inelegy
2014-06-23 16:28:47 UTC
So, H&E has leaked. I'm listening to it now for the first time (and, yes, I've still pre-ordered a physical CD).
My general impression is it's all very lightweight, mid-tempo stuff. Mostly pleasant but not very challenging.
It doesn't have that compressed, claustrophobic, mushed Billy Sherwood mix sound that OYE, Conspiracy, and so much of his work possesses. It has some space in it and isn't as densely produced and mixed (overloaded?) as FFH.
What other reviewers have said seems true: It's apparent that they really didn't have much in the way of material. Every track has perhaps the seed of a good idea (or at least "an idea") that was slightly fluffed up, decorated a little, and pronounced finished. Nothing appears to have had the level of crafting, exploration, diversion, expansion, and extrapolation that the best of Yes music has.
For me it's not as bad as Union or OYE, or as poorly produced as Tormato. It's similar to and about as lightweight, forced, thin, and half-baked as the non-epic Keystudio tracks seem. Sure, those pieces all *sound* like Yes but -- let's be honest - none will ever be on par with anything from the "main sequence" or the best Rabin-era material.
The low points are "To Ascend" and "In a World of Our Own." Both sort of limply lie there for a few minutes and then mercifully go away. "It Was All We Knew" sounds like a Howe demo that Anderson and a better, more engaged Yes would've worked into something useful, or at least different and (perhaps) interesting.
"Believe Again" is OK and has good energy -- if not much to do. I can understand why Billy likes "Light of the Ages." It's the most Sherwoodian track . . . so there's that. But, like a lot/most of Billy's work, it finds one level of energy and just sort of stays there.
The best track for me after this one listen is "Subway Walls" if only because it has some changes and seems to be the most traditionally "progressive" track. It's the "Arriving UFO" or "New Language" or Miracle Of Life" of this otherwise flat album, I guess. Still, it stays really mid-tempo and never really lifts off until the very end where it tries to pick up a bit, but after so much preceding lethargy I could barely care.
And then it just sort of ends.
Musician-wise, keyboards and vocals seem to dominate throughout the album. The "core" of Howe/Squire/White are present and functional, but there's nothing that any one of them does that makes me go "Wow!" I mean, there are obligatory guitar solos scattered around that have all of the standard Howe-ism applied, and a couple of moments where the bass carries things, but essentially, H/S/W put in largely anonymous performances.
Short version: Nothing soars, ever.
My general impression is it's all very lightweight, mid-tempo stuff. Mostly pleasant but not very challenging.
It doesn't have that compressed, claustrophobic, mushed Billy Sherwood mix sound that OYE, Conspiracy, and so much of his work possesses. It has some space in it and isn't as densely produced and mixed (overloaded?) as FFH.
What other reviewers have said seems true: It's apparent that they really didn't have much in the way of material. Every track has perhaps the seed of a good idea (or at least "an idea") that was slightly fluffed up, decorated a little, and pronounced finished. Nothing appears to have had the level of crafting, exploration, diversion, expansion, and extrapolation that the best of Yes music has.
For me it's not as bad as Union or OYE, or as poorly produced as Tormato. It's similar to and about as lightweight, forced, thin, and half-baked as the non-epic Keystudio tracks seem. Sure, those pieces all *sound* like Yes but -- let's be honest - none will ever be on par with anything from the "main sequence" or the best Rabin-era material.
The low points are "To Ascend" and "In a World of Our Own." Both sort of limply lie there for a few minutes and then mercifully go away. "It Was All We Knew" sounds like a Howe demo that Anderson and a better, more engaged Yes would've worked into something useful, or at least different and (perhaps) interesting.
"Believe Again" is OK and has good energy -- if not much to do. I can understand why Billy likes "Light of the Ages." It's the most Sherwoodian track . . . so there's that. But, like a lot/most of Billy's work, it finds one level of energy and just sort of stays there.
The best track for me after this one listen is "Subway Walls" if only because it has some changes and seems to be the most traditionally "progressive" track. It's the "Arriving UFO" or "New Language" or Miracle Of Life" of this otherwise flat album, I guess. Still, it stays really mid-tempo and never really lifts off until the very end where it tries to pick up a bit, but after so much preceding lethargy I could barely care.
And then it just sort of ends.
Musician-wise, keyboards and vocals seem to dominate throughout the album. The "core" of Howe/Squire/White are present and functional, but there's nothing that any one of them does that makes me go "Wow!" I mean, there are obligatory guitar solos scattered around that have all of the standard Howe-ism applied, and a couple of moments where the bass carries things, but essentially, H/S/W put in largely anonymous performances.
Short version: Nothing soars, ever.