I have mentioned before about the great Yes and their knack for drama, with a fair bit of back stabbing, and a wild amount of turnover. It's the stuff of legend. And so it was that, in 2008, Benoit David took over the vocal spot for an ailing Jon Anderson and managed to stick with the band for about three years, during which time the band undertook several tours, recording the album Fly From Here as well as the recently-unearthed From A Page along the way. He had brilliant knack for being able to sound like Jon Anderson and Trevor Horn while, at the same time, sounding like his own self. Unfortunately, vocal issues sidelined him and in 2012 he was replaced by Jon Davison, who remains the Yes frontman to this day, appearing on several live albums as well as Heaven & Earth and the just-released, The Quest. During all this, however, something interesting was brewing.
2011's Fly From Here, as discussed earlier, was more or less the brainchild of Trevor Horn, based on the song he initially brought to Yes, back in 1980. While that song was a feature in the live show at that time, it was not recorded for Drama and this lineup broke up before they ever could record it. Revisiting that song in 2011, Horn produced his old band and created a very impressive piece of work. With Geoff Downes back in the lineup, and Benoit David putting in a great performance, this was the product of a band that was moving on. And while this lineup did not last, the music sure did.
That is, until 2018, when things got really weird. Trevor Horn revisited these recordings and of course then he set about to fiddling with them. Adjusting mixes and performing lots of edits, this became more his baby than ever and, since this was not a current project with a deadline, he could spend his time refining it. Among those refinements came one of the most controversial moves in Yes history:
Trevor Horn re-recorded the vocals on the album himself. Considering the raw deal that Benoit David was given, this was about as final a slap as one could get. His performance on the original was stellar. For him to get ret-conned out of Yes history like this was a crying shame.
HOWEVER
This makes Fly From Here exactly what it should have been from the beginning. Most of this is Horn's creation and, had Yes not broken up in 1981, much of this would have gone on a follow-up to Drama. Which is precisely what this is, as Horn's return fully reunites the Drama lineup, at least on record. While Benoit did a phenomenal (and perhaps superior) job on the original, hearing Trevor Horn sing these songs....it just seems right. Drama has always been one of my top Yes albums. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it was such an anomaly. To have Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman be replaced by The Buggles and then for that experiment to be as amazing and as fleeting as it was....well, that's just Yes.
So what we have here is second album from the Squire/Howe/White/Horn/Downes lineup of Yes, and it really is an amazing piece of work. Is it better than the original version? Not sure. Is it the definitive version? Maybe. That's what I appreciate the most - we get two distinct perspectives, both of which are valid and commendable. By the time Return Trip was released, neither Trevor Horn nor Benoit David were the singer in the band anyway, so both versions are anomalies.
As for the music itself, I already discussed that in the earlier post, so I won't go track by track here. Aside from the fat being trimmed from the title suite, this is compositionally the same album as before. Obviously the mix is different and it seems a lot tighter than the original, a little less bombastic. Also, this does add one extra song, Steve Howe's "Don't Take No For An Answer", but that one is not really one to write home about. More excitingly, however, is that this version of the album restores "Hour Of Need" to its original length, which presents it as a three-part suite and is really the best way to take in the song.
As can always be predicted in the online Yes world, this release caused a mighty stir, but I never get involved in that and I've never taken sides on the matter. Both versions of the album are valid and both are well worth seeking out.
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