So now we come to the most maligned album in the entire Yes discography, 2014’s Roy Thomas Baker-produced Heaven And Earth. This album marked the debut of Jon Davison, who assumed the lead vocal spot after Benoit David left in 2012. After touring the Fly From Here album, as well as embarking on a few ”classic album” tours (stay tuned for those), it was time to make it official with an album.
Unlike Benoit, Davison took the lead in the creative process, flying all over the world and writing individually with each member, as well as writing some on his own. This was a bold move but one that really could have paid off tremendously if they had Any Other Producer On Earth. I don’t know why they chose Baker. It didn’t work in 1979, why try again. His style is very hushed and precise - the opposite of Horn’s larger-than-life capture of the band on Fly From Here. The drums are mixed low and have no umph, despite Alan White playing the hell out of them. As a result, these songs come across as limp, which is really a shame because these are actually good songs. Well, mostly. They deserved more than what RTB had to offer.
Davison sings in a tenor that makes him capable of singing the classics but is generally on the softer side than his predecessors’. It is quite distinctive, though, and he lets his own character shine on these performances. He’s not there to play a part, and I appreciate the hell out of that. Also, his voice blends perfectly with Squire’s, in a sound that is both familiar and fresh. His writing is clever but not too deep or out-there, and he can also get emotional as well. He’s done a hell of a job and has only gotten better over the years.
Anyway….so the album kicks off with “Believe Again”, a complex, well-written song that could have been a decent fanfare but instead is muffled and restrained. It was released as a single and I’m not sure that helped the band much.
“The Game”, co-written with Squire, had everything in place to be one hell of a single, including a killer performance from Davison, a singalong chorus, a nice positive message, but instead it was flattened in the engineer booth.
While I may rail on the overall sound, the songs and arrangements are generally great. The only real dud moment is “Step Beyond”, which is a decent song that is marred by this really stupid synth loop that runs the whole fucking time. Co-written with Howe, and sung in tandem between he and Davison, this is saved by some great backing vocals from Squire, a few pretty cool sections, and a really fantastic bridge. The best part about this is it leads into “To Ascend”. Co-written by Davison and Alan White, this is one of the most beautiful songs to ever be released under the Yes banner. I defy any detractor to find something wrong with this song.
Squire provides “In A World Of Our Own”, written with Davison, which has this slippery sort of swampy Beatles groove that is very uncharacteristic for Yes, as is the acerbic, snarky lyric. But it’s also a really cool song, and the last to feature Squire’s name in the credits.
“Light Of The Ages” is the first to feature a solo Davison writing credit and is majestic, very Yessish. This could have easily fit on any one of their mid ‘70s releases. If only they had called Eddie Offord to produce.
Steve Howe provides the strummy “It Was All We Knew”, which he sings in a duet with Davison. This is a nice little song but perhaps not necessarily at home on a Yes album. Shoulda been the Japanese bonus track.
This all leads to the epic “Subway Walls”, which closes the album. Perhaps the proggiest moment on this record, this is a song that absolutely should have been played live. The orchestral intro recalls Magnification a bit, and this features some fantastic playing by Howe and Squire. However, this is another song that is totally screwed over by the production. Had Trevor Horn been behind the board, this would be a classic.
Sadly, this was to be the last Yes album to feature Chris Squire (the only one who had appeared on them all), who passed away in 2015. While it’s a shame that he had to go out on such a gaffe of an album, he left that album with some of the finest playing of his career.
No comments:
Post a Comment