The forgotten Yes album, Talk.

An underrated classic in my book. This one is almost forgotten as it didn't have any hits and came after the tour for Union which had seen almost all past and present members come together. Walls is a song Roger Hodgson helped write and you hear shades of Supertramp on it and Endless Dream is an epic song to close out the album.
If you haven't heard this and like any of the three preceding Yes albums you should check this out.

Should be noted that this is the 90125/Big Generator lineup of Yes (featuring Trevor Rabin) so people that prefer their more pop oriented 80s albums will most likely enjoy this one.

Yep.

I really enjoyed 90125 and remember the follow up to it but don't think I ever heard anything from it. I never even heard of Talk.

The follow up to 90125 was Big Generator and had the songs Rhythm of Love and Shoot High Aim Low that made it to radio.

As huge a Yes fan as I am, I've still never listened to this one. *shrug*

I never even touched 'Big Generator', so, therefore, neither 'Talk'. I may check out those songs though. I might even like them if they aren't as atrocious as the stuff on 'Open Your Eyes'.

Way better then Open Your Eyes imho. Listen to Endless Dream and decide from there.

When I was a teenager I was a huge fan of 90125, but Talk was a big disappointment to my ears. It sounds like they really didn't know where to go since the songs meander without anything really interesting. I revisited the album recently--and note I am no longer a fan of the Trevor Rabin era--and it was a little better than I had remembered it, but not much.

I always thought that this was a very good album from this line up. Dark Horseman is right, Endless Dream is a killer tune!


I think what disappointed people(and me) most was that Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Bill Bruford where not on this like it seemed they would after the Union Tour.

From what I can gather, that tour almost imploded.

Dark Horseman wrote:

From what I can gather, that tour almost imploded.

From what I have read I would agree. Apparently, Steve Howe does not like to share guitar duties. Which is why GTR didn't stay together either.


I was at least hoping that Wakeman would end up on Talk. I always wanted to hear Rabin and Wakeman together on a Yes album. Looks like the closest thing I will get is that Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman project..... Unless that has been abandoned.... I haven't heard anything about it lately.


I still think that Hackett, Howe and Rabin should do an instrumental acoustic album together. If Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía can do it, those boobs should be able to as well.

I'm guessing A/R/W is pretty much a faint rumor at this point but that would be cool. You do get Rabin and Wakeman on Union.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Rhythm of Love

 
 
I'm giving that a listen to right now and it does sound familiar though not really standing out in my memory. Actually, it doesn't sound too bad.

I like the albums with Rabin but I really consider them to be a different band entirely, that is the same way I view Genesis.

Now, if you wanna talk about great Yes albums that are criminally underrated then look no further than the gem Magnification which had the unfortunate fate of being released on 9/11.

The only Yes album to not have a keyboard player (they use an orchestra instead) and one of their most successful artistic efforts post-1980.

S.D. wrote:

I like the albums with Rabin but I really consider them to be a different band entirely, that is the same way I view Genesis.  

Now, if you wanna talk about great Yes albums that are criminally underrated then look no further than the gem Magnification which had the unfortunate fate of being released on 9/11.  

The only Yes album to not have a keyboard player (they use an orchestra instead) and one of their most successful artistic efforts post-1980.  

oooo. That's niiiiice.

Good call. It sees only the die hard yes fans know of that one.

The problem I have with 'Magnification' is that stuff like 'Dreamtime' stretches out in length, but the actual journey doesn't do it justice. There's some songs where I don't know why they're as long as they are because there just aren't many movements, unlike the older epics (like 'Endless Dream' which I did recently check out). The album just feels sort of half realized in many ways which I hate because there are so many good parts in it.....

I think that's a problem with a lot of groups that do those extended songs. They hit on some but on some I start to tune out and almost forget it's on.

I don't have a problem with the compositions on Magnification, the album holds my interest throughout. I also don't have a problem with long songs in general.

Tales > Magnification for me, now if the latter record was written like that I'd be all over it.

Oh, I can listen to and enjoy long songs. But some do meander and seem like wankery. It's hard to compare Tales to Magnification for me, they weren't the same that many years later.

Not sure whey we are comparing an album from 1973 (Tales) featuring a different lineup with an album released in 2001? That's almost as ridiculous as comparing Close To The Edge and 90125 back to back, 2 albums featuring different lineups recorded over a decade apart.

'Cause they still call themselves Yes?   That's why I said it's hard to compare though.

Bought Talk for a dollar shortly after it was released at a used CD store. Not bad at all. I like all eras of Yes equally. Recently picked up the remastered 90125.