# Yes Fans: How's Life After "Union"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132 "2013-01-05T03:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/1 "2013-01-05T03:51:24Z")
Just wondering how are the Yes albums after the “Union” (studio) CD? If it just keeps getting better, please name two favorites post-Union (studio) compilations. Thx! ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/2 "2013-01-05T04:29:10Z")
They are all better than _Union_, that’s for certain. _Magnification_ is the best of the bunch, in my opinion. _Talk_ is also very good and criminally underrated. But if you really want to hear the band at their best, check our their live CDs or DVDs. They’ve still got it. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/3 "2013-01-05T18:32:27Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > They are all better than _Union_, that’s for certain. I must respectfully disagree. _Open Your Eyes_ is handily the worst album the band ever produced. I’ll second _Magnification_ as the best post-_Union_ album. _The Ladder_ is pretty good, too. I’ll also second checking out the live albums. The two _Keys to Ascension_ albums would be a great place to start - live, with a few studio tracks thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/4 "2013-01-06T01:44:36Z")
About “Open Your Eyes”, IIRC, I believe read the band was about to tour with the release of one album (Talk?) when the label released “Open Your Eyes” - two very different “moods” of compilations. Yes fans were left very confused, and this move probably hurt the band. Feel free to correct me, if my facts are off. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/5 "2013-01-06T02:59:56Z")
I’m particularly fond of _Fly From Here_, which came out in 2011 with a singer other than Jon Anderson. As a matter of fact, the entire lineup from _Drama_ reunited, though Trevor Horn took the role of producer, and tribute-band singer Benoit David did vocals. I agree that _Open Your Eyes_ is a strong candidate for worst Yes album, but at least it features the actual band members. _Union_ consisted of a demo from the “Yes West” lineup, and a hastily-completed _Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe_ album that had many parts re-recorded with session musicians. And to **Jinx** : The tour for _Talk_ was in 1994, and _Open Your Eyes_ was released in 1997, so there wouldn’t have been any confusion between the albums. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/6 "2013-01-06T04:12:11Z")
I was disappointed by _Tormato_ and its accompanying tour (on a rotating stage). After that, I heard Yes was broken up. Aw, damn. Next I heard after that, the band had been invaded and reanimated by something called the Buggles. I was like, no way, you’ve got to be kidding me. (Poor Trevor. I have to feel sorry for him. It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t Jon Anderson. He had musical talent in his own right, but that wasn’t enough to be accepted by Yes fans. Because Yes is a band that has some earnestly hardasscore fans, yes it does, and many of them have been fans for over _forty_ years [they were founded 45 years ago, in 1968]). Sorry if I’m coming across as a fair-weather fan (not a Fayreweather fan; Fayreweather was a Genesis cover band very popular in Cleveland), but throughout the 1980s and most of the '90s I didn’t notice whatever Yes was doing, except I got happy when they had a big hit with “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” I was at my friend’s place one day in 1983, the tube was tuned to MTV; I looked up and went, “Hey! It’s Yes, of all the crazy bands! I can’t believe they’re really back!” I finally came back home to Yes fandom in the year 1999, which was the year I came back home to rock music after having spent a long time away. I picked up _Keys to Ascension_, and wasn’t sure what to think; I liked it for being a revival of classic Yes lineups, from the '70s when I liked them best. I definitely liked it better than any of the post-fragmentation Yes and quasi-Yes assemblages of the 1980s and early '90s. And yet, their new compositions just did not have the certain _je ne sais quoi_ that had so endeared me to 1970s Yes. Even when spinning their new long prog epics, they had moved on from the '70s stylistically. I guess I will always like the old Yes better than the new. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-fans-hows-life-after-union/646132/7 "2013-01-06T04:50:23Z")
_Talk_ is arguably the best Yes album by the Yes West lineup–it certainly sounds more like classic Yes than either _90125_ or _Big Generator_. Imagine “Miracle of Life” from _Union_ as the starting point and you’ll get the idea. _Keystudio_ compiles the studio tracks from the _Keys to Ascension_ albums and serves as a good double album from the Anderson/Squire/Howe/Wakeman/White lineup. There’s at least one LP-worth of great material to found there, though overall it’s nowhere near the quality of _Relayer_ (or even _Tales from Topographic Oceans_). _Open Your Eyes_ is a Chris Squire/Billy Sherwood project with token contributions from the rest of the band–only for completists. (I do like “Universal Garden”, and the hidden soundscape track is cool, but the disc as a whole is very dull.) _The Ladder_ is a deliberate (and IMHO largely successful) attempt to recapture the spirit of _Fragile_ and probably represents the band’s best release in the '90s. Highly recommended. _Magnification_ is good but not great. There are some great tracks, but overall the band sounds neutered. Pick up the _Symphonic Live_ DVD instead. _Fly from Here_ is a stunning return to form if you like _Drama_–it’s a sequel of sorts. I’m personally a fan of both Yes and the Buggles, and I love this album dearly. However, if you cannot stand the thought of Yes minus Jon Anderson, this album is probably not for you.