Yes: Heaven & Earth (2014)

chopper wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: Light of the Ages and Subway Walls are quality Yes, no matter what. To Ascend is the ‘lesser’ track for me. And sorry Paul, but Heaven and Earth is above The Ladder for me. Not much talk about Talk either.   Yes, naturally you'd ascend The Ladder between Heaven & Earth to gain the Keys to Ascension, so no need to apologise.   I haven't listened to the Talk album yet, but I'll Talk about it when I've listened to it. I like Talk, "I Am Waiting" is the best Rabin-era song imo. Blows H&E out of the water.

I HATE "Believe Again". I've thankfully forgotten how any of the other songs sounded as I haven't heard the album since the time of its release and really don't want to refresh my memory; I only remember it being painfully mediocre and seeming twice as long as it actually is (and not in a good way).


Edited by Mirakaze - July 31 2020 at 10:29

Heaven and Earth may not be looked favourably upon by the masses, but I find this album brings a bit of balance into my life. Heck, I expected more from Yes, the Dean artwork suggested something really special, but taken for what it is (a plodding slow-paced sap-fest) I enjoy it regardless.

I wasn't really able to get into it. It just sounds uninspired, and whenever the songs may seem to start somewhat promising, when the vocals come in they drag the song down. I never liked the idea of the Fly from Here return trip thing, nor did I particularly enjoy what I heard of that one compared to the original... but if Trevor Horn were to give Heaven and Earth the same treatment I do believe he could improve it a fair bit (of course, he wouldn't have a reason to do so, since he had nothing to do with these songs to begin with).

Fly From Here should never have been tampered with. The original is fine as it is.

Tom Ozric wrote: I listened to Union yesterday and it is a stronger album than Heaven and Earth. But I’ll be there to testify, Saving My Heart is absolute rubbish, one of the worst songs in my collection. Like Nickelback bad

YES - Heaven & Earth interviews

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ Thanks for posting this - never knew it existed. It is something new and different, I agree with their sentiments. Of course the band will talk up their latest work, and we need to remember that they aren’t 20-something year olds, their getting on, and what they have given us is a perfectly fine album. No Relayer, but still distinctively Yes, and peff to the naysayers, it is a rather special album to me.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: I actually prefer the Heaven & Earth album to the Relayer album and the album is a final fitting tribute to Chris Squire and Yes - a band that's now been around six times longer than the Beatles.

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ No, sorry, Relayer is better by light years, doesn’t mean Heaven and Earth is bad by any stretch, but different. And Squire still had it. Great bass, as always. Paul, you need to listen to Squackett ‘A Life within a Day’. Really good album there. Squire and Hackett. We are very lucky projects like this existed.