Yes тобының «Union» альбомы

1991 studio album by Yes

Union is the thirteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 30 April 1991 by Arista Records. Production began following the amalgamation of two bands that featured previous and then current members of Yes: Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), consisting of vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Steve Howe, and Yes, comprised at that time of bassist and vocalist Chris Squire, guitarist and vocalist Trevor Rabin, keyboardist Tony Kaye and drummer Alan White. The eight musicians signed with Arista and a combination of unfinished tracks by both groups were selected for Union. The album's sessions were problematic from the start, including disagreements between some of the musicians regarding the "merger" of the two bands, strained relations during the recording process, and decisions by the production team of Anderson and producer Jonathan Elias to bring in session musicians to re record parts that Wakeman and Howe had originally completed. Union was released to a decidedly mixed critical reception, and the majority of the band have openly stated their dislike of the material. Despite all this, it fared relatively well commercially, reaching No. 7 in the UK and No. 15 in the US. After two months, Union was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 500,000 copies. The first single, "Lift Me Up", was number one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for six weeks. Howe's acoustic guitar piece "Masquerade" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Yes supported Union with their 1991–1992 ‘Around the World in 80 Dates’ show that featured all eight members playing on stage; Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe left the band after the tour.

In 1983, bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White were working on new material with guitarist/singer/songwriter Trevor Rabin. Original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye rounded out the group, which was initially called Cinema. Upon hearing the new material the quartet were working on, Jon Anderson rejoined them and it now made sense to call the band Yes. The result was their most commercially successful album, 90125 (1983) and Big Generator (1987), for Atco Records. In 1988, Anderson left Yes and formed Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), a group with former Yes members Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Bruford's former King Crimson bandmate Tony Levin on bass guitar. ABWH released their self titled album for Arista Records in 1989 and supported it with a world tour. During this time, the four remaining Yes members began to write songs with former Yes producer Eddy Offord and held auditions for a new lead singer, including Supertramp vocalist Roger Hodgson and Billy Sherwood of World Trade. Sherwood went on to become a longtime collaborator with Yes, firstly as a live musician and producer; he became their full time bassist following Squire's death in 2015. In 1990, ABWH started work on a second album at Studio Miraval in Correns, France with producer Jonathan Elias, Bruford has praised the material that Howe, Tony Levin and he were developing prior to Anderson's involvement, and had high hopes for ABWH's creative future. The atmosphere changed when Arista asserted that none of their new material was suitable for radio airplay. After the backing tracks had been put down, Anderson went to Los Angeles to record some of his vocals. As part of the deal, Atco retained the rights to the band's back catalogue.

Union includes nine tracks recorded by ABWH, these being "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Shock to the System", "Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day", "Silent Talking", "Angkor Wat", "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)", "Holding On", "Evensong", and "Take the Water to the Mountain" The majority of the bass parts on the album are played by Tony Levin (on both bass guitar & Chapman Stick), with Squire only playing bass on "Lift Me Up", "Saving My Heart" and "Miracle of Life". Sherwood played the bass on "The More We Live Let Go". Squire sang backing vocals on the four tracks Yes produced, as well as several of the ABWH produced tracks, including "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" and "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)".

When Elias accepted Anderson's invitation to produce the ABWH tracks, with Anderson credited as an associate producer, Elias felt uneasy about the task as a Yes album of "fresh" material was something he thought was too difficult to achieve, following the band's history of internal conflict. He aimed to present the "high technical edge" that Yes were known for, within the structure of more concise and direct songs and not spotlight only technical prowess. Anderson initially resisted this approach as he wished to distance himself from the more commercial music that had largely defined Yes across the previous decade. When recording began, Elias recalled a lack of solid material and the tension between Anderson and Howe especially, including the refusal of the two to stay in the studio while the other was present. Elias tried to help stimulate creativity and brought in a Hammond organ, but said Wakeman refused as he thought the instrument was outdated. Elias concluded that ABWH "didn't care about a note of music", and was relieved to have finished some of the material at all, considering the difficulties and his personal dislike for some of the songs. Among the 11 additional keyboard and synthesiser players featured on Union is Jim Crichton of Saga. Crichton and his assistant Brian Foraker Haun later said that it was Anderson, Elias, "and one other person" who made the final decision as to which parts were kept and replaced by someone else.

Roger Dean was hired to design the art for the album. After the release of Big Generator, Dean was asked by Phil Carson to design a new band logo, and came up with a square design, but it was not used due to Anderson forming ABWH. When it came to Union, Dean decided to use the Yes logo he designed in 1972, the square design appearing in the corner and on the subsequent Yesyears cover. It would also later appear on the covers of The Ladder and House of Yes: Live from House of Blues.

"I Would Have Waited Forever" features Howe playing a guitar riff that he also used on "Sensitive Chaos" from his solo album Turbulence (1991). Haun later revealed that Howe plays a short, recurring thread and the ending solo, but all other electric, acoustic, and effect overdubs were in fact played by him, and that Arista wanted a guitar riff similar to that of "Starship Trooper" from The Yes Album (1971). The pair also wrote "Love Conquers All", a track with Rabin on lead vocals and released on the Yesyears box set.

Union was released on 30 April 1991. In the United States, it debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 35, the week of 18 May 1991. The album climbed on the following week, reaching its peak at number 15 on the week ending 25 May. It was present on the chart for a total of 19 weeks. On 2 July 1991, Union was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 500,000 copies. In 1992, "Masquerade" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Howe described the nomination for his track as "pure justice", following the difficulties in making the album. Yes released three singles from Union in 1991. "Lift Me Up" was the lead single, released in April 1991. It became one of the band's most successful singles, spending six weeks at number one from its third week on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, later known as the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was number one from the week of 4 May to 8 June 1991. It reached a peak of 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The second single, "Saving My Heart", released in July 1991, reached a high of number nine on the Album Rock Tracks chart a month later. "I Would Have Waited Forever" was the final single released.

The album received mixed reviews from critics. Chuck Eddy gave it two stars out of five for Rolling Stone, calling it "an eclectic miscarriage that almost isn't even worth laughing about", and wished the album had more memorable hooks, riffs, and concise lyrics. Dave DiMartino of Entertainment Weekly rated the album with a D+, and called it a "stunningly wicked parody of an outlandish concept", pointing out its "complete and utter unlistenability". Union received two and a half stars out of five in a retrospective review by Bruce Eder for AllMusic. Eder thought it was always difficult for the album to live up to expectations given the amount of musical talent involved. Nevertheless, he judged its songs "reasonably solid", and cites the harmonies in "I Would Have Waited Forever" from Anderson and Squire and Howe's "Masquerade" as highlights. But he thought "Lift Me Up" is a "forced exercise in heaviness" and "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" a "composed by numbers" track. The music portal Ultimate Classic Rock ranked Union worst in its list of Yes albums. Most of the band have negative opinions on the album. Wakeman stated he was dissatisfied with the production, commenting that most of his contributions were so altered in the final result that he could not recognise them, adding that he called the album Onion because "it made me cry every time I heard it". Rabin thought it lacked a linking thread and ranked 90125 and Big Generator as better. "I don't hate Union as much as Rick," he stated in 2016, "but it was a peculiar record. It was instigated by Clive Davis and made largely in isolation by the musicians and Jon, so the title is misleading. To me, Union is more of a failed project than a real album." Bruford remains very critical: "It was probably not only the most dishonest title that I've ever had the privilege of playing drums underneath, but the single worst album I've ever recorded."

Note: "Angkor Wat" and "Give & Take" are not included on the vinyl LP version.