Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Yes - Make It Easy CD (album) cover

MAKE IT EASY

Yes

 

Symphonic Prog

2.57 | 27 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

patrickq
Prog Reviewer
2 stars "Make it Easy" is a Yes single released in 1991, but recorded in early 1982 by guitarist/singer Trevor Rabin, drummer Alan White, and bassist Chris Squire. I assume that Rabin also played the keyboards. The main theme of the song was familiar to Yes fans, as it was often played in concert as the intro to "Owner of a Lonely Heart" - - but most of us never heard the entire song until it was released on the Yesyears boxed set in 1991. It was a minor rock-airplay hit in the US, where it was promoted to radio by Atlantic records at the same time that Arista was promoting "I Would Have Waited Forever," also by Yes, but played by an entirely different band. Both songs debuted simultaneously on Billboard's Album Rock Songs chart; neither cracked the top 30.

"Make it Easy" is a pleasant AOR song with the requisite Rabin shredding. The single, which as far as I know only appeared as a promotional CD in the US, contains two edits: a very short "short edit" (2:47) and a somewhat longer "long edit" (4:03). The shorter version gives you the gist of the song, and is a concise abridgment of the Yesyears version, which is over six minutes long. As such, it's a somewhat rare example of a single edit that's better than the album cut. The longer version is what you'd expect: like the short version, but with fewer edits. There's a very clumsy edit around 2:34 on the longer version, but it's tough to care about it when this track is extraneous anyway.

It makes sense that "Make it Easy" wasn't recorded for 90125; it wouldn't have been a good fit, and at any rate, "Changes" already covers the same ground. On the other hand, the recording sounds good, so it also makes sense that it was later released as a single to promote the Yesyears collection.

Due to the inclusion of the "short edit," the Make it Easy promo CD would be a nice curio for a Yes fan or collector. But it's far from essential, as the full version of the song can easily be had on the 2004 Rhino remaster of 90125 which, as of this writing, is the current issue.

patrickq | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this YES review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.