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SEPTEMBER 2, 1997
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Source: Publiczny Dostep do Internetu
http://www.pdi.net/~eristic/yes/tr_35.html
Yes: Big Generator: (released 1987)
By Christopher Currie
Track: Rating:
1. Rhythm Of Love***
2. Big Generator**1/2
3. Shoot High Aim Low****
4. Almost Like Love***
5. Love Will Find A Way***1/2
6. Final Eyes***1/2
7. I'm Running****
8. Holy Lamb***
Personnel:
* Jon Anderson: lead vocals
* Chris Squire: bass, backing vocals
* Trevor Rabin: guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
* Tony Kaye: keyboards
* Alan White: drums, percussion
* Nick Lane: horns on "Almost Like Love"
* Greg Smith: horns on "Almost Like Love"
* Lee Thornberg: horns on "Almost Like Love"
* James Zavala: horns on "Almost Like Love", harmonica on "Love Will Find A Way"
Credits:
* "Rhythm Of Love" written by Kaye/Rabin/Anderson/Squire
* "Big Generator" written by Rabin/Kaye/Anderson/Squire/White
* "Shoot High Aim Low" written by White/Kaye/Rabin/Anderson/Squire
* "Almost Like Love" written by Kaye/Rabin/Anderson/Squire
* "Love Will Find A Way" written by Rabin
* "Final Eyes" written by Rabin/Kaye/Anderson/Squire
* "I'm Running" written by Rabin/Squire/Anderson/Kaye/White
* "Holy Lamb" written by Anderson
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Comments:
Released on what proved to be the ebb of Yes's commercial fortunes with the
American singles market, Big Generator has received a fair degree of bad
press over the last decade. Chris Squire has referred to it as a rather
difficult album to make, and generally as having been an unpleasant
experience (the music aside). Jon Anderson has agreed with this sentiment;
with the subsequent creation of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, moreover, he
displayed a clear desire to move away from the entire experience. And Steve
Howe, in a recent post on his home page, has claimed that the album was
essentially an exercise in fulfilling a perceived market desire (though not
perhaps in so many words).
And yet, Big Generator may very well be the most coherent statement which
YesWest ever made as a unit. 90125 was essentially a Cinema album with
Andersonian lyrics and extra production; Talk was primarily a Trevor Rabin
project, and, of the YesWest tracks on Union, only "Miracle Of Life" seems
to be a proper band creation (though "Lift Me Up" might come close). Big
Generator, whatever its flaws, was created by a band, rather than by
assorted contractual obligations and negotiations. As such, it stands as
the most proper monument to what YesWest were capable of ... and, as such,
it shows their limitations in the clearest light possible.
First, let's consider the matter of the album's gestation. Big Generator
was commenced in 1985, on the heels of Yes's profit-making tour for 90125.
Initially, the band intended to keep Trevor Horn as their producer.
Eventually, after abortive attempts at creating the album in London and
Italy, the project moved to California, with Trevor Rabin taking Horn's
role (and with Paul DeVilliers providing a bit of help). This would have
disastrous effects on the band in the long-term, of course, as Rabin would
eventually come to dominate the entire recording process; even in a more
immediate sense, it suggests that the other band members were
all-too-willing to allow Rabin a dominant role, and were losing their
control over the direction of the band as such. The result is that much of
the album is overproduced in a manner typical of Rabin's practice, and that
the more clever Horn-isms which marked 90125 are generally gone. That the
material is slightly better cannot entirely disguise the fact that the
production is somewhat lacking, at times.
Second, let's consider the condition of the lineup, at the time. Jon and
Chris weren't on good terms throughout the album's creation, and their
increasing polarization from one another allowed Trevor Rabin to assume a
leading role in the music (as Rabin himself later admitted). Despite the
rather confusing writing credits, it seems to be fairly clear that Rabin
was the creative force behind most of the material here, with the other
members generally contributing to the structures which he created. Even
though he may have deliberately tried to make the album sound more "Yessy",
he was still restrained by an unfortunate tendency towards hack-writing
which appears in much of his recorded output. It wasn't entirely Rabin's
fault, of course, but the prosaic nature of much of the material may
perhaps be credited more to his style of writing than anything else.
Then there's Tony Kaye. Although Kaye's presence is unmistakeable on Big
Generator (as opposed to 90125, wherein he seems to have scarcely
contributed anything to the final product), his limitations as a
keyboardist are rather evident on the more ambitious material. In fairness,
it must be admitted that the keyboards on BG do, on occasion, add to the
overall value of the work -- this is almost entirely due to their role
within the sonic texturing of the work, however (especially on "Final
Eyes"), and speaks almost nothing of Kaye's actual performance skills.
Although Kaye doesn't really bring down this album in the manner that he
brought down the live shows of the period, the work may have been better
with someone else.
And, finally, we have the songs.
"Rhythm Of Love" sets the tone for most of the album: a catchy, listenable,
and ultimately formulaic Rabin-based number with a few Andersonisms thrown
in (I would speculate the Kaye's leading credit on the track suggests that
he was responsible for writing the opening keyboard theme; I doubt that the
song itself was primarily his responsibility). It's probably safe to assume
that the rather hackneyed "heavenly" introduction was intended my the band
as something of a joke; whether or not Anderson's claim that the
introductory vocal harmonies weren't intended to sound like the Beach Boys
may be considered in the same category of humour is left to the discretion
of the reader. The song itself features a few neo-prog tricks (like the
sudden shift in the middle of the second verse), but is generally an
ordinary rock song. Without Anderson's voice, this would undoubtedly
receive a lower rating. A decent song, but far from a great one.
"Big Generator" is, from my perspective, the nadir of the album. The track
begins in a fairly innocuous manner, with a decent vocal montage and an
equally decent guitar part. Anderson's vocals during the chorus are not
unbearable either. The chorus is unbearable, however, with virtually every
voice and instrument emerging in a loboto-rock manner which seems to have
been crafted with the intention of raking in a few dumb metalheads (a few
tricks by Kaye aside). Even the slightly better "second nature comes alive"
part is hardly impressive. The guitar solo towards the end is pointless
riffage of the sort that gave "fusion" a bad name in the '70s. Squire's
power bass-chords are hardly the sort of thing that somewhat of his stature
should be producing. There are a few worthwhile moments on the track, but
it generally counts as a miss.
"Shoot High Aim Low" is better. The keyboards (obviously played by both
Kaye and Rabin at different moments) add an impressive atmospheric setting
to the piece, and Alan White gets in a few creative drum licks as well. The
juxtaposition of vocals between Jon and Trevor is only partly successful,
though it must be admitted that the mingling of Jon's rather obscure lyrics
with Trevor's babblings about love-in-a-car was a clever touch on someone's
part (Jon's subsequent claim that the song was about the blue fields in
Nicaragua only makes it seem more trivial; those who like the song would be
advised to ignore this quote). Rabin redeems himself somewhat with a few
decent guitar parts, including a brief Spanish section at one point (his
solo is actually fairly good as well). This may have been the most that
YesWest were capable of creating while avoiding "throwback" tendencies.
"Almost Like Love" is a bit of a shift. Chris Squire is said to have worked
painstakingly on this riff, but one might wonder what would have happened
had he thought it through a bit more; as it is, it seems to be too
'muscled', without enough form. With the exception of a vacuous solo
towards the end, though, Rabin is actually in good form for this song, and
Jon is fairly good as well. Alan White's drumming is quite notable (as is
its mixing). The lyrics, quite frankly, are poor, and the addition of the
horn section was perhaps something of a mistake. This song encapsulates the
best and worst of YesWest within its four-minute frame, and merits a rating
somewhere in the mid-range as such.
"Love Will Find A Way" is perhaps not properly considered as a "Yes song";
as a Trevor Rabin solo work, however, it isn't bad. In a career littered
with works like "Sorrow (Your Heart)", "Something's Going Wrong", and
"Saving My Heart", "Love Will Find A Way" actually comes through as a good
pop number, albeit as little more. Everyone else is in fairly good form
(Squire's performance in the second verse is especially noteworthy, as is
the guitar/Hammond/harmonica bit towards the end). With the
formerly-embarrassing "chez nous" reference now revealed as a clever
in-joke [it was the name of a nearby restaurant, for those who don't yet
know], this song requires little further analysis.
"Final Eyes" may be the most underrated track of the album. Generally
written off as an unnecessary throwaway, this is actually a fairly good
'80s-prog track (in the style of Banks-dominated Genesis works from the
period), featuring a reasonably good acoustic section and the beginning,
and some good band sections throughout the rest of the work (the tone used
by Kaye sounds very Banksian, and I somewhat doubt that this was
accidental). On the down-side, Rabin's electric guitar statement on the
main theme is downright moronic; even here, however, the acoustic guitar
towards makes up for it.
"I'm Running" is the most ambitious track on the album, and is
half-successful in attaining its goal. The bass intro is rather unlike most
other moments on the albums, and the somewhat Latinized references on the
band section which follows is an easy instrumental highlight of the album.
Best of all, though, is the vaguely mysterious gamelan-type sound which
emerges after this and recurs throughout the work, creating a rather
unusual mood for the entire piece. The only sub-par part of this song is
the "There, in the hearts of millions" section, which Anderson seems to
have tacked-on as a means of creating a hackneyed "positive" resolution;
the song doesn't need this, and, thankfully, it's fairly easily ignored.
Rabin's guitar performance is about an even mix of good and bad; one of his
solos towards the end of the song is terrible, while another, earlier one
is at least listenable. The song doesn't reach its goals, but it deserves a
fair degree of credit for trying.
"Holy Lamb (Song For Harmonic Convergence)" is by no means as bad as some
people have claimed, but is equally far removed from the triumph that
Anderson intended. The simple, folky quality of Anderson's role within the
song allows for an okay-but-not-great song; Rabin's guitar section at the
end provides some textural improvement. On the other hand, there is an
uncomfortable "power ballad" ethos lurking under the surface in this work;
moreover, the vocal climax isn't really a climax in anything other than a
lyrical sense. Curiously, the electric guitar melody only really kicks in
just as the song fades out; one wonders if it was originally planned as a longer work.
In toto, this is fair album for Yes completists, and perhaps a decent
choice for casual Yes fans as well. It would make for a bad "first Yes
experience" album, however, and it is by no means a vital album for general
progressive fans. Curiously enough, it's ultimate legacy may lie in the
recordings of the recent Magna Carta acts, who seem to have taken Rabin's
production and songwriting methods too much to heart.
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