Union --- Yes --- 1991 (Arista)
I'm one of that perhaps rare breed who really has only heard and enjoyed "new" Yes, that is to say, albums from "90125" on. I'm not one of those who salivates over "Tales from topographic oceans", "Close to the edge" or "Going for the one" --- in fact, I've heard very little seventies Yes and what I did hear sounded at the time overblown, overlong, self-indulgent and boring. I could of course be completely wrong in that view; perhaps I should take the time to listen to more classic Yes. However as it stands the albums I like are the eighties and nineties ones, and this is one of the latter. The last, in fact, Yes album I listened to before getting "Fly from here", which I have yet to spin.
Regular readers of my journal will know that quite early on I featured the debut --- and indeed, only --- album from Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe, which was seen more or less as a sub-supergroup grown organically out of the parent band. Their only album was a triumph, to me, and I was disappointed there was no more. But "Union" kind of fills the gap, as it features all the ABWH crew as well as the previous members of Yes who were off doing their own thing. In effect, this album was originally meant to be the second release from ABWH, but a thawing of relations between them and Yes resulted in a reconciliation, and they all joined up to play on the album and tour, hence the title. In reality, it was mostly a Yes album, just the one track contributed from the demo sessions for what was to have been the second ABWH album, with the result that this album sounds very little like that one, but it still ranks as one of my favourite Yes records (of those I've heard), yet miles behind both "90125" and "Big generator".
I had always believed "The ladder" followed this, as it was the next Yes album I saw on sale, but apparently there were two more, plus a double live effort in between. I found I was quite disappointed with "The ladder", so really my experience of Yes, album-wise, centres on these four albums, plus the ABWH one. You would think though that with so many people involved --- eight in all --- and surely massive egos on either side not to mention simmering resentments still smouldering like dull coals in a fire that had not quite been extinguished, chaos would have reigned and a very mismatched, hit-and-miss album would have resulted, but no. I have to say this has a really professional sound and is quite cohesive, so much so that you would barely believe that, say, Rick Wakeman was glowering across his multiple banks of keyboards at Trevor Rabin, or that Chris Squire was making unseen obscene gestures at Bill Bruford. It sounds like an album created by one big happy family, even if that was far from the case.
In contrast to what you could generally regard as the last Yes album, the ABWH one, certainly Jon Anderson's last outing prior to this, "Union" opens much more strongly. Whereas "ABWH" started with Wakeman's piano and keys and it was a few minutes before any vocals came in, Anderson leaves us in no doubt that he is back, and back with a bang. The first thing you hear is his powerful crooning of the song title, joined by pounding guitar, skittering keys and crunching drums as "I would have waited forever" opens the album and gets us going. There's something of a harder edge to this than the ABWH effort, perhaps due to Chris Squire's stacatto bass, or indeed the different, more modern guitar work of Trevor Rabin. The famous Yes vocal harmonies are there in abundance, and in many ways this album reminds me more of "Big generator" than "ABWH". Some great guitar work from Rabin indeed, and this leads us into another fast-paced but more crunchy track.
"Shock to the system" comes in on punchy almost Led Zep guitar and a bouncy, echoey drumbeat, a song very much driven on guitar with a great riff running through it and a catchy little hook in the chorus. It slows down near the end for an almost acoustic accompaniment to Anderson's soulful vocal, then takes off again to its powerful conclusion on the back of some fine Wakeman keyboard work. Things slow down then for a Steve Howe showcase on "Masquerade", a little acoustic instrumental that he added to the album at the request of the label, quite a harpischord sound on it, pretty medieval sounding. Then we're off and running again with "Lift me up", one of the highlights on an album that has many. Living up to its title it's a very uplifting, boppy and uptempo song, starting off on sort of popping percussion and wibbly guitar which then powers forward, taking the song into a big progressive rock arpeggio by Rick Wakeman, and it's not until well into the second minute that we hear Anderson's vocal, more impassioned and harder than previously.
A sort of sitar sound is created by one of the guitarists, though I couldn't tell you which one, and this runs through the song as it goes along with a big rolling drumbeat carrying it into the extremely hooky chorus with some superb vocal harmonies. Not as fast as "Shock to the system" or the opener, it also has some lovely violin-like synth near the end, and finishes on a big flourishing arpeggio from Wakeman before fading out on clanging guitar from Rabin.A gentle opening then to "Without hope you cannot start the day", Wakeman's soft piano backing Anderson as he sings gently but with purpose. A sort of gong-like percussion slides along the tune as it slips almost away before coming back with hard guitar and punching drums, almost marching along as the song takes on a whole new shape. More great vocal harmonies as are something of the trademark of Yes, and if this song recalls anything to me it's "Hearts" from "90125". After it fades out we're treated to yet another standout in the amazing "Saving my heart", which almost moves along at the pace of a modern waltz at times, with snatches of a reggae or calypso beat thrown in as well. Not quite "Teakbois" from the "ABWH" album, but there are similarities.
There's another stupendous hook in the chorus of this song, and with music of this quality I have to wonder, as an outsider, why they wrote such long, rambling compositions in the seventies. Still, before any classic Yes fans lynch me, I'll just leave that comment and move on. This is so commercial that it really could have made a great single, and would maybe have been quite successful: I could definitely hear it playing on the radio. Great guitar solo which has to be Trevor Rabin, and we're into the longest track on the album, though diehard Yes fans will sniff and say that seven minutes is not even an introduction to one of their better-known earlier songs I'm sure! "Miracle of life" opens with a big, powerful progressive rock run on the keys and blasting guitars, and truth be told, those classic Yes fans who are even now plotting my downfall will likely recognise this as the sort of song they've been used to hearing from this band. Everything suddenly stops for a close-harmony vocal that would make Queen envious then it takes off again, and we're about two minutes in before it settles into a new groove and Jon Anderson's vocal comes in.
A real mid-paced rocker, it has everything: big guitar solos, great bridge, harmonies and keyboards, and another truly wonderful hook in the chorus. Some great growling bass work from Chris Squire here too, and a powerful ending that sets the seal on yet another standout. A mixture of solid organ and blistering guitar open "Silent talking", with Squire's thick bass getting in on the act too. About halfway through it slows down on the back on Anderson's angelic vocal, with backing vocals a little out of phase behind him and ends on a really nice fade, taking us into a heavier keyboard opening as "The more we live - Let go" gets going, a dramatic, almost ominous sound to it, carried mostly on Wakeman's keys. It's a slow, crunchy pace as the song moves along at a stately walk, and reminds me in places of "The order of the universe" from the "ABWH" album; just a bit, here and there.
In case you don't know, Angkor Wat is a temple in Cambodia, in fact the largest religious building in the world, and also the title of the next track, very much a vehicle for Anderson's vocal delivery, with almost Doors-ish rippling keyboard from Wakeman, sound effects and a murmured spoken passage in some foreign language I don't know (Cambodian?) that recalls Vangelis's "Intergalactic radio station" from the album "Direct. No, you probably won't know it. Very little if any guitar evident, this track is atmospheric and ambient and driven almost entirely by Wakeman and Anderson, almost an exercise in minimalism and abstraction. Nothing really in the way of percussion either, very ambient. In total contrast everything rocks out then for "(Dangerous) Look in the light of what you're searching for", with big dirty guitars and punching drums and almost Art of Noise-style synth from Rick, while for "Holding on" he's right back in control, backing the multi-vocal intro and then Howe's jangling guitars meshing with Rabin's terser one, all coming together to form a fine piece of music. A slower, almost mid-paced track, it's more restrained than most of what has gone before, though the guitarists go a little crazy at the end, which is no bad thing.
And that's almost it. "Evensong" is less than a minute of soft bouncing percussion and keyboard work that sounds like someone dropping a metal ball into a well or something, echoes all over the place, with some grindy, wailing guitar, very short and hardly really deserves the status of a track at all, taking us to the closer, which is "Take the water to the mountain", and finishes the album on a high --- not that it's ever achieved a low point. You may have noticed that I haven't referred to any bad tracks on this album, and the reason is simple: there are none. Even discounting the tiny little instrumental just past, everything here is top drawer. The closer opens on humming, atmospheric keys and a low Anderson vocal that recalls Peter Gabriel at his most, shall we say, rainforest? It's a slowburner, starting gently but with a definite sense of something building, and in the last minute of the only three it runs for the drums burst in, taking with them an African-style chant and chorus as the song soars to the heavens, squealing guitar holding court and booming electronic synth effects finishing the song off with an echoed vocal that recalls the end of "Birthright" from, yes, you guessed it, the "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe" album.
TRACKLISTING
1. I would have waited forever
2. Shock to the system
3. Masquerade
4. Lift me up
5. Without hope you cannot start the day
6. Saving my heart
7. Miracle of life
8. Silent talking
9. The more we live - let go
10. Angkor Wat
11. Dangerous (Look in the light of what you're searching for)
12. Holding on
13. Evensong
14. Take the water to the mountain
As I said I'm no huge Yes fan, but their later albums really grab me mostly. This I see as the natural progression from the breakup and then reformation of Yes, and there are songs on this album --- most of it really --- which should and maybe have gone down as classics. It's rare to come across an album that has not one bad track, the moreso when it's from a band you're not totally familiar with, and who has a large back catalogue you haven't explored.
So then, in musical terms a perfect union. But was it a permanent one? Sadly no: after the tour to support this album three-quarters of what had been ABWH left the lineup, leaving only the man who has led Yes since the beginning to carry on their legacy, until his medical problems forced him out of the band in 2008, to be replaced by Mystery's Benoit David.