Short Reviews [Pangaea - 1997 - "The Rite of Passage"]

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘Talk’, Spirit of Unicorn Music have reissued it as a 4CD Deluxe Edition featuring bonus studio material and a previously unreleased live show from New York, a new interview with the principal players by Jerry Ewing, a 2-LP limited edition white vinyl set and a single CD. After ‘Onion’, sorry ‘Union’, the ‘90125’ line-up of the band got back together so the fourteenth studio album from the band again featured Jon Anderson (lead & backing vocals), Trevor Rabin (electric & acoustic guitars, keyboards, programming, lead & backing vocals), Tony Kaye (Hammond Organ), Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals) and Alan White (drums). This is sometimes referred to as “the lost album”, and somewhat to my surprise it was only when playing this that I realised I had never actually heard it before. Given how important this band was to me in my teenage years I don’t know how it passed me by at the time, possibly because I never really felt that Rabin being in the band was a true reflection of Yes while I never rated Tony Kaye when compared with Wakeman. This means I came to this album with a fresh mind, and I was intrigued to discover that this is actually way better than I thought it would be. Jon is singing very well indeed, and the music has definitely moved back in time when compared with the too radio friendly of ‘90125’. It kicks off with “The Calling”, which feels very traditional Yes with multi-layered harmonies and picked nylon stringed guitar, it could almost be Steve Howe and then Squire comes in with that thumping bass and all is good with the world. The more I played the original album the more I enjoyed it, but what I have here is the four CD extended version, and it all goes wrong with the second. Okay, so I understand that it is a great idea to have a CD of rarities, but I am sure there are not that many people who want to listen to the same song three times in a row, even if it is different edits. At least move them through the CD, please? Some of the ideas contained on this are unfinished, and I am sure they were never meant to be heard by the public. That being said, we can rapidly move onto the last two CDs which captures Yes performing at the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center, Canandaigua, New York on 19th June 1994. The vast majority of tracks contained on this are marked as being previously unreleased, but they are available (although probably unofficially) so Yes fans will probably have these already. But it is certainly interesting to hear this line-up in a live environment, although there is not nearly enough classic Yes contained within for my liking. However, given I had not previously played this I am pleased that it has now been made available again in multiple formats, as I can certainly see why Anderson is quoted as saying it is his favourite album featuring Rabin. Interesting.