This Day in Music History: Yes/Heaven & Earth (07/16)

On this date in 2014, Yes released their 21st studio album entitled Heaven & Earth. It is their first album with singer Jon Davison in the band's line-up, and the final studio album to feature original bassist Chris Squire before his death in 2015.

It was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who first worked with the band on recording sessions in 1979, and mixed by former member Billy Sherwood. Upon its release, Heaven & Earth peaked at number 20 in the UK, the band's highest chart performance since their 1994 album Talk. It also entered the US chart at number 26.

I have previously covered this album in more depth here: Side One, Side Two.

Music Monday (Heaven & Earth, Side 2)

And so it has finally come to this. As it stands now, this is the last side of the last studio album Yes has released. What does the future hold? Hopefully more Yes, in whatever form they should deem to reappear. This, however, is not the end to Music Monday...

So in my last post, I suppose I was kinda critical of the "sameness" of the songs. Well, at least the flip side does offer some variety. In the end though, this is my favorite band and it is what it is now. This who they are, and I for one am glad they are still around.

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Music Monday (Heaven & Earth, Side 1)

Back in July of this past year I was so excited that Yes was going to release a new album. It was the first brand new release I would be able to cover with my blog here. I had read that Benoit David was out as lead singer and the new singer was going to be Jon Anderson Davison, from the band Glass Hammer. The rest of the band (Squier, Howe, White, Downes) was the same. That album was Heaven & Earth.

Roger Dean y'all!

Monthly Review (July, 2014)

I haven't done one of these in quite awhile. I have been trying to be more diligent in my blog posts, so in keeping up with that, here are my Top 10 posts for the past month.

10. Hump Day! - Basically me making fun of some of the people at work.

9. REO Speedwagon/Roll With the Changes - One of my favorite tunes to drive home to.

8. Too Moody - This Random 10 was the only one to crack the top 10 for the month.

7. Demotivational - Sometimes all I have to do is make fun of Disney...

6. The Wall - Great song with great lyrics by Kansas.

5. Disney in the Summer - Once again Disney is useful.

4. Disney Story Mural - My old picture and a description of a long passed Main Street attraction.

3. Yes/Heaven & Earth - My review of the new Yes album, which surprisingly got me a lot of traffic.

2. Still popular from over two years ago (mainly from the images I'm guessing) is a list of my Top 10 favorite Yes album covers. This post is actually #2 all time.

Okay and now the #1 post from the month. Like there was any doubt. Apparently all I need to do is mention @SioneMaraschino and my blog explodes. It was so popular it even cracked my All Time Top 10 posts at #7 (and still climbing) in just over a week!

C'mon ya'll. You know it's All About That Bass.

In Honor of Trevor Horn's Birthday

The man that sang this...

...eventually ended up in Yes* for one album

*Yes it's the same keyboard player too! Geoff Downes is actually back in the band for the new Heaven and Earth CD that I reviewed here.

A Review of Yes: Heaven and Earth

So today should be like Christmas Day for me. Yes is releasing their new album called Heaven and Earth. I should be excited but I'm not.

People who really know me know I am a HUGE Yes fan. My apartment walls are decorated with Roger Dean paintings. My computer desktop is a rotating display of album covers. However the last couple of years have left me wanting more.

The one thing I understand about Yes is that every time out you are going to get something different. The band membership has changed so much through the years that that is what is expected. But at least it was still going to be YES. I was never one of those that said it isn't Yes without Wakeman or Howe or whoever, but now I am actually starting to feel that Jon Anderson was the driving force behind things. 

I have given the album about two listenings now (and playing again as I type this), and I just feel like something is missing. Nothing stands out. It's very mellow. If you would have told me this was Starcastle I may have believed you. And that's not what I expect my Yes to be. Sometimes slapping a Roger Dean cover on it doesn't elevate the musical content.

Will this grow on me? Probably. Believe Again, Step Beyond and Subway Walls were at least somewhat interesting. This is not an album I would jam to, but I could see it playing in the background on a dark day while I was drinking a cup of coffee watching it rain. How's that for mellow?

Track Listing

1) Believe Again

2) The Game

3) Step Beyond

4) To Ascend

5) In a World of Our Own

6) Light of the Ages

7) It Was All We Knew

8) Subway Walls

Believe Again

So I climbed to the height of a mountain line

Is there a vision here

Woven to touch

And all to capture light?

Surely the stream of consciousness

Flows to the sea

Where drifting I found

That I can be

I’m really getting to know the empty space

Beneath the surface of common days

There I knelt at the foot of an open sky

Is it by faith, not time

The sun does climb

To light the path for us?

And I can embrace where I’m going

Tomorrow has already found me

(chorus)

I used to believe in a love watching over

I want to believe in that love yet again

I lost my touch to handle with kid gloves

In the rough game of push and shove

I lost sight

I used to believe in your love

To be believed in

Once more tonight

Will you speak to me fathers?

Grant me the words

That one day I’ll be called to speak

And finally I am here understanding

The clear and constant page

Despite the shroud of material ways

Where dreaming the sound

A new found freedom

(chorus)

Surely this dream of consciousness

Flows to the sea

Where drifting I found

That I can be

I’m really getting to know the empty space

Beneath the surface of common days

Where dreaming the sound

A new found freedom

I used to believe in a love watching over

I want to believe in that love yet again

If it all comes down to push and shove

Remember to lift your heart above the fight

You can still receive the love

To be believed in

To turn wrong to right

Beyond all the pain and the strife

Ride the turning tide

Lift a strength deep inside

We can transform wrong to right

We can still receive the love

To be believed in

Once more tonight