Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Yes have more than earned their right to make whatever type of album they would like. As a life long fan I have enjoyed all of them, (some more than others no doubt but I wouldn't give any of their other recordings less than 3 stars - Open Your Eyes would get a "3" rating from me and that's mostly a critique of the production itself, not the songwriting), and I am sincerely grateful for Yes' creative contribution to the world of music(!) That being said, this latest offering contains very very little of anything that I, for one, would hope for in Yes album. There is little to no 'rock' here and frankly there isn't that much that one would call 'progressive', either in a modern/contemporary sense or in a 1970's heyday musical sensibility . With the exception of Subway Walls the songs are largely all of mid to low tempo with meandering melodies and fairly simple rhythmic structures. The rhythmic simplicity is really quite suprising and disappointing. Yes have always been known for an engaging and usually quite complex interplay between layers of melody, dynamic rhythmic arrangements and, at times, elements of moderately aggressive rock. There is very little of that here. What is especially disappointing is that this album comes on the heels of the generally well received "Fly From Here", which I certainly found to be an exciting addition to Yes' collection. When Fly From Here was released I was quite proud to see that Yes had put such strong material out in the sunset of their career. Unfortunately I cannot say the same thing for Heaven & Earth. If this is the album that Yes wanted to put out then I am happy for them. As a listener, however, I am almost completely unegaged by this recording.