This is a reissue of the Yes album Open Your Eyes on 180 gram vinyl. I have to say that the sound on this is a lot more open and encompassing than any of the CD versions of this set. That includes the surround sound version played on a machine with surround sound. In addition, the vinyl records and heavy. This is a great quality release. I’d love to see them do more of these Yes albums in this format. Since I’ve reviewed this previously in a different format, I’ll run the same review of the music here for the sake of consistency.

Yes fans are pretty well divided on this album, many find it to be a sell out of Yes` musical principles, while many others find it good, but not great. There are still others who find it to be a very fine effort. I am in the latter group. Although I do not find it to be a complete masterpiece, I really like nearly all of this album very much. I find that a lot of the album reminds me of Tormato and Drama, two Yes albums which have always held a cherished place in my heart. Yes said that this album would be more "radio friendly". I`m not sure what that means to them, but I find that it is more in the direction of late `70`s radio programming (ala Styx and Kansas). I don`t find this to be a bad thing, but rather, combined with a good number of classic Yes stylings, and vocal arrangements in the style of 90125/Big Generator Yes, it is a very fresh approach, and quite listenable. The lineup for this album is Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Billy Sherwood, Chris Squire and Alan White----augmented by several sidemen, most notably the keyboardist who has been touring with Yes, Igor Khoroshev.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

This track is very good. It starts with some wonderful (and rather intricate) acoustic guitar work, and actually seems to have a Going For The One sort of feel in places. The song contains a very nice guitar break that is followed by a section that harkens to Jon Anderson`s solo material.

The first bits of guitar to this track sound as though they could have come directly from the guitar strings of Trevor Rabin. Once this section of the intro ends, some a cappella vocals and funky bass take the song to the verse section. From here the song really becomes a perfect marriage of classic Yes and Rabin era Yes. Solid musicianship, including some wonderous bass work and signature Steve Howe guitar stylings, and quirky changes, meld seamlessly with the strong vocal harmonies which featured prominently in `80`s Yes. This one features a segment which is quite similar to the ending segment of 90125`s Hearts, and a fine organ solo. This is one of the best tracks on this album.

From one of the best tracks on the album to one of the worst. This is basically nothing more than a pop ditty with some extremely silly lyrics. The arrangement here does have some rather interesting moments(including a Beatlesesque instrumental break), though.

Definitely bearing Steve Howe and Jon Anderson`s signatures, this one is a nice acoustic guitar/vocal song, but it does get a bit tedious.

Love Shine is definitely a good song, in the vein of Rabin era Yes. Only two things really stand out to me either postive or negative, both lyrical. On the negative side, the line "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7" is annoying and silly. On the other hand, I find the line "I won`t dream again until I dream with you" to be rather clever.

A rework of the Jon Anderson song O`er, from Promise Ring (which was a rework of the Jon Anderson song Boundaries from Animation). Somehow, Someday is not a bad song, but I really prefer Boundaries to either of the other versions. I`m also not sure that Boundaries (although a fine piece of music) was really great enough to warrant rewriting and re-recording once, let alone twice.