Talk, the 14th studio album by progressive legends YES, was initially released on March 21, 1994 and is often referred to as the great ‘lost’ YES album. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Spirit Of Unicorn Music will reissue the album as a 4CD Deluxe Edition featuring bonus studio material and a previously unreleased live show from New York, new interview with the principal players by renowned writer Jerry Ewing, a 2LP limited edition white vinyl set, and a single CD. YES fans will welcome the album’s vinyl version as mint copies of the original, and even the reissue, change hands for hundreds of pounds.
After the stellar success of their album 90125 and the slightly troubled birth of its follow-up Big Generator in 1987, which reached the top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic, YES splintered once more. There was talk of getting a new singer, Supertramp’s Roger Hodgson was one name bandied around, as were Kansas singer Steve Walsh, Billy Sherwood of World Trade and even “C’est La Vie” singer Robbie Nevil.
YES eventually ‘reformed’ for 1991’s Union album and tour, which saw eight members reunite. From those eight, a new YES emerged: Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire, Alan White & Rick Wakeman. Due to managerial reasons, Wakeman could not participate, so enter Tony Kaye on keyboards once more and the 90125 lineup was back together. YES also had a new label, Victory Records, headed up by the former Atlantic Records executive Phil Carson, who had personally bankrolled the Cinema/90125 sessions.
The music and lyrics for Talk were written mainly by Rabin and Jon Anderson, and Anderson is adamant that it is his favorite album from the Rabin era of YES, “It was just a beautiful time for me and Trev… it was a very harmonious experience for me.”
Talk was also one of the first albums to be recorded and edited entirely digitally, without using traditional audio tape. It was a groundbreaking move at the time, but the technology, as advanced as it was, was not without its problems. In January 1994, Northridge in the San Fernando Valley in California was hit by an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale, and production had to be halted as the early Apple Mac computers they were working on were being affected by the tremors. To put the technology into context now, in its unedited form, Talk took up 34GB of memory, which today could be transferred via a flash drive in seconds.
Talk was preceded by the release of the opening track, the uplifting “The Calling”, which started to make inroads on US Radio and was followed by “Walls”, which was co-written by Roger Hodgson, from his time working with Rabin in 1990. However, disaster loomed as Victory Music, the original label, went bankrupt shortly after the album’s release, and the album was left to wither and die.
Nevertheless, YES kicked off their US tour for Talk that June and played 77 shows in the US, Canada, South America and Japan. Sadly, the tour never got to Europe or the band’s homeland, which is a source of regret to both Rabin and Anderson. Footage of the show in Santiago, Chile, is available online and shows a band playing at their peak. “My regret is I wish there was a live album,” says Rabin. “I wish we recorded some shows properly, it’s just a board mix….but you can feel the energy from it.”
YES finished the Talk tour at Hiroshima’s Kousei Nenkin Kaikan on October 11, 1994. It would be the last time Trevor Rabin would play with YES as a full-time member.
Talk could be described as the great ‘lost’ YES album and is probably the most cohesive of the Rabin-era YES albums in sound, and the one closest to the classic YES sound of the 70s, exemplified by the stunning fifteen-minute album closer “Endless Dream”. “When I listen to ‘Endless Dream’ it’s such a great piece of music,” Anderson enthuses today. “It’s one of the great YES pieces of music that not many people know. It’s beautiful. And ‘The Calling’. I love it.”
Tracklistings below.
2LP Limited Edition White Vinyl
Side A:
"The Calling"
"I Am Waiting"
Side B:
"Real Love"
"State Of Play"
"Walls"
Side C:
"Where Will You Be"
"Endless Dream"
a) Silent Spring (Instrumental)
b) Talk
c) Endless Dream
Side D:
"The Calling" (Special Version) (Bonus Track)
4CD Deluxe Box Set Edition
CD1 - Original Album
"The Calling"
"I Am Waiting"
"Real Love"
"State Of Play"
"Walls"
"Where Will You Be"
"Endless Dream"
a) Silent Spring (Instrumental)
b) Talk
c) Endless Dream
CD2 - Talk Versions
"The Calling" (Special Version)
"The Calling" (Single Edit)
"The Calling" (Radio Edit)
Untitled – Trevor Rabin Instrumental
"Endless Dream" (Demo)
"Where Will You Be" (Instrumental)
"Walls" (Instrumental)
"Endless Dream" (Excerpt) (Instrumental)
CD3 - Live Canandaigua, New York 19/06/94
"I Am Waiting"*
"The Calling"*
"Rhythm Of Love"*
"Hearts"*
"Real Love"*
"Changes"*
"Heart Of The Sunrise"
"Roundabout"
CD4 - Live Canandaigua, New York 19/06/94
"Cinema"*
"City Of Love"*
"Make It Easy"*
"Owner Of A Lonely Heart"*
Trevor Rabin Piano Solo/"And You And I"*
"I’ve Seen All Good People"*
"Walls"*
"Endless Dream"*
*Previously unreleased
CD - Original Album
"The Calling"
"I Am Waiting"
"Real Love"
"State Of Play"
"Walls"
"Where Will You Be"
"Endless Dream"
a) Silent Spring (Instrumental)
b) Talk
c) Endless Dream
Pre-order:
Cherry Red:
- 4CD
- CD
- Limited Edition White Vinyl
Burning Shed:
Pre-order here
