MIRROR TO THE SKY

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Living Out Their Dream" features an introduction that Howe considered reminiscent of The Rolling Stones, and said the song has a slight tongue-in-cheek lyric.

It is a Yes album by members of Yes and featuring only one of the original (post The Yes Album) members in Steve Howe but this current version of the group has produced music that should satisfy any Yes fan. The pair approached the song's lyrical themes in different ways; Davison said Sherwood took on a more "technological and physical" aspect, whereby he looked at it from a metaphysical view. Is it a retread of The Quest, which on the surface felt like a bit of a tribute act to past glories? All Connected comes off a little ordinary to begin with, but there so much to it and now sometimes I go straight to that song first.

Despite my earlier remarks about non-equal footing, this track does in fact achieve entrance into the Yes pantheon. The instrumental backing has its moments, but the overly light vocal arrangements detract from the body of this song.

The legacy of Yes surely lives on, and 'Mirror to the Sky' is a good album that aims to point out exactly this! In October 2021, the Yes line-up of guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, lead vocalist Jon Davison, and bassist Billy Sherwood, with Jay Schellen guesting on percussion, released The Quest.There are many tempo changes, especially in the second half where the bass and guitars are shining while Geoff Downes's keys are still in the background. I shall be playing it regularly, happy in the knowledge that Yes the group, whoever is in it, is staying true to the music I have loved since the late 1960s. Another essential ingredient for capturing the full energy of a band is to have them all live on the studio floor together. Philosophical conundrums aside, I haven’t been shy about dragging big-name acts through the mud when they put out a bad record.

He felt Downes was "strangely absent" from the album and considered his role as a supporting player as opposed to handling lead riffs and melodies.Steve Howe plays the same short pattern over and over and over, just shifted up or down a few notes. Its initial title was "Luminous", but it was subsequently changed after Howe, Davison, and Sherwood expanded on the initial arrangement that they had worked out and made it what Howe described as "a bigger tune". An early title to "Magic Potion" was "It's a Good Day to Be Had by All", but Howe changed it as it sounded too similar to "It Will Be a Good Day" from The Ladder (1999). The band also continued to work with engineer and mixer Curtis Schwartz at his studio in Ardingly, West Sussex. Just like the good old days, when there was no demand on your time—just a copy of The Yes Album or Fragile or Close to the Edge on the turntable.

The 14-minute title track is perhaps the best event on the album, as Yes perform a longer track that works quite well as one, the playing is fantastic, the ideas on here sound fresh and modern, and every minute of this great epic is thoroughly enjoyable. The group made several arrangements of the song, including one featuring a church organ, but decided to strip it back to its more minimal form. YES received unconditional support from InsideOut boss Thomas Waber, who encouraged them to keep going in the studio, months before The Quest would even go on sale. For Yes, that “next thing” is a collection of high energy, intricate, lush and layered new studio songs for an album which adds to the band’s much heralded legacy, while charting a path to exciting future times ahead. None of this is a negative evaluation, because even lesser tracks on a Yes album are better than anything you will hear elsewhere.

Overall a very positive reception for this new Yes album, the band is trying to stay relevant and creatively focused, which is a great thing.