Union is the thirteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 30 April 1991 by Arista Records. Production began following the amalgamation of two bands that featured previous and then-current members of Yes: Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), consisting of vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and guitarist Steve Howe, and Yes, at that time comprising bassist and vocalist Chris Squire, guitarist and vocalist Trevor Rabin, keyboardist Tony Kaye and drummer Alan White. ABWH were already signed to Arista, with the other four musicians receiving permission from Atlantic Records (Yes' home since 1969) to join them in recording and releasing Union. ABWH had been struggling to complete a follow-up to their 1989 debut album, while Yes were struggling to complete a follow-up to 1987's Big Generator, as they were unable to settle on a new vocalist to replace Anderson. The resulting Union is a combination of songs from both unfinished albums.
The delivery of the final album was problematic from the start, including late-stage disagreements between some of the musicians regarding the "merger" of the two bands. ABWH had already been suffering from strained relations during the recording process for their second, ultimately unfinished album (which eventually made up the bulk of Union), and the production team of Anderson and producer Jonathan Elias had made the decision to bring in session musicians to re-record parts that Wakeman and Howe had originally completed, causing further friction and resentment. The Squire/Rabin-led Yes had little material written, resulting in some Rabin solo demos and a Squire/Billy Sherwood track being reworked as "Yes" work. Squire sang backing vocals on select ABWH tracks to provide a bridging factor.
Union was released to a decidedly mixed critical reception, and the majority of the band have openly stated their dislike of the material. Despite all this, it fared relatively well commercially, reaching No. 7 in the UK and No. 15 in the US. After two months, Union was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 500,000 copies. The first single, "Lift Me Up", was number one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for six weeks. Howe's acoustic guitar piece "Masquerade" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Yes supported Union with their 1991–1992 ‘Around the World in 80 Dates’ show that featured all eight members playing on stage; Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe left the band after the tour. Although Wakeman and Howe would later return to the group, Union became the final album in Yes's history to feature contributions from Bruford.
Background
In 1983, bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White were working on new material with guitarist/singer/songwriter Trevor Rabin. Original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye rounded out the group, which was initially called Cinema. Upon hearing the new material the quartet were working on, Jon Anderson rejoined them and it now made sense to call the band Yes. The result was their most commercially successful album, 90125 (1983) and Big Generator (1987), for Atco Records. In 1988, Anderson left Yes and formed Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), a group with former Yes members Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Bruford's former King Crimson bandmate Tony Levin on bass guitar. ABWH released their self-titled album for Arista Records in 1989 and supported it with a world tour. During this time, the four remaining Yes members began to write songs with former Yes producer Eddy Offord and held auditions for a new lead singer, including Supertramp vocalist Roger Hodgson and Billy Sherwood of World Trade. Sherwood went on to become a longtime collaborator with Yes, firstly as a live musician and producer; he became their full-time bassist following Squire's death in 2015.
In 1990, ABWH started work on a second album at Studio Miraval in Correns, France with producer Jonathan Elias, Bruford has praised the material that Howe, Tony Levin and he were developing prior to Anderson's involvement, and had high hopes for ABWH's creative future. The atmosphere changed when Arista asserted that none of their new material was suitable for radio airplay. After the backing tracks had been put down, Anderson went to Los Angeles to record some of his vocals. As part of the deal, Atco retained the rights to the band's back catalogue.
Recording and production
Union includes nine tracks recorded by ABWH, these being "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Shock to the System", "Without Hope You Cannot Start the Day", "Silent Talking", "Angkor Wat", "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)", "Holding On", "Evensong", and "Take the Water to the Mountain" The majority of the bass parts on the album are played by Tony Levin (on Stick and fretless bass in addition to bass guitar), with Squire only playing on "Lift Me Up", "Saving My Heart" and "Miracle of Life". Sherwood played bass on "The More We Live–Let Go", which Squire declined to re-record. Squire sang backing vocals on the four tracks Yes produced, as well as several of the ABWH-produced tracks to provide more continuity between the two groups, including "I Would Have Waited Forever", "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" and "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)".
Issues with ABWH tracks
thumb|upright|Producer [[Jonathan Elias's decision, with Anderson, to have session musicians overdub Wakeman and Howe's parts proved to be controversial with fans and critics.]]
When Elias accepted Anderson's invitation to produce the ABWH tracks, with Anderson credited as an associate producer, Elias felt uneasy about the task as a Yes album of "fresh" material was something he thought was too difficult to achieve, following the band's history of internal conflict. He aimed to present the "high technical edge" that Yes were known for, within the structure of more concise and direct songs and not spotlight only technical prowess. Anderson initially resisted this approach as he wished to distance himself from the more commercial music that had largely defined Yes across the previous decade. When recording began, Elias recalled a lack of solid material and the tension between Anderson and Howe especially, including the refusal of the two to stay in the studio while the other was present. Elias tried to help stimulate creativity and brought in a Hammond organ, but said Wakeman refused as he thought the instrument was outdated. Elias concluded that ABWH "didn't care about a note of music", and was relieved to have finished some of the material at all, considering the difficulties and his personal dislike for some of the songs. Among the 11 additional keyboard and synthesiser players featured on Union is Jim Crichton of Saga. Crichton and his assistant Brian Foraker Haun later said that it was Anderson, Elias, "and one other person" who made the final decision as to which parts were kept and replaced by someone else.
Cover
Roger Dean was hired to design the art for the album. After the release of Big Generator, Dean was asked by Phil Carson to design a new band logo, and came up with a square design, but it was not used due to Anderson forming ABWH. When it came to Union, Dean decided to use the Yes logo he designed in 1972, the square design appearing in the corner and on the subsequent Yesyears cover. It would also later appear on the covers of The Ladder and House of Yes: Live from House of Blues.
Songs
By ABWH
"I Would Have Waited Forever" features Howe playing a guitar riff that he also used on "Sensitive Chaos" from his solo album Turbulence (1991). Haun later revealed that Howe plays a short, recurring thread and the ending solo, but all other electric, acoustic, and effect overdubs were in fact played by him, and that Arista wanted a guitar riff similar to that of "Starship Trooper" from The Yes Album (1971). The pair also wrote and recorded "Love Conquers All", a track which was eventually released on the Yesyears box set as a version with Rabin on lead vocals (and which later resurfaced in its original form as a track by the Squire/Sherwood band Conspiracy).
Release
Union was released on 30 April 1991. In the United States, it debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 35, the week of 18 May 1991. The album climbed on the following week, reaching its peak at number 15 on the week ending 25 May. It was present on the chart for a total of 19 weeks.
On 2 July 1991, Union was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 500,000 copies.
In 1992, "Masquerade" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Howe described the nomination for his track as "pure justice", following the difficulties in making the album.
Yes released three singles from Union in 1991. "Lift Me Up" was the lead single, released in April 1991. It became one of the band's most successful singles, spending six weeks at number one from its third week on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, later known as the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was number one from the week of 4 May to 8 June 1991. It reached a peak of 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The second single, "Saving My Heart", released in July 1991, reached a high of number nine on the Album Rock Tracks chart a month later. "I Would Have Waited Forever" was the final single released.
Tour
thumb|Yes [[List of Yes concert tours (1980s–90s)#Union Tour|Union Tour octet in 1991. From left to right: Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Alan White and Steve Howe.]]
The Union Tour covered North America, Europe, and Japan from 9 April 1991 to 5 March 1992, billed as Yesshows '91: Around the World in 80 Dates. It was the first rock tour produced by Philadelphia-based Electric Factory Concerts in its history which also organised advertising and promotion. The partnership evolved following discussions between Anderson and EFC head Larry Magid, who learned that Anderson had enjoyed how the ABWH concert in Philadelphia was presented. The tour featured the eight members playing on stage and some shows were performed in the round with a central revolving stage that the band had first used on their 1978 tour.
Unlike the album, most of the group have reflected positively on the tour. Wakeman ranked it as the most fun he had on a tour. Bruford, by contrast, said the tour was "ludicrous, really. For some of us, it was a very lucrative bit of fun; others needed it desperately."
|rev2 = Entertainment Weekly
|rev2score = D+
|rev3 = Rolling Stone
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| rev4 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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The album received mixed reviews from critics. Chuck Eddy gave it two stars out of five for Rolling Stone, calling it "an eclectic miscarriage that almost isn't even worth laughing about", and wished the album had more memorable hooks, riffs, and concise lyrics. Dave DiMartino of Entertainment Weekly rated the album with a D+, and called it a "stunningly wicked parody of an outlandish concept", pointing out its "complete and utter unlistenability".
Bruce Eder, for AllMusic, thought that it was always difficult for the album to live up to expectations given the amount of musical talent involved. Nevertheless, he judged its songs "reasonably solid", and cites the harmonies in "I Would Have Waited Forever" from Anderson and Squire and Howe's "Masquerade" as highlights. But he thought "Lift Me Up" is a "forced exercise in heaviness" and "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" a "composed-by-numbers" track. The music portal Ultimate Classic Rock ranked Union worst in its list of Yes albums.
Most of the band have negative opinions on the album. Wakeman stated he was dissatisfied with the production, commenting that most of his contributions were so altered in the final result that he could not recognise them, adding that he called the album Onion because "it made me cry every time I heard it". Rabin thought it lacked a linking thread and ranked 90125 and Big Generator as better. "I don't hate Union as much as Rick," he stated in 2016, "but it was a peculiar record. It was instigated by Clive Davis and made largely in isolation by the musicians and Jon, so the title is misleading. To me, Union is more of a failed project than a real album." Bruford remains very critical: "It was probably not only the most dishonest title that I've ever had the privilege of playing drums underneath, but the single worst album I've ever recorded."
Track listing
Note: "Angkor Wat" and "Give & Take" are not included on the vinyl LP version.
Personnel
Yes
- Jon Anderson – lead and backing vocals (all except tracks 3 and 13), acoustic guitar, percussion, associate producer
- Steve Howe – acoustic and electric guitars (tracks 1, 3, 8, 12 and 15),
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Certifications
References
Citations
Bibliography