Fly From Here

New Yes album released a few days ago. I'm a fan of Yes, increasingly so at the moment. They can ramble for sure, but there is something really positive and life-affirming about their best work. "Turn of the Century" is a good example of this-it might be drippy hippy (not a criticism as far as I'm concerned) but it brings something good out of what could be pure misery. And Jon Anderson's voice has a purity and clarity that is wonderful. Even if you can't work out what he's going on about a lot of the time, I love the way his voice is another instrument.
Fast-forward to 2011, Jon Anderson has left Yes, released The Living Tree with Rick Wakeman, and been replaced by Benoît David. The new album is out (though not in the US) and ready to be ripped to shreds by a devoted army of devotees who live Close to the Edge, next door to Mr Relayer who is always telling Tales from Topographic Oceans...you get my drift.
As I said, Yes music is about positivity. "Keys to Ascension" is an apt title-something that can contribute to a better life, whether you want to be ethereal about it or whether you want a more down to earth kind of experience. The essential message is often "be decent to others and see the good in them". Not an easy task by any means, maybe not always possible, but a good way to start improving your own life perhaps.
So what's the album like? Well, Benoît has a similar sounding voice to Jon Anderson, but it's by no means the same. And thankfully he doesn't really try. To start with you'd have to have Jon Anderson's lyrical whimsy, and that is something nobody else has. It is a very straight ahead kind of album, but first impressions are good. There is unsurprisingly a similarity to Asia, but not aggressively so. I'm only beginning my time with this recording, but I' finding it easier to get into than Magnification (must give that a spin tomorrow). And I might even be able to play some of the bass parts-Chris Squire does a lot less weaving in and out around the melody on this record.
So overall, it's a thumbs-up from Scropenoggin. I'm enjoying it a lot.
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