I am sure I am not the only one who groaned when I realised there was a new Yes album being released. There is no doubt that ‘The Quest’ was fairly dire and unworthy of the name ‘Yes’, with its only saving grace being it was slightly better than ‘Heaven & Earth’ (not hard), and now we have another line-up of the band with the death of Alan White. This means that only Steve Howe is left of the group we all know and love so much, with Jon Davison (vocals), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Billy Sherwood (bass, vocals), and new boy Jay Schellen (drums). Interestingly, this means that everyone apart from Davison has also been a member of Asia. Even during the Seventies, Yes were not as consistently great as we all like to remember (although progheads on PA have ‘Close to the Edge’ listed as the greatest progressive album of all times), with 1977’s ‘Going For The One’ the last truly stunning album from the band (in my opinion), with just two of the ones since then being truly indispensable, namely ‘Drama’ (I know this was Yeggles but I love it) and 2011’s ‘Fly From Here’. Only Steve and Geoff are here from that last release, and interestingly also from ‘Drama’, and the band have been through some turbulent times over the years.
Consequently, I am not sure what I expected from the latest release, but the bar was set incredibly low, and I was sure they would not be able to reach even that so when they surpassed it I must admit to being quite surprised. Bringing Sherwood into the band to replace Squire was always going to be the way to go given his style, and he has certainly upped the clunkiness to ensure he fits in perfectly. I was at Davison’s first ever gig with Yes, here in Auckland, and it may have taken him quite some time, but he is now singing with some authority and sounds as if he now belongs there as opposed to just warming a seat until someone else returns again. Downes also appears to have looked back to previous albums and is no longer attempting to drive the band in a direction which was not right for them, while Steve Howe also seems more settled.
Does this make ‘Mirror to the Sky’ an essential Yes release? No, but it is certainly the best since Davison became involved and given the lack of White and Squire that is possibly not expected. I found I could listen to this all the way to the end without cringing, and there are some high points here and there, which is certainly a step in the right direction. I have been playing this more than I expected, and while I will always mourn the lack of Wakeman and Anderson due to what they bring to the group, this is a nice middle of the road release which for the most part I found I enjoyed, not something I thought I would ever say again about a new Yes album.
