Album of the Day

Yes: Union. Ah, the wondrous things marketing can do. To the casual observer, Union was an all-star Yes album, bringing together damn near everybody who had ever played in the band. Visions of Bruford and White trading fills or Howe and Rabin bouncing riffs off each other filled the minds of impressionable consumers. The reality was quite different, as the album was basically made of tunes destined for a second ABWH album and a few YesWest tracks. The only cross over between the two was vocally, as Chris Squire sang backup on the ABWH tunes (with bass duties handled by Tony Levin) and Jon Anderson sang on everything! The resulting tour, which actually did have everybody playing together, was probably much better.