BEYOND

I love the work of Claire Hamill, Oliver Day, and Max Hunt, and I enjoy a lot of music that emanated from the band YES--I might even be interested in seeing a tribute band if one came close to me--but bands motivated by near-perfect replication of a single band's sound and songs, though impressive, usually bore me. (How many Yeses, Genesises, King Crimsons, VDGGs, and Focuses do we really need?) I listened with great interest to this band's debut release from last year, Golden Fragments, but, in the end, dismissed it as four talented artists who had too much time on their hands during COVID lockdowns. But now, with a 2021 release to follow up, I am thinking that these guys are serious! They really want to create new Yes-like music.

Well, the plastic sound of the drum heads weren't enough to drive me crazy, the Yes similarities are just too close--even with Claire's crystalline female voice on top. If there's one saving grace, the bass play is neither mixed as far forward or as busy as his Yes -counterpart, the late great Chris Squire. A 21-minute multi-part epic followed by two fourteen minute suites. The former is respectful and unobtrusive--and not over the top bombastic--more like a MAGENTA composition--and I have to admit that Ms. Hamill's performance is rather charming. Oliver Day adds enough of his own style and sound selection to not be too obvious as a Steve Howe replicant and multi-instrumentalist Max Hunt does an admirable job with several key tracks, including the bass and background vocals. I'd give it a (39.25/45) rating--(It would have been higher were it not for the too-near "Starship Trooper" finale).

2. "Yours and Mine" (14:26) unfortunately, sees the band trying a bit too hard to get really close to several famous Yes songs--perhaps even to merge several. And then Claire's lackluster Heather Findlay-like vocal practically ruins it. (Sorry to be so direct, Ms. Hamill, but, what a corny lyric! I feel so embarrassed and pandered to! I'll have to go back to the magic of "Icicle Rain" and Voices just to clear my head and cleanse my palette.) (24/30)

3. "The Golden Ring of Time" (14:09) Max is no Rick Wakeman. Then they have the gall to steal Chris' melodic hook from Schindleria Præmaturus! And those galloping plastic drums! There's just a series of instrumental hooks lifted directly from Yes songs and flaunted as if this were truly a song of homage. A fair song if I weren't so distracted by every other minute's presentation of Yes-familiar riffs. Still, this is the most memorable song of the album--and thus my favorite. (26/30)

C/three stars; for curious Yes fans only.