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Yes - Big Generator CD (album) cover

BIG GENERATOR

Yes

 

Symphonic Prog

2.57 | 1350 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Queen By-Tor
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars 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.

Queen By-Tor | 2/5 |

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