Trevor Rabin's swan-song with Yes, 'Talk' seems to be an attempt by Trevor in part to win over the old Yes audience. Let's see from the credits above, though. Tony Kaye played very little on the album, Rabin played the majority of the keyboard parts. Chris Squire had bass parts overdubbed by Rabin. Rabin has a hand in writing or co-writing every single track. With '90125' Yes created a new sound for themselves, Trevor Rabin of course played a big part in that. So did Trevor Horn, but that's another story. So, is 'Talk' really a Yes album at all? Well, if we consider any of the Rabin Yes albums to be Yes, then so is this. It's actually closer to 70s Yes than anything they'd produced since 'Drama'. We've a digitally precise clean and souless sound and the album suffers badly from this. Middle of the road, safe pop/rock anthemns that never did get played much on the radio, as the albums UK 20 and US 33 chart peaks will testify to. Anyway, we're plunged right into 'The Calling' to kick off the album, big booming percussive sounds, a playing it safe guitar riff and Jon Anderson trying his best, bless him. The song never quite seems to decide whether it's a rocker or a pop tune and falls through the whole in the middle, although the pop tune side wins the day in the end. Hence, 'The Calling' arises, head above water and proclaiming, 'there, I survived'. There is a genuinely cool nifty little instrumental sequence in the middle of the track and Tony Kaye actually gets to play some of his hammond organ, which is a delightful link to the old Yes sound. So, after the six minute 'The Calling' we get the seven minute 'I Am Waiting' and isn't it clear what the problem is, right there? Well, lengthy song-lengths needn't be a problem, clearly. This IS Yes, after all. But, none of the songs here, even the attempted prog style closer 'Endless Dream' seems to demand to be as long as they are. 'I Am Waiting' for example has some very nice moments and some nifty heavy metal guitar parts from Rabin, yet again, it seems to be trying to pack too many showy and empty ideas into the piece. Where's the heart and soul?
Bar the closing epic, 'Endless Dream', the opening two tunes are actually the best here. 'Real Love' is truly dreadful, for example. It doesn't do anything, it doesn't go anywhere and at this stage if you're listening to the album from start to finish, you're 22 minutes into the album and only three songs down. Twenty two minutes that could easily have been condensed into thirteen minutes, without losing an ounce. You've lost the will to live. So have I. Well, people say 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' contains a lot of padding, yet I find the padding on that album working as beautiful, or at least, genuinely atmospheric, padding. During 'Talk', the padding just sounds like excuses for Trevor Rabin to wind up his guitar to eleven and try to prove himself. What's that chip on your shoulder for, Trevor? Although Trevor collaborated quite well with Anderson for a good half of this album, his sound wins, at the end of the day. Jon Anderson is mostly relegated to providing lyrics for somebody elses tunes, although yes, does get a few ideas here and there taken up by Rabin. Most obviously during the closer, 'Endless Dream'. A three part composition, the middle section is twelve minutes long and hangs together very loosely. There are some genuinely great instrumental moments, but doesn't even seem to pretend to be an actual, cohesive song. In terms of structure, it's all over the place. The two brief sections that surround the meat of the sandwich are my favourite moments here, the 'Silent Spring' instrumental is lovely atmosphere, and the closing two minute section of 'Endless Dream' seems to close the album on an optimistic, uplifting note. 'Talk'? It's an album of moments. Pick your favourite three tracks from it and keep them. Throw the rest of the album in the bin? No, not that bad. Just keep them for a rainy day when you feel like a slice of nostalgia and/or completism.
Track Listing:
The Calling
I Am Waiting
Real Love
State Of Play
Walls
Where Will You Be
Endless Dream
https://listen.rock-forum.com/talk.mp4
Bar the closing epic, 'Endless Dream', the opening two tunes are actually the best here. 'Real Love' is truly dreadful, for example. It doesn't do anything, it doesn't go anywhere and at this stage if you're listening to the album from start to finish, you're 22 minutes into the album and only three songs down. Twenty two minutes that could easily have been condensed into thirteen minutes, without losing an ounce. You've lost the will to live. So have I. Well, people say 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' contains a lot of padding, yet I find the padding on that album working as beautiful, or at least, genuinely atmospheric, padding. During 'Talk', the padding just sounds like excuses for Trevor Rabin to wind up his guitar to eleven and try to prove himself. What's that chip on your shoulder for, Trevor? Although Trevor collaborated quite well with Anderson for a good half of this album, his sound wins, at the end of the day. Jon Anderson is mostly relegated to providing lyrics for somebody elses tunes, although yes, does get a few ideas here and there taken up by Rabin. Most obviously during the closer, 'Endless Dream'. A three part composition, the middle section is twelve minutes long and hangs together very loosely. There are some genuinely great instrumental moments, but doesn't even seem to pretend to be an actual, cohesive song. In terms of structure, it's all over the place. The two brief sections that surround the meat of the sandwich are my favourite moments here, the 'Silent Spring' instrumental is lovely atmosphere, and the closing two minute section of 'Endless Dream' seems to close the album on an optimistic, uplifting note. 'Talk'? It's an album of moments. Pick your favourite three tracks from it and keep them. Throw the rest of the album in the bin? No, not that bad. Just keep them for a rainy day when you feel like a slice of nostalgia and/or completism.
Track Listing:
The Calling
I Am Waiting
Real Love
State Of Play
Walls
Where Will You Be
Endless Dream
https://listen.rock-forum.com/talk.mp4