Review:

on 2012-10-24 GWHill Said:

By the late 1980s Jon Anderson had become frustrated with the direction in which Yes were headed. Brought back from several years broken up with the addition of guitarist, songwriter Trevor Rabin, the group had achieved a level of pop success beyond anything they had done in the 1970s. In fact, the Rabin penned Owner of a Lonely Heart remains their biggest single to date. However, many fans longed for the more progressive rock oriented era of 1970s Yes. Anderson answered that call by bringing back guitarist Steve Howe, original Yes drummer Bill Bruford and keyboardist Rick Wakeman to form Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe. Tony Levin (who played with Bruford in King Crimson) handled the bass duties on this (their sole studio release) disc.

While the hope of Yes fans for more substantial, progressive music was mostly realized here, there were some minor issues and at least one song that seems to miss the mark. Perhaps the consistent issue on the album is the fact that it seems to rely heavily on mellower music, and lacks some of the harder rocking fire that was a big part of the contrast that historically made Yes music work so well. It arguably does, however, fit better into the Yes catalog than albums like 90125 and Big Generator do.

At its best points, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe manages to recapture the magic of the classic era of Yes. The opening Themes: Sound/Second Attention/Soul Warrior along with Fist of Fire and Order of the Universe seem to accomplish that goal very well. On the other end of the spectrum is Teakbois. The track is a bouncy sort of reggae number that neither feels like Yes, nor is all that interesting. While it has some charm, its clearly the misstep of the album. The rest of the music falls somewhere in between, ranging from mellow balladic numbers and something more like Yes meets pop music. All in all, though, while not without some minor issues, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe was a very respectable outing.

Rating: 7/10