Yes Album: «Friends & Relatives»

- Customers rating: (2.0 of 5)
- Title:Friends & Relatives
- Release date:1998-08-25
- Type:Audio CD
- Label:Cleopatra
- UPC:741157033724
- 1 - 1Owner Of A Lonely Heart (98 Remake) - Jon Anderson
- 1 - 2Ice - Rick Wakeman
- 1 - 3Red And White - Steve Howe
- 1 - 4Zone Of O - Esquire
- 1 - 5Up North - Earthworks & Bill Bruford
- 1 - 6The Pyramids Of Egypt - Rick Wakeman
- 1 - 7Roundabout - Steve Howe
- 1 - 8Sync Or Swim - Wakeman With Wakeman
- 1 - 9Arthur - Rick Wakeman
- 1 - 10Close To The Edge: The Sound Time Of Change/Total Mass Retain/I Get Up, I Get Down/Seasons Of Man - Yes
- 2 - 1No Expense Spared - Wakeman With Wakeman
- 2 - 2Say - Jon Anderson
- 2 - 3Walk Don't Run - Steve Howe
- 2 - 4Tron Thomi - Esquire
- 2 - 510 Million - Jon Anderson
- 2 - 6Excerpts From Tales From Topographic Oceans: The Revealing Science Of God/The Remembering: High... - Steve Howe
- 2 - 7The More You Know - Jon Anderson
- 2 - 8Journey - Rick Wakeman
- 2 - 9America - Yes
Yes: Friends and Relatives is a collection of recent solo projects from the most notable members of Yes. Most of the material is available on other solo albums. Unfortunately for Yes fans, the best songs on this compilation are the live tracks from "Keys to Ascention" I and II, which most of you diehards probably already have. Steve Howe's cover of "Walf Don't Run" is a kick. Only Jon Anderson's solo efforts sound as though they were recorded in the '90s. As such, his latest effort "The More You Know" may be worth checking out. To the avid Yes fan (such as myself) this effort neither disappoints nor excites. All in all, Friends and Relatives proves that Yes was, indeed, much greater than the sum of its parts.
My son's hamster mysteriously went berserk when I put this CD on. I was less thrilled. Anything worth listening to you probbably have on the original albums. If your looking for some little known gems from Yes, don't look here. Mind drive on Keys to Accension II is one that blew me away.
Thankfully I only paid a couple of dollars for this. If you're a fan of "old" Yes (Relayer and prior) and expect anything remotely in the same vein I think you will be horribly horribly disappointed.
The only pieces worth anything, but not very much, are a couple of the wakeman ditties. The rest is purest drivel. I'm so glad I din't pay a lot for this album. Up North is one my favorite Earthworks songs, but it doesn't fit into this collection -- too jazzy and too good.
I guess it only goes to confirm that each of the heroes in Yes can do very un-heroic things. Don't bother with this one. If you want non-Yes performances by Yes dudes try: Howe: Grand Scheme of Things (only!); Bruford: Earthworks or Feels Good to Me or many others (including Crimson and BLUE); Wakeman: Six Wives (only!); and many folks respect Squire's Fish Out of Water and Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow, but I'm not among them.

