Union: Yes

Union is spotty but there are a few songs on it that I love.  "Lift Me Up," "I Would Have Waited Forever," and "Miracle of Life."  Especially that last one.

I can't stand many, many of the other songs, though.

richardh wrote: micky wrote: Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: My opinion And it's sad, I saw Yes for the first time on stage for the Onion Tour in Miami, I was impressed with the show so bought the album (overpriced) at the entrance and a beautiful T-Shirt (Damn expensive). Today I use the CD as an expensive coaster. Iván we need a good CD coaster thread...  my favorite coasters are the Flower Kings albums I bought when trying to explore them.  urggg...   you often get 2 for the price of 1 as well   Mike Oldfield's latest album might be a contender although I might listen to it again one day

damnit..  wish I had known that before shelling out for those expensive drink coasters (always a hit when we have 'prog' friends over to our place).  Of course I would have settled for less fanboy reviews and some just saying the music was as progressive as my left toe and  just a rehash of things done, and done SO much better decades earlier.

Funny though.  I do have 3 levels of Micky hate..

the top..  famously only reached by one group.. one album.. the album sucked.. plenty of those do.. the difference being the group was/is very dear to my heart and listening preferences.

the middle..  groups/albums like the Flower Kings.  It is prog you know, in order to know it, you must explore it and in doing so some times you end up with stinkers and albums/groups just aren't to ones tastes. No real animosity, so I keep the albums and find creative uses for them around the house.

the last... the obvious not to tastes AND suck while at it.  The DT's of the prog world. Those get the worst punishment of all, not going out in a spectacular blaze of glory, to live infamously through countless retellings on the internet, nor being the centerpiece of convservations at Palazzo di Prog.. oh no.. both of those are too good for this last tier. They simply sit on the wall of music never to be touched again, much less ever see the innards of my CD player again.

Moogtron III wrote: Dellinger wrote: Now, thinking about it, I don't understant why did Anderson or whomever was making the decisions about the album, decided to use session musicians. I mean, even if Howe and Wakeman might not have been in their best disposition to contribute and make an effort on this album, they ended up in contact with the West line-up of Yes, so they might just as well have asked for the help of Rabin and Kaye to give the touches the music needed... at least that would have been more honest for the concept of the album (though I doubt that Howe and Wakeman would have been much more pleased, anyway). From what I read from the Yes people (Wakeman?) it was the producer and record company's album.  <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Sessions for the second ABWH were not coming off the ground; they don't succeed</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Record company asked Trevor Rabin for help</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">He sends three songs from which they could pick one</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Record company wants them all</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Record company thinks: hey, why don't we join both Yes bands and call it a "Union"? This will attract an audience!</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Record company forsees a lot of trouble with two rivaling bands in the studio</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Record company lets both ABWH and Yes do their trick in the studio, apart from each other! (For the ABWH bass lines another session bass player is being used)</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Producer Jonathan Elias is content with a few takes in the studio; it doesn't need to be perfect at that moment</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;"><span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">He says: </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.4;">"Fine, thanks, everybody out of the studio, class dismissed, hit the showers, Idon't need you anymore"</span> He uses the basis tracks and uses a truckload of session musicians to make the album presentable <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Press release: big reunion of Yes, harmony, beautiful new progressive Yes music, everybody happy, buy, buy, buy!</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">And see: the Frankenstein album of prog </span> et two rivaling bands, each claiming to be the real Yes ( Yes West and Yes East) in the studio

Yeah, this sounds about right. Up to the 5th point it all sounds promising enough given the situation. As far as I understand, for the ABWH the seesion bass player they use is Tony Levin, so that's not bad at all (plus, he is the bass player on the first ABWH album anyway)... however, if they are joining both versions of Yes, they could have gotten Squire involved with the ABWH songs (well, they did get him for backing vocals on one of them). Oh yeah, and this Jonathan Elias you speak about, he sounds like a a** h*l*.

Tom Ozric wrote: A nice thing to have on vinyl - I bought mine off a friend for 6 bucks !!

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: My opinion And it's sad, I saw Yes for the first time on stage for the Onion Tour in Miami, I was impressed with the show so bought the album (overpriced) at the entrance and a beautiful T-Shirt (Damn expensive). Today I use the CD as an expensive coaster. Iván

we need a good CD coaster thread...  my favorite coasters are the Flower Kings albums I bought when trying to explore them. 

urggg...

^ Hmmmm, interesting theory.........

It would have been much better with fewer tracks. "Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day" strikes me as compositionally weak. "The More We Live" and "Angkor Wat" are good but sound a bit muddy. And following those tracks with "Dangerous" and "Holding On" really saps the life out of the album for me. 

Tom Ozric wrote: Had this album since its release. I think it's better than ABWH, only song I skip is Saving My Heart. I thought that having 13 folks involved in relation to keyboards was overkill, so it has been way overworked, but I do enjoy it for the most part.

I enjoyed that album, but not as much as ABWH, but more than Big Generator, Open your Eyes, Talk, the latest and even 9125.

Now, thinking about it, I don't understant why did Anderson or whomever was making the decisions about the album, decided to use session musicians. I mean, even if Howe and Wakeman might not have been in their best disposition to contribute and make an effort on this album, they ended up in contact with the West line-up of Yes, so they might just as well have asked for the help of Rabin and Kaye to give the touches the music needed... at least that would have been more honest for the concept of the album (though I doubt that Howe and Wakeman would have been much more pleased, anyway).

Well it's better than Big Generator, if that's any consolation... I might even like it more than The Ladder which is not a bad album