A thought on 90125 and Big Generator..

pbm3 wrote: I'm a fan of both of those albums, and that's coming from a guy whose very first exposure to prog was when I heard the 45-single version of Roundabout played on a jukebox. It caught my ear and I've love progressive music since, but not exclusively. Owner of a Lonely Heart also caught my ear the first time I heard it. So did Rhythm of Love. Shoot High, Aim Low has been a favorite album cut off of Generator. Is it pure Yes? Let's not forget this is a band that covered the Beatles "Every Little Thing" on its first album! And for what it's worth, Rabin played a heavier guitar than Howe, and that was a nice addition to a great catalog. It complements Howe's lighter style overall. Enjoy what you enjoy! pbm3

Exactly!

Obviously the pop rock albums mentioned in this post are off topic in the prog lounge. But that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy both pop AND prog, or prog AND pop!

I pretty much find something to enjoy in every musical genre. And some of the "classic prog" bands that people rave about, I can't understand why? I still have yet to enjoy Magma or Renaissance....

Although not to be compared with Yes earlier output, I absolutely love 90125, great stuff in there. While totally departing from the classical Yes sound, it provided a breath of fresh air with a very modern (by then) sound and yet great music, melodies and arrangements.

I thought '90125' brilliant when I first heard it and my opinion hasn't changed. Innovative (the vocal harmonies are offered as evidence here), powerful (City of Love), proggy in places (listen to the intro to 'Changes') and eminently listenable. GENTLE GIANT it is not, but in the context of the time it was released it was a breath of fresh air. Of course it's not traditional prog but there was no market for retro-prog in the 1980s. People had moved on. Why would they look back? Particularly when it was obvious they were bored with reproducing their earlier sound.

I sometimes wonder if people's negative reaction to this album is based on the 80s sound. This owes more to the genius of TREVOR HORN (who produced the album and who had sung vocals on 'Drama') than anyone else, contributing particularly to 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'). HORN went on to form ART OF NOISE, the early tracks of which built on the sound he'd pioneered with YES. The assumption is that YES went pop, and were after the big bucks. My feeling is they were surprised by its success.

'Big Generator' was so poor in comparison because the compositions were not up to much.

russellk wrote: I thought '90125' brilliant when I first heard it and my opinion hasn't changed. Innovative (the vocal harmonies are offered as evidence here), powerful (City of Love), proggy in places (listen to the intro to 'Changes') and eminently listenable. GENTLE GIANT it is not, but in the context of the time it was released it was a breath of fresh air. Of course it's not traditional prog but there was no market for retro-prog in the 1980s. People had moved on. Why would they look back? Particularly when it was obvious they were bored with reproducing their earlier sound. I sometimes wonder if people's negative reaction to this album is based on the 80s sound. This owes more to the genius of TREVOR HORN (who produced the album and who had sung vocals on 'Drama') than anyone else, contributing particularly to 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'). HORN went on to form ART OF NOISE, the early tracks of which built on the sound he'd pioneered with YES. The assumption is that YES went pop, and were after the big bucks. My feeling is they were surprised by its success. 'Big Generator' was so poor in comparison because the compositions were not up to much.

raeloneq wrote: One more thing. Is it ok to assume that everyone here finds "Open Your Eyes"  to be your least favorite Yes album?

I like those cd's because i'm a huge Yes fan, but those 2 are the one i like less, because of their simplicity , but i have to admit that they showed that they can do some good "shorts songs" also.

I can't say I love either album in their entireties. Both have tracks on them that I like a lot, but there are also tracks on each that I always skip. I don't hate them, just play selected bits rather than the whole things.

Snow Dog wrote: Should you love or hate  them? You want someone to tell you?  I love them and couldn't care less what other Yes fans say. Does that help?

I personally love them both, even though my favorites are Close to the Edge, Relayer, and TFTO. 

1983. I remember it as a very bad year in rock music. At that time I was so frustrated with most of the music that was being released and the MTV factor that I went back to the late 60's/early 70's to discover and find what I couldn't from most of the 80's dominated new wave/synth pop/MTV oriented mainstream glossy rock. There was some of the bands from the NWoBHM, Metallica, and few other artists that caught my interest, but most of it was and still is unlistenable for me.