[Introspective] Mini-review of 'Yes'

Dave Ewart davee at sungate.co.uk
Tue Mar 24 11:35:01 PDT 2009


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Hello,

Just listening to the album 'properly' and jotted down a few notes.
Here they are.  The notes are (to some extent) intended for those who
aren't necessarily big PSB fans, so some of the references here might to
overly-explained....


1.  Love etc.

Lead single, not a good choice in my opinion.  Certainly not
representative of the album.  Too plinky-plonky.  That said, it's not
actually bad, just not great.

2. All over the world

Good song, similar in rhythm to "Se a vida e" from 'Bilingual' album in
1996.  Features a 'sample' from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite".
Outside possibility this could be a future single.

3. Beautiful People

This is OK, I guess, but I don't find it as memorable or interesting to
listen to as some others on the album.

4. Did you see me coming?

Splendidly poppy and unashamedly 'up'.  "You don't have to be in Who's
Who to know what's what..." is how it starts.  Great fun, some lovely
Johnny Marr Jangly Guitar here too.  Very catchy song.  My favourite
'up' song on the album.  Slightly dodgy title, really, though, erm ...
yes.  Were it not for the fact that this song was on a free CD in The
Daily Mail recently, I'd say it was a likely candidate for a future
single.

5. Vulnerable

This reminds me of "Decadence" (the B-side to the 1994 single
"Liberation"), it's perfectly pleasant and feels quite dark in a way,
for some reason.

6. More than a dream

Very disco and quite catchy, but seems missing something I can't quite
put my finger on.  The chorus sounds like something ABBA-ish.

7. Building a wall

The vocals are the obvious oddity on this one, Neil and Chris shouting
alternately during the verse.  Interesting idea, works quite well.

8. King of Rome

Familiar PSB-style slow ballad.  Nothing particlarly original here,
although it's a good song.

9. Pandemonium

Now we're talking.  Someone else pointed out that the start of this
sounds a bit like the 'Doctor Who' theme.  But then it turns into a
super over-the-top stomper.  Great fun, lots of "oohs".  This really
should be a single.

10. The way it used to be

My favourite non-'up' track on the album.  This is a very sad and
thoughtful song and reminds me of "Being Boring" for that reason.  The
song builds very well and is possibly slightly over-instrumented towards
the end, but still very nicely done.

11. Legacy

Another PSB Ballad By Numbers.  Not very memorable, in my opinion.

12. This used to be the future

Collaboration with Phil Oakey, best known as The Bloke From The Human
League, available on the 2CD limited edition of "Yes".  This is a good
pop song, once it gets going.  If this was on the album proper, I'd say
this was a good candidate for a second single.  And Chris sings on this
too!

CD2: Etc.

There is a second CD which in addition to "This used to be the future"
includes alternate versions of six of the songs from the main album.
They aren't major remixes; in fact they are almost just instrumentals,
with a few interesting variations.  Nicely done.

- -- 
Dave Ewart davee at sungate.co.uk, jabber:davee at jabber.org, freenode:davee
All email from me is now digitally signed, http://www.sungate.co.uk/
Fingerprint: AEC5 9360 0A35 7F66 66E9 82E4 9E10 6769 CD28 DA92
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