After the tour for 1980’s Drama, the hybrid Yes/Buggles lineup found itself splintering. Trevor Horn pursued a career in production, Steve Howe & Geoff Downes went off to form Asia, leaving Chris Squire & Alan White, who released a holiday single as a duo and tried to form a band with Jimmy Page (called XYZ) before linking up with Trevor Rabin, from Rabbitt. Initially, they were to form a band called Cinema, recruiting founding Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye along the way, and setting forth on recording an album. At the boards was Trevor Horn and the album was gearing up to be big. A chance encounter led to Jon Anderson returning to the band and at that point there’s no choice but to call it Yes. However, this was a completely different Yes, yet one that featured more original members than any other incarnation since Kaye left in 1971.
While this album has a mid-80s AOR vibe, it runs so much deeper than simple radio rock. This is radio rock, fed through the Yes filter. Arrangements are tight and twisted, time signatures flying all over the place. Some songs, like “Our Song”and “Hearts”, recall Yes’ earlier eras, while others like “Leave It” and the smash “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” find the band taking pop music and perfecting it. The band gets down and dirty on “City Of Love”, Trevor Rabin shines on “Changes”, offering a whole new vocal palette for the band. Squire’s “It Can Happen” is upgraded to a mini masterpiece, the instrumental “Cinema” offers a nod to this album’s beginnings, and “Hold On” is Yes at their most anthemic.
So-called “purists” really looked down on this album, and the era, but it seems to have grown in popularity over the decades. As it should, because this is an absolutely flawless album that sounds just as impressive (if not more) now as it did 40 years ago.
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