Post by y***@hotmail.comI'm always amazed and amused that people will judge a song, an album, on the first listen. I've been listening to the whole thing for the last 5, 6 days, 30+ times at least, and while there's certainly room for criticism (largely with the production & clearly rushed mix), the songs really do grow on you, or me at least. Subway Walls is the best thing I've heard from these guys in a long, long time, Light Of The Ages isn't far behind, beautiful song, the weakest track is probably It Was All We Knew (because the guitar riff is basically the melody to My Grandfathers Clock & I can't get that association out of my head haha) but even that one grows on repeated hearings. Best Yes album ever? No, of course not. But it's far from the worst and easily one of the most *different* Yes albums to come along.
Give it a chance before making first-listen judgements & cancelling the pre-order.
I hated Relayer when it first came out, took countless listens before it "grew" on me & now I consider it one of the finest albums ever released by anyone, ever. I'm not going to feel that way about H&E but I think my point stands.
I've listened to the entire record as many times as I could bear. With each spin I found myself having a harder time not hitting skip, or staying through to the end. Now, I never pre-ordered it, so there's nothing to cancel. Yes, whatever the record might cost is of no issue, but I tend not to support _in any way_ businesses that I view as dishonest, unethical, or even those who honestly and ethically purposely sell inferior product (cheap crap). So these guys had to come with something *really* good to earn my trade.
In my view, this record is beyond boring and something that really seems aimed at an adolecent (or adolecent minded) audience. Juano D's voice alternates from just making me wince, to taking me to full blown cringe. In listening to this thing I began to wonder why I ever viewed him as an upgrade from BD. And Downes...lol...please, what the hell is that guy doing on this thing. If the record is a turd, his contribution makes it a runny and decidely smelly turd. The other three seem phoned in and just plain lazy. How many years now has Howe been playing that same song...since the 80's?
But hey, here we have *another* comparison to Relayer. Yes, I know it's not the same kind of comparison as we saw from *SWasiafans* immediately behind thier _first taste_ of "BA", but the Relayer title is invoked nontheless. I don't remember being in love with Relayer at first listen either...but what I do remember is hearing music that was challenging and *very* interesting. This record doesn't even remotely resemble anything having to do with challenging or interesting. "Subway Walls" may be the best thing _this band_ has done, but somehow I don't find the notion of roughly two minutes of ok stuff hidden in a nine minute stinker to be terrifically compelling.
In the end, for me, this is just more of the continued wrecking of the Yes legacy. HSW's shame knows no bounds.
Rob "FFH was a SHWes record, so H&E is the best thing SWasia has done" Allen