Yes-In the present-Live from Lyon

Frontiers
2011

This live album fro prog rock legends Yes was recorded in Lyon, France back on December 1st 2009. I am not totally sure why they choose a nearly two year old show for release instead of choosing one from this years "Fly from here" tour. This band has gone through numerous line-up changes over the years. They have gone through style changes too having been real pioneers and leaders in their genre and then dabbling in more pop leaning styles although they have always kept some of their original prog sound too. This long set mixes up the selection fairly well as they of course have a large catalog for which to choose. We are treated to classics like “Roundabout", but we inevitably get tracks like the 80's megahit “Owner of a Lonely Heart" as well. Of course every track here is extremely tight as I would expect nothing less from this band no matter who is in the line-up. Although precision is more important that raw energy because you'll never hear them pick up the tempo more than on the studio versions either. New singer Benoit David does a fine job handling his duties really hitting every note perfectly. We get 14 tracks here and several over ten minutes yet it never seems too long, instead it just flows very well and I felt very satisfied with the album as a whole. While listening to it I could really appreciate the impact Yes has had on progressive music over the years. It did strike me slightly funny that in between each song there seems to a controlled splatter of hand clapping from the audience. This is perhaps a far more contained response than the band would have received say 35 or so years ago. I suppose this may have to do with the fact that much of their audience is now at least somewhat grey haired. Anyways this was an enjoyable enough live album and fans of the band will surely be pleased.

Yes-Fly from here

Frontiers
2011

Yes have returned with their first studio album in ten years. This band has had a long career complete with some peaks and valleys. Their earliest works were undoubtedly their best and since then the albums have retained some of their previous trademark sound, but they have certain gone for a lighter sound with varying degrees of success. The title track occupies the first six tracks and it's an overture plus parts number I-V. A multi-part song made me slightly hesitant, but once I got into it I was pleasantly surprised. This song comprises parts of the band's earlier sound (pre-1983) mixed with the sound they have gone by over the last almost thirty years. It's light and easy, but the melodies are smooth and the direction works to the band's strengths. I wasn't expecting great things from this album and the title isn't great, but it's quite likable. As the song came to close my thoughts were that all the rest of the album had to do was 80% as good as the multi-part song and this would be their best album in a while. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The rest of the album left me feeling somewhat dry. The bouncing, textured sound that dominated the first half of the album was gone in favor of a much more pedestrian approach. I tried several times to give them multiple chances. Even skipping the title track and going straight to the second half to avoid a possible drop-off, but even then the later songs failed to make an impact on me. They are not bad, but just rather dull. Diehard Yes fans will find enough to enjoy, but in the end it's an album of halves with one being very decent and the other being rather forgettable.