for YES fans in preparation of new album

It's nice to know that clairvoyants are already posting ratings for an album that's not due out for almost a month and a half.

Evolver wrote: It's nice to know that clairvoyants are already posting ratings for an album that's not due out for almost a month and a half.

Ixtlan wrote: Been listening to FFH. "Bumpy Ride" is a useless piece of dreck. I do not think it is as clever as it thinks it is. What do you think?

Tom Ozric wrote: Ixtlan wrote: Been listening to FFH. "Bumpy Ride" is a useless piece of dreck. I do not think it is as clever as it thinks it is. What do you think? It's kinda quirky, I do like it (it's in 7/8) but it does stick out like a sore thumb within the entire piece.

That whole Fly From Here `prog epic' is more or less a total sham! With the exception of the reprise at the end, it's just a collection of unrelated tracks placed together...and why on earth there's mostly fade-outs between the sections when it's trying to be sold as as an extended `epic' is beyond me. And yes, `Bumpy Ride' is garbage, not even strong enough to make it as a Flower Kings filler piece!

Sigh...of course I'll buy this new album and likely enjoy it for what it is, but is anyone else REALLY expecting this new Yes album will be anything other than slightly fancy pleasant Dad-rock?

Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - May 29 2014 at 00:53

Dellinger wrote: Well, of course they lost something when Anderson left... or rather was kicked out. However, I still hope this album will come out interesting enough. Also, I'm expecting/hoping it will come out better than the Sherwood albums, somehow I have the impression that Davison's capabilities as a writer will be more rewarding than Sherwood's, but we'll see.

richardh wrote: Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: Ixtlan wrote: Been listening to FFH. "Bumpy Ride" is a useless piece of dreck. I do not think it is as clever as it thinks it is. What do you think? It's kinda quirky, I do like it (it's in 7/8) but it does stick out like a sore thumb within the entire piece. That whole Fly From Here `prog epic' is more or less a total sham! With the exception of the reprise at the end, it's just a collection of unrelated tracks placed together...and why on earth there's mostly fade-outs between the sections when it's trying to be sold as as an extended `epic' is beyond me. And yes, `Bumpy Ride' is garbage, not even strong enough to make it as a Flower Kings filler piece! Sigh...of course I'll buy this new album and likely enjoy it for what it is, but is anyone else REALLY expecting this new Yes album will be anything other than slightly fancy pleasant Dad-rock? I'm hoping for something that is at least ''symphonic'' which FFH is not ( it is dressed up AOR which I alluded to earlier). I suppose it will depend on whether Davison can have a significant influence on the writing side. Undortunately the presence of Downes never bodes well. Pity they couldn't have Oliver Wakeman in the band assuming Rick is no longer interested.

About the Bumpy Ride thing, I also rather dislike it. Well, after repeated listenings, I have come to dislike it a bit less, but still I wouldn't say I like it. About the Fly From Here being an epic... I completley agree. It doesn't feel like an epic at all, and there's just about no relation between the 3 main songs to make them part of an epic... that was just a very lame excuse for an epic indeed (and I actually like those 3 songs very much). They did include an intro and a reprise to "connect" the songs somehow, but then they would have needed not to fade the songs among them, instead they should have been more cleverly connected between them (as was done in Supper's Ready, which even if they are somewhat different songs within it, they were so well connected that no part of the song would sound right if it were taken apart), and "Bumpy Ride" itself might have played an important role in connecting the whole piece together, but once again, it would need to have been done better.

cstack3 wrote: Dellinger wrote: Well, of course they lost something when Anderson left... or rather was kicked out. However, I still hope this album will come out interesting enough. Also, I'm expecting/hoping it will come out better than the Sherwood albums, somehow I have the impression that Davison's capabilities as a writer will be more rewarding than Sherwood's, but we'll see. Ha!  Billy Sherwood is intimately involved in Heaven & Earth, he's doing the vocal mixing (at least).   I'm willing to keep an open mind with this one....I quite like Davison's vocals on the Glass Hammer CD "Perilous," and he has a real love & respect for Jon Anderson's craft.   I'm a bit pensive about the lyrics....really bad prog results when songwriters "push it," as Starcastle did all too often!   Their album "Fountains of Light" sounded like one long Hallmark greeting card of prog!  (and I knew Starcastle personally, loved 'em).   We may start to see Yes morph towards a younger permanent lineup which may include Davison & Sherwood (Davison is an accomplished bassist).  I wish they would dump Downes and bring Ollie Wakeman back in!!   We shall see!

Yeah, I know about Sherwood. And one of the main things I have disliked about his contributions to Yes, and his writing of his own songs, are the way the vocals sound... kind of tired and, I don't know, there's just something that puts me off... I mean, he actually managed to make Annie Haslam sound terrible and generic on his Prog Collective album. So I hope his duties on this album won't enable him to ruin it too. I had also thought that Davison and Sherwood (and Oliver if they would have him back and he was willing to do so too) might make for a nice base for the continuation of Yes (which some of it's members themselves have expressed of as a possibility, or a dream, or something)... but because of the songwriting thing with Sherwood I'm not so sure about him. I would mainly like him in the band as a bass player, since I heard some nice things on some CIRCA songs I searched on YouTube (I don't think he would make a good enough guitar player for the band, either), but if you say that Davison is a good bass player himself, then perhaps it would be better that he took those responsabilites instead (though Yes doesn't need a good bass player, but an excellent one, at the very least).

chopper wrote: Dellinger wrote: but if you say that Davison is a good bass player himself, then perhaps it would be better that he took those responsabilites instead (though Yes doesn't need a good bass player, but an excellent one, at the very least). I thought Yes already had quite a reasonable bass player?

Oh no, we are talking about the very hipothetical assumption that Yes may carry on even after all the original or classic members of the band have gone (which even some of them have hinted as having thought about the possibility - at least Wakeman as Squire). And indeed Yes has one of the best bass players around in rock... or at least he was, but I guess he remains reasonably excellent.

Tom Ozric wrote: Sherwood, although rather commercially-minded, is quite a decent bass player. His playing on the recent Nektar album is superb. I haven't heard any of the Prog Collective albums yet, but I intend to change that real soon. And Downes is excellent on the keys, I don't get why many folks diss him ??