Talk, the fourteenth studio album from progressive rock titans Yes was originally released in the Spring of 1994. At the time, it received some disparaging reviews from fans. At Hotel Hobbies, I became a rock fan in the late 1980s and early 1990s and Talk was an album I enjoyed from the first listen. It is a contender for the band’s most underrated opus and the final release to feature Tony Kaye and Trevor Rabin. This thirtieth anniversary box set contains four discs: a remaster of the original album; a disc of demos, instrumentals and alternative versions; and a two-disc live set recording from New York in 1994.
Disc One: Talk
Talk stands as a testament to the band’s enduring spirit and showcases an approach that melded the group’s signature progressive rock, art-rock complexity and the pop-oriented melodies that the band employed during the 1980s. Talk was Yes’s first album to utilise fully digital recording techniques although some long-term fans still balked at the crisp and polished sound, it should have come as no surprise following 90125 or Big Generator. The combination of this sonic methodology and the production techniques of Rabin, means that each instrumental is clear and vibrant in the overall mix.
The opening track, The Calling, immediately sets the tone for the album with its anthemic chorus and Rabin’s guitar work - ranging from delicate picking to soaring solos. Throughout Talk, Jon Anderson’s vocals retain their ethereal power and his lyrical themes continue to explore spiritual and philosophical themes, albeit in a more accessible manner compared to some of the band’s earlier compositions. Via the exquisite euphoria of I Am Waiting, the slightly harder edged Real Love, the more luscious territories of State of Play and Walls (co-composed by Rodger Hodgson) and the emotive lyrics of Where Will You Be, the band arrive at the album’s centrepiece – the exquisitely crafted, fifteen-minute, multi-part closing epic, Endless Dream.
Although they have released some high quality material since, Talk is possibly the last truly great album that Yes made but it is fair to say that an individual listener’s take on the album will most probably be influenced by the way they first came to the band. Having discovered the band in the mid-80s, the Rabin era remains of significant importance to me. It is understandable that those who began their journey with the band in the 1970s (an era I quickly came to love just as much) might see things quite differently. Members of the band look back on the album with delight – as evidenced by quotes in the accompanying booklet, collated by Prog Magazine’s Jerry Ewing. “Glorious,” beams Anderson. “It was like a renaissance of Yes to me.” Rabin echoes these thoughts, “It’s such a good record and I felt like it deserved so much more at the time.”
Disc Two: Talk Versions
The appeal of an anniversary box set inevitably depends on the extras that accompany the original album. First up are three versions of The Calling; these add little of true value as they are simply different edits (including both the single edit and radio edit) and Rabin’s three-minute instrumental is a welcome curio only on first spin. Instrumental versions of Where Will You Be, Walls and an excerpt from Endless Dream – the original studio versions with the vocals removed - allow listeners to dive a little more fully into the instrumentation but if this was the intention, why not include a completely instrumental version of the album as part of the set? Of most interest is the ten-minute – extremely rough - demo of Endless Dream in its infancy, complete with some studio discussion and raw, and at times, strained vocals. Overall, Talk Versions is somewhat of a welcome addition to the box set but for most fans, it will not inspire repeated listens in its entirety.
Discs Three and Four:
Live in Canandaigua
New York (19th June 1994)
Without doubt, the main reason for considering investing in this box set is the inclusion of a live show from the – all too short – tour to promote the album. Although the tour extensively covered the USA plus a handful of Canadian, South American and Japanese dates, many fans missed out on the final outing of this line-up. As mentioned in Jerry Ewing’s notes, the band have fond memories of the tour but regret the fact it did not reach Europe or the UK: “I have to say, I think it’s the best the band ever played,” says Rabin proudly. “We were so into doing it and it was so well done and boy did we love playing. I think there’s a show from Chile where Endless Dream is played and the band is really together.” Anderson is equally enthusiastic about it, “The band was great….Sadly, we never got to Europe, which was stupid. But I wasn’t in charge. I was never in charge of anything. I just sang and wrote some lyrics with Trevor.”
The live album was recorded at Finger Lakes Performing Arts Centre in Canandaigua, New York, just a couple of dates into the tour in June 1994 – a performance that has previously been available as a bootleg. Varying in different ways from the actual setlist, the dual discs included here omit Perpetual Motion – the original recording was unusable - which opened the set and there are several variations from the order of the concert – for example, Roundabout is at the end of the first live disc, when in reality it was the encore; I Am Waiting and The Calling (only half of which is featured due to the same issue as Perpetual Motion) are reversed and Where Will You Be comes after And You And I rather than before it. While this does not necessarily affect the enjoyment of most individual songs, it is a little disappointing that an official box set does not capture a true reflection of the evening without even referencing this fact. The band clearly had faith in their more recently released material and the setlist (Roundabout, And You And I and Heart of the Sunrise aside) is culled from the Rabin-era of the band and features all the songs from Talk except State Of Play. As there are several live albums focussing on the earlier periods of the band, this is an extremely interesting setlist for fans of this line-up.
That the live album should feature the songs in the same order as the original bootleg implies that these live discs are purely a slightly touched up version of this. The overall sound quality is fairly good but there are occasional moments when dips in quality lead to it sounding as if the recording is being made from the back of the car park of the venue or certain instruments fade in and out unexpectedly. In different tracks, the keyboard and bass seem to be more prominent as there are clearly some inevitable limitations to the source material. However, this is not endemic across every track. Each member of the band is clearly on form, Anderson’s vocals are on point and there are some glorious guitar flourishes from Rabin. It is wonderful to have an official release from this tour and there is enough quality to have fans of these songs to be caught up in a whirlwind of excitement and overlook the inconsistencies.
Packaging
The four discs come in a sturdy box and although they are individually packaged and come in stiff cardboard inlays, they are of the type that require the disc to be pushed in quite hard. The separate booklet features interesting notes and interview quotes – which also discuss changes within the band before and after the release of Talk - from the ever-reliable Jerry Ewing. If listeners intended to purchase the box set to obtain a copy of the original album – remastered here – they should be aware there are no lyrics included anywhere.
Price
While Talk remains a thoroughly enjoyable album and it deserves a release of this nature, at roughly £50 it is quite an expensive investment for a somewhat limited release, certainly when compared to the recent box sets issued by Marillion for example. Whether or not listeners are prepared to spend this amount on an album which contains no visual content and a concert, which while definitely the best this recording has sounded, is not a complete record and not accurate from a setlist point of view, will depend on the individual listener.