SYMPHONIC PROG

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2020/11/16/odds-ends-november-16-2020/

I also find the progosphere's eager deference to this band off-putting, and I've witnessed an awful lot of hand-waving at just how Yes-y they've become over their last few albums. Their Yes-iness isn't an inherently bad thing. Rites at Dawn is my favorite of their records, and that is arguably their most blatantly Yes-like release. But after a while, such obvious aping of another act's sound does begin to wear thin, and Yes varied their sound more than Wobbler have. To reiterate: I like Wobbler, but I don't view them through the same irreproachable lens that many other prog fans seem to hold.

Now that I've gotten my expository rant out of the way, I can address the album at hand. Dwellers of the Deep is this Norwegian quintet's fifth full-length release. Upon first listening to it, I was struck by the fact that I could identify no appreciable differences between this album and From Silence to Somewhere. The sound palette hasn't been shaken up, the albums' structures are similar, and the melodies feel too familiar?bordering on re-trod. However, the strength of Wobbler's baseline sound is such that even with these considerations in mind, Dwellers of the Deep is still a pretty good record. Not amazing, but pretty good and worth listening to.

"By the Banks" opens the album on a bombastic note, and Wobbler's bombast has always been their strongest mode in my book. The organ playing is more reminiscent of John Evan of Jethro Tull than of anyone Yes ever had, which is a nice change of pace, but the verses are weak. The melody feels forced and unnatural, and the instrumental backing lacks any real muscle. Much of the middle of this 14-minute song is instrumental, and it's something of a mixed bag. Good ideas are mixed in alongside themes and riffs which should have either been refined or cut altogether.

Following this is Dwellers' pre-release single, "Five Rooms". It opens with warm organ, Mellotron, and wordless vocals before gradually building toward another frenetic riff that sounds like it was written by Chris Squire. This song, similar to the first, is a mix of strong ideas and half-baked melodies that ultimately fail to land. The song's closing minutes strongly channel Phideaux, but that's not quite enough to save it for me. These first two songs feel somewhat scattered and unfocused.

"Naiad Dreams" is an insufferable, torpid four-and-a-half-minute acoustic dirge. I hate it. This might be Wobbler's worst song. It drips along slowly, seemingly never-ending, with almost nothing in the way of instrumental variation. I tried to couch my criticism of the first two songs by pointing out that each have good ideas, but this one is a waste.

Up to this point, Dwellers has felt like something of a disappointment. Two mixed bags and one snoozefest do not a strong release make. Thankfully, the 19-minute "Merry Macabre" ends this record on a strong note.

After a brief piano intro, distorted organ launches this song into an aggressive, askew riff which feels fresh. This eventually dissolves into ominous walls of organ and wordless vocals. This foreboding atmosphere continues for a while before transitioning into a rapid, twisting guitar line. Jazz and blues elements pop up in the rhythm and organ line. A jangly guitar line acts as the backdrop to gradually escalating keyboards and percussion, both of which inject impressive drama. There are a million ideas in this song, but it somehow holds together. This might be Wobbler's best individual song of their career.

Wobbler's fifth album is somewhat patchy, featuring both extreme highs and extreme lows. "Merry Macabre" is what elevates Dwellers of the Deep from decent-but-skippable to something worth checking out. I doubt I'll be listening to the first three songs on this album with much frequency, but I can foresee myself revisiting this closing suite quite often.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2020/11/23/album-review-wobbler-dwellers-of-the-deep/

Armando Tirelli, prior to releasing his solo album, was the keyboardist for the Uruguayan jazz-rock group Sexteto Electrónico Moderno. SEM was not a prog band, but there were ample classical and jazz influences. I'm no expert in South American music (so I can't specify genres), but SEM also had a distinctly South American feel to their music. Tirelli would use a lot of that classical and jazz experience when composing El Profeta.

El Profeta is based on the book The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. It may have just been "inspired by" Gibran's book?Internet sources are inconsistent in their phrasing. I haven't read it, and my Spanish isn't too great, so I will not be summarizing the album's story. But between what Spanish I know and the large amount of narration, I feel confident in saying that this album tells a story.

The album opens with its title track, which is also the longest song on the album. Groaning synth bass and jazzy piano and guitar licks build before giving way to minimalistic piano, bass, and drums topped with dramatic narration. Spoken word usually comes off as grating and lazy, but the narrator's voice has a great tone, and he sells his passion hard. Even after the narration ends, the music remains decidedly jazzy, with lilting flute and rich synth pads.

El Profeta is structured without gaps between its songs, so the transition to "Candombe Samba" is smooth. Flute, piano, and synthesizers dominate most of this instrumental cut. The song's second half shifts from symphonic to something a bit more aggressive, and fuzzed-out guitar gets a chance to shine with a dramatic, Gilmour-esque solo.

Following "Candombe Samba" is a quartet of short pieces. "Barco de los Sueños" revisits a vocal melody from the title track amid a backing of space-jazz, and "Tema Central El Profeta" is a dramatic little instrumental led by glimmering synths. "El Momento de Partir" combines elements of both of the preceding short songs. "Amanever en Orphalese" is a short instrumental, but it packs a lot into two-and-a-half minutes, with mellow jazz, acidic psychedelia, and classically-inspired piano gymnastics all flowing together coherently.

"Hablanos del Matrimonio" begins with a slow, unassuming build-up. As elsewhere on El Profeta, piano is the backbone, with synthesizers taking the lead and guitar fleshing things out. This song, which opens side 2 of the album, works as something of an echo of the title track. Its structure and instrumentation are similar, with the narrator speaking over the song's middle part before closing on sung elements.

"Hablanos de Dar" continues with the preceding song's gentle atmosphere, but "Hablanos del Amor" opens on a more energetic note. The rhythm section is propulsive, and the main melody is a weird, twisting line with plenty of pep. The verses slow things down, but the instrumentation remains impactful.

"Los Ecos del Almustafe" synthesizes earlier themes from the album into something light and folky. The wordless vocals and walls of keyboard instruments interact wonderfully, and the flutework is especially praiseworthy.

El Profeta ups the tempo with nervous guitar strumming and driving drums on "Hablanos de los Hijos". Narration again takes the lead before giving way to an organ solo that sounds like it could have been on Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This song is full of forceful riffs and serves as a fitting climax to the whole album. A pair of short songs follow "Hablanos de los Hijos", acting as something of an epilogue. "Tocata Scarahuala" is 30 seconds of Tirelli showing off his instrumental chops, and "Tema Central El Profeta" is a reprise of the earlier song with the same name.

El Profeta was Tirelli's only solo release, which is a real pity. There are certain musical parallels between this record and certain Italian prog acts, but much of that likely comes from Tirelli's background in classical music. He crafted a unique album with a distinct timbre, a smooth integration of narration and singing, and a compelling dramatic progression.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2020/09/28/lesser-known-gem-armando-tirelli-el-profeta/

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/06/20/odds-ends-june-20-2019/

"In a World of Our Own" is one of the rare high points on the album. It's got a strange, lurching rhythm, and the organ has some occasional crunch to it. The conclusion of "Light of the Ages" is another relative strong point.

I thought it was going to be close between Union and this for second-worst Yes album, but this makes me long for the relative dynamism of Union. Everything on Heaven & Earth is soft and flat. There's almost no sonic variation. At least the aesthetic trappings of Yes's sound save this from being relegated to the same cellar as Open Your Eyes.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/

After that tour, this new iteration of Yes returned to the studio to begin work on a new album. Based primarily around a suite written during the Drama recording sessions, Geoff Downes was brought in to replace the younger Wakeman on keys, and Trevor Horn produced.

This new album, 2011's Fly from Here, is fine. There are some good ideas here, particularly in the sprawling title track. David sounds closer to Trevor Horn than Jon Anderson, the main theme sounds more like a Buggles song than a Yes song, and the keys feel awfully glittery for my taste. Despite all this, the musicianship is top-notch, and it's a strong suite.

Beyond the title track, though? Mostly forgettable. "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be" is anodyne and spineless. "Hour of Need" sounds like it could have been on Big Generator or Union in its glossy blandness. "Into the Storm" is something of a split decision for me. I dislike the vocals a lot?they sound like they're trying to be emotional and emphatic but come off flat, and the melody sounds forced. Instrumentally, though, it's top-notch.

"Life on a Film Set" is slow to get going, but it's one of the better (non-suite) songs on this album. It feels like a Yes track that could have been on Going for the One.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/

I may gush about The Ladder's weird, poppy goodness and Talk's aggressive prog experimentation, but 2001's Magnification is truly Yes's strongest recent output. I'd call it better than Going for the One and roughly on par with the Keys to Ascension 1 & 2 studio output. It's sad to say that this was the band's last great album.

Magnification opens with the title track. It's a rather light, floating song but not without impact. The rich strings are deftly accented by Chris Squire's bass playing, and the chorus is huge and grandiloquent. Not only is the sound quality rich, but it's a solid, catchy melody?one of the best since the band's classic era output.

"Don't Go" sounds like it could have fit in well on The Ladder. It's a bouncy, quirky, happy song, and the strings fill the space left by keyboards seamlessly. While this is the most Ladder-like song, quite a few songs feature choruses or passing musical ideas which share a lot DNA with that album.

Yes's decision to go full-bore with the strings was a brilliant move. If they'd been less bold, perhaps minimizing them, it could have come off much worse. "Give Love Each Day" opens with two minutes of orchestral music, sans rock instrumentation, before turning into a slinking, slowly-escalating piece.

"Can You Imagine?" is a reworking of a song originally recorded with XYZ and is a rare example of Squire getting lead vocals on a Yes song.

The two strongest songs on this album are also the two longest. Appearing back-to-back, the first is "Dreamtime". "Dreamtime" opens with Howe's speedy classical guitar lines topped with sweet strings and liquidous electric guitar. The verses are dark and oppressive. Chris Squire's bass has a biting twang, and brass is used much like an overdriven organ. Between all this are moments with subtle Middle Eastern influence. The song closes with two minutes of moody, spooky orchestral music, giving equal highlight to the strings and reeds.

"In the Presence Of" is a classic Yes-style multi-parted suite, albeit terser than most. In contrast to the preceding song, this one keeps its tone sunny and uplifting, a task uniquely well-suited to an orchestra.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/

The title track opens the album, and it's a strong three-part suite. The playing is dynamic, and once more on par with their classic efforts. Chris Squire's bass both cuts through to the front and supports Howe's lead guitar. Khoroshev's synthesizer choices are the best the band has had in nearly twenty years. (I really don't know what Wakeman was thinking in the '80s and '90s, and Rabin-era material minimized keys most of the time.)

"Lightning Strikes" is possibly the oddest song Yes have ever recorded. It opens with a sample of The Kinks' "Phenomenal Cat" before segueing into Latin guitar and then diving headfirst into dance-music-influenced synthesizers and electronic percussion. This is a real head-scratcher, but in a good way. The competing Latin and dance influences mesh shockingly well in the framework of Yes's progressive rock stylings.

In addition being Yes's weirdest album, The Ladder is also their happiest and sunniest. Most of the songs have a glowing quality about them, and Khoroshev's synthesizers are a major reason for this. "Face to Face" is another example of Yes embracing dance-y keys and fast tempos in a major key. Despite all this, they somehow managed to avoid coming off as cheesy or otherwise off-putting. Not all such experiments were completely successful, though. "Finally" feels somewhat clumsy and overblown.

"New Language" is the album's penultimate song and the best integration of this album's competing pop and prog influences. It vacillates between bouncy, happy, accessible moments and complex experiments, replete with extended solos. "New Language" is this album encapsulated in one song.

Unfortunately, this lineup of Yes would not last. Frustrated that Yes's live shows were now almost entirely their back catalog, Billy Sherwood quit Yes to pursue his own projects. Igor Khoroshev was fired from the band after being charged with sexual assault while on tour.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/

The result was 1997's Open Your Eyes, and this was truly Yes's nadir. Jon Anderson and Steve Howe claimed they were sidelined in the songwriting process, and it shows. The music here is mostly bland adult alternative-style rock. It's achingly generic and comes off as undercooked.

A few good ideas can be heard here. The opener, "New State of Mind" has some strong vocal harmonies, despite a notably un-Yes-like riff and awful synth tones. "Fortune Seller" sounds like a crappy, underdeveloped Yes song, as opposed to some other generic, crappy, underdeveloped song. Some workshopping could have saved this. And "The Solution" (or at least its first five minutes, at least; more on that shortly) is a passable hard rock song.

Most of this album though? Ugh. It just depresses me. The songwriting is so weak, so bland, so offensively inoffensive. I struggle to write about it, it's so interminably dull. What is there even to say about such snoozefests as "Wonderlove" or "No Way We Can Lose"? This album plods along, with every song nearly the same tempo, and the few speed variations all seem to be ballads. "The Solution" has a hidden track of 15 minutes of ambient nature sounds, chimes, and the occasional vocal snippet, which does absolutely nothing.

Open Your Eyes tries to be a Yes album at points, but it falls flat on nearly every attempt. The organ solo in "Fortune Seller" is one of few successes, and there is the occasional strong vocal performance. But when the high points are almost all vocal, that does not bode well for a band which has been historically known for instrumental virtuosity. It boggles my mind that this is the same guitarist and bassist who recorded "Heart of the Sunrise" and "Gates of Delirium".

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/

Keys to Ascension is a great album. The live material consists solely of their '70s output, and the studio stuff is great too. "Be the One" takes a bit too long to get going, but it's worth the wait. Wakeman finally figured out that farty synth brass is not an enjoyable noise, and Howe's style fits so much better than Rabin's.

The sprawling "That, That Is" opens with an extended acoustic guitar solo from Howe. That shifts to Anderson's babbling vocals, in a manner reminiscent of "We Have Heaven", but that's a brief stopover. The opening verse is tense and high-energy. Squire's bass squirms anxiously as the song plows forward. The suite has a million ideas in it, shifting deftly from one dynamic extreme to another.

After the release of Keys, Yes continued recording new studio material for a new album. Their record label had different ideas and slapped five new studio tracks onto another live album, titled Keys to Ascension 2. Irritated at this move, Wakeman quit the band. For the fourth time.

The five studio tracks on Keys 2 absolutely could have been (and should have been) released as an independent album. Unlike the earlier monstrosities of ABWH and Union, Yes's classic lineup managed to find a way to write music in their classic style without it feeling dated. The suites sprawl and build without meandering, and Anderson's and Squire's vocal harmonies sound much earthier, a huge improvement over the hyper-polished near-chorus that was present on Rabin-era Yes albums. The new studio material on these two albums are on par with much of the band's classic '70s output.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/