90125 by Yes
What An Interesting Departure For Yes
After breaking up at the dawn of the 80s, Yes made a surprise comeback
with this 1983 effort. This album (named after its catalog number) featured
a retooled band lineup, with guitarist Trevor Rabin and original keyboardist
Tony Kaye joining longtime members Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, and
Alan White. It also unveiled a newly streamlined sound, courtesy of British
avant-pop producer Trevor Horn, whod briefly replaced frontman Anderson
on the pre-breakup album Drama. The new approach made these English
prog-rock vets sound contemporary at the height of the MTV explosion,
spawning memorably catchy hits like Owner of a Lonely Heart, Leave It,
and It Can Happen. --Scott Schinder
Personal Review: 90125 by Yes
Right when a casual observer might have believed that Yes could "go
gently into that good night," they came out with this stunning document of
'80s rock. Fresh off an underwhelming public response to the only Jon
Anderson-less Yes album (_Drama_, which is nonetheless very strong in
its own right), they then went on to lose their trademark guitarist, Steve
Howe, to the supergroup Asia. Then they released _90125_ and buried
anything Asia could dream of doing.
Indeed, this is one of the quintessential AOR albums of the '80s, right up
there with the Police's _Synchronicity_, Peter Gabriel's _So_, and a select
handful of albums in that vein that one can say truly shine like a beacon
amidst the rampant schlock of that era. Sad to say, Yes went on to create
some of that schlock (think _Big Generator_), yet for one brilliant moment
in rock history, the Trevor Rabin guitar sound went to the top of the charts.

It blends elements of the synth rock of the era (e.g. Flock of Seagulls), the
emerging "hair metal" (e.g. Scorpions), and the classic Yes sound
(sparkling harmonies, brilliant production, stunning time changes, etc.).
Sound like a recipe for disaster? It is, but the disaster didn't come for a
few years until _Big Generator_. Somehow, Yes took this recipe and spun
pure sterling platinum on _90125_ that withstands the test of time. Thus,
_90125_ is a pivotal moment in Yes's history that poises the band at the
abyss between power and parody. Trevor Rabin's guitar blazes the path at
this juncture and there is not a dull moment.
I promise you that every song is brilliant on this album. They go through
varied sounds. "Changes," for example, starts out with a math rock
xylophone figure before Rabin's furious harmonized guitar shredding.
Rabin comes in on vocals on this one, sounding like lite rock until the
band's tumultuous collective crescendo and Anderson's appearance on the
chorus. Like all the love songs here ("Our Song" and "City of Hearts" are
two lesser-known examples), they actually come off as true and
emotionally effective, unlike so many of the innocuous power ballads of the
time.
Want instrumentals? "Cinema" will do the trick, creating a vocal-less
plateau that the band hadn't attained since _Relayer_. Again, with Rabin,
this isn't your father's Yes, but rather a more electronic Yes that manages
to come off crisp, complex, and futuristic.
We all know "Owner of a Lonely Heart," but there are so many other
highlights that the only way to process all of them is to listen to this album.
Another MTV highlight from this is "Leave It." Try to get your hands on one
of the video versions of this (I think they put out like forty versions--I used
to plant myself in front of the TV all day to see how many of them I could
catch; I think I got up to fifteen). This video catches the majesty of this
album, but also its borderline ridiculousness (which, as any prog fan
should know, has a special power all its own--part of hanging on that
perilous precipice). The band sings a capella hanging from a ceiling as the
empty white room slowly begins to fill up with smoke ("I can feel no sense
of measure,/ no illusion, as we take/ refuge in young man's pleasure,/
breaking down the dreams we make/ real"). The instrumentation comes in
slowly until--BAM!--in the chorus we see the band's full body careening
and whorling around the room through the help of video trickery. This
video catches the fleetingly enduring magic of this album. You've got the
stalwart veterans of Yes--Tony Kaye, Anderson, Jon Squire, and Alan
White--morphing into the age of video with the new kid, Trevor, at the
helm. At this point, they did it more gracefully than any of their more
popular counterparts, with the possible exception of King Crimson (who
never had true mass success, but actually weathered the '80s consistently
well with their new kid, Adrian Belew, and a Talking Heads-inspired
turnaround; alas, no MTV moments for Crimson). Asia tried to translate
prog into three-minute vignettes to more or less miserable effect. ELP was
a waning twinkle in Keith Emerson's eye. Rush was about ready to

descend into the long slump that started with _Grace Under Pressure_.
Yes? Well, you remember quite well. They defined early '80s popular rock
along with other trailblazers like Sting. Relive all that was the best in this
era and buy this album. It will never fade on you.
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