Then, many years after the album was released, I finally heard the TRUE story behind this awesome collection of timeless songs. It turns out, the whole album WAS THE BRAINCHILD OF TREVOR RABIN. In fact, he composed practically the whole album before Yes was even involved. Then some record producers decided it needed a bigger name behind it. Enter Yes. That's right. Then I finally realized, it wasn't Rabin that was "tacked on" to Yes; rather, Yes (a band past its prime) was "tacked on" to Rabin. The Yes band members were brought in, reworked some of Rabin songs, and that's where the album came from.

It all finally made sense why it sounded nothing like Yes. Anyway, Rabin really deserves almost all the credit for this one. Yes was just along for the ride.

4.5 Stars. Yes starts off the 80s well.
90125(1983). Yes's eleventh studio album.

At the dawn of the 80s, Yes was ready to call it quits due to several line-up changes and the overall watering down of their progressive sound. The remaining three bandmembers teamed up with the Bugles and released Drama(1980). After the album flopped, the band decided to retire for a few years. However, vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Tony Kaye were not happy just sitting idle, so they reformed, recruited producer/keyboardist Trevor Rabin, and started a side-project band called "Cinema" (For those who don't know, Trevor Rabin eventually became famous for his instrumental scores created for various modern movies). For some reason, the record company insisted that the band stick to their previous name "Yes", so the Cinema name was eventually scrapped. They may as well just use the name Yes. Afterall, it still comprised of 4/5 of the original bandmembers anyhow. So Yes was finally reformed and their first real 80s album, 90125 was released (named after the album's # in the Atlantic records catalogue). Here's a brief summary of 90125:

The album kicks off with the band's popular radio hit 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart', which I'm sure everybody has heard at one time or another. It was actually the very first Yes song I've ever heard, though I didn't really get into the band until I listened to Closer To The Edge(1973), to this date my favorite Yes album. Anyways, it continues on with other minor radio hits 'Hold On' and 'It Can Happen', which are both very catchy rockers. 'Changes' takes Yes back into more progressive territory of the past, complete with time changes and instrumentation of other cultures, though not nearly as lengthy as their 70s material. 'Cinema' is an uplifting instrumentation complete with soaring keyboard and guitar playing. 'Leave It' is probably the most commercial Yes song on the album, starting off with an acapella vocal effect and then changing into an 80s pop rocker. Following is the faster optimistic rocker 'Our Song', underrated but one of my favorites off the album. The slower anthemic track 'City Of Love' comes next, and rounding off 90125 is 'Hearts', sort of the album's 7-minute progressive epic.

So how will people like this album? It depends who you are really. The veteran hardcore Yes fans who only prefer 20-minute progressive epics probably will tell you to avoid 90125 because they believe this album to be "comercialized, sell-out 80s pop". Don't listen to their 1-star reviews because most of them are hardcore fans of former 70s prog/rock bands who cannot accept a little change in their favorite bands. People, that's why it's called PROGRESSIVE rock! They are supposed to implement a little progression as time goes by from album to album, though it's usually only good if a band also remembers their roots. Progression is supposed to keep the music fresh with new aspects, while holding on to what makes the band great. Yes fortunately demonstrates this quality well. I'll state my opinion from a neutral standpoint: if you can accept the fact that 90125 leaves the wildly progressive 70s era behind for more of a simple approach, then you will enjoy this album very much. The music is commercial in nature, but it hints at Yes's trademark progressive flair, and that's what makes these songs work. It did draw many new Yes fans in afterall. I give this 4.5 stars because although this is not one of the very best Yes albums (CTTE, Fragile, and GFTO are the best), it's still by far the best 80s Yes release. About the only bad thing I can say about the album is that the cover art isn't one of the incredible Roger Dean pictures that they usually use. Oh well. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Other albums which sound similar to 90125:
-'Asia' by Asia
-'Signals' by Rush
-'Worlds Apart' by Saga
After breaking up at the dawn of the '80s, Yes made a surprise comeback with this 1983 effort. This album (named after its catalog number) featured a retooled band lineup, with guitarist Trevor Rabin and original keyboardist Tony Kaye joining longtime members Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, and Alan White. It also unveiled a newly streamlined sound, courtesy of British avant-pop producer Trevor Horn, who'd briefly replaced frontman Anderson on the pre-breakup album Drama. The new approach made these English prog-rock vets sound contemporary at the height of the MTV explosion, spawning memorably catchy hits like "Owner of a Lonely Heart," "Leave It," and "It Can Happen." --Scott Schinder