Are the Buggles progressive rock?

This anthology of songs from John Wetton is quite strong. It’s not all progressive rock, and for the most par even when it lands there, it’s more in the AOR end of the spectrum.

In 1994, Asia released Aria which was commercially a bit of a failure.  The previous studio record Aqua did much better, but by this time it really was the Geoff Downes/John Payne show. 

This is an unusual album for Asia.

A contender for best of the year, this is arguably Sherwood’s best solo album ever.

For years Music Street Journal avoided covering items that were out of print.

For years Music Street Journal avoided covering items that were out of print.

Only the second album in the history of Yes to be recorded without Jon Anderson, this one, particularly since it’s the only other Yes disc with Geoff Downes on keyboards, is obviously compared to Drama.

It used to be that we wouldn’t review things that were out of print.

One cannot rage against the dying of the light indefinitely.

Where do I begin on this review? I guess I should start by saying that I’m a Yes fanatic and I have been since I was twelve years old – and for those keeping track, that’s a long time ago.

This box set is a class act. The whole thing comes in something that resembles a book. 

While any Yes album is better than the music of a lot of other bands, this is probably the group’s weakest live album.

This new live album from Yes is quite good.

Yes recently did a couple of tours where they performed some of their studio albums in their entirety. This live recording comes from one of those shows.

I drove to The Symphony Hall and bought a ticket for the night's Yes show at the last minute (literally!). It was a long shot, but it really paid off, as I got a good seat in the stalls.

There seem to be some Yes fans deriding the recent incarnations of Yes.

 I knew it would be hard to see Yes without Chris Squire! As "Onward" played, with a white Rickenbacker on stage with a spotlight, I felt myself tearing up.

This is a brand new, two CD edition of Asia’s Phoenix album. It’s quite classy.

The “Downes” of this collaboration is Geoff Downes.

I've been looking to do a retro review of this box set for a while. I finally had the opportunity this time around.

Apparently this album was recorded in the 80s, but has never before been released. I have to say that’s a shame. There is some solid music here. It’s definitely progressive rock, but on the AOR side of that equation. I’d say this is far closer to what you’d expect from Greg Lake than it is what you’d expect from Geoff Downes, but both men are represented well by it.

I have to admit that I was initially drawn to this act because of Geoff Downes. As a fan of Yes and The Buggles, I follow his work.

This is the latest album from Downes Braide Association.

There have been a few books written about the band, Yes but this one really includes the involvement of many of the members of the group through extensive interviews. 

This brand new live album from Yes is cool stuff. For one thing, it's great to get live recordings of all the Drama songs. There are also two epics from Tales from Topographic Oceans and the "Leaves of Green" part from "The Ancient" on that album. They round the section out with a few other Yes classics. The live sound is great.

I've seen Yes close to twenty times (more times than I've seen any other band), and I can tell you that despite the technicality of their music and instrumental prowess, no two Yes shows are the same. That's true even when you see them on multiple nights in a row. Each performance is a little different because the music tends to take on a life of its own in live gigs. So, don't expect to hear the studio versions exactly covered here. For one thing, the line-up is different. For another thing, I don't think I've ever heard a live Yes song sound exactly like the studio version. I mean, why would you want that? You can listen to the studio version any time. I think these renditions are very faithful, and bring a new life to the songs at times. I highly recommend this, especially for those (like myself) who really love Drama.

I’m sure some would make the argument that we don’t need another Yes compilation album.

Asia return with their classic line-up for an out of this world album.

This new various artists collection, as you would imagine, pays tribute to the music of Yes. It's an intriguing set.