Customer Reviews

Union

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A lot of people hate this album, pretty much because they pay attention to the managerial and behind the scenes politics that gave birth to it.

I must admit, though, that it is one of the Yes CDs that I listen the most.

Of course I believe that some stuff should not have been included. For instance, I do not share the enthusiasm with "Miracle of Life", since I believe it to be a great musical "intro" followed by an 80's Maddona Christmas song.

But I bleed tears everytime I listen to "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Shock to the System" and "The More We Live--Let Go", three amazing pure Yes songs.

The sound in "Take the Water to the Mountain" is eerie and gives me goose bumps everytime.

"Silent Talking" is a hidden jem. Just sit down and listen to the complexity of this short exploration.

Maybe most Yes members "hate" this recording. Let them deal with that. They are wrong. This is a great collection. This is a great Yes collection.

Enjoy it.

Music is such a personal thing to many of us, and we can be very critical of our favorite groups. In this case the CD cover states that the CD "features" the talents of eight members of yes. The reality is that not all eight members are very prominent and they do not all appear simultaneously. So the statement that the album "features" the talents of Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe, Tony Kay, Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White is misleading because some of these artists make what I would consider guest appearances on this CD rather than being "featured." Okay, now that I have established the reason for all the criticism and have talked about it, let's talk about the music.

This music is the kind of complex, interesting music that Yes has been known for making. While I have a lot of Yes's music from many different eras, the consistency is bumpy and the amount of creativity varies substantially. However, when it all comes together the results are excellent.

This CD opens with two rockers, "I Would Have Waited Forever" and "Shock to the System," that have a flavor of the over-the-top music of "90125." The music is enthusiastic and up-beat and well harmonized. There may be a touch of bombast in these two songs, but these two songs are exceeded in the bombast department by the fourth track, "Lift Me Up," and the seventh track, "Miracle of Life." I enjoy all four of these songs with my favorite being "Lift Me Up," which is the most bombastic song on this CD.

"Masquerade," the third track, is a Steve Howe acoustic guitar solo that is beautiful, and it is too short. You may make an argument that Steve Howe could have developed the piece further, but at what point has a theme been exploited without being overlong? I suspect that given that the original CD was only 65 minutes long that had Steve wanted or needed more time he would have been given more time.

"Without Hope You Can Start the Day" also has some more wonderfully bombastic moments and is very enthusiastic and again reminds me of "90125." "Saving My Heart" is a bit more pop-flavored and is also a good song. The harmony is sumptuous and enthusiastic.

I enjoy the introduction to "Silent Talking." The keyboards provide a wonderful flavor that I wish had been explored in more depth. I think this is one of the tracks where Rick Wakeman shines, though I wish he would have been allowed to cut lose with the keyboards. Lyrically the song is not strong, but the words and their sounds were chosen to match the music.

The next two songs actually match each other in sequence well. "The More We Live - Let Go" and "Angkor Wat" have a similar flavor musically. Both songs are beautiful, the kind of music that Yes can make when they are being creative. While the former song does end prior to the start of the following song, the tempos and styles are so related that it sounds as though there was a natural transition from one to the next. A unique feature of "Angkor Wat" is the Cambodian poetry spoken by Pauline Cheng. This song is also heavily reminiscent of some of the more experimental music made in the very early days of Yes; a treasure.

"Dangerous" is an acceptable song. It is one of the most pure rockers on the album versus being full of bombast. However, while it is a good listen, for Yes the song is a bit of a throw-away. While there are some musically interesting elements, this song is not one of my favorites on this album. "Holding On" is another fast-paced song, and I like it, but it just seems to me to be less than inspired than many other songs on this CD.

"Evensong" feels as though it would have belonged better in company with "The More We Live" and "Angkor Wat," along with "Take the Water to the Mountain." These four songs could have formed the core of a separate Yes album altogether, one which would have been unique and had a theme all its own. What could have been, and what will never be. "Evensong" is a way too short instrumental that ends up being the introduction to "Take the Water to the Mountain."

"Take the Water to the Mountain" I really like, another of my favorite songs. The song begins slow and quiet, with simple lyrics. As the song progresses instruments are added, and the song slowly speeds up. Jon Anderson increases the volume and at two minutes into the song the tempo and vocals break out before finishing quietly, closing out the album.

It is easy to be critical of this album, which I believe was originally planned to be two separate albums that were combined. However, there are few perfect Yes albums. This album has some wonderfully unique and excellent music, and is my favorite Yes album from the 90s. Certain tracks on this CD are among the best tracks ever performed by Yes. I consider this album one of the best ever created by Yes, with such a broad range of elements that every Yes fan should find songs they like.

This CD is generally reviled by most die-hard Yes fans, and even the band members themselves (most notably Steve Howe) have slammed this album. I strongly disagree. I REALLY like this CD, and the songs penned by Rabin (Saving My Heart, Life Me Up, Miracle of Life, and one other I can't recall), are among the strongest songs on the CD. But it doesn't stop there, because there are 5 or 6 other winners on this CD.

If you like the Rabin years of Yes, you should find a lot to like on this CD, as even the songs written by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe seem to be emulating Rabin's style for at least a few of the songs.

I'm a big fan of Rabin's tenure in Yes. So I love this CD. But musical tastes being what they are (and since this is the one Yes album NOT available on iTunes), I'd steer clear of it if you didn't like what Rabin did to Yes.

Union is an album of emotionally charged power pop, with a flavour of 70's prog mixed in just to make things more interesting. The melodies are all excellent, the song-craft is even better and the spiritual overtones are simply sublime. I (almost) never imagined I'd hear such beautiful songs like 'Miracle of life', 'Shock to the system', 'More we live/let go', 'Lift me up', 'I would have waited forever' and 'Without hope you cannot start the day' (the beginning of this song is one of the saddest songs ever by Yes)

Yep, there's definitely a five star album in there, but with too many songs, there is always more chance of a bad one, so, a couple of songs later in the set aren't too good; 'Silent Talking' is a bit sketchy (and a bit contradictory, I might add). But there are a lot of original, unusual songs, like the new-age Cambodian 'Angkor Wat', the brief gamelan of 'Evensong' and the gorgeous spirituality of 'take the water to the mountain'. Not to mention the heart string-tugging melody of 'Masquerade'.

And what was up with Jon Anderson? He sounds so angry on a couple of these songs. On "I would have waited forever" he sings 'Everyone will move with you now to the riverside, experience everything but don't let the landslide' OUCH! What a way to say 'you're a slut'. Then comes the chorus 'I would have waited foreverrrrr, for you to return into my life ... I would have given everything I had ... there's no question about it at all ... this love will never let you down' wow, what a plea! Almost as good is 'Till the blood in my veins run dry I'll be there to testify,
there's a place in my heart for you...' on Saving My Heart.
Savour the moment boys, you don't get such expression in rock music everyday. But at least Yes will never fall to the depths of lyrics like 'I am the man in the moon', so that's comforting. Rating ****

There is much controversy about this album haveing about a thousand people on it and Rick Wakeman thru the tape out the window of his car upon hearing it for the first time. How does that happen anyway that you record a album and they change it without you knowing about it? What a joke. Anyway, I like it alot and it is an epic record with both camps coming together on this one. I think ABWH was really on the right track and who knows how great their second release would have been before they merged with YesWest.

The genesis of this cd has been dicussed time and time again, so I won't rehash that subject...The bottom line is, despite some bland moments, this album is not that bad...

"Yes East" (ABWH)produced the better tracks on the whole.

"I Would Have Waited Forever" was essentially 2 of Steve's solo pieces fused with Jon's lyrics, and resulted in a nice rocking tune.

"Shock To The System" rocks even harder !

"Masquerade" is Steve Howe's solo 12-string acoustic guitar showcase, and Steve himself said in his "Steve Howe Guitar Collection" book: "This piece cost about 8 dollars to make in my home studio, while the rest of "Union" cost about a million dollars to make"... Steve garnered a Grammy nomination for best rock instrumental.

"Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day", "Silent Talking", "Dangerous" and the excellent "Holding On", are all fine rocking songs.

I could have done without "Angkor Wat", Bruford and Levin's "Evensong" while nice, would have been more at home on a King Crimson album, and "Take The Water To The Mountain" would be more at home on a Jon Anderson solo album.

This import version of "Union" has a cd bonus track, "Give and Take", which would have strengthened the cd greatly upon it's general release.

"Yes West" (Anderson, Squire, Rabin, Kaye and White) made some interesting contributions, mostly from the pen of Trevor Rabin;

"Lift Me Up" the album's single is Rabin all the way, down to him singing most of the vocals, as is the pop-style ballad "Saving My Heart". Both are enjoyable listens.

"Miracle Of Life" starts out as a kickin' jam, but peters out as the vocals enter.

"The More We Live-Let Go" is a collaboration with Billy Sherwood who would later join the band, and he and Chris would re-record the atmospheric ballad for their album "Conspiracy".

Not their best, for sure, but not their worst, either. 4 stars for some really solid moments throughout.

Rick Wakeman calls this album "Onion". From his point of view it`s a kind of fake-Yes. 11 songs were composed by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe and 4 songs by Rabin-Squire`s Yes. 2 albums by 2 different bands. I like Rick, but Do Not belive it! Sound producer Jonathan Elias made his work so perfectly, that album sonunds more authentic Yes than, say, "Tormato", "Open Your Eyes" or "Magnification".
By the way, it was the first album by Yes, that I ever heard back in 1991 and since that time I`m still charmed by this music. Feelings of that time - the end of the Cold War, hopes for peace and friendship between different nations and religions (yeah, between Russia and the USA) - are perfectlty reflected in the songs. It seems to me, that these songs contained a kind of good light energy:)
You would hear the best of 2 Yes line-ups: hits by Trevor Rabin (Lift Me Up) mixed with crystal clear philosophic production by Wakeman, Anderson, Howe. They recorded 2 hits: "I Would Have Waited Forever" and "Shock to the System" with hard rock sound, wonderful acoustic ballad by Howe "Masquerade", beautiful short song "Angkor Wat" in the style of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" with magical playing by Rick and with the reading of Cambodian poetry. Bonus track - "Give and Take" is a hit pop song.
The quality of sound recording is very high (work by Elias and Eddie Offord). In sessions participated Tony Levin and Steve Porcaro (Toto). Cover art by Roger Dean. Well, I need more of this Yes!!!

This is good, but certainly not among their best. If you already have a good Yes collection and are looking for more, this might be a good addition.

This one will surprise you and be a Shock To The System!!! This is one of my favorite albums from Yes. I have owned almost all of them at one time. The set opens with I Would Have Waited Forever...this is one of the best Yes songs ever. Lift Me Up is another good song. Songs like the More We Live/Let Go really make me think. This whole CD has the classic sounds of Yes with the pop appeal that many of the more recent fans of Yes enjoy. The price is a bit steep, but worth it!

This is the so-called reunion of Yes. Anderson, Bruford, Howe & Wakeman had released one album. After they had several songs written, the hooked up with the former Yes, and these two bands put their songs into one album. And the result...magnificent!!! On this album, Yes have become a little more of a pop band, but the prog is still there. And as always, the melodies are put right down in the front seat. Songs like "Miracle of life", "More We Live" and "Shock To The System" make my life wirth living. I would go so far to announce this as the greatest Yes album of all time. Jon Anderson does most of the singing, but also Chris Squire takes the lead on some tracks. The mix and variety of this album makes it just as exciting every time.

This version is the European release which contain 1 bonus track; "Give & Take". A nice little track written by Jon Anderson and Steve Howe.

The musicians featured are: Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White.

As always the front cover is painted by Roger Dead, and Jonathan Elias has produced the album.