YES
Originally released at the end of November 1997, ‘Open Your Eyes’ was Yes’ seventeenth studio album. Keyboard legend Rick Wakeman had left the same year and was replaced by Billy Sherwood, although longtime members Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White remained. This re-release is part of a series of earMUSIC Classics reissues, of which press blurb describes this one as a “deluxe Collector’s Edition CD”. Hmmm… the final product has been sent for review, but it looks pretty much like a standard digipak to me, with a booklet that has lyrics, credits and thanks lists that I presume to be from the original release. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a smart enough digipak, but pretty basic, and lacking any kind of “deluxe” sparkle as teased by the blurb.
Still, it’s all about the music, right? Yes… literally! I have to admit, I’ve never heard the album previous to now, although I do remember Rick Wakeman telling me a story about a teenager asking him to sign an album outside a hotel he was staying at in Buenos Aires during the early nineties. He said he asked the kid, “what is it you like about this old music?”, to which he replied, “It might be old music to you but it is new to me. I only heard it for the first time last week.” Rick said it’s a lesson he never forgot. It’s always new to somebody. Just as ‘Open Your Eyes’ is to my ears. And, free from the baggage of what I understand to be mixed reviews the record received back in the day, as well relatively low sales, I’m able to digest it from an entirely fresh perspective, 20+ years after its original release.
First impressions? Rather good. Certainly not a masterpiece, but a solid album loaded with the expected high quality musicianship, wonderful vocal harmonies and, perhaps most surprisingly, not traditionally progressive. Aside from a sporadicity of proggy touches and innovative flair, this one is more about the songs. Or, perhaps better put, it’s the songwriting that’s at the forefront in each track, rather than a deluge of self-indulgent widdle or generically progressive tangents. It’s still prog rock in spirit, for sure, from one of the bands who engendered the whole movement in the first place, but it’s not overt, in-your-face prog. Moments of innovative adroitness are subtle; both integrated and subsumed by the core of the compositions. As such, ‘Open Your Eyes’ provides a very well-rounded listen, on an album that is evidently ripe for rediscovery. This reissue might not be deluxe in packaging, but it’s certainly edging that way with the music. A very nice surprise.
Still, it’s all about the music, right? Yes… literally! I have to admit, I’ve never heard the album previous to now, although I do remember Rick Wakeman telling me a story about a teenager asking him to sign an album outside a hotel he was staying at in Buenos Aires during the early nineties. He said he asked the kid, “what is it you like about this old music?”, to which he replied, “It might be old music to you but it is new to me. I only heard it for the first time last week.” Rick said it’s a lesson he never forgot. It’s always new to somebody. Just as ‘Open Your Eyes’ is to my ears. And, free from the baggage of what I understand to be mixed reviews the record received back in the day, as well relatively low sales, I’m able to digest it from an entirely fresh perspective, 20+ years after its original release.
First impressions? Rather good. Certainly not a masterpiece, but a solid album loaded with the expected high quality musicianship, wonderful vocal harmonies and, perhaps most surprisingly, not traditionally progressive. Aside from a sporadicity of proggy touches and innovative flair, this one is more about the songs. Or, perhaps better put, it’s the songwriting that’s at the forefront in each track, rather than a deluge of self-indulgent widdle or generically progressive tangents. It’s still prog rock in spirit, for sure, from one of the bands who engendered the whole movement in the first place, but it’s not overt, in-your-face prog. Moments of innovative adroitness are subtle; both integrated and subsumed by the core of the compositions. As such, ‘Open Your Eyes’ provides a very well-rounded listen, on an album that is evidently ripe for rediscovery. This reissue might not be deluxe in packaging, but it’s certainly edging that way with the music. A very nice surprise.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
earMUSIC Classics
Album
OPEN YOUR EYES
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
73:11
RELEASE DATE:
20th March 2020
TRACK LISTING
1) New State of Mind
2) Open Your Eyes
3) Universal Garden
4) No Way We Can Lose
5) Fortune Seller
6) Man in the Moon
7) Wonderlove
8) From the Balcony
9) Love Shine
10) Somehow...Someday
11) The Solution
2) Open Your Eyes
3) Universal Garden
4) No Way We Can Lose
5) Fortune Seller
6) Man in the Moon
7) Wonderlove
8) From the Balcony
9) Love Shine
10) Somehow...Someday
11) The Solution
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"Moments of innovative adroitness are subtle; both integrated and subsumed by the core of the compositions. As such, ‘Open Your Eyes’ provides a very well-rounded listen, on an album that is evidently ripe for rediscovery."
