It has not been easy being Yes in recent years. The once world-conquering prog behemoth has struggled with loss of key members, a lacklustre album (2014’s Heaven And Earth), the death of Chris Squire, another faction of ex-members also touring as Yes, and increasingly divided fan opinion about whether they should continue.
It was genuinely a surprise to hear that they even planned to release another album.
Emotionally, it’s tough to note that this is the first release since the death of Chris Squire in 2015, making this the first Yes album he does not feature on. Squire was very keen for the band to continue after he was gone, even pointing out his successor (Billy Sherwood) and talking to everybody, making sure the band would stay on course. And they have, with many interesting tours playing classic albums in full. But a new album? Steve Howe has been the de facto band leader after Squire’s death, and describing his views on the subject as lukewarm is strongly overstating it. But here we are.
As I touched on, their previous album Heaven & Earth was not regarded as a solid Yes album. Reviews were mixed – not all negative, but a lot of average/indifferent opinions. The album was indeed surprisingly laidback and mellow for Yes, and this lack of energy was called out more than anything.
I personally refer to Heaven & Earth as Yes’ summer album; the perfect accompaniment for lazy, sunny summer days filled with lovely weather, a gentle breeze, and relaxation. In some settings, a thunderous song like Roundabout is not what you crave. Sometimes you just need to chill with lovely music to accompany that mood. Not everybody wanted a “Yes summer album” though, which is fair. The reviews hit closer to home when they called the album out for lacking the ambitious scope of pretty much every other album they had released.
It’s great to say that the usual scope is more or less back on the new album, although The Quest still does not turn the energy levels back up – at least not all the way. In fact, it can still be called a laidback album. The album feels more energetic, although not of the in-your-face variant. The material mainly has a lot more creative and proggy touches and elements than last time around. There are also some very lovely melodies here of the highest standard.
The question is if this is ‘too little, too late’ for the band. Yes fanatics will embrace The Quest, but the band always had a standing in the prog environment which seems to have dwindled in recent years, and it does not look like the new album will change this. Looking at initial reactions on progressive discussion groups on social media, I can quote “Not bad, but not that great either.” “Can this be called Yes? It sounds like a parody (a successful one, but still).” “Downes is buried.” “I prefer the new ABBA album.” “I’ve heard worse, but I’ve definitely heard better.”
In fairness, there’s also several comments like “Excellent, especially the surround version!” and “I honestly think this is great!” But… not quite as many.
Fan opinion will always be divided, and a lot of people will mercilessly compare any new material with that from the band’s heyday. It tends to be forgotten that while the band logo is the same, only one of the musicians on The Quest was part of the line-up that gave us the classic albums Fragile and Close To the Edge. Meanwhile, three of them were part of 1990s albums Open Your Eyes and The Ladder. Wouldn’t that make those albums more natural comparisons?
For better or worse, new releases by any band often tends to be judged against the highest established benchmarks of their career, no matter how much this inevitably sets new releases up to fail. Very few bands are able to live up to the music they made 40 years prior, and so perhaps it is best to judge it on its own credentials.
The Ice Bridge is the first song out, which gets the album off to an excellent start. This is easily one of the better songs the band has come up with for quite a while. Starting with what best can be described as a keyboard fanfare, that theme is strong and repeated at key moments throughout the song. The bass is bouncy and playful underneath, doing a good job of seeking out new and interesting sweet spots. Nobody can play like Squire, and he is missed on this album, but Sherwood does a great job of emulating him and adding that style to proceedings. Squire knew what he did when he picked him as his replacement. They did several projects together, being well acquainted.
Other ingredients are also as expected. Steve Howe adds his usual guitar flourishes, and Jon Davison delivers a very Yes-ish vocal (which basically mean he does a good job of emulating Jon Anderson), and drummer Alan White still delivers well on record, even though he has sat out several live performances in recent years (having undergone a back surgery). Perhaps in thinking ahead to live settings, the album also includes new member Jay Schellen on percussion.
The first song is organized into several sub-suites, emulating their tracks of yore which often featured a similar organization. The band does not push it as over-the-top as they used to, settling nicely for three sub-parts and a track length of around seven minutes, which is perfect. Three of the eight tracks on the main disc are multi-suite tracks like this, which is a good sign for Yes aficionados.
Dare To Know is a mellow, melodic, and quite lovely piece of music. The sheer amount of mellow moments was an issue on the previous album, so as a listener it is easy to be wary when this album moves in that direction again now. The Howe-penned tune keeps being interested as it contains several musical flourishes, including an orchestral arrangement and a main guitar theme which lightly bounces around the song. The interplay between the orchestra and said guitar theme is a delight to listen to, starting the song off wonderfully with a very hummable and memorable section.
The light mid-tempo continues in Howe’s Minus the Man which sees Davison pull off some really adorable vocal harmonies in the chorus, sounding even more like Jon Anderson than normal. The track is musically (if not melodically) similar to the previous track, as it features more orchestral flourishes and several prog-light instrumental touches. It is a great track in isolation, but can bleed a bit into the previous track as their moods and shared orchestral elements give them a flair of similarity – or maybe even pits them as sub-suites of the same larger track. Both tracks are good, but I’m not sure I would have placed them side by side on the album.
The music becomes more intriguing on Leave Well Alone, the second of three multi-suite tracks on the album. This is also the longest, surpassing eight minutes across three parts. It is good to see the music get a bit of rhythm again. The fact that it contains a lot of interesting sections and a varied musical palette makes it stand out positively. If you listen carefully, you can hear Howe play a Japanese koto!
This track is a grower, containing a lot of moments that will quietly slink into your mind. Before too long, this is the track you will hum a random part from that you didn’t know where it came from!
The Western Edge is among the shortest tracks on the album at nearly four and a half minutes. After a more ambient intro and verse, the track kicks into a faster section which feature some lovely e-bow playing by Howe. Downes adds a lot of layered keyboards. Davison shares lead vocals with Billy Sherwood, each of them singing a unique vocal part simultaneously, using countermelody effectively. Howe builds a choir of e-bows and guitar parts towards the end.
And then, out of the blue, the band come out with the track Future Memories. This is the definite highlight on the album. Heck, this would have been a highlight on any Yes album. It proves that a laidback song is never a problem as long as the quality is there. And this, my friends, is a track of undisputable, timeless quality.
The song is basically a Jon Davison solo number, with Howe adding a bit of steel guitar to Davison’s own recordings. It highlights his delicate sense of melody and wonderfully melodic voice. Davison sings “From this moment forward / I don’t want to make another memory / Without you” on this touching track about loss and the difficulties involved in moving forward on your own.
Music To My Ears returns the band to quiet mid-tempo, and is not the kind of song that will stand out on this album. I like some of the musical passages, while I care less about the vocal melodies and the chorus sections which repeats the song title slightly too often.
Things get more interesting on A Living Island – the final of the three multi-suite tracks on the album. It has a lovely build which benefits the song highly, and several excellent instrumental and vocal sections. Davison experiments with multi-layered vocals singing different lines which meet in the chorus, and effectively so.
The album was fully made during lockdown, and this is the only track directly about Covid-19. It concerns two people grappling with the restrictions and the fears and dangers of the time, somewhere along the way changing from a personal standpoint to a wish for global wellbeing. Jon Anderson would surely approve.
The song has a very satisfying climax, reaching a plateau that I wish a few more of the other songs on the album had tried to reach for. This makes it a very fitting song to place last on this first disc.
But wait, there’s more! There is a second disc with three songs on it. They are short and would easily have fit on the main disc, so why bother with a second disc?
It was actually a record company decision that the album should be under 50 minutes, and the band selected eight tracks in the final running order. The label went on to suggest that a second disc of additional tracks recorded during the sessions be added. Yes chose three songs that Howe has referred to as “high-quality reserve tracks” which wouldn’t necessarily have been scrapped. He added that the two-disc configuration of The Quest is not strictly a full double album, but “a second part to the story.”
There’s no doubt that separating these three tracks from the main album by putting them on a second disc gives them a distinct “bonus track” feel. Still, it starts very well indeed. The first track on this second disc, Sister Sleeping Soul, is clearly the best of these three tracks. The main disc would have clearly benefitted from having this track included. It has pace and invested performances from the band. Replacing a song like, say, Music To My Ears, would have given the main album a clear quality lift and added needed variety to proceedings. As it stands, the second disc certainly gets off to an excellent start.
Mystery Tour (a homage to The Beatles) and Damaged World close out the set. These are engaging tracks that could have brought some different colours and yet more variety to the main set, but they are not quite of the needed quality to justify taking another track’s place, being solidly “good, not great.” Adding them to a bonus CD is the correct way of including them, although they are most welcome.
How to summarise The Quest? It is certainly not the return to the thunderous performances of their past, but surely nobody expected that? The band has always evolved, and although they are now embracing a more atmospheric and laidback sound, it is fully possible to do this and still retain the elements that makes them Yes.
I think it is important that Heaven & Earth won’t stand as the final Yes studio album. The Quest is much more successful at merging their current approach with the classic Yes sound, including far more of their flourishes and with some of the scope that was missing the previous time around. The Quest does a better job of placing their current approach to music within a Yes context, whereas the previous album confused people more. That alone gives this album a high worth, especially when the time comes to summarize their complete career and understanding their development towards the end.
I hope we’re not there yet. This album made it much more exciting to wait for what might come next.
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