The cover of Open Your Eyes references the band's 1969 album debut, but is otherwise boring as Hell. This is the one album I pretty much never cared for (me and lots of other Yes fans).
Following the reunion of the mid-1970's "classic" lineup of Yes (and the release of the two live-and-studio double albums Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2), keyboard player Rick Wakeman had left the band once again, throwing future tour and album plans into jeopardy. In order to sustain momentum, the band was obliged to come up with a new workable lineup as well as new sources of song material.
Billy Sherwood had previously been involved with Yes as a backup keyboard player and guitarist on the Talk tour (as well as being considered as a potential new lead singer during Yes rehearsals circa 1990). More recently, he had worked as engineer and producer for part of the Keys To Ascension project.
Billy Sherwood had previously been involved with Yes as a backup keyboard player and guitarist on the Talk tour (as well as being considered as a potential new lead singer during Yes rehearsals circa 1990). More recently, he had worked as engineer and producer for part of the Keys To Ascension project.
He had had a strong working relationship with Yes bassist Chris Squire since the late 1980's, when the two had begun work on a duo project called The Chris Squire Experiment (later to become Conspiracy). Yes singer Jon Anderson was impressed by some of the early Conspiracy material and became interested in singing on it, in part because of Yes' need for new material. Consequently Sherwood, Squire, Anderson and White began working on several Conspiracy songs together with the aim of transforming them into Yes songs. Sherwood has said the band was falling apart after Wakeman's withdrawal and that he led on songwriting activity to keep the band going, working with Squire, White and Anderson. Guitarist Steve Howe was not practically involved for most of the process and made his contributions to the album at the end of the sessions. By the end, Sherwood was formally inducted into Yes – he would play second guitar and sing harmony vocals on tour.
Although Sherwood played the bulk of the keyboards on the album, two other keyboard players were involved. Steve Porcaro (Toto) had played keyboards on the title track when it was a Chris Squire Experiment piece and his parts were retained. Russian keyboard player Igor Khoroshev performed on "New State of Mind", "No Way We Can Lose" and "Fortune Seller". Khoroshev was hired as the band's keyboard player on the tour and would be a full member by 1999's The Ladder.
Although Sherwood played the bulk of the keyboards on the album, two other keyboard players were involved. Steve Porcaro (Toto) had played keyboards on the title track when it was a Chris Squire Experiment piece and his parts were retained. Russian keyboard player Igor Khoroshev performed on "New State of Mind", "No Way We Can Lose" and "Fortune Seller". Khoroshev was hired as the band's keyboard player on the tour and would be a full member by 1999's The Ladder.
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The Music
1) New State of Mind - The first thing I noticed about this song was that there were vocals all over the place. It was like Jon was a guest vocalist on the track or something. The music is just meh.
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2) Open Your Eyes - The song was written by Sherwood and Squire. Originally titled "Wish I Knew", the song was intended for inclusion on a solo album of Squire's. The song was released as the lead single from the album and reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. As of 2014, "Open Your Eyes" is the band's last charting single. :-(
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3) Universal Garden - Best song on the album by far. Jon singing cosmic lyrics with Howe on acoustic guitar. Now that's a recipe for success. Sherwood had wanted this to be the title of the album but was outvoted by the others.
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4) No Way We Can Lose - Yes you can, by making clunkers of a song like this. It almost feels like a bad Trevor Rabin song that was left off Union or something.
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5) Fortune Seller - I kinda like this song for the vocals, but it basically makes no sense and is pointless beyond a few good lines.
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6) Man in the Moon - Once again, not a bad song. It kinda sounds like a Squire solo song with Jon on it.
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In an earlier post I described Talk as basically a Trevor Rabin solo album. This album is the same substituting in Billy Sherwood, and that's a big drop off.
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