Yes
Open Your Eyes
Beyond
1997
CD Warehouse, Jacksonville, FL.

Yes
Keys To Ascension 2
Purple Pyramid
1997
Blockbuster Music, Jacksonville, FL.

     It's official. The fact that never seemed to occur to anyone now is now painfully clear, and that fact is this: It doesn't matter who is in Yes anymore, they just plain suck!
     As most of you know, Yes has had many twists and turns in its history. Musicians joined, quit and joined agian ... and quit again. The last couple of years in Yes' history have probably been the most tumultuous ever. The news that the classic Yes line up of Anderson, White, Howe, Squire and Wakeman was reuniting was the most exciting Yes news since 1991's Union album, on which the '70s Yes joined the '80s Yes. And what a flop that turned out to be!
     Well, history seems to have repeated itself, this time in a longer, more drawn-out and painful manner -- not to mention more expensive for Yes fans. Two years, three record labels, two keybordists and five discs after the exciting news of those San Luis Obispo shows in March of 1996 we have the new studio album from Yes, which probably amounts to the biggest anticlimax in progressive rock history -- Open Your Eyes.
     This album is probably the weakest Yes album ever. I say probably because Union's lameness has had seven years to take root in the conciousness of Yes fans and musicians alike. It is powerful and may take some time to dislodge.
     Like Union, Open Your Eyes has some good islands amidst a sea of drek. The first two songs, "New State of Mind" and the title track are what convinced me to buy the album. Both of these got some radio airplay and seemed like a good start. I was really impressed with the huge vocals (now provided by all five members of the band) and the fact that, hidden as deeply in the mix as it was, Steve Howe's unmistakeable guitar style was once again part of the Yes sound. I figured that the non-radio stuff would be better and more progressive. I was wrong. The heavy, catchy four chord riffs of these two songs are the best playing on here. Gone are all traces of musicianship that graced even Yes' most commercial, pop oriented albums from 90125 to Talk. That's right, Talk shreds compared to this! What we are left with here is a lot of new age lovey-dovey stuff which is long on Jon Anderson's vocals and short on interesting music. It seems Jon and new guitarist/keyboardist, Billy Sherwood (whose band World Trade has an album on Magna Carta Records -- that should tell you something) took control of most of this album and ruined it worse than Trevor Rabin would have ever dreamed. At least Trevor was not afraid to show off some guitar chops once in a while.
     Before Yes went completely down the tubes with Open Your Eyes they tried to give us one last look at how Yes used to be with Keys to Ascension 2 , an unabashed prog rock album. Like the first instalment of Keys to Ascension, which came out about a year before part two, we get one disc of material from the reunion concerts in San Luis Obispo a couple of years ago, and one disc of new studio material. The live stuff once again features some surprizes. "Turn of the Century" appears here for the first time on a live album and it sounds pretty nice. "Going for the One" is also a rare pick and comes off well too. I question, however, whether anyone really needs another live version of "I've Seen All Good People" or "Time and a Word," a song no one really likes anyway. Also, the performance of the once great "Close to the Edge" is embarrassingly weak, even more so than the one on the Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe live album. I love Steve Howe a lot, so I hate to say this, but I think he is just geting old. His live performances are the weakest of all the band members and it really shows here. It occasionally seems like he just can't remember all the parts.
Disc two once again features new studio material. "Mind Drive" is a much better attempt at a long prog epic than "That, That Is," the big one from Keys 1, but it reeks of insincerity and lacks any real creativity. What we have here is a bunch of unrelated musical ideas strung together to be 18 minutes long. This is nowhere near the level of a "Close to the Edge" or a "Gates of Delirium." Many of Yes' modern imitators can do better than this. There is very little heart or energy to this or any of the other studio tracks. It seems like Jon and the boys are just tossing us a "prog rock" bone while they're really more concerned about the Open Your Eyes album.
     In the end, what we have is a crummy new "adult contemporary"-meets-four-chord-rock direction with Open Your Eyes, and a stale, half-hearted attempt to recreate the good old days with Keys 2. Both have some good moments, but overall it's just the latest in a series of big fat let downs from what was once one of the leading progressive rock bands.

King Crimson
The Nightwatch
Discipline Global Mobile
1997
Gift

     To say that I was looking forward to getting this album would be an understatement. This particular incarnation of King Crimson, especially live, holds a certain spell over me like no other band ever has. The Great Deceiver boxed set changed forever the way I thought about music and is one of my most prized posessions. The idea of getting two more CDs of John Wetton-era King Crimson was exciting to me to say the least. I could not afford to buy CDs at all there for awhile, but when I managed to find one copy of this in a local store I was so tempted. I stared at it. I held it. I caressed it. I started to get teary-eyed. Two more discs of that deliciously ugly bass sound! Two more discs of piercing laser beam guitar solos! Two more discs of Mellotron mayhem! Alas, I just couldn't afford it.
     Well, now it's mine through an act of generosity by someone special (Thank you, Billie Sue!) and I have been listening to it like crazy. I won't really waste too much more time beating around the bush. It rocks, of course. What did you expect? As Robert Fripp says in his increasingly acrid liner notes, "this band could be disturbingly powerful and powerfully disturbing." The menacing, twisted atmosphere this band created live, while simultaneously playing intelligent and often extremely sophisticated compositions and improvisations is alomst unmatched anywhere in rock music. In a just world, this album would do what The Great Deceiver box set could not have done: reach a new audience and blow a lot of minds previously unaware of this band's power.
     One of the interesting things about this set is that it features an entire concert which was recorded in Amsterdam on November 23, 1973 (17 days before I was born). This show was broadcast on BBC radio and bootlegged extensively and is widely regarded as one of King Crimson's best ever. Interestingly, the band members did not seem to think so -- not at first anyway. At the beginning of the show, the band is plagued by small mistakes and equipment failure (listen to David Cross' Mellotron give up the ghost on "The Nightwatch"). The band was tired from touring and morale was low for this show. However, the energy level seems to pick up near the middle of the concert. David Cross' short note in the CD booklet seems to indicate that the beautiful improv, "Trio" (apparently one of Cross' few good memories of playing with Crimson) was the turning point that night. It's true that the performances improve on disc two. "Exiles" is particularly interesting and unusual here because Robert Fripp slightly changes the opening melody he plays on the Mellotron by adding an extra note. The result is nicely ominous. The highlight of the show is the fifteen or so minutes of nonstop playing comprised by "The Fright Watch," "The Talking Drum," and "Larks' Tongues in Aspic part II".
All are excellent performances.
     There is a down side to this album, however. Hardcore Crimheads like myself already have half of this concert spread across various other releases. These very same performances of "Fracture," "Starless and Bible Black," "Trio" and part of "The Nightwatch" make up a large part of the 1974 album "Starless & Bible Black." This version of "The Talking Drum," including a portion of the improv called "The Fright Watch," which precedes it, is already available on the "Frame by Frame" box set. This "21st Century Schizoid Man" can be found there too. That leaves only five complete songs which were not previously available. Sure, a couple of tiny overdubs on "Fracture" have been removed and we have a different, truer mix, but these changes are barely noticable. David Cross' violin is louder. That's about it. If you haven't got the box set or Starless & Bible Black and don't plan on ever getting them, you should definitely buy this. Of course, if you haven't got those by now, you probably don't even want this (and you should have your head examined). If you can recite by heart all of Robert Fripp's witty anouncements on the Great Deceiverset (including the hidden ones at the ends of discs two and three); and you can tell the difference between all four versions of "Easy Money" on that set within the first 10 seconds, you need this album... and a social life. Barring that, you may want to save your money for the upcoming live set from 1984, a much less documented era in the band's live history.

5uu's
Crisis In Clay
1997
ReR
Wayside Music

Review by Mike Eisenberg

          Ah yes, RIO, you either love it or hate it, and I suspect this will be the case with the most recent 5uu's disc Crisis in Clay. At the risk of sounding overly snobby, (which I am...or at least so says my wife) this is not the disk to get for the uninitiated. If you are curious about the RIO sound, I suggest starting with Henry Cow's Legend or possibly a Univers Zero disc. Let those musics introduce you to the genre. While no less challenging than the new 5uu's disc...lets just say they are a bit more accessable, not to mention much more melodic.
     That being said, Crisis in Clay is a darn excellent piece of American RIO. After their previous effort, Hunger's Teeth, this one shows the band stretching out into even more adventurous territory. The personnel are the same, David Kerman on drums, Bob Drake on bass, guitars and vocals and Sanjay Kumar on keys. Thomas DiMuzio and Scott Brazieal have guest spots with DiMuzio adding electronic and computer generated sounds and Brazieal (yes, the same Scott Brazieal from the late, great Cartoon) on vibes on one track. The tracks are numerous and fairly short -- all in the two to five minute range. This fact alone accounts for the most obvious change I can detect between Crisis in Clay and Hunger's Teeth. The songs are chock full of ideas that come and go so quickly that in many cases the listener is left wanting more development.
     But oh what ideas they are -- talk about a tight ensemble! In keeping with the RIO school of difficult music this one nearly takes the cake. (See Motor Totemist Guild for a close runner up.) During the instrumental passages that don't have an industial wail to them the playing is mind boggling. Drums, bass and keys all connect and sometimes collide to create a fusion of nearly self-combustible sound. I'm talking about hot driving rock and roll here folks -- the kind that makes you want to get up and kick some serious butt. It's not all like this but the parts that are make this disc a must-purchase for the seasoned listener. I say seasoned because there is also a good dosage of industrial drones, blips and bleeps that come into play. Some of this reminds me of the Fred Frith-produced Muffins album 185, with all the disembodied sounds floating in and out of the mix. The casual listener might find this grating.
     A quick mention of the vocals is in order. As many of you know from listening to Hunger's Teeth, Bob Drake is a dead ringer for Jon Anderson. This creates a strange juxtaposition if you're a Yes fan, as Anderson would never be caught dead dealing with this kind of music. But at times you can swear you're listening to the ole Yes man himself. The vocal melodies, (or should I say lack of melodies?) to this writer, seem to be injected into the muisc to the music, not the other way around. The words kind of shadow the rhythm of the piece, sort of like something Frank Zappa would do. (See "The Dangerous Kitchen" off the album Man From Utopia.) If you don't mind not being able to "sing along with the uu's" then this shouldn't be a problem, but it might take a little getting used to.
     So, should you buy this disc? Yep, if you know what to expect going into it. There is a lot of excellent, rewarding, cerebral stuff to be had here, but if you're new to the RIO genre it would be best to start elsewhere.

Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins
Sluggo
1997
Immune Records
Immune Records

Review by Dan Luft

     Sometimes there is nothing better than getting new music. Recently I found myself in one of those periods where things in general were kinda bad, money was a little tight. Buying new music had become a luxury expense. In an effort to not let it get me down, I would listen to every album I owned trying to find something "new" that would interest me again, and get frustrated when I couldn't find it. This began to take a toll on the happiness quotient in my life. Mix that in with the pressures of the 8-5 workaday world, and you get the makings of a real sourpuss. [Welcome to my world! -- Ed.]
     Luckily for me, it was about this time that I more or less stumbled across the Mike Keneally website. Filled with personal journals, road diaries, and stories from his experiences touring with Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, and Dweezil Zappa's band "Z" the Keneally site became a daily stop for me on my surf trips to cyberspace. It was a good thing. I got excited about music again, and I returned my normal happyish self. And soon when the finances weren't so bad I was able to purchase the latest album that Keneally had recorded with his band Beer for Dolphins, called Sluggo! But this is the weird part. It was an album that I simply had to have. I was already in a state where I needed some new music, but after visiting the website so many times, I had reached a point where this was the only new album I wanted to buy. On my trips to the Keneally webpage I had read about how Sluggo! was recorded, how many of the ideas were conceived, what some of the inside jokes in the lyrics were, what instruments were used, and how excited Keneally and his bandmates were about these new songs. There was a part of the site where fans sent in their own reviews, and everyone gushed over the songs, the cover art, the musicianship and the lyrics. I guess I was swept up in the excitement that the webpage created, that not owning this album made me actually feel like I was missing something. After all, the only thing that I didn't know about the album was what it sounded like.
     This was much different from when I bought my first Keneally album in 1992, when everyone I talked to had never heard of him, and it took a month and a half to find a store that would special order it for me. But in a way, there was something cool about that. I was the only one in my little universe that knew about Keneally and his music. It was my music. The fact that I thought I was the only one who knew about it made me feel special. The way the webpage made it sound, I was the last guy on earth who hadn't heard Sluggo!. Instead of feeling special, I started feeling left out.
     Sluggo! arrived in the mail, and I began to listen to it religiously. It was, as advertised, fantastic. Filled to the brim with catchy, yet deceptively intricate songs and jaw dropping musicianship, Sluggo! was everything I hoped it would be. The offbeat humor and catchy songs on Sluggo! became the perfect soundtrack. My life got back on track. But at the same time, I was listening to the tracks thinking to myself, "This is the song where the bass doesn't come in for a few measures." And "Here's the part where he quotes from Inca Roads." "This one is dedicated to his daughter." I was so involved in every part of it, that I couldn't help but enjoy the music. There was a moment where I wondered if I would like this album if I hadn't read all about it. . . eventually I decided that the arrangements were so well crafted, and the playing was so filled with new and exciting twists that the results would be the same. But I made an interesting choice at that moment. I stopped listening to it for a spell. I put other things in the CD player. I found a John Scofield album I hadn't bothered with in a while, and fell in love with it all over again. And eventually when I went back to the Beer for Dolphins disc, I found myself really getting into the songs for what they were, and not what I already knew about them.
     I think this brings up an interesting point: I had a rather odd reaction to the fact that I was unable to get all the little "surprises" that you experience when you hear a new album for the first time. Unknowingly by devouring all the little stories and liner notes on the webpage, I had in a way robbed myself of the best part of getting a new album. It was like seeing a movie and realizing that the television commercials had given away all the best parts. And even though I thoroughly enjoyed the album, I learned an interesting lesson about the consequences of living in the information age. Something about the value of discovering new things for yourself. Something to ponder...
     All my emotional goulash aside, Sluggo! is a fantastic album. Now that I have had time to let it sink in and not be such a "Fatal Attraction" thing, I can tell you that this is perhaps the most confident sounding of all the Keneally albums so far. The one major difference that jumps right out at you is the fact that there are only 16 songs on the album. Previous Keneally solo efforts have offered up to 30 tracks. (In all fairness, many of those tracks were short "transitional pieces" that ran anywhere from five to thirty seconds). The addition of these pieces allowed the two previous studio efforts, Hat and Boil That Dust Speck to appear as one continuous listening experience (possibly related to the "All Titles Segue/Conceptual Continuity" approach introduced by Frank Zappa). Sluggo! still has a few moments like this, such as the trancy "What Happened Next," and nightmarish humor of "I Guess I'll Peanut" but in general, this album is a collection of songs that stand on their own. And they do a darn good job of it too. Although the tracks that stand out the most on the first couple of listens ("Potato," "Frozen Beef," "Voyage to Manhood" and "Why Am I Your Guy") lean heavily on straight ahead power pop conventions, Keneally never lets things get too normal before throwing in some musical monkey wrench to keep you off guard. Along with having his more straight ahead songs veer off into uncharted sonic territory at unexpected points, the order of the tracks on the album seems to have been deliberately peppered with some truly twisted and complex compositions. Songs like "I, Drum Running, Am Clapboard Bound," and the polyrhythm-laden "Egg Zooming" simultaneously offset and compliment more straight ahead fare like the anthemish "Chatfield Manor," and head bobbing excess of "Own." And lying somewhere in the middleground are songs like "Beautiful," and "Tranquillado" where complex musical ideas are offered up in such a leathally catchy manner that you almost miss them on the first listen.
     One of the best surprises of this disc however is the pervasiveness of piano and keyboards throughout. Keneally was perhaps in danger of getting "lumped in" with the shredder bunch (Vai, Satriani) after his sideman role on the recent "guitar-a-palooza" G3 tour. He certainly has the chops to be counted among those ranks, but on this album he takes a giant step towards identifying himself as a multidimensional artist. Driven by great performances from bassist Bryan Beller and an army of drummers featuring Toss Panos, Frank Briggs, Joe Travers, Mike Mangini and even Keneally himself, Sluggo! weaves its way through several styles and moods using musical prowess as an accent rather than a building block. The songs, not the players, take center stage here.
      Reading back, it seems that I might still not be separated enough from the excitement that I attached to this album to be truly objective, but I think that there is a message in that. I really do believe that this is one of those special albums that only comes along once in a while, by one of the most underrated musical talents of this era. I find something new every time I listen to it. I think you will too.