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Tom Ozric View Drop Down
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2015 at 11:41
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.
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Points: 20468 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 09:14
Originally posted by bhikkhu bhikkhu wrote:

I wouldn't trash it nor would I recommend it. To me it is more of a completely missed opportunity. All those supreme talents together and the result just blah. I had a copy at one point and have no idea what happened to it. Must not have missed it very much because honestly when first reading this thread I thought Union still occupied a place in my collection. I guess that kind of sums it up, an easily forgettable album.
 
^this....bought it used twice and traded it in twice.
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 11:53
A nice thing to have on vinyl - I bought mine off a friend for 6 bucks !!
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Points: 20503 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 14:57
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Originally posted by bhikkhu bhikkhu wrote:

I wouldn't trash it nor would I recommend it. To me it is more of a completely missed opportunity. All those supreme talents together and the result just blah. I had a copy at one point and have no idea what happened to it. Must not have missed it very much because honestly when first reading this thread I thought Union still occupied a place in my collection. I guess that kind of sums it up, an easily forgettable album.
 
^this....bought it used twice and traded it in twice.
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Moogtron III View Drop Down
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Points: 10616 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 15:26
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

 The only person missing from this record company orchestrated brainstorm was Patrick Moraz!
 

There were more Yes alumni not around: Peter Banks, Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes come to mind.

I don't think it's really bad, even given the fact that lots of stuff on the album was played by session musicians, who were being payed hush money.
Actually, the songs I like most are Saving My Heart and Lift Me Up by Trevor Rabin, and Shock To The System which was probably ABWH, so the more commercial stuff. Angkor Wat is not what it could be IMHO.

I would give it 2 stars, or 2,5 if that would be possible. It's not completely devoid of quality.
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Points: 2466 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 15:34
Originally posted by HolyMoly HolyMoly wrote:

It's one of only 2 Yes albums I have never heard or owned (Open Your Eyes is the other).  Maybe someday.  I'm in no real hurry, though I don't dislike 80s Yes at all.

in the eyes of these people, they might as well be praising you in that regard, lol. 
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Points: 5093 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 15:44
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
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Tom Ozric View Drop Down
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 18:27
Just a thought..........
Maybe, just maybe, Heaven And Earth is the better album.
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Points: 12608 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2015 at 20:03
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).
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Points: 5093 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 00:53
^ Indeed having 8 musicians of Yes caliber at your disposal and ending up using session musicians for the job is pretty weird. Probably Rabin would not have been able to replicate Howe's style as well as Jimmy Haun did, and possibly the same with Kaye and Wakeman.
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Points: 5136 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 02:44
Originally posted by Tom Ozric 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.
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Points: 10213 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 10:48
Lift Me Up is a great tune Smile
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Points: 520 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 12:34
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. 

IMHO, they should have ditched the songs after Angkor Wat and changed the order of the tracks to give the album a stronger finish.

BTW, I really like "Silent Talking" because it starts out with some Fragilesque staccato goodness and ands with a nice dose of bright-eyed, dreamy Andersonia.
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Points: 10616 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 13:18
Originally posted by Dellinger 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. 
  • Sessions for the second ABWH were not coming off the ground; they don't succeed
  • Record company asked Trevor Rabin for help
  • He sends three songs from which they could pick one
  • Record company wants them all
  • Record company thinks: hey, why don't we join both Yes bands and call it a "Union"? This will attract an audience!
  • Record company forsees a lot of trouble with two rivaling bands in the studio
  • 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)
  • Producer Jonathan Elias is content with a few takes in the studio; it doesn't need to be perfect at that moment
  • He says: "Fine, thanks, everybody out of the studio, class dismissed, hit the showers, Idon't need you anymore"
  • He uses the basis tracks and uses a truckload of session musicians to make the album presentable
  • Press release: big reunion of Yes, harmony, beautiful new progressive Yes music, everybody happy, buy, buy, buy!
  • And see: the Frankenstein album of prog LOL

et two rivaling bands, each claiming to be the real Yes ( Yes West and Yes East) in the studio


Edited by Moogtron III - January 24 2015 at 13:21
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Tom Ozric View Drop Down
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 17:39
^ Hmmmm, interesting theory.........
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Points: 19535 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 17:46
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


Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - January 24 2015 at 17:50
            
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micky View Drop Down
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Points: 46828 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 18:04
Originally posted by Ivan_Melgar_M 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...
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micky View Drop Down
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Points: 46828 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 18:11
bottoms up!!!
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Points: 10213 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2015 at 18:46
Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

A nice thing to have on vinyl - I bought mine off a friend for 6 bucks !!
I still have my vinyl copy of Union in a perfect condition; I bought it in March 1992.
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Dellinger View Drop Down
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Points: 12608 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2015 at 00:04
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

^ Indeed having 8 musicians of Yes caliber at your disposal and ending up using session musicians for the job is pretty weird. Probably Rabin would not have been able to replicate Howe's style as well as Jimmy Haun did, and possibly the same with Kaye and Wakeman.


I rather understand they didn't have them available together, but still, I would guess they could have made a bit of effort to do something like that. Even better still, they could have made the effort to have Howe play his parts and re-do them if necessary. I mean, whatever do you want a guitar player of the caliber of Howe, just to replace his guitar parts with an unkown player (though perhaps competent enough to do the job).
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