POLL: Best Track on Yes' 90125

I am actually surprised "Leave It" hasn't yet achieved immortality on the a capella college group circuit. Seems like the perfect song for that kind of thing.

According to drummer Fogarino, this album was a key influence on the production of the latest Interpol album.

Haven't heard it yet, but I would imagine, given the source, that he means they're going for the Gary Langan drum sound also heard on Art of Noise's Who's Afraid Of... and ABC's Beauty Stab...

It's a beauty...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Changes". Because it sounds more like their earlier stuff, which was a lot better.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Populist choice wins again!

"our song" has been in my head for a few days now : /

Missed this poll but would have voted for the amazing "It Can Happen" which blew my mind when this record came out. Funny album -- "Leave It," "Changes," "It Can Happen," "Our Song," and even (especially?) the bombastic "Hold On" are better than the big single.

been going through the yes discography for the first time since college. trevor horn-era yes is some of my favorite music ever

*orchestral hit*

It just occurred to me that 90125 would've been better if Jon Anderson had stayed away for one album longer and Trevor Horn was doing all the lead vocals.

i nearly agree

http://occupationoforegon.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/get_the_fuck_out.jpg

This is basically the first Art of Noise track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMM9rIRdrck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1xymiwkLRA

A+

Wau at those results...lurkers ftw! (I woulda voted "Leave It")

don't go toledo, toledo don't go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgfZgBpDzPM

haha

I still smile when I think about what Trevor Horn said during an interview once while retrospectively discussing this track: there's a gunshot sound during the "eagle in the sky" verse, this was apparently the part of the lyrics that Jon Anderson wrote because he wasn't happy about having sing lyrics that he didn't write, and he really disliked the song. Apparently he was so huffy about it, that Trevor Horn decided to add the gunshot sound so that he was "shooting the eagle", as a small gag to amuse himself.

I actually wait for that part of the song to happen now that I know what it's all about... hehehehe!

straight gangsta "shooting the eagle". can't spell "prog" without OG

Argh, I meant 'Owner of a Lonely Heart', of course.

he wasn't happy about having sing lyrics that he didn't write, and he really disliked the song.

That's so weird; why did he rejoin, then, if he didn't like the material? iirc, the "Cinema" project was pretty much in the can when someone said, "Hey, if we get Jon to sing, we can call it Yes!" Jon could've said...well..."no."

If I remember correctly, 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' was one of the last things to be recorded for the album, and it only got recorded in the first place because Trevor Horn had heard the unfinished demo and practically begged the band to work on it. Horn had heard the demo, and apparently he was initially unimpressed by it until he heard the chorus alongside the main riff, which convinced him that the track had hit potential. From what it sounds like, Horn was really one of the only people who had enthusiasm for it and the rest of the band weren't keen, but he persisted and eventually got the band to work on it. Anderson loathed the track and apparently was sulky about it, and I remember hearing that Alan White wasn't thrilled about having his snare drum tuned like that. Horn just wanted a hit single, and got one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ceMZXi-mys

Ha, that's pretty interesting, and he's otm about the snare tuning.

(And Jon Anderson's never been in a position to trash anyone else's lyrics.)

I remember the video being super creepy. There were two versions, one with giant bugs and one without.

I remember watching that Trevor Horn interview for the first time ages ago and when he got to the part about the drum sound being influenced by Copeland's on Synchronicity I was like "oh, fucking hell, of course!" ... it's one of those things that should seem an obvious influence, but didn't really spring to mind. I've just been reminded of it after re-watching it again.

"owner of a lonely heart" is the second lamest on the album after "city of love". trevor and john in excelsis on "hearts". all angels of the magic constellation, be singing us now

jigsaw puzzle traitors, sent to spill the beans
constitution screw up, shattering the dreams

Funny album -- "Leave It," "Changes," "It Can Happen," "Our Song," and even (especially?) the bombastic "Hold On" are better than the big single.

Listening to this for the first time this century, and while "Hold On" in full isn't great, the a cappella bridge sure is something.

This sent me back to the record – I had forgotten about the a capella bit in "Hold On." The chorus is pretty terrific as well. I love how prominent Squire's voice is on this record in general.

Also: Rabin's demo for "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is fascinatingly cheesy:

https://youtu.be/fhWHsgOy46g?t=1m31s

Trevor Horn's discussion of what he did to the song is also great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ceMZXi-mys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmFuK-tdRpk

Ha, that's pretty neat!

keep coming back to this album

hold on -> it can happen is one of the most heroic stretches of hero music ever. it is music to save planets to

who would believe you?
wise men do

hold on -> it can happen is one of the most heroic stretches of hero music ever. it is music to save planets to

I read imago's stuff on the various poll threads and I say to myself, "here's a person who truly deeply cares about music and yet we have no common reference point at all, what an interesting experience," but no, this, this is what we have in common

only such fools
only such jealous hearts
only through love changes come

yes united us all

i'm trying to write a poem but what i'm doing instead is playing HOLD ON at maximum volume and almost crying, maybe this is the poem

how could men have understood the 1980s so perfectly and intuitively in only 1983

eh, it can happen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhbfyP578oc

Come, old boy, you had much better have the thing out at once
That is exactly what dentists always do
Now, go on! Tell me the whole thing

OP otm
“Leave It”

This was one of the first LPs I ever bought, but I only heard the CD bonus tracks a few weeks ago. They're mostly outtakes from the early, Rabin-heavy stages of the record. I can't imagine that this record could have had much more than modest success without Anderson's voice and Horn's unusual touches.
From this and Big Generator, Trevor Rabin's whole aesthetic seems to be steeped in AOR, in the way someone else might have all their ideas filtered through blues, country or folk music. I feel like you could give him any musical input and he would automatically reinterpret it via pinch-harmonic-heavy squealing lead guitar and fist-pumping choruses. Don't know if there's anything on Union or Talk to change my mind.

the part in Leave It where the scat singing goes into overdrive is so fucking funny

I was surprised how much I liked the Rabin bonus tracks, they're good. I wouldn't mind giving his own stuff a go, but it's one of these things I can't imagine getting around to for a long time

I am shamefully late at getting to this album 25 years after buying my first Yes album, but 'City of Love' strikes me as the exact kind of stomper that Zep would have made if they were still around when this album came out

"Owner" is good and all but 15 years later I'm still mad people obviously don't know the album tracks on this

So much talk of justice and liberty and freedom on this album!

the last Yes album to not have a single shitty track on it.

God, that a cappella breakdown in "Hold On" has been stuck in my head for the past week. You think that's all there is, and then it goes into that "round and round and round / we living in gravity" part.

Also, especially from a pop-songwriting angle, it's interesting to hear this earlier version of "It Can Happen" made by Squire/White/Rabin but without Trevor Horn, Tony Kaye, or Jon Anderson. Much weaker verse lyrics, keebs instead of sitar, first draft of a pop hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe2VlpOBmY0

The poll results gave me a mistaken impression of how strong the lesser-known tracks are before I'd ever heard them. I only finally listened last year and it's a really consistent album!

HEARING
TALKING

The Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz thread now has this pair stuck in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG_VDj8Eh_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftHyM_KSgE0

I worked in a record store when this came out, it was in heavy rotation then. I haven't listened to the whole album in probably more than 30 years. I almost always gravitate to their earlier stuff. Maybe it's time for a spin.

Also, I would have picked "Leave It."