnecessary when it's evaluated from a bigger perspective.

I can't think of a good way to start this review, so I'm just going to come out and admit it: I like Big Generator and I think it's the best of the Rabin-era albums.

There we go. I think I just managed to offend everybody.

Old time Yes fans hate Big Generator because you won't hear anything truly "progressive" on it. There are no progressive songs here, despite a couple of reviewers who will try to convince you that one or two songs have progressive echoes here and there. "I'm Running" is a really interesting and complex song with a lot of world influences, but to claim that it is progressive is an act of desperation on the part of fans intent on rationalizing the Yes canon. "Holy Lamb" is one of those slow, spiritual meditations that Jon does that would fit in perfectly with his solo work. It's nice work, but you can't really claim that it's progressive. The same goes for "Shoot High, Aim Low," which demonstrates better than any other song just how strong Yes was vocally when Anderson and Rabin played off each other's voices. These guys really brought out the best in each other. And "Final Eyes," the last song where fans look in vain for some hints of progressive sounds, isn't progressive. It's a pop ballad with an awkward verse section, (probably the only part of this album where the word awkward is appropriate.) The rest of the album contains straightforward pop songs where no one would even dream of looking for progressive sounds.

That said, this a collection of pop songs where the quality of composition and execution is fairly high (although without the brilliant production that 90125 enjoyed.) Love Will Find a Way was the single and is a very likable song, although it lacks a bit of the edge that made the 90125 songs so popular. Rhythm of Love, Big Generator, and Almost Like Love are all cut from the same mold and are all generally likable but a bit too sugary songs.

What really makes this album stand out is the vocal work. Jon and Trevor combine so well on this album, whether it is the antiphonal parts on Shoot High, Aim Low, Love Will Find a Way or the amazing group vocals that end I'm Running. This album easily contains the best written vocal arrangements Yes has ever used, and they are executed flawlessly.

I'm submitting this to fight back on behalf of the much-maligned Big Generator. Let's look at the tracks 1. Rhythm Of Love (4:49) - good orchestral opening, but an average Rabin-era song. 2. Big Generator (4:31) - don't like this, especially the discordant chorus. 3. Shoot High Aim Low (7:59) - a bit of a slow one, good drumming from Alan. 4. Almost Like Love (5:58) - speeds things up, do I detect a Motown influence here? 5. Love Will Find A Way (4:48) - now things get interesting. This is one of the best Rabin songs. A good riff, nice chorus and a great solo starting off on harmonica and the guitar comes in alongside it half way through. 6. Final Eyes (6:20) - things get better. Nice vocals with swirling echo effects and a very deep keyboard bass sound. Highlight is the crashing drum and guitar chords in the middle. 7. I'm Running (7:34) - the best song on the album and IMO the best Rabin-era song along with I am waiting. Starts with a bass riff and features a fantastic solo. The vocals towards the end are really good. 8. Holy Lamb (3:15 - a typical Jon Anderson song. Starts with guitar and vocals and gradually builds up similar to Wonderous Stories. I think Rabin said he didn't like this, but it's not too bad. Nice guitar/keyboard work at the end.

Overall I give it three stars, mainly because of the high standards Yes set with their previous albums (up to 90125). It's obviously not as good as these but still better than a lot of bands' best. I prefer it to 90125 on the whole.

SHOOT HIGH, AIM LOW is a more apt title for this album. Whereas 90125 attempted to compromise the band's original progressive yearnings with the market-driven music industry of the 1980's, BIG GENERATOR tosses any thoughts of progressivity out of the window. The album is slickly-produced arena-rock, pure and simple, no better nor worse than Asia. Actually, worse, as there's not even the trappings of prog here. Nothing to distinguish it from say, an REO Speedwagon album. Yes, Anderson's unmistakable vocals are still there, but I get the distinct feeling he had very little say in the most un-Yes-like music.

"I'm Running" and the previously mentioned "Shoot High, Aim Low" are fairly pathetic attempts at placating their old fan-base; a brace of seven-plus-minute...things that meander with no real point, purpose or inspiration. The dated production muddles things even more. Quite possibly the band's artistic nadir: there's nothing here to offer fans of classic Yes. Nothing at all.

It's hard to believe that this is the same band that brought us classics like Close To The Edge and Relayer. Yes made a foray into pop before with 90125 but it was done tastefully and while having little prog value, produced a few good pop hits. However, here Yes falls flat on its face trying to produce another commercially sucessful album. Songs are obviously oriented toward pop sucess but fail to contain any memorable melodies, and one quickly forgets that the album ever played after a completed listening of it.

The sound here is so over produced that I fail to even recognize that people produced the music here, at some point it stops even sounding like music. Even loyal Yes supporters have to be disappointed by this album which has no redeeming qualities; let's face it even the album art has a mechanical 80s feel, and far from the majestic covers of Roger Dean, does nothing to attrack the listener. When the most enjoyable aspect of an album is its title, there's a problem. A big one.

I can put up with '90125', I actually like 'Talk' but "Big Generator" is one album I just cannot stand. It is the biggest load of drivel I have ever heard come out of Yes, everything about the album seems very weak, and commercial. Something which I liked about Yes is that they never went terribly commercial until '90125.' The Only song worth mentioning is "Holy Lamb" which, coincidently is written by Jon Anderson. Songs "like Almost like Love", "I'm Running", "Shoot High Aim low" I cannot stand. Yes however did get commercial success with "Big Generator", in particular the singles which were released from the album. "Big Generator" reached number 17 in the UK and number 15 in America.

1.Rhythm of Love (1/5) 2.Big Generator (2/5) 3.Shoot High Aim Low (1/5) 4.Almost Like Love (1/5) 5.Final Eyes (1/5) 6.I'm Running (1/5) 7.Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence) (4/5) Total = 11 divided by 7 (number of songs) = 1.5 (rounded down) = 1 star Poor. Only for completionists

"Big Generator" really is a flop ('90125' is not bad) by normal Yes standards and it really disappointed me, I knew it was not very good but not this bad. I recommend "Big Generator" only to hardcore Yes fans. Luckily the band were able to redeem themselves with 'The Ladder', 'Magnification' and in particular the 'Keystudios' stuff. It is with a heavy heart I give a Yes album 1 star but it must be done.

Big generator is probably one of the worst Yes albuns ever. I don´t care about this album, even being a great Yes fan. Sorry, but there are thousands of better albuns to buy instead of this one.

Rhythm of love starts with some keyboards and harmony vocals, but when it starts the main tiff, the song becomes pretty forgettable. The drumming and keyboards are very poppish, without any technique or emotion. Anderson´s voice is not harmonic. There are some few variations that don´t impress me much as long as they lack harmony. Guitar solo is not great thing.

Big Generator has a ridiculous vocal intro and a cliche riff and the chorus is bad, the voices and the sounds. Keyboards were better if turned off. Rabin plays like many pop/rock bands from the eighties. Even the bass is not so good also.

The next song, shoot high aim low is a little better. At least the vocals are much better and the song is better structured. Although there is not much variations during the song, the keyboards and bass lines are good.

Then the pop returns with Almost Like Love, a song with the same style of the two first songs, with bad keyboards and cliche drums and bass. The singing is bad also.

Love will find a Way was a pop hit back in the eighties. You can realize how the song is by the fact it was a hit in 86. Not that only bad songs were hits at this time, but because the pop orientation of Yes could only lead to a sad conclusion to prog fans. The arrangements are again pretty poor and the vocals irritating.

Final Eyes starts with a better arrangement, but loses the point in the middle. It is better than most of the other songs, because like Shoot High Aim Low it is better structured, the instruments sound better, mainly the keyboards. The guitar is better too.

The next song, I´m running, starts promising, with a good structure, but the vocal and keyboard sounds aren´t good. The guitar riff is too poor to ones like Yes. There are some good keys later in the song, with some decent guitar. But the overall isn´t so good.

The last song, Holy Lamb, is a kind of ballad that isn´t bad, but it is nothing great. The song is not irritating like many other mentioned, but it isn´t a good song too. At least it is well played, though it´s is impossible to find great melodies and complex arrangements in this album.

Unfortunately this album cannot be rated even as good. Yes were great and there still are, but this one is a low point on their career.

Horns! What is this, Yes or Huey Lewis? Don’t get me wrong, I love brass instruments. It’s just not the kind of thing you really expect to hear with Yes, and you really don’t expect to get completely overwhelmed by them like this album does. I think there’s something like six different guys playing horns on this thing, mostly trumpet I believe. Oh well, the 80’s were certainly a time for changes…

I guess 90125 wasn’t the bottom for Yes, Big Generator was. At least 90125 had a great live tour supporting it, and there was a very faint inkling of a recognizable Yes sound in a couple of tracks (“Cinema”, “Leave It”).

This album doesn’t even have that. “Rhythm of Love” and “Love Will Find a Way” a pure schmaltzy pop, horns and dance-hall beat included, and “Big Generator” is simply forgettable (emphasis on the ‘simple’).

I’m not sure what the band was targeting with “Shoot High, Aim Low”, but they missed. ! Trevor Rabin’s guitar is actually mildly interesting for the first minute or two, but the nauseatingly repetitive arrangement simply gets boring by the fourth or fifth minute (and there are still a couple more minutes after that). This is one of the longest tracks on the album, and also one of the least inspired. It’s clear by the time this track rolls around that the respective muses of Jon Anderson, Rabin, and Chris Squire are not dancing to the same beat on this album. It’s no wonder Anderson wandered off to do his solo thing again after this one.

“Almost Like Love” sounds like Big Country being fronted by an aging vocal queen. I can almost picture Anderson in a flowery polyester blouse doing a lounge-act shuffle while singing this one on stage. Liberace look out!

I actually think “Final Eyes” is the best track on the album, although that isn’t saying much. The vocal harmonies are pretty well done, and the odd key is kind of catchy. This is one of those songs that really stuck in my head back in the 80’s, but for a long time I was sure this was Survivor, not Yes. It was only after I actually bought the album that I found out I was wrong.

Chris Squire finally shows his face on “I’m Running”, some sort of flamenco-meets-cast- of-Hair kind of thing. Again Rabin has a few flashes of brilliance on guitar, but really – I don’t know what the hell is going on here! Sounds like a street party scene from a Broadway musical.

On “Holy Lamb (Song For Harmonic Convergence)” Anderson is trying for a Chris De Burgh reflective let’s-all-hug kind of song or something. Squire’s bass is mildly interesting on this one as well, but not enough to make a difference.

Seriously, this is a really bad album. Totally forgettable and all copies of it should have been buried in a time capsule for some future nuclear holocaust-ravaged generation to uncover and ponder. Move along citizens, nothing to see here. One star.

peace

Pretty much the idea and supposed principle of quality is either the most concluded thing towards which to orientate or the more irrelevant manner that should be highlighted; surprisingly I would find the latter impression innovating and effective. Troubling too much over the thing that the summed up experience fails rapidly, that the collective effort is futile when the actual idea is mediocre and that the music imagination is very dull, troubling therefore with these things is not the best thing to and, believe me, it's mostly a vain reflection (not to mention - again - how tormenting with the idea that Yes were once great artists, now only to come, lightly, as "troublemakers" musicians, is even less satisfyingly). Not to contradict the reality and its facts! But only to interpret the situation leisurely, to judge the standards objectively and, as an ultimate issue, to listen to the music through your heart's pleasure and through your taste's endurance. What I care to notice and to spotlight regarding Big Generator is how the music vision is neglected, how the censure between a good movement and a bad influence, even concerning the period, the time, the style and the tune, is obnoxious and how little do I appreciate the musical movement within it. Or.how much I appreciate the entire satisfaction.without it.

Said virulently or softly, in terms of awareness or of indifference, directly or subtly, simple or eloquent, Big Generator is prevalently taken as Yes's weakest creation or among the weakest. Again, it's reality! Made by the instincts of a curios period's style, it has only gone exaggeratedly low and inexplicably dreary (that being that 90125 resembled some good tunes or that - looking now into the future of the spoken moment - album like Union or Talk, though with heavy misconceptions, will find some of the Yes known accent or some unimaginable light frequented ideas; only Open Your Eyes is of the same line.). What disappoints me to the point of a "high" downbeat is the fact that the perspective was killed by the artistic struggle, one seemingly interesting at first, if not actually meant - upon the first days of being told like that - to be attractive, to be sufficiently listenable and to find its quality up in the deserved denotations. Pop music isn't a disastrous kind, in essence. But you got to have the touch even towards those few things that are of that variety and of that easy elegance. Yes, I've said it, have the deficit of doing query pop, being surely without a resonance and without that.cool side. Most specifically Big Generator is a grave accentuation of the pop language, made improperly and gathering little attention. For pop's sake, instead of for pop. On one hand. Given another though, the 80s would have been promising in a long shot of accomplishments, thus of experiences - instead we got just about two major music moments, out of which this latter one does the convincing attitude of saying that Yes have become quite a fragile spectacle.

So the "Big G" performance is pretty much dreadful. I'm not saying that out of vanity and out of the pretentiousness of something being done good or in the exceeding ones self method. Better out of the sorrow sentiment that grabs you, more than considerably, upon music so short and so simple, but more importantly, wrongly put. There isn't even the place for discussing pretensions. Music suffers the most, being artificial and being exactly the opposite way of a firm, light, playful and relaxing instant. Abrasive, turned somehow against the normal, made impossible for a tune or a melody comprehension, rough in major spots and unexciting in large points, of an unchallenged caliber and of a too, much too leisure form. If this description sounds too filled, you can just skip over it, as words ultimately are of the singularity effect. Music is everything in Big Generator, but music is nothing. And the Yes artists are in about their most un-eloquent (was going to say unprofessional, but I'll refrain so, it's after all a shattered experience, not a dissolved immatureness). Anderson mostly is of no magic by the voice and by the nature of the vocal color, by the lyrics and by the low ascend they're supposed to surround. The instrumental of all composition is also shapeless and often confusing, by some misconceptions that the musicians have chosen or have adapted to. Big Generator has got a lot of noise-form, of themes-monotony and of beauty-lack. That's the "essential".

By its uninteresting pop and its derisory musicality, Big Generator is perhaps not aberrant and not a practical joke made by the Yes, in their most flawed chronological point, but surely a mistake of approach and a weak music, all parallels being drawn and staying in the same flowery length. I can only agree with those who dislike it, not because there's a reason in being of the similar appreciative opinion, but because there isn't a way to promote it higher and better (neither lower and worse). I can't also make a recommendation towards something else, from this period or from the next phase, because I myself have left the hope of Yes in the commercial compromise being fascinating. Un-recommended, but.an example of things going the way you couldn't even imagined. Criticism unnecessary.

Strange album this one. So many different ratings (lots of 1 star as well as 4 or even 5; meaning that it is a masterpiece) ! It seems that according your YesBackground you would like it or hate it. Since I am a passionate YesFan since 1973 (aged 14) I belong to the the latter category. The only positive point are the vocal arrangements which are quite good. Apart from that, I would say that this album is on par with "Abacab" and that the YesBottom here is reached. The problem is that we are at the start of an awful trilogy of YesStudio albums.

The intro for the title track sounds hard-rocking with some reminiscence of "Owner", but the chorus is quite awful. "Shoot High, Aim Low" is a long and boring number. Almost no rythm and again very, very poor chorus. The last part is dreadful. "Almost Like Love" is more to be hated than loved. Again, another attempt to hard-rock but it is really a ridiculous number. "Love Will Find A Way" is an AOR ballad. The first listenable track of the album (do not expect a jewel though). "Final Eyes" is the best song of this album. At times, we hear the Yes that most of us once loved. "I'm Running" reminds me a bit some songs from "90125" because of short Oriental sections. But globally this track stinks. "Holy Lamb" is a candid song with stupid lyrics, I quote : "At the start of every day, A child begins to play, And all we need to know, Is that the future is a friend of yours and mine". This shows Jon's attempt to reach his peace of mind trying to convinced the world that love is the key to all of our problems. As far as I remember, peace & love started in 1967 and ended in 1969. My only "Wholy Lamb" lies down on Broadway, on Broadway.

"90125" showed definitely a drastic change in the YesOrientation but it did contain some good numbers which is absolutely not the case here. I am not against evolution in the live of a band. Others did that reaching the highs in the new genre they were approaching (Bowie for instance; but I'll discuss this when he will be available for reviews; which will soon take place I guess). Stay away from this album. BY ALL MEANS. One Star.

I hoped that 90215 was as low as Yes got. Nope, instead the faithful are hit with Big Generator. Whereas 90215 had Owner of a Lonely Heart, a hopelesy commercial yet ever so slightly catchy little number, Big Generator creates, nay generates, a black hole where the band's immense talent is stretched and warped before being sucked through to the great unknown. Only Jon Anderson manages to grab a pipe or something as his band mates are pulled into this gaping maw. His vocal arrangements hint at the glory of yesteryear, but they are placed on some of the worst songs from a once great band since Abacab (Genesis would respond to this challenge to authority when they released Invisible Touch, an album that inspires a brief fit of depression coupled with an eating disorder).

"Rythm of Love" and "Big Generator" open the album with banal dance beats. "Shoot High, Aim Low" is a fitting description of this album's effect on me, as after finishing I felt a throbbing pain below the belt and tasted blood for about a week. This song is FAR too long. Yes has crafted much longer numbers, but they were musically innovative and interesting. This sounds like someone's ABBA record started skipping. If the "Holy Lamb" on this disc is the same from Genesis' controversial concept album, then the lamb must have committed suicide on Broadway. Anderson does some very weird vocalization ("singing" is a stretch).

The rest of the songs offer no standout lyrics, vocals, or musicianship. Trevor Rabin, an underrated guitarist in my mind, gets no chance to shine here, and neither does any other member of the band. Anderson's lyrics, usually thoughtful and metaphorical, now are trite pop that are even less good the predominant crap pop of the day. His vocals are also a disappointment. I hesitate to even call this an album. An album contains music; this is a very portable toilet. In a parallel universe, this would be Yes' greatest work. Perhaps then it is appropriate that it forms a black hole of music; it created its own portal to the bizarro world where it will be loved (or hated, however it works there). I would continue talking about this failure of a disc, but the area between the right and left halves of my brain has threatened to take us both out if I keep hurting him with the memory of this.

Grade: F

Big Generator is probably the most controversial release by Yes.

On this release, they display what was a modern soundscape at the time of it's release, catchy and memorable chorus lines in quite a few songs, and what at first may sound like simple and superficial music in quite a few tracks.

There's archetypical 80's sounding synth work all over the place, a guitarist that is given some space for hard rockin fuzz, strong and catchy melody lines.

Beneath the surface, it's still easy to hear that this is a prog band though; but unlike most of their other releases the complexities are more hidden away on this release. The subtle approach is used instead of the prog complexity overkill Yes more often displayed pre 90125.

But when that is said, this isn't a gem of a release. It's not the trash the diehard fanboys claim it is, but neither is it a forgotten jewel or a hidden musical gem.

It's a collection of tracks with varying quality, in various styles - all of them with a distinct 80's tinge to them due to synthwork and production.

All in all an average release.

YES, TREVOR RABIN IS STILL PRESENT!!

After the mega-success of 90125 ( still the most sold YES album as of today) you could only except the follow-up album to sound kind of similar as like the saying ''don't fix it if it ain't broke''. If the ''modern'' cover of 90125 was ugly enough , we haven't seen anything yet. The band surpassed itself with one of the most horrible artwork i have seens so far ( i am talking about the yellow cover as i have seen another one ,green in this case). We are definitely far from anything ROGER DEAN produced in the heydays.

Musically, the band (same line-up) is just using the same formula than in 90125, but not completely! Yes, we have 2 attempts at AOR top 40 charts with ''Love will find a way'' (what a title, not Siberian Khatru anymore) and the hard rocking''Rythm of Love''. Though they would not be as successful as ''the lonely heart'', they will still get good airplay and garnish a little more the bank accounts of our 5 musicians here.

However the rest of the album is not quite that commercial. You have some indigest features like the horrible ''almost like love'' or the industrial ''big generator'', but the rest of the album is DECENT! ''Shoot high, aim low'' is a guilty pleasure and the rest of the album ,all what comes after ''love will find a way'' is highly listenable with yes, YESmoments ,sure not of the caliber of FRAGILE, but ''final eyes'' ''i am running'' are good YESsongs. And the album even ends up with a acoustic solo tune from JON ANDERSON. I wonder about the reaction of RABIN when ANDERSON came up with the idea to add this solo song; not great i am sure.

The story of the king and the former king who wants to be king again!!!

Not great, but not as bad as some people want you to think: a decent 80s pop/prog album. And TREVOR RABIN is a good guitarist.indeed!! 3 stars

Since 90125 sold millions for Yes, the band followed up with Big Generator. This album is basically 90125 Part 2 as it isn't really any different. It is chock full of AOR/pop rock/stadium anthem material with only the very slightest of "progressive tendencies" (notably on Shoot High Aim Low and Holy Lamb). The harmonies are still there, but they seem more "in your face" and louder than they should be. Rabin's guitar work has improved, but the worst part of this whole thing is that the pop-style songs aren't even any good making this an annoying listen of skipping nearly every track just a minute or so into each one. An uninspired mess that should have been labeled as Cinema's second album, as it is far removed from the skilled performances of earlier Yes works. One star for one of the worst albums by a prog band in the 1980s. For completionists only.

Oh my...

Another title that should be quickly disposed of with little fanfare. There's no need to waste must site space with a long review. I can remember my friends and I standing around laughing as we watched the video for "Love Will Find a Way" simply amazed at how far the band had fallen in 10 years, heck, even since Drama. We savaged it back then and I don't see much reason to go easier on it now. Listen to it again and you'd have to ask yourself what they could have been thinking.

I don't hate pop music at all. Though I love prog I am entirely able to enjoy music that people consider empty calorie music or a guilty pleasure. But this album can't even manage that in my opinion. Perhaps I hold them to a higher standard which may not be entirely objective, nevertheless, "no quarter" for Mr. Rabin and his influence on the band that a decade prior released Awaken and Turn of the Century.

As much as I hate to award a one-star review I feel almost a solemn duty to save Yes newbies from potentially making the mistake of exposing themselves to this unfortunate release. My advice is to avoid this album unless you thought 90125 was a masterpiece.

Yes tries to survive the 80s with a pop-prog offering.

Now, I'll say right now, that I am a very big Yes fan, and I do like this album, I actually kind of have a soft spot for it, so I don't think you should dismiss it entirely if you're a Yes fan, just be ready for something very different from their 70s stuff. However, this is a review from a prog standpoint, and as a prog album it's mediocre at best.

Onto the review.

Throw in the synthesizers and get ready for some 80s pop, it's "Big Generator!" One of the most controversial albums this side of the 80s. Now, it's a fact that prog died in the late 70s and would later be ressurected, so the bands that managed to make it into the 80s were going to have a tough time, Yes being one of them, especially riding on the huge hit, OWNER OF A LONELY HEART, off their album "90125". The result is a very poppy sounding album, with tracks like RHYTHEM OF LOVE and the title track BIG GENERATOR having a very average song structure, something Yes usually avoids. It's not all bad, though, SHOOT HIGH, AIM LOW is a great track as is I'M RUNNING, if you can get over the fact that even they have a dominating 80s sound to them. Other tracks, such as HOLY LAMB are totally ignorable, and a couple of the other "love" songs in the middle all seem to run together at points to create a poppy mess.

This album definately is for fans only, and even the fans need to be warned ahead of tme. This is not a bad album, it's just not a very good prog album. If you are looking for a very good post-70s Yes album just skip right to "Keys to Ascention". 2 stars.

NO!

I was 19 and working as a dishwasher when I first heard 'Rhythm of Love'. I thought, "Gee, that sounds like Jon Anderson, but he wouldn't sing for a horrible band like this". This album is an abomination. Let's examine the songs.
1. Rhythm Of Love - An attempt at being heavy pop. 1 star
2. Big Generator - Had this song been more popular, Homer would sing it in place of 'We built this city on Rock n Roll". 0 stars
3. Shoot High Aim Low - Almost tolerable mellow hit. 2 stars
4. Almost Like Love - Almost like music. 0 stars
5. Love Will Find A Way - Another attempt at a pop hit, AAAAIR BAAAALL! 1 star
6. Final Eyes - Tempo slowed way down for this yawner 1 star
7. I'm Running - Hey! this is actually a good song. Very fun transitions. But wait, the chorus...is that...umm...'Tequila!' ? 4 stars
8. Holy Lamb - This song actually goes somewhere...to the next album! Yay. 2 stars for ending this misery.
One good song does not save this album. .75 stars.

What perverted instinct led me to recently borrow an old audio-cassette of this embarrassment from my local library, after pointedly avoiding Trevor Rabin's pop facsimile of Yes for over two decades? I'd like to believe it was simply a masochistic urge to see for myself if the album is as bad as (almost) everyone claims. But in retrospect it was probably something closer to the rubberneck instinct that makes us unable to look away from a fatal highway accident.

And that ugly metaphor just about sums up the entire "Big Generator" experience: hardly surprising for a born-again Yes fan who first heard the band on their "Relayer" album back in 1975.

But let's not compare bad apples to good oranges here. I carry no grudge against the sort of undemanding pop music Yes was playing at the time, which I'm sure can be enjoyed on a strictly superficial level. And I can even feel a measure of sympathy for the group after hearing how dated (and how quickly) the sound of this 1987 album has since become.

I do, however, have a problem with the crass mercenary decision to continue marketing this band under the same name of the very different group responsible for stretching the limits of popular music in the previous decade. Progressive Rock in the early 1970s, and maybe Yes in particular, was always about (among other lofty ideals) the quest for some sort of spiritual truth / harmony / redemption (take your pick). But in the corporate entertainment culture of the 1980s that aim was corrupted into a simple pursuit of cash, always the death of true creativity.

You can hear it clearly on "Big Generator". At its relative best ("Rhythm of Love", "Shoot High Aim Low") the music achieves a kind of flashy grandeur that at least helps to compensate for the lack of any real depth. But at its worst (which is most of the album, including the horribly slapdash cover art, maybe the anti-prog nadir of its kind) the songs present only the sad spectacle of aging rock stars trying desperately (and failing miserably) to remain hip and relevant.

Exactly how bad is it? Enough to suggest that Alan White's pile-driver drum fills might just as easily have been programmed rather than played. Enough to likewise eradicate any hint of personality from the playing of old veteran Tony Kaye, who all but disappears behind an opaque digital curtain of generic synth patches. Enough to make the technically proficient guitar runs of Trevor Rabin sound utterly anonymous. And enough to note how awkwardly Jon Anderson's delicate high tenor fits within the steroid-juiced testosterone of the music (that's a compliment to him, by the way).

Yes wasn't the only ex-prog band unable to adjust to a dumbed-down music market in the 1980s. The commercial success of "90125" kept them afloat for a while, but trying to reproduce that fluke after four long years out of the studio (compare that to the number of quality LPs they released between 1970 and 1974) should have underlined the sad truth that sell-outs of this caliber, even when successful, aren't designed for anything more than a strictly limited shelf life.

Yes, this album is bad-- easily among the band's weakest releases for the numerous reasons discussed above; however, despite its rather ineffective pop-hooks and general mediocrity, I would STILL reach for it before going for Union, Ladder or even Tormato for the simple fact that is "Big Generator" is completley disposable, idiotic pop music. There is a care-free likeability these songs bring to the table which those bloated, messy disasters utterly lack. Big Generator, when listened to knowing that it is not REALLY Yes, can actually be fun; it's just big, dumb '80's pop-- no more, unlike the afore mentioned albums which try (and fail) in attempting something smart and new. Comparing it to the band's iconic releases is folly and a waste of time... this is hardly the same group.

Cinema's second album

This album is only slightly less bad than the previous one. Still, this music does not have very much to do with the Yes of old. Indeed, this is not really the real Yes at all. When this version of the band began work on their first album (that eventually became 90125) they were calling themselves 'Cinema' and not 'Yes'. Big Generator continued the in the style of 90125 and both these albums (plus the 1994 Talk album) should, in my opinion, have been released under the name 'Cinema'.

However, this album is somewhat closer to the original Yes-sound than 90125 was. As with that album this is not bad music. But it just isn't the progressive Yes we all know and love. Personally, I get some pleasure out of listening to this. But that is because I am the biggest fan of the band.

Around this time another band started working on a new album. This band involved Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford. They were not allowed to use the name 'Yes' so they called themselves 'Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe' instead. This band is really the real Yes of the 80's! They released a very good, self-titled, album in the same year as this album was released. This album sounded much more like Yes than Yes (read Cinema). I consider the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album to be the first real Yes album since 1980's Drama.

Well, this review is about Big Generator so let's get back to it. If you like 90125 you will most probably enjoy this album too. If you like the Yes of the 70's you should check out the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album first. The best tracks here are the longer ones plus the title track and Holy Lamb.

Good, but absolutely not essential.

Not much to say about this 'sound-alike' album, except we made it this way. Our trenchant criticism of '90125' meant that YES knew they wouldn't keep us as fans no matter how technically proficient they played, no matter how outstanding the songs were compositionally - so why bother?

This album sounds like '90125' but don't make the mistake of thinking it's in any way related musically to that slice of 80s excellence: 'Big Generator' is fairly awful, a cross between hair metal and dissolute, directionless pop-rock. But what makes it unacceptable are the poor compositions, not its sound or its commerciality. All the sweet or complex intros the band came up with can't mask the paucity of ideas here. In the end it comes down to the songs, not the sound or production or arrangements or style, and there are no songs on this album worth listening to. And no wonder: the major composers did not see eye to eye. ANDERSON wanted to return to YES's former gory, while RABIN wanted to go beyond '90125'. In the end, of course, they did neither. Go with a vision, not a compromise by committee, or end up with this sort of thing.

Having said this, I don't think this is quite as dire as some say. 'Shoot High, Aim Low' almost works - and an early demo of the song definitely does work - and there are moments of cleverness scattered throughout the record. And that's it. Move along.

From the beggining i say - not bad. Well is diffrent from the '70's works, no doubt, less inspiring and creative, with AOR influence, but is not a bad record, seriously. It sounds typical for mid to late '80's prog - AOR but has some very fine moments like Rhythm Of Love, Shoot High Aim Low (maybe the best piece from here) and beautiful slow one Holy Lamb. Not very much to add, i know is a controversial album in Yes catalogue, but i like it, quite far from what is Drama , Going for the one or The yes album( my fav albums of Yes), but is enjoyble to me all the way. The progressive music is here on every track but in other form like in early to mid '70's albums. They change the style and grow with the times, because almost every prog band from early days of '70's, in the '80's they were different or entirely other band, in sound, in manner of composing , interpretation. So a good album to me, not something to listen every day or groundbreaking, not by far, but well played and produce. 3 stars.

Twelfth album by british progressive rock band Yes!Oh ...No,this is a sort of joke.It's the second album by new wave band Yes West.If you listen to this album it's just not Yes really.It's weaker that the debut album of Yes West,but it's weaker even by the debut album by original Yes.That means this is the weakest album by Yes up to that time (1987) and maybe the weakest in overall for the band.Good pop guitar works by Trevor Rabin,but that is everything positive about the album I think.Some songs contain boring repeats,which make some of the fresh Rabin's ideas not quite good.This is the symbolic end of Yes West,because the next album is a return for Yes in terms of genre!

I realy liked '90125' . It wasn´t exceptional, but it did mix well the classic Yes sound with some pop sensibilities and gave them a modern arrangement. Not their very best, but good anyway. The same cannot be said of Big Generator. Here those guys went too much over the top. Their techno-pop approach is no convincing at all. The songs are very weak, the arrangements are forced and the gereranl feeling is of that they´re in for the money.

No that the album is a total disaster. Things improve from Love Will Find A Way on. Ok, that tune looks like a an Asia rip off, but at least it works. It is a good AOR song. Final Eyes and I´m Running have a more progressive feeling to them, but still they are below '90125' best moments (not to mention their classic, 70´s stuff). Holy Lamb is a cute little song that is quite diffferent from the rest of the album. And I really don´t like most of the keyboards and effects (too much Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and the like. I´d rather hear the original ones for this kind of music).

I cannot recommend this CD to anyone but completionists, collectors and hardcore fans. Yes released much better stuff, even in 80´s. 2 stars.

The often maligned _Big Generator_ is an underrated Yes gem. I have always enjoyed Jon Anderson's contributions to Mike Oldfield's mid-80's period albums and this is no different, really. Points of reference for _Big Generator_ would be song structures in the vein of Rush's _Hold Your Fire_ or _Power Windows_, Saga's _A Beginner's Guide To Throwing Shapes_, non-radio tracks from the first ASIA album and the better tracks from Yes _90125_ such as Hearts, Cinema, Changes and Leave It. Yes seem to be more assertive on this album, whereas 90125 sounded like an uneasy experiment not unlike Tormato(although, 90125 had a few hits). A return to form with an '80s bent with longer tracks such as Final Eyes (6:20), I'm Running (7:34) and Shoot High Aim Low(7:59) creating the kind of ethreal prog.rock ambiance form the Yes album _Going For The One_ or Jon Anderson's _Olias of Sunhillow_. BIG GENERATOR doesn't sound quite as dated as TORMATO or 90125...but generally fits right in with Yes albums such as _Talk_ and _The Ladder_. Yes are doing as Yes does here...writing excellent melodic rock. It has its proggy moments, and of course it's no _Close To The Edge_, but the songwriting is very strong. Going out on a limb here - but this could be THE Yes neo-prog album and it's as strong as anything Marillion, Pendragon, IQ, Saga or Rush were putting out at the time. Give it another try. 3.5 stars!

The making of this record involved a laborious two years, due in no small part to Jon Anderson's wanting to create more traditional Yes music, and Trevor Rabin's urging the band in a more commercial direction. While it may have been a point of contention, I'm thankful for the compromise, given that this was the time many great progressive rock acts were taking a pop-oriented approach. A fair bit of what's here is inescapably hackneyed (three of the eight titles have the word "love" in them, for crying out loud), and some of the arrangements are atrocious. However, the vocals are just as sophisticated as they were on 90125, and again make up the album's best quality. While Big Generator lacks the consistency of its predecessor, I find myself drawn to certain songs on this album.

"Rhythm of Love" Beginning with a lovely wave of voices, the music very quickly becomes exactly what one might expect following an album like 90125. It is a great-sounding pop track, full of drive and complex vocal arrangements.

"Big Generator" The initial vocals of the title track are clearly a takeoff of "Leave It" from the previous album. Rabin's guitar is extremely crunchy on this bouncy but really disjointed song. All of the instruments seem to be all over the place with no coherence.

"Shoot High Aim Low" I particularly enjoy this song, from it's slightly experimental introduction to Chris Squire's subtle bass groove. Rabin's vocals are pleasing alongside Anderson's. The organ backing from Tony Kaye adds depth to the chorus, which is catchy without being irritatingly so. Rabin's machine-gun clean guitar helps make this one of the best songs here, and an underrated gem from Yes in my opinion.

"Almost Like Love" This track is an eclectic mess. It has a fair opening, making use of heavy synthesizer, but soon turns into a much-too-fast pop track in double time with Anderson sputtering the copious lyrics along the way. The instrumental section is a noisy jumble, and even Rabin's rapid-fire guitar solo sounds directionless.

"Love Will Find a Way" This is somewhat new territory for Yes- in fact, the first time I heard that chamber orchestra introduction, I wondered if my player had changed to a different album. But once the strings are finished after a brisk fifteen seconds, Rabin's clean guitar punches in, and soon the band joins him. Squire's vocals are especially prominent in the harmonic verses. While nothing to write home to mom about, it's fairly enjoyable.

"Final Eyes" Over acoustic and clean electric guitar, Anderson and Squire sing just as well as they always had together. With the bright synthesizer and the interjecting bass, the first part of this song is really reminiscent of "And You and I." The heavier portions are refined, and Rabin sounds great singing during his part. Kaye's keyboards are not lost among the rest of the instruments. "Final Eyes" is a stellar track, one I would daresay ought to please a fan pining for the arrangement and sound of Yes's 1970s output.

"I'm Running" Squire lets loose a growling bass solo at the beginning of this quirky introduction (that inexplicably comes back later)- I don't know what to say about it except that it sounds kind of goofy; I can't help but picture Pee Wee Herman doing his little dance to it. The song itself makes me think of Fleetwood Mac (I could actually picture them doing this song). Had the arrangement been less ludicrous, I might've liked this one more.

"Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)" A wonderful, gentle acoustic song finishes the album. Remove Alan White's heavy, 1980s drumming, and this would sound very much like something from Olias of Sunhillow. It is quite a lovely piece.

Those Yes fans who were horrified at the direction the band seemed to be taking on 90125 would have been equally repulsed, if not more so by Big Generator, the second Yes album with guitarist Trevor Rabin taking Steve Howe's place. 90125 had seen the band return with a more slick and commercial melodic rock approach with prog moments sidelined. Big Generator continues in that tradition with an even more commercial and popier side on display for the most part. Sounds pretty awful? Well much of it is and this ranks as one of the worst albums of their illustrious career though not as bad as the abysmal Union album which would follow I have to admit.

The lightweight Almost Like Love with its thin sounding and sterile 80's production is a classic example of what I dislike about this album. It's an uptempo pop/rock song with even a mock brass section, its only redeeming feature being a half decent Rabin guitar solo. Anyone remember Haircut 100? Yes really! But for the distinct vocals of Jon Anderson it's heading in that territory!

Other tracks in this commercial pop/rock vein are Rhythm Of Love and Love Will Find A Way though do benefit from a bit more musical muscle and stronger melodies and are listenable. Final Eyes starts with the band in largely acoustic mode and thus suffers less from that 80's sound until it kicks off with full band present and turns into more lightweight fluff.

I'm Running amazingly starts with a calypso feel before descending into more commercial rock though admittedly it does contain more time/tempo changes than most songs keeping it marginally more interesting.

And so it goes..with only a few moments of interest to make me sit up and listen but even they are substandard when put alongside classic Yes. Though not what I want from a Yes album I did quite enjoy the previous 90125 which had some strong AOR moments but unfortunately I can find little to recommend here.