Never less than a seismic event in the progressive rock world, a new Yes studio album always provokes strong opinions. It will be interesting to see how the reception to 2021’s The Quest differs from that of em>Heaven and Earth. That 2014 album marked the final LP for founding member and keeper of the Yes flame Chris Squire.
Unfortunately, most Yes fans (including me) were left unsatisfied by that record for a variety of reasons which are discussed at great length elsewhere. However, that definite mis-step in the progress of the more than 50-year-old Yes discography did nothing to dampen the sense of hope – and expectation – amongst a large proportion of Yes fans for The Quest.
Surely, the band understood the need to produce a much better album than last time? Lack of time is commonly believed to have been at least partially responsible for the weaknesses of Heaven and Earth, but this time a global lockdown must have given Yes plenty of time to work on ideas – or so we thought. Happily, I can report that these hopes and expectations have indeed been satisfied by the release of an album worthy of the name “Yes.”
I do think it’s important to live with the record for a considerable amount of time before forming your opinion of it. The Quest has grown on me a lot and it’s only now, listening carefully on headphones, that I find I can fully appreciate its qualities. There are some niggles, but it’s light years better than Heaven and Earth and contains some really encouraging pointers to what may be possible in the future.
One of the songs which has convinced me of the quality of The Quest is “Minus the Man.” Any Yes music which begins with a Squire-esque bass swoop gets my vote, and Billy Sherwood provides this beautifully. It’s a slow start in terms of tempo but the interplay between Steve Howe’s electric lead and Sherwood’s interweaving bass line is gorgeous, with Geoff Downes providing supporting keyboard tones.
One aspect of the songs on this album that I really enjoy is the orchestrations by Paul K Joyce. He’s an interesting character who is responsible for a wide range of different music from orchestrations on Steve Howe’s solo album Time to children’s television theme tunes – including, most notably in my house, Bob the Builder. (“Can we fix it? Yes, we can!”)
Rather than throwing orchestra into every song indiscriminately, Joyce has concentrated on subtle but highly effective additions to a handful of tracks, including “Minus the Man.” There is flute here, and I assume it’s a real instrument. This lovely augmentation enhances the overall texture which is underpinned by a simple but sublime bass line from Sherwood. There’s a lot going on, with high-pitched vocals and orchestration giving substantial depth to the music.
“Minus the Man” is a strong song which twists and turns with a highly-unusual melody, complemented by contrapuntal bass and lead guitar. A tender middle moment with strings behind Jon Davison’s vocals leads back to the original groove, and Howe gets to solo in his inimitable style. Layered vocal arrangements ramp up the mood toward the highly effective refrain, “Building the superman – minus the man.”
If this seems a little bit odd to begin with, give it some time and repeated listens at high volume. As I mentioned above, the music on this record took some time to take root in my musical sensibilities. Give it a chance to mature, like a decent wine.
Don’t expect this song or any of the others on The Quest to continue in the same vein as “The Ice Bridge,” but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some inventive and fascinating new Yes music to enjoy here – particularly if you are interested in well-produced, great-sounding songs with hidden depths it will take a while to uncover.
- Yes, “Mystery Tour” from ‘The Quest’ (2021): YESterdays - November 23, 2021
- Yes, “Minus the Man” from ‘The Quest’ (2021): YESterdays - October 5, 2021
- Yes, “Subway Walls” from ‘Heaven and Earth’ (2014): YESterdays - December 8, 2020
