Big generator

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Big generator
Studio album by Yes

Publication
(s)

September 28, 1987

Label (s) ATCO

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

AOR , art rock

Title (number)

8th

running time

43:38

occupation

production

Yes , Trevor Horn , Trevor Rabin , Paul DeVilliers

Studio (s)

Lark Recording Studios, Carimate , Italy
SARM Studio, London
Air Studios, London
Southcombe Studios, Los Angeles
Westlake Studios, Los Angeles
Sunset Sound, Los Angeles

chronology
9012Live: The Solos
(1985 live album)
90125
(1983 studio album) 		Big generator Union
(1991)
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Big Generator is a music album by the British progressive rock band Yes from 1987. As the successor to their most successful album 90125 , it was also the last album for their traditional record company Atlantic Records / ATCO With their 17th album, Yes released their 12th studio work .

Emergence

After the worldwide success of 90125 and the single owner of a Lonely Heart , the pressure on the band was immense. The record company and management expected a follow-up album to be at least as successful. But Yes had other ideas. In the beginning, the band had a relaxed approach to new material. Not every idea should necessarily be processed into a song, rather it was thought of leaving individual parts to which no satisfactory additions could be found. To the model they took the album Abbey Road of the Beatles , which was similar.

To give the new approach a new framework, guitarist and singer Trevor Rabin had suggested recording the album in a friend's Lark Recording Studio in Carimate, Italy on Lake Como, built into a castle . This, according to his idea, would weld the band members, who now lived far across the globe, into a team and also save money for the record company and taxes for the band. But not everyone agreed with this decision. From the start, Chris Squire had doubted that the Italian studio would offer the same opportunities as Trevor Horn's traditional London SARM studio or Trevor Rabin's own studio in Los Angeles . Nevertheless, after the end of the 90125 tour (last concert: February 9, 1985) and the well-deserved vacation in September 1985, all Yes musicians gathered in Italy. The release of the new album was envisaged for January or February 1986.

First, however, the live mini-album 9012Live: The Solos was released in November 1985 and, in December, Jon Anderson's solo album Three Ships . Not a good sign for the public. Because the expectations of the band could not be met, an early release date was unrealistic. If Trevor Horn only had to produce an almost finished album (Trevor Rabin's Demos) at 90125 , he was now confronted with a band that on the one hand tended in a different direction than he and its members were also completely at odds with one another. The tensions between Horn and Tony Kaye , which had already built up during the work on 90125 , now broke out again. Horn said frankly that he didn't want Tony Kaye to operate the keys on this album. In fact, on Big Generator , as on 90125 , not Tony Kaye plays the keyboards, but Trevor Rabin. In addition, there were problems between Horn and Anderson and between Horn and Rabin. The latter became more and more involved in the production of the new album because he was dissatisfied with Horn's work and challenged Horn for his sole producer position - for an album that at that time was only in a hotly contested development phase within the band . There were often arguments between Jon Anderson on the one hand and Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire on the other, Anderson wanted to go back to the classic collective compositional style of the seventies, while Rabin and Squire favored the finished, concise song. Private problems certainly contributed to these artistic discrepancies: Anderson had divorced his wife Jenny in the early 80s, Squire had just recently separated from his wife Nikki and had recently been living in Hollywood , where he party after party night after night celebrated - with the associated health problems.

The collaboration on the technician side, between Horn and engineer Steve Lipton, also turned out to be more difficult than expected. The two had only met in Italy, and Rabin's hope that they would be able to adjust to one another was not fulfilled. Endless arguments about the latest technical possibilities brought neither the band nor the album forward. In December 1985, Trevor Horn drew the consequences and left Italy.

At the time, the promotion that Atlantic launched wasn't exactly helping the band. In early 1986, Atlantic rumors spread that the new album was comparable to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon .

Yes traveled to London after Trevor Horn, hoping that in familiar surroundings the collaboration between the band and producer would work better. But the differences in the musical ideas of those involved only became even clearer there. Although it was possible to record some of the drum and bass tracks during this time - almost two years before their release - Yes finally parted ways with Trevor Horn after a short time. Rabin was so dissatisfied with the drum sound on I'm Running that he later had Alan White replay it all.

The band then left London and finished the album in Rabin's Los Angeles studio. It was released on September 28, 1987 - almost two years after the originally targeted release date. Trevor Rabin had last been the sole producer, later Paul DeVilliers was brought in. So Rabin was ultimately responsible for the songwriting, vocals, guitars, keyboards, arrangements, production and mixing of the album - which not all band members liked equally. Chris Squire was dissatisfied with the comparatively weak bass sound on the album. In retrospect, Jon Anderson was extremely frustrated with his position in the band. Rabin had made a name for himself as a band leader and pushed Anderson aside. He had increasingly brought ready-made songs to the band, and once they got involved with the songs, Anderson had no chance to change his fellow musicians' minds. His only independent contribution to Big Generator is the song Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence) . Rabin also had clear ideas about his own songs and couldn't do anything with Anderson's always open approach to inspiration. He was supported in this by the record company and management, who clearly saw the future of the band on the pop-rock track of 90125 , and increasingly also by Chris Squire, who had taken a liking to the band's worldwide success and therefore did not oppose the change in style . Consequently, Jon Anderson left the band after the Big Generator tour was over. He founded the Yes offshoot Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe with Bill Bruford , Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman in order to return to classical Yes music.

Songs

  1. "Rhythm of Love" (Jon Anderson / Tony Kaye / Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire) - 4:47
  2. "Big Generator" (Jon Anderson / Tony Kaye / Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire / Alan White) - 4:33
  3. "Shoot High, Aim Low" (Jon Anderson / Tony Kaye / Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire / Alan White) - 7:01
  4. "Almost Like Love" (Jon Anderson / Tony Kaye / Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire) - 4:58
  5. "Love Will Find a Way" (Trevor Rabin) - 4:50
  6. "Final Eyes" (Jon Anderson / Tony Kaye / Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire) - 6:25
  7. "I'm Running" (Jon Anderson / Tony Kaye / Trevor Rabin / Chris Squire) - 7:37
  8. "Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)" (Jon Anderson) - 3:19

Remarks

  • Big Generator reached number 17 in the English charts and number 15 in the American charts.
  • Love Will Find a Way was actually written by Trevor Rabin for Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac , but Squire and White liked it and so the song was recorded by Yes.
  • Due to the long period of creation, there are numerous, previously unreleased versions of some pieces, such as Shoot High, Aim Low , which initially had a different ending (this was however played live by the band) or Final Eyes , whose verse was at least during the work was completely re-composed once. The alternate ending of Rhythm of Love is played live by the band to this day.
  • Jon Anderson's involvement was increasingly reduced due to the tension in the band. Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence) is the only Anderson song recorded for Big Generator. Were not included The Arms of Love and Let's Pretend , both during the work on Big Generator arose. Let's Pretend was later heard in a significantly shortened version on the album Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe .
  • Promenade , a Mussorgsky arrangement by Rabin , was also not included . The demo for this track was later released on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 .

Single releases

  1. Love Will Find a Way / Rhythm of Love (1987, USA)
  2. Rhythm of Love (Dance to the Rhythm mix, 6:50) / Rhythm of Love (Move to the Rhythm mix, 4:25) / Rhythm of Love (The Rhythm of Dub, 7:45) / City of Love (live) (1987, USA)
  3. Rhythm of Love / Rhythm of Love (1987, Japan, Germany, Spain)
  4. Rhythm of Love / Rhythm of Love (remix) / Rhythm of Love (remix) (1987)
  5. Rhythm of Love / Rhythm of Love (remix) / Rhythm of Love (remix) (1987, USA CD single)
  6. Love Will Find a Way / Rhythm of Love (1988, USA CD single)
  1. Love Will Find a Way / Holy Lamb (1987, USA, UK, Spain, Germany, 7 "vinyl & 12" single)
  2. Love Will Find a Way / Love Will Find a Way (edit) (1987, USA)
  3. Love Will Find a Way (edit) / Love Will Find a Way (1987)
  4. Love Will Find a Way / Love Will Find a Way (edit) (1987, USA, CD single)
  5. Love Will Find a Way / Rhythm of Love (1987, USA, CD single)
  6. Love Will Find a Way / Rhythm of Love (1988, USA)
  1. Big Generator / Big Generator (1987, USA)

Musician

With

  • Jimmy "Z" Zavala - harmonica, horn
  • Trevor Horn - Horn
  • Greg Smith - horn
  • Nick Lane - horn
  • Lee Thornburg - Horn
  • Greg "Frosty" Smith - Horn

Cover

The cover was again designed by Garry Mouat from Assorted Images. A new Yes logo designed by fantasy artist Roger Dean was not used. It appears for the first time on the follow-up album Union .

Review

Corresponding to the fact that the band started to switch to finished songs that were composed by individual band members and not by the whole group, which actually began with this album, Big Generator also contains comparatively simple pop-rock songs that do not correspond to the more demanding compositions of the seventies fit. Nevertheless, there are differences: on the one hand there are simple, mostly shorter songs like Love Will Find a Way , Shoot High, Aim Low or Holy Lamb , on the other hand more demanding and mostly longer pieces, including I'm Running , das is most likely to be recognized in the fan base today. However, many fans of the band had difficulties with innovations such as the Latin tones of Almost Like Love and the use of brass, which goes back to an idea by Trevor Rabin. In summary, one can say that Yes had consolidated their new style with Big Generator and even further developed it compared to some all too simple song structures on 90125 , in view of the increasing tensions in the band, which ultimately led to Jon Anderson's departure, and the strongly diverging opinions within For the fan base, the album has remained a double-edged sword for both the band and their supporters.

live

Some live recordings from the Big Generator tour can be heard on The Word Is Live , The Union Tour Live and Songs from Tsongas .

Sources and web links