On The Road Again: Yes "90125"

jueves, 15 de junio de 2017

Yes "90125"

90125 is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band Yes, released on 7 November 1983 by Atco Records. After the group disbanded in 1981 after touring their previous album, Drama (1980), bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White formed Cinema with guitarist and singer Trevor Rabin and original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye who had left in 1971. The group adopted a more commercial and pop-oriented direction as the result of their new material, with much of it derived from Rabin's demos, with former Yes singer Trevor Horn as their producer. At the mixing stage, former Yes singer Jon Anderson returned to record the lead vocals, which led to Cinema changing their name to Yes.

90125 was released to a generally positive reception and helped introduce the band to a new generation of fans. It reached No. 5 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart, and remains their best selling album with over 3 million copies sold in the US. Of the album's four singles, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was the most successful and is their only song to top the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. "Cinema" earned the group a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Yes toured the album in 1984 and 1985 which included two headline shows at the inaugural Rock in Rio festival. The album was remastered in 2004 with previously unreleased bonus tracks.

In December 1980, Yes completed their tour of North America and the UK in support of their tenth album Drama (1980), with the short lived formation of Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Trevor Horn, and Geoffrey Downes. The group disbanded soon after; Horn became a full-time record producer and Howe and Downes co-formed Asia. Squire and White stuck together and continued to write material, including their 1981 Christmas single "Run with the Fox". The two entered sessions with Jimmy Page with the aim of forming a supergroup named XYZ, but the project was shelved.

By 1982, South African guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer Trevor Rabin had moved to Los Angeles and sent a tape with several demos to record labels with the intent of releasing a fourth solo album. During this time, Atlantic Records manager Phil Carson, a long time fan and associate of Yes, sought for new musicians to work with Squire and White, who was introduced to Rabin by producer Mutt Lange, who Rabin used to work with as a session musician. Carson invited Rabin to meet and play with Squire and White in London; Rabin recalled the first sessions "didn't sound great but it felt good ... there was a lot of potential", causing him to turn down an offer from RCA Records as he wished to work with a "great rhythm section". The three began to develop songs for an album using most of Rabin's demos. His songs, including "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Hold On", and "Changes", were more commercial and pop-oriented and less complex in structure. With such a direction, Squire recruited original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye who left in 1971, feeling Kaye's simpler style of playing was more suitable to their new music. Horn followed suit as a potential lead singer, but after unsuccessful rehearsals, opted to become their producer.

Wishing to establish a new identity and distance themselves from their Yes past, the four named themselves Cinema and began to record an album in 1982. Roughly six months in, however, clashes between Horn and Kaye resulted in the latter's exit. Rabin saw it as "a mutual parting" as Kaye resisted to learn modern keyboard technology that they were using which left Rabin to handle the majority of keyboard parts. To complicate matters, Squire and Rabin's lead vocals were declared not distinctive enough, leading to Carson's suggestion of bringing former Yes singer Jon Anderson back into the fold. Squire had been in contact with Anderson since late 1982, the first time in years, and asked him to hear a tape of their music. Anderson, who returned to England in April 1983 after working in France, listened to their songs in Squire's car outside his home due to past acrimony between the pair's wives. Anderson took a liking to the new music and recorded his vocals, making minor changes to the lyrics and arrangements to the music. By this time, the album had cost £300,000 to make, which included £150,000 of Carson's own money. With no more funds left to finish the album, Carson flew to Paris and presented it to Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records that also signed Yes in the 1970s. Ertegun liked the music and paid the remaining costs.

With the album complete, it was given the initial title of The New Yes Album. However, the group opted for a more minimalist approach and used its allocated catalogue number from the band's label Atco Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic. Its number was 90104 at first, but an error in the system led to its change to 90125. MTV announced Cinema on its network, but threats of legal action from several groups with the same name caused the group to consider a new name. With Anderson's entry adding to the already-present lineup of Squire, Kaye, White, and Rabin, totalling the former Yes musicians in the group to four, Carson suggested that they name themselves as Yes, something that concerned Rabin as he wished for the album to be judged as its own. Rabin was persuaded, and work began on promotion and rehearsals with new keyboardist Eddie Jobson, formerly of Roxy Music and UK, who appeared in the music video for "Owner of a Lonely Heart". However, seeking to consolidate the band's legal identity as Yes, management came to an agreement with Kaye which led to his return following a tour with Badfinger. Unimpressed with the change, the various "political problems" within the group, and a lack of interest in sharing live keyboards with Kaye, Jobson left.

Recording began in late 1982 at SARM Studios in London while the group was known as Cinema, with Horn handling the production duties; "Hold On" was produced by Horn and Yes. Production was assisted by Gary Langan and Julian Mendelsohn, both of whom also worked on Drama, with Stuart Bruce and Keith Finney.

The album's logo was designed and created by Garry Mouat at Assorted Images on an Apple IIe computer, and a variant would be used on Yes's next studio album Big Generator as well. Trevor Rabin's 2003 album 90124 used the same cover design with colour and text variations.

90125 was released on 7 November 1983. It reached No. 5 in the US and No. 16 in the UK.

Four singles were released from 90125; "Owner of a Lonely Heart", released a month prior to the album. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. In 1984, "It Can Happen", "Changes", and "Leave It" reached the top ten on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.

In 1985, "Cinema" won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and 90125 received a nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Reissues

1984 – Atco – CD (Remastered by WCI Record Group)

2002 – Elektra/EastWest Japan – "Mini LP" HDCD (Japan only; remastered by Isao Kikuchi)

2004 – Elektra/Rhino – "Expanded & Remastered" CD (Remastered by Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot)

2009 – Atco – "Papersleeve" SHM-CD (Japan only; remastered by Isao Kikuchi)

2009 – Audio Fidelity – 24-karat gold CD (US only; remastered by Steve Hoffman)

2009 – Friday Music – 180-gram vinyl (US only; remastered by Joe Reagoso and Ron McMaster)

2013 – HDTracks – 24-bit/44.1 kHz digital download

2013 – Atlantic/Rhino – High Vibration box set SACD (Japan only; remastered by Isao Kikuchi)

Track listing

Side one

"Owner of a Lonely Heart" Trevor Rabin/Jon Anderson/Chris Squire/Trevor Horn 4:27
"Hold On" Rabin, Anderson, Squire 5:18
"It Can Happen" Squire, Anderson, Rabin 5:25
"Changes" Rabin, Anderson, Alan White Rabin, 6:16

Side two