Category: progressive rock music

Giving Up Everything: The Grace of Natalie Merchant

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music6 Comments

A review of Natalie Merchant, NATALIE MERCHANT (Nonesuch, 2014).  Songs: Ladybird; Maggie Said; Texas; Go Down, Moses; Seven Deadly Sins; Giving Up Everything; Black Sheep; It’s a Coming; Lulu (intro and full song); and The End.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Natalie Merchant, self titled (Nonesuch, 2014). Highly recommended.
Natalie Merchant, self titled (Nonesuch, 2014). Highly recommended.

Natalie Merchant’s 2010 album, LEAVE YOUR SLEEP, was a masterpiece, pure and simple.  Taking her favorite poems and putting them to music was a stroke of genius.  Merchant’s firm but ethereal voice gave a cinemagraphic feel to some of the finest writings of the last several centuries.  While the poems already had a life of their own, the New York artist proved just how alive they really are by offering each a soundtrack.

Ranging over two disks and including a gorgeous detailed book about the poems and why she chose them, LEAVE YOUR SLEEP is a must-own for any music and poetry lover.

Prior to this, Merchant had released THE HOUSE CARPENTER’S DAUGHTER (2003), a reworking and rearranging of traditional American (and some British) folk and labor songs.  Also stunning, but in a very different way than LEAVE YOUR SLEEP, THE HOUSE CARPENTER’S DAUGHTER came out on Merchant’s own label, Myth America.

Little news from Merchant emerged between 2010 and now.  The last significant interviews she gave—most importantly to the New York Times in 2010—the American revealed that she and her daughter were living in a nunnery in Spain.  Having returned to her childhood faith of Roman Catholicism, Merchant was exploring the possibilities of writing liturgical music and, as hopeful speculation had it, a Mass.

In May of this year, Merchant released a new solo album, self-titled, that is not liturgical in setting, but it is intensely religious, confessional, and pro-fessional, at least in its lyrics.

As an artist who made her fame in the 1980s as one of the lead singer and songwriter of one of America’s favorite alternative rock bands, 10,000 Maniacs, Merchant is often remembered for her poppier music.

Her solo career, however, has revealed several different aspects of this musician.  Her albums have ranged from vaudeville to operatic to folk.  Not surprisingly, she covered a Richard Thompson song on THE HOUSE CARPENTER’S DAUGHTER.  While many in the music industry label her as a “female pop” singer, usually associating her with other North Americans such as Suzanne Vega, Tori Amos, and Sarah McLachlan, she really has far more in common with Van Morrison, Fairport Convention, and Traffic.

Like the three bands/acts just mentioned, Merchant at her best always produces soulful, deep, melancholic songs touched not with irony but with intrigue and regret.

Leave Your Sleep (2 disk, NONESUCH, 2010). Highest recommendation. A must own.
Leave Your Sleep, (2 disk, Nonesuch, 2010). Highest recommendation. A must own.

The latest album, NATALIE MERCHANT, has every key aspect of her non-pop song writing in spades, but it is still a step removed—on terms of creativity—from her other work.  It’s not nearly as profound, unfortunately, as LEAVE YOUR SLEEP, but then, how could she really compete with the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins.  As a lyricist, though, Merchant is quite good.

Yet, NATALIE MERCHANT is a truly satisfying affair.  From the opening song to the last note, this album pleases the soul as much as it pleases the aural senses.  Though the lyrics aren’t political, they are full of social justice and charity.  They are also moving as well as haunting.

Tellingly, the photo inside the cd package shows a gracefully graying Natalie (she’s 50), holding a dove.  She holds the bird of peace closely and sincerely.  It’s quite the contrast to The The’s  bayonetted dove of MIND BOMB.  Merchant’s holding of the dove is not sarcastic but hopeful and longing.

Songs such as “Go Down, Moses,” offer a pleading for grace, while the song “Seven Deadly Sins”  scathingly attacks the culture of war.

The most difficult song, lyrically, is “Giving Up Everything.”  Many will no doubt attempt to interpret this as some form of nihilism.  Given Merchant’s faith journey, however, the reality of the meaning is probably quite the opposite. What Merchant is giving up is not life and meaning but the belief that she herself can discover her purpose alone.  “Giving up everything, the big to-do, the hullabaloo, the tug-of-war for some twisted truth.  For the everlasting ache of it, no longer slave, not chained to it, no gate, no guard, no keeper, no guru, master, teaching.”  “Black Sheep” is a retelling of the parable of the prodigal son, and “It’s a coming” and “The End” are apocalyptic.

That’ll be the end of arms stretched wide, of begging for bread, of emptiness inside.  And the sea, so wide and treacherous, and the land, so dark and dangerous, so far left behind.  That’ll be the end of the war, when we finally lay down the barrel and the blade and go home.– Natalie Merchant, ‘The End’

Essential Metal Releases Still To Come In 2014 – Part 1

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

manofmuchmetal's avatar

Welcome to my quick run-down of those albums I’m looking forward to being released in the latter half of 2014. I’ve already gone into some detail about the album that I’m most looking forward to, Evergrey’s ‘Hymns For The Broken’, but there are plenty more albums that are high on my radar. Want to know what they are? Then read on!

opeth pcOpeth – Pale Communion

I have to confess that this is an album that I have already heard and reviewed for Powerplay magazine. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to holding the finished article in my hands. It isn’t an album I had held out great hope for having failed to be enthralled by any of the Opeth back catalogue up to now. However, this is the album that means that I finally ‘get’ Opeth and understand why so many people hold them in high regard. Stylistically similar to ‘Heritage’

View original post 414 more words

Happy Bastille Day . . . And Here’s Rush’s Classic Piece

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

rvkeeper's avatarrush vault

stormingThe French peasantry stormed the Bastille in Paris on this day, July 14, in 1789, signaling the revolt of the people against the monarchy. Revolution was a favorite topic of Rush’s in the early days. In “Bastille Day,” Alex, Geddy, and Neil took on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the French Revolution, and in “Beneath, Between and Behind,” they took on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the American Revolution. “A Farewell to Kings” is all about revolution, too.

To help celebrate Bastille Day 2014, here’s a live version of Rush’s progressive metal classic from 1976. YouTube has inserted a commercial at the start of it, but if you watch it here on this site, without going to YouTube, the commercial doesn’t play.

 More This and That.

Background and Commentary

The French Revolution imagery was “inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities,

View original post 662 more words

What do Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado Have In Common with The Tangent and Big Big Train?

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music2 Comments
It's hard to tell, but I'm wearing my "Got Peart?" t-shirt. And, there's a big, big train in the background. Andy's motorcycle is missing, however.
It’s hard to tell, but I’m wearing my “Got Peart?” t-shirt. And, there’s a big, big train in the background. Andy’s motorcycle is missing, however.

 

Driving across the grass seas of western Nebraska and eastern Colorado this past week, I made sure my listening list was quite specific and quite orderly.  Across the western parts of Nebraska, traversing the mighty and winding Platte several times, I listened to Big Big Train, ENGLISH ELECTRIC PART ONE.  Not FULL POWER, but the original PART ONE.  Back to this in a moment.

Greg Marcus Aurelius Spawton
Greg Marcus Aurelius Spawton

Once the Platte split into north and south, I took the south fork, and I went for The Tangent’s THE MUSIC THAT DIED ALONE.  Andy always inspires me.  But, the combination of Andy and Roine Stolt as my car flew (legally, of course) through such nearly forgotten towns as Julesburg, Ovid, and Sedgwick proved perfect.  Andy never fails to find the beauty in lost hope.

Andy Tillison. Master of Hope and Keytarism. (Picture - Martin Reijman)
Andy Tillison. Master of Hope and Keytarism.
(Picture – Martin Reijman)

A bit of patriotism hit me after The Tangent finished, so I went for Kansas’s THE POINT OF NO RETURN.  Amazingly enough, the entire album took me from the ending of THE MUSIC THAT DIED ALONE to our brand new house in Colorado.  Truly, as we driving up to the house in Longmont, the final notes of “Hopelessly Human” played.

As promised, back to BBT, ENGLISH ELECTRIC PART ONE (EEP1).  First, its pastoral tone fit the Nebraska countryside beautifully.  The skies, not surprisingly, were as broad as were deeply blue—the kind of blue one finds only in the Great Plains on a summer day.  But, the grasses were a treat as well—variations of greens and golds, generally quite tall and swaying under the pressure of the continental winds.

Second, I’ve not listened to EEP1 for at least a year.  Indeed, once ENGLISH ELECTRIC FULL POWER (EEFP) came out, I considered it the definitive edition, putting away PART ONE.

I won’t in any way, shape, or form suggest I had any thing at all to do with the final ordering of EEFP.  Such a claim would be nothing but hubris.  And, it would be completely false.  This was not, however, for want of trying.  I bugged Greg openly on the internet and privately through emails about this.  I interviewed him about it, and, as a friend, tried to put him in a corner.  Greg, the quintessential English Stoic gentleman, quietly (though not in quiet desperation, I pray) took the suggestions of this overly eager and earnest American (overly eager and earnestness are two of our defining traits as a people) with kindness.  Thank you, Greg.

I know there was some debate among the progarchists whether or not Greg and Co. were messing with a work of art unnecessarily by re-arranging the order of things and filling in the corners with EEFP.  But, from the beginning, I was on Greg’s side.  It’s his creation, and he can do with it as he will (and the rest of the members of the band, of course).

Listening to EEP1 this week only confirmed my thoughts.  It is a stunningly beautiful, calming, and mesmerizing work.  Like all great works of art, it demands full immersion by the participant.  Pastoral, it is also equally humane and cinematic.  It is a part of the English bardic tradition at its very best.  A community of minds and talents produced this album, and we are blessed indeed to exist in a world that allows such works of art to emerge and flourish.

But, for me, especially as a historian, EEP1 is now an incomplete yet intriguing part of a puzzle.  It belongs in the archives now, a glorious blueprint, but not quite the complete thing.

This discussion, I think, is not mere mental wrestling.  BBT is not just another band, and EEP1, EEP2, and EEFP are not just mere new releases.  BBT is a definitive band of prog’s third wave, and EEFP is possibly the finest statement of music over the last two and a half decades.  It is the legitimate successor to Talk Talk’s SPIRIT OF EDEN.

How the album came together, how it evolved, and how it is received is not merely academic.  It’s now a critical part of our history as lovers of music, art, and human genius.  It is now an integral part of the western tradition.  Long may it continue.

***

COL_00016_00022

TIPPING POINT–The Excellence of The Ben Cameron Project

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music1 Comment

A review of The Ben Cameron Project, TIPPING POINT (independently released, 2014).

Two long tracks: “Part One” (21:02); “Part 2” (17:49).  Only two members: Ben Cameron (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards) and Chris Cameron (all drums and percussion)

0002788885_10

 

Let me just state this at the beginning of this review—this is a beauty of an album.  Pure prog; unabashedly a concept album that takes you on a serious musical journey throughout its entirety.

The album opens with a very post-Gabriel/Hackett-era Genesis feel.  It is truly an aural treat, and TIPPING POINT easily moves from one mood and one style to another.  From Genesis to Neal Morse to Pink Floyd (in an Airbag kind of way) to Big Big Train to Dream Theater to Cosmograf.  The overall effect is one of intense drama and cinema.  Indeed, if you’re looking for an album in which to immerse yourself, this is it.

It’s also clear that the Camerons have given everything imaginable to the writing, recording, and production of this album.

Two things really stand out after several listens.  First, the vocals.  Though the only vocalist, Ben Cameron does some really amazing things with his voice.  I was quite stunned to look at the notes to the album and find that he was the only vocalist.  Second, the drumming.  Wow, can Chris Cameron drum or what?!?!?  An excellent cross between the prog style of NVD and the harder style of Mike Portnoy.

As mentioned above, TIPPING POINT is a concept, dealing very humanely but also gut-wrenchingly at points with the struggle with depression.  Not surprisingly given the topic, there exists lots of existential angst—“I didn’t choose to be this way” and “I only see a world of pain” are typical lyrics.

The Ben Cameron Project is a critical new band in the prog realm.  I have no doubt that the follow-up album will be extraordinarily good musically.  I am especially interested to see where Ben Cameron goes lyrically.

To support The Ben Cameron Project (and progarchy.com requests that you do!), go to the band’s official website: www.thebencameronproject.com.

Dodson and Fogg – After the Fall

On By Craig BreadenIn progressive rock musicLeave a comment

790809Dodson and Fogg defies easy contextualization.  While Chris Wade’s psychfolk project, now five albums deep, owes much to an alchemical mix of Syd Barrett, the British folk revival, and early English glam, the conditions under which Wade produces his music bear little resemblance to any notion of modern music industry norms.  He works quickly, much as his musical heroes did in the 1960s and 70s, and contrary to the common thinking that a working band needs to tour, Dodson and Fogg is primarily a studio project, conducted by Wade and a handful of musicians whose roots go back to such luminously legendary groups like Trees, Mellow Candle, and Hawkwind.  Surrounding himself with icons does little to change the flavor of his music, which collectively may constitute the most singular and consistent demo tape ever produced, and begs the questions:  Where is this man’s Joe Boyd, and why not a record deal? The songs are without fail melodically rich, top out at midtempo, and possess a kind of walls-are-closing-in textured darkness that is part songwriting, part production value.  Wade’s penchant for doubling or chorusing his vocal, which I’ve criticized before on Progarchy, admittedly creates a cohesion among the songs, and coupled with tasteful instrumentation and no-nonsense lyrics, makes Dodson and Fogg’s first album almost interchangeable with its fifth.  I’ve struggled some with this, and recognize that the artistic development I want from Wade is keyed almost entirely on expectations Wade should have no interest in meeting.  The music industry has blown up, touring behind an album presumes that the artist wants — and has the audience — to materially survive on his music (rather than just make music) and LIKES to play live, and… how often do we get to witness the kind of woodshedding a songwriter like Wade is doing with Dodson and Fogg? So while I continue to think a seasoned producer would be a positive challenge for Wade, without one he has managed to create a rather stunning catalog in a mere two years.

After the Fall continues Wade’s exploration of a mood music combining mostly acoustic backing for voice and the occasional big electric guitar.  Where before this has taken his music in the direction of the Kinks and T. Rex, his passion for early Black Sabbath, of which he has written in his other gig as a rock author, takes shape here on the satisfyingly sludgy “Lord Above” and “Hiding from the Light,” with its whacked-out Scheherezade-style guitar break.  The skiffle-ish “Life’s Life” is the album’s standout, a twist on Zeppelin’s folk excursions, while “Careless Man” has an Electric Warrior vibe that Wade excels at capturing while avoiding mere Bolan worship.  The balance of the record shares with its predecessors that 1970-soaked British singer-songwriter drift, complete with sitar, that generally succeeds at extending rather than imitating a period where musicians of Wade’s talent were afforded greater commercial reach (despite and because of the lack of an internet).  I think the question remains of where Wade’s Dodson and Fogg goes from here, if its end will continue to so closely resemble its beginning, and how Chris Wade sees himself developing as an artist.  In the meantime, though, it’s hard to argue with a music that so definitively succeeds on its own terms.

Order After the Fall here: http://wisdomtwinsbooks.weebly.com/dodson-and-fogg-cds.html

Free Dodson and Fogg sampler: http://wisdomtwinsbooks.weebly.com/dodson-and-fogg-vinyl.html

Covering Steven Wilson

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music1 Comment

A review of Steven Wilson, COVER VERSION (Kscope, 2014).  12 Songs total: Thank You; Moment I Lost; The Day Before You Came; Please Come Home; A Forest; The Guitar Lesson; The Unquiet Grave; Sign ‘O’ The Times; Well You’re Wrong; Lord of the Reedy River; An End to End

large4203

Steven Wilson is nothing if not interesting. Vitally so. Everything he does matters in some way to the contemporary world of music. He’s even made it somewhat big, at least by alternative and prog standards.

This brand new release from Wilson is a compilation—slightly redone—of cover versions (not surprisingly) of some of his favorite songs over the past two decades. Several of the songs he recorded in professional studios, he notes. Others, he recorded in hotel rooms as a form of music diary. I am exactly two months older than Wilson. Though I lived in Kansas and he in England in the 1980s, it’s pretty clear that we grew up with the same music in the same era. He, himself, notes this in his choices. Songs covered come from Donovan, Abba, and The Cure, to name just a few. Some of the songs, such as Wilson’s version of The Cure’s A Forest are deeply electronic, while others very much feel like the acid folk he produced with Storm Corrosion.

In many cases, Wilson’s versions are superior to the originals. In all cases, they are worth listening to.

Wilson has never been shy about borrowing from others in his music—Pink Floyd in early Porcupine Tree, U2 on his first solo album, and Andy Tillison (to the “nth” degree) on his most recent solo album (THE RAVEN THAT REFUSED TO SING sounds very much like a The Tangent album from roughly 5 or so years ago).

It’s great to see Wilson openly name his sources and proclaim his heroes with COVER VERSION. In particular, his take on A Forest makes the entire album worth purchasing. But, then again, this is a Steven Wilson release. No matter what he does, we need to pay attention.

Happy Birthday, USA!

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock music2 Comments

Dear Progarchists,

As some of you might know, I’m in the middle of moving to Colorado.  We begin our cross-country odyssey this Monday.  By Tuesday night, I hope, the Birzers will be in their Longmont residence.  So, as you might guess, today has been very hectic.  So hectic, in fact, that we almost skipped celebrating Independence Day all together.  Not an easy thing for someone who spends his professional life studying the founding of the American republic.

Suffice it to say, the Birzers simply couldn’t let the holiday pass without notice.  So, we raised the flag, blew up lots and lots of stuff, and spontaneously belted out a full-throated version of the Star-Spangled Banner in the front yard.  The Birzers are nothing if not full of noise.  And, thank the good Lord that my 13-year old, Gretchen, possesses a marvelous voice.

So, in the spirit of the day–a few songs, not all uncritical.  Happy Birthday, America.  May you attain the moral excellence of which you are capable.  Someday, if not today.

Yours, Brad

Yes Special- Interview with Geoff Downes and Heaven and Earth Review

On By James R TurnerIn progressive rock, progressive rock music7 Comments

Legendary progressive rock band Yes, one of the most influential and respected bands in the genre have outlasted many of their contemporaries, crossing from West Coast psychedelia into epic traditional progressive rock symphonies, new wave FM rock, back to progressive epics and beloved anthems over the course of their 46 years, evolving band line-ups and 21 studio albums.
Their latest opus, Heaven and Earth (released in the UK on 21st July, and in the States in July 22nd) marks the first studio release with Jon Davison (who replaced Benoit David back in 2012) on vocals, and Geoff Downes third studio album, firmly consolidating his place as their keyboard player with the classic line up of Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White.
I was lucky enough to grab a brief chat with Geoff recently to talk all things Heaven and Earth, and the impact that Jon Davison has had on the band,
‘It’s a bit different from other Yes albums, Jon has been given a freer run, and it very much reflects his style. It’s a different album from Fly From Here, and the stuff we did with Trevor (Horn), working with Roy Thomas Baker has another style, something that a diverse band like Yes can bear.’
I asked Geoff about the writing process of the album,
‘It’s all new material; we had a clean slate that enabled us to take it in a direction that felt natural to all of us. Yes is fantastic music, and it’s nice to be able to make a contribution even at this stage in the bands career, Benoit wasn’t so much of a writer, whereas Jon has really contributed to the album’
I think Geoff was being overly modest, as he and Trevor Horn had a massive impact on one of my favourite Yes albums, 1980’s Drama,
‘Drama, that came together in the studio, I’m very proud of it still, it sounds very fresh, and its what Yes needed at that point to move into a different arena for this type of music’
Of course with Geoff back on keyboard duties it’s nice to hear some of the Drama songs performed live,
‘Its good to play tracks like Tempus Fugit and Machine Messiah as they fit nicely into the set, we performed a few on the Fly From Here tour, and hopefully we’ll do more going forward’
I did wonder, which tracks from the new album would make it into the live arena?
‘We start rehearsals next week, we’ve practiced some of the songs so we have an idea which ones will work, we may only do a few from the album, certainly Believe Again, maybe one of the shorter songs and move them around in the set.
We’re playing classic albums in full, we’ve toured with that show for a while, so we’re changing it a bit, dropping Going for the One, focusing on Fragile, Relayer and lots of the Yes album.’
Heaven and Earth is a very different Yes album,
‘It’s very fresh, some fans don’t see beyond the 1970’s, but Yes were different in the 80’s and as different again in the 90’s, each different period of the band were interesting musical chapters, and this is another piece in the jigsaw. Hopefully it will bring in new fans to Yes’
Roger Deans striking artwork, with his black and white Yes logo (which to mind recalls the original Time and a Word album cover) is another Yes mainstay,
‘Roger Dean is very much synonymous with Yes, apart from that period in the 80’s where the very hi-tech album sleeves represented the albums, he’s very much a part of the scenery’
As Yes have only recently brought their show to the UK, I asked Geoff when he thought they might return,
‘We more likely to come back to the UK towards the start of next year, we are rehearsing for the US tour, then we tour the Pacific Rim, which will take up the rest of the year’
How did Geoff feel about returning to the Yes fold for Fly From Here?
‘It felt very natural, we started working on Fly From Here and it turned the clock back 30 years, the reunion of the 5 Drama guys, and it came together very easily the guys were all very helpful, it’s a great band. Jon coming in was not an easy job for him performing Jon Anderson’s songs and producing an authentic sound of Yes is a difficult role. My role as the keyboard player isn’t as critical as the vocal sound, and when we do the vintage albums the fans really like it, and Jon (Davison) has really worked’.
Of course Geoff has been the driving force behind Asia for over 30 years as well,
‘We’ve just done some Asia dates in Japan, and we had the new album Gravitas out at the start of the year, I think I’m busier now than I have been for a long time. Its great that in the past few years I am still involved in the bands that I was working with 30 years ago, it’s like my career has come full circle. We did Fly From Here, Asia still tour and of course we reunited the Buggles for some gigs a few years ago’
Buggles, the most misunderstood and underrated new wave band of the late 70’s/early 80’s, would Geoff ever consider a new Buggles album?
‘I still see Trevor and speak to him, and if the planets align, our diaries match up and we get the time it could well happen, never say never. The old stuff (from Buggles) still gets played a lot, and it’s nice to be involved with a timeless song (Video Killed the Radio Star), the same applies to Drama. I am really proud of that album; a lot of people were sceptical about these two pop guys joining Yes. In hindsight fans view Drama in a different light. I think it paved the way for Yes in the 80’s, my style of synths was techno, samples and it formed a bridge between Yes of the 1970’s and the work they did on 90125. Those changes helped sustain the bands longevity and shows it musical legacy could outlive the 1970’s when so many other bands folded’
There’s been a lot of interest in the Yes back catalogue recently with the 5.1 remixes
‘A lot of the progheads are into the 5.1 sound, like with Genesis fans some don’t like the pop Genesis. You have to look on each band as a whole, each album and each line up has a valid contribution to the bands history. I would like to hear Drama in 5.1, the album was heavily overdubbed at the time, and so it would reveal a lot of detail’.
Thanks to Geoff Downes for his time.

Heaven and Earth by Yes – the verdict!
1) Believe Again (Jon Davison, Steve Howe) 8.18
2) The Game (Chris Squire, Jon Davison, Steve Howe) 7.07
3) Step Beyond (Steve Howe, Jon Davison) 5.45
4) To Ascend (Jon Davison, Alan White) 4.53
5) In a World of Our Own (Jon Davison, Chris Squire) 5.31
6) Light of Ages (Jon Davison) 7.57
7) It was All we Knew (Steve Howe) 4.21
8) Subway Walls (Jon Davison, Geoff Downes) 9.21

So, I don’t think a Yes album has been as eagerly anticipated as this one since the last one! Fly From Here, Yes’ first studio album in 10 years, and the only one to feature Benoit David on vocals. Musically and spiritually it was the sequel to Drama, only 30 years out of sequence, and with Trevor Horn on production duties, Geoff Downes on keyboards and the music made of Buggles demos (interesting alternative versions exist on Adventures in Modern Recordings 2010 remaster, which shows a different version again) received a mixed reception, which was seen by some as very much a holding pattern it can now be seen very much as Drama can be seen now. A bookend on a previous era, and a bridge to a new Yes. With Downes firmly ensconced in the keyboard position, and Roy Thomas Baker finally getting to finish a Yes album, the band is as stable as Yes can ever be. However the attention isn’t on the new old boy in the band, or the established Squire/White/Howe axis who have been the mainstay of this Yes era since 1996’s Keys to Ascension, the attention is always going to be on the vocals, and the fact that the vocalist isn’t Jon Anderson.
Much has been written, and will no doubt continue to be written about whether Yes are Yes if Jon Anderson isn’t on the record. To my mind if it says Yes on the album sleeve, and sounds like Yes on the record, then it’s a Yes album.
Jon Davison is the Yes singer, and he also writes a fair bit to, which can be seen in the credits above. Jon Davison has put his stamp on the Yes sound as firmly as his illustrious predecessors and his vocals add to the unmistakably Yes sound on display.
As Geoff Downes states in the interview above, each member of Yes adds something to the chapter they are writing, and this is as true on Heaven and Earth as of its 20 brethren.
There’s plenty of continuity here with former Yesman Billy Sherwood involved in mixing the harmony vocals, and Roy Thomas Baker (producer of abortive sessions in the late 1970’s) adding his considerable experience to the mix.
So what does the album actually sound like? And more to the point is it any good?
Well, if you can imagine the leap between the sound of the distinctly average Open Your Eyes, compared to the amazing beauty contained in its follow up The Ladder, then this is that leap from Fly From Here.
First of all if you’re looking for a quick hit, look elsewhere, this album is a slow burner. A grower, one that teases you and tempts you, revealing its secrets slowly and seductively, listen after beguiling listen. You’ll find songs slowly sneaking into your subconscious, humming tunes, singing along as you play the album.
Opening with one of the longer tracks Believe Again, which has been trailed as the teaser track for the album, you can tell instantly that its Yes, but that the goal posts have moved. Downes synths are to the fore, and then in come the vocals, similar enough to Jon Andersons to keep an element of continuity. Lets face it, if you’re Yes and you are hiring a new vocalist you need someone who can handle the older material and hit the heights Olias of Sunhillow used to hit at his peak. You wouldn’t hire Lemmy would you?
Jon D is different enough from Jon A to put his own stamp on this album, and Believe Again comes across to me anyway as a message to the fans saying believe in us, we are still the Yes you know and love. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but with Davison’s work making an impact straight away, and the band working in symphony from the get go, this is a Yes line up with chemistry, bouncing off each other, and whilst Believe Again is at the more commercial end of the spectrum, it’s still a powerful piece, with the vocal harmonies and musical counter play working really well. Howe’s guitar and Downes synth interplay is to the fore, and is something that really stands out throughout the album.
Geoff Downes isn’t the new keyboard player, he is the keyboard player. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing with this Yes line up, and to be honest I wouldn’t want anyone else in.
The Game has some fantastic work from Howe and some wonderfully direct lyrics. The themes are the same, but the vocal and lyrical approach is different throughout. Jon Davison isn’t trying to be Jon Anderson or Benoit David. He doesn’t need to be. He is the Yes frontman and lyricist and his identity is all over this album. His performance throughout is assured, confident and fits. If you liked his earlier work with Glass Hammer, this is right up your alley. The Game is taut, sharp, direct and punchy, a classy piece of rock.
Step Beyond, with its funky keyboard sound, its powerfully insistent vocal work, and the taut chorus, with some fantastic guitar work from Steve Howe, and with Downes nagging keyboard riff, combined with some truly classic Yes vocal harmonies, and a great instrumental interlude, only clocks in at under 6 minutes, yet it’s got a funky drive, some great drum and bass work from Squire and White and some catchy lyrical moments, it might be brief, but there’s so much going on here, both musically and lyrically, it could well be a new classic Yes anthem, and seems destined as a live staple.
That’s one thing that is really noticeable throughout the album, the sharpness of the harmonies, the work Billy Sherwood has done with Howe, Squire and Davison has brought all the classic harmony power that is a hallmark of Yes to the fore, and with Thomas Bakers production, the vocals have some real power.
To Ascend, has some beautifully direct lyrics, more of those gorgeous harmonies, and some beautiful acoustic guitar work from Davison, that mingles with Howes exquisite performance, whilst Downes majestic piano and keyboard work soar, all the while underpinned by the rock steady Squire and White, its glorious chorus, it’s musical crescendos and Davison’s performance is sublime, a true classic Yes track amongst all the adventure on this album.
In a World of Our Own, with some great musical work by Yes, Downes keyboards shining throughout, White kicking back with a funky dirty blues beat, Howes guitar cutting through the sound left, right and centre, with some languid blues and Davison’s honestly direct lyrics, as different as his predecessors as possible, with it’s tale of love gone sour, this is Yes gone film noir, meant to be listened to in a seedy underground blues club, black and white, smoky atmosphere, Davison as the blues singer, a lazy swing underpinning the whole track. Its Yes Jim, but not as we know it.
Light of the Ages is a suitably cosmic traditional Yes title, with some beautifully gloriously languid slide guitar work from Mr Howe, that stretches out throughout the track, whilst the synth work from Geoff Downes is amazing, however this is Jon Davisons track, and ironically the closest he comes to sounding like Jon Anderson at any point, with it’s spiritual lyrics, and it’s slow build to a majestic finale, this is one new Yes track that could have snuck onto to anything from Fragile to Tormato, and enhanced any album it sat on, here it is a highlight amongst highlights. Just when you think Heaven and Earth can’t get better it throws you another curve ball, and musically the band is reaching higher and higher, pushing further and further, and pull you along. Whilst Davisons vocal performance is the marzipan on top of this particular cake, and the Light of the Ages really shines with some glorious soloing from both Howe and Downes.
The only thing that’s a touch disposable is It Was all we knew, which is a bit of a weak link in the album, the musical performance is great as ever, however the track itself is a bit anonymous, despite the great harmonies, the lyrics are a tad clichéd and the track does tend to sound a bit nursery rhyme in places, even Howes spirited solo doesn’t lift the tone. I guess that’s my one complaint about this track, whilst the rest of the album is full of musical mood swings and counterparts, this just meanders on, almost Yes by numbers, which is a shame as if there were more going on, it could be great.
Now speaking of greatness we come to the finale, the epic, the closing 9 minutes plus Subway Walls, a Downes/Davison track, one crafted by the (relatively) new boys, and boy is this a statement of intent.
From Downes symphonic and dramatic synth work that opens the track, with its powerful riffs and it’s orchestral overtones you know you are in for a treat, and it doesn’t disappoint. A meditation on the meaning of life,

‘Is the meaning in the stars or does graffiti on the subway walls hold the secrets to it all’

That is the new Yes right there, encapsulated in that wonderful lyrical couplet, not just astral travellers any more, but also earthbound voyagers.
Heaven and Earth encapsulated in a nutshell, the answers aren’t just beyond and before, they are also here and now, for us all to see if we open our eyes.
The performance on Subway Walls, with some fantastic work from White and Squire, the lynchpin that holds Yes together, allows Downes and Howe the freedom to fly, and climb as they spar from about 4 minutes in, building and pushing each other, and taking the band with them, as they go from the subway to the stars and back again in 9 sublime minutes. Davisons vocals again are superb throughout, and the harmonies again majestic.
Heaven and Earth is probably my favourite Yes album of the past 20 years, more organic than any of the Keys to Ascension studio work, more fun than Magnification. This is the sound of a band working in harmony unlike Fly From Here. Yes haven’t sounded this good since the Ladder back in 1999, or Talk back in 1994.
It could have been so easy for Yes to return to what they did best in the 1970’s on this album, but that is not why Yes are still here. Nearly 50 years into a musical adventure that shows no sign of ending, they are still pushing themselves to make the best music they can, like the superb musicians they are. Managing that difficult balancing act of staying true to the Yes name, with all its attendant history, both good and bad, and yet managing to make new, interesting, and exciting music for them and us.
This my friends is the true meaning of progressive rock, something pushing forward, ever moving, ever evolving. Yes, once again have shown us what progressive rock means, and I thank them for it.

 

***

Readers: You might also like Nick Efford’s take on Yes in Concert: https://progarchy.com/2014/05/10/yes-sheffield/

Aa well as Erik Heter’s retrospective on 90125 (30 years later): https://progarchy.com/2013/10/27/90125-at-30-a-retrospective/