90125

chronology
90125
Studio album by Yes
Publication ; (s)	November 7, 1983
Label (s)	ATCO
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	AOR , art rock , pop
Title (number)	9
running time	44:44
occupation	Jon Anderson : vocals; Tony Kaye : Keyboards; Trevor Rabin : guitar, keyboards, vocals; Chris Squire : bass, vocals; Alan White : drums, percussion, vocals;
production	Trevor Horn
Studio (s)	Sarm Studio, London, England

90125 is a music album by the British progressive rock band Yes from 1983. The title 90125 comes (like the Spliff album 85555 from 1982) from the number of the album in the catalog of the ATCO record company . With their fifteenth album, Yes released their eleventh and most successful studio work to date.

Emergence

Yes broke up in 1981 after the drama tour, only Chris Squire and Alan White still worked together. They tried to socialize with various colleagues, including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin . They met under the name " XYZ " (e X - Y es - & - Z eppelin ) in Squire's studio in April 1981 and tried out a few ideas, but Plant thought the material was too intellectual and decided not to join XYZ. The short-lived project then quickly fell apart. Some of the XYZ ideas have been released as bootlegs or on albums by The Firm and Yes.

Squire and White then recorded a Christmas single called Run With the Fox , which is also said to be based on an XYZ melody (December 1981).

Independent of this, there have been several attempts since 1980 to set up a supergroup around Trevor Rabin , a South African guitarist who fled to Great Britain from the apartheid regime in his homeland. Possible lineups included Rick Wakeman , John Wetton , Carl Palmer and Rabin or Keith Emerson , Jack Bruce and Rabin. He was also considered as a keyboardist for Foreigner in 1981 and for a time even acted as the fifth man in the band Asia . However, Rabin decided in 1982 for an offer from the former Yes rhythm section: Chris Squire had come across a few demo tapes from the guitarist. Although the first sessions (they played XYZ material at first) were more of a disaster musically according to everyone involved, everyone got along so well that it was decided to continue the collaboration.

Rabin, Squire and White, who were urged by Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegün to write a commercial album , actually wanted to start a new band called Cinema with keyboardist Eddie Jobson , previously with UK and Jethro Tull . But Jobson, who was in the middle of the recordings for his album Zinc - The Green Album , had to cancel. He was then replaced by Tony Kaye , a former Yes member who Squire happened to meet again at a party. Rabin and Squire initially shared the singing.

At the urging of Phil Carson, then head of Atlantic Records in Great Britain, Squire played the demos of the new band to former Yes singer Jon Anderson . In 1979/1980 he had an argument with the then Yes members and the manager of the band, Brian Lane, about his supposedly excessive expenses. Nevertheless, he now showed interest in the new song material, now consisting exclusively of Rabin's ideas for an actually planned solo album and meanwhile very well advanced song material (the demo by Hearts melted the ice ). Anderson then worked for three weeks on small changes to the lyrics and sang his passages. The realization of Squires and Anderson that it would be easier for the new band if they had the already world-famous name "Yes", as well as the pressure of the record company, the band and the singer / guitarist Rabin for a pure singer / front man (Anderson) Putting aside seems to be the reason for renaming the project. When Kaye, who had never shed his old aversion to technically advanced keyboards and did not get along well with producer Trevor Horn personally, had to leave the band shortly before the album was finished, Rabin and Horn first took over the keyboard work, followed by another attempt, Jobson to get on board. He was then a member of Yes for two weeks and can be seen briefly in the video for Owner of a Lonely Heart . Then problems arose with the use of the name "Yes". To date, the rights to this name had not been clearly regulated, and Atlantic feared that the band could be prohibited from using it - an initiative could have come from both Steve Howe , then guitarist for Asia, and Rick Wakeman. For this reason, Kaye was brought back to have as many former Yes members as possible in the new band (including Kaye alone three founding members). The suggestion to share the keyboard work with Kaye, Jobson rejected in view of the less demanding parts, he left the band for good. The keyboards on the album, however, were played by neither Kaye nor Jobson: in fact Trevor Rabin played almost all keyboard instruments.

In order to avoid legal naming problems in the future, all current and former members of Yes signed a contract on May 22, 1984, which said that only the Yes musicians who remained at that time had the right to use the name and the band logo and that one withdrew Member is no longer allowed to mention his membership after a certain period of time (for example to take advantage of the advertising effect that this certainly has to this day). However, this did not finally solve the problem of naming rights.

The renaming from Cinema to Yes was not exactly to the delight of Rabin, who was uncomfortable with the thought of being seen by the old Yes fans as a replacement for Steve Howe and being held responsible for the band's change of style. When exactly this happened, the first friction arose in the band, especially between Rabin and Anderson, who wanted to take a more traditional path after 90125. However, Rabin prevailed in the long run with his pop-rock-oriented style. In fact, it was not Rabin that was the reason for the change in style, but rather the departure from the collective composition that had shaped the style of Yes in the 1970s. The first effects of such a departure had already been indicated on the album Tormato (1978) and on its predecessor Going for the One (1977, see Chris Squires Parallels ).

Cinema sessions

The history of the Cinema (or 90125 ) sessions has not been worked up nearly as well as that of the Paris Sessions of 1979. What is certain is that Trevor Rabin at the time of his encounter with Alan White and Chris Squire at least 24 songs in different stages of development in the form of demos. It is unclear what material Squire and White had at that time. However, it is believed that they continued to work on the material played as part of the XYZ project. However, none of the XYZ ideas that have become known to date have been used on 90125 . Instead, many of the Rabin demos ended up on the album. The following list contains these demos, with alternate titles where possible and later releases where available. A few comments on the following list:

Some songs cannot be clearly identified as they were published on bootlegs under different names. Identification is possible where these names are very similar (e.g. Lonely girl / Lonely girls ), all other cases are marked with question marks.
Under Cinema sessions, 1982 there are other songs allegedly recorded by Rabin, Squire, White (and Kaye?). Whether this is true and whether some of these songs are identical to (and possibly differently titled) Rabin demos cannot be determined with certainty.

Trevor Rabin demos, 1982:

Baby I'm easy (possibly also under the title Love Doesn't Come Easy ?)
Cinema (demo later on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 , also played as part of the longtrack Time )
Fools (parts that are similarly found in Tonight's our night were later processed into the heavy passage of Hearts on 90125 )
Girl it ain't easy (also as It Ain't Easy Living Without You )
Harmony (also called Marmony )
Hold on (The chorus of Hold on , together with a passage from Tonight's our night and the verse and solo part of Moving in, became Hold on on 90125 , demo later on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 )
(Let Me Hear Your) Heartbeat
I'm with you (A passage from the guitar solo of the demo was later used for Make it easy , published on YesYears and the Rhino edition of 90125 )
It's enough (possibly also under the title Is It Love ??)
It's Over (released on the Rhino edition of 90125 )
Lonely girl (s)
Love Keeps Coming Around
Make it easy (also as an instrumental as well as part of the longtrack Time . Another version published on YesYears and the Rhino edition of 90125 )
Moving in (the verse and the solo part together with the chorus from Hold on and a passage from Tonight's our night became Hold on on 90125 , demo later on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 )
Moving with the times
Promenade ( Mussorgsky arrangement, possibly, so Rabin, first for Big Generator . Demo later on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 )
Slow dancer
Owner of a lonely heart (demo later on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 )
Tonight's our night (next to Moving in and Hold on a starting point for Hold on on 90125 , similar parts in Fools were later processed into the Heavy passage of Hearts on 90125 )
Turn it on (also called Turn It Up Girl )
Waiting By The Telephone
Who were you with last night?
Would you (feel my Love) (also as Would you feel and Can you feel my Love? ) (Demo later released on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 )
You know something I don't know

Cinema sessions, 1982:

Jamming # 2
Untitled (already played as Telephone Secrets , Telephone Spies or Unknown Song # 2 as part of the XYZ sessions, published as song No. 4 (Satellite) on the Rhino edition of Drama )

Changes (demo later on Trevor Rabin's album 90124 )

Don't you know

It can happen (published as It can happen on YesYears and as It Can Happen (Cinema Version) on the Rhino edition of 90125 )

Open your door

Red light, green light

Time (an approximately 20-minute epic that began with a combination of the later Cinema and Make it Easy , but was never composed to the end.)

The long track 'Time'

Only about half of all demos that Rabin brought to the cinema sessions ended up on the finished album. Only a few others were later released on official albums (on YesYears, on the expanded edition of 90125 (Rhino Records, 2004), which includes three demos from the time of the cinema sessions among the six bonus tracks, as well as five other demos on Rabin's album 90124 ).

Yes fans have been speculating on a track called Time , a 20-minute epic that would probably have made the connection to the 70s and made the transition to the band's new style less abrupt. Time was written during the studio sessions, but was never finished, and according to the assertions of the band members, no recordings exist. Nevertheless, at least the beginning can be reconstructed: The piece began with the instrumental part, which can now be heard as Cinema on 90125 . This was followed by a first part of the song, which was later published on YesYears under the title Make it easy . A version of Cinema on 90124 documents this transition. It is faded out after 4:13, which can be interpreted as an indication of the presence of further material.

Cover

The title of the album corresponds to its (then) LP and CD catalog number (until shortly before the release the catalog number was finally determined, the planned name was 90104. Bassist Chris Squire vehemently opposed the renaming, but unsuccessfully). 90125 was released on ATCO , a subsidiary of Atlantic Records , a label that was much better suited to the mainstream version of Yes .
The cover, which takes up this new simplicity, was designed by Garry Mouat from Assorted Images. Only a new, simpler Yes logo and the lettering adorn it and mark the style change that has occurred with this album. The well-known curved Yes logo has been dispensed with - Steve Howe also holds some of the rights to this logo, which, however, had left the band. The back is also kept simple. The inner shell of the plate, on the other hand, was designed in a comparatively complex manner. It contains the lyrics and some album information.

Review

After a three-year break, 90125 represented a kind of rebirth for Yes . The progressive rock of the 70s had long since become out of date and with the new, streamlined music that was much closer to the music of bands like Foreigner, Journey or the Genesis of the 80s Tales from Topographic Oceans or Relayer , the band was able to win a new generation of fans. This was mainly due to the success of the first single, Owner of a Lonely Heart . The piece became the band's first and to date only number one hit in the US on January 21, 1984 (the song only reached number 28 in the UK). The album made it into the top 5 and is the band's most commercially successful with 3 million units sold to date. In addition, the instrumental piece Cinema 1984 won the Grammy Award in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category .

The dispute among Yes supporters about the change of style and Rabin's role continues to this day. Ultimately, you will only be able to properly classify the album in the band's history and judge it fairly if you see it as a cinema album that was only named Yes at the last moment . Rabin himself has stated several times that he would have composed completely differently if he had known that he was working on a Yes album. Other reasons for the band's new style can be found in the production of former Yes member Trevor Horn (who initially was briefly discussed as the singer of Cinema) as well as in the pressure of the record company Atlantic Records and its boss Ahmet Ertegün, which are in Rabin's material Above all saw commercial potential and pushed the musicians to a hit album. The album therefore breaks completely with the progressive rock of the previous Yes works.

In 2005, Max Graham's remix of Owner Of A Lonely Heart reached number 9 in the UK singles charts.

In 1983 the CD (like the recorded compact cassette) was still an insignificant data carrier. At that time, WEA's large pressing plant in Alsdorf did not have its own CD production. Therefore the competitor Polygram in Hanover temporarily took over the production of the CD. 90125 was the first Yes CD (price around 60 DM at the time). The Polygram CD did not sell very often and is therefore a relatively rare collector's item today.

Track list

Owner of a Lonely Heart (Rabin / Anderson / Squire / Horn) - 4:30
Hold On (Rabin / Anderson / Squire) - 5:17
It Can Happen (Squire / Anderson / Rabin) - 5:29
Changes (Rabin / Anderson / White) - 6:19
Cinema (Squire / Rabin / White / Kaye) - 2:06
Leave It (Squire / Rabin / Horn) - 4:14
Our Song (Anderson / Squire / Rabin / White) - 4:18
City of Love (Rabin / Anderson) - 4:52
Hearts (Anderson / Squire / Rabin / White / Kaye) - 7:35

Remarks

A mistake happened during the production of Leave It : The time reference track of the voices on the analogue tapes was erased by mistake after the song was finished. The single Leave It had to be sung again, which led to the fact that an a cappella version also exists today.

The album was remastered and re-released in 2004 by Rhino Records . This edition contains the following 6 bonus tracks:

Leave It (Single Remix) (Squire / Rabin / Horn) - 3:56
Make It Easy (Rabin) - 6:12 (previously published on YesYears )
It Can Happen (Cinema Version) (Squire / Anderson / Rabin) - 6:05 (previously released on YesYears )
It's Over (Rabin) - 5:41 (previously unreleased)
Owner of a Lonely Heart (Extended Remix) (Rabin / Anderson / Squire / Horn) - 7:05 (previously unreleased)
Leave It (A Cappella Version) (Squire / Rabin / Horn) - 3:18

Remarks

Tracks 10, 11, 12 and 15 had already been released. Tracks 11 and 12 are from the cinema sessions, track 13 is one of the Rabin demos from 1982. Other parts of the cinema sessions were released on the Trevor Rabin album 90124 and on YesYears .

Major 12-inch versions

Owner of a lonely Heart , Our Song / Owner of a lonely Heart (Special Remix Dance Version)
Leave It (Hello, Goodbye Mix) / Leave It (Re-Mix) , Leave It (Acappella)
It Can Happen (Edit) / It Can Happen (Live)

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	gold	30,000
Germany (BVMI)	platinum	500,000
France (SNEP)	gold	100,000
Canada (MC)	2 × platinum	200,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	50,000
Austria (IFPI)	gold	25,000
United States (RIAA)	3 × platinum	3,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	100,000
All in all	5 × gold 6 × platinum	4,005,000