Union is a sprawling, uninspired album, overstuffed with both songs (there are 14) and musicians. It features not only all five members of Yes circa Big Generator (vocalist Jon Anderson, guitarist Trevor Rabin, keyboardist Tony Kaye, bassist Chris Squire, and drummer Alan White), but also drummer Bill Bruford, guitarist Steve Howe, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, all of whom had joined Anderson to form Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe in 1988. And that’s not all; a total of 20 studio musicians (most of them keyboardists, though ABWH bassist Tony Levin is also present) help out on various tracks. But despite its title, Union isn’t a collaborative effort so much as a gathering up of scraps, which are then compiled and disguised as an album. There are tracks here that were originally intended for the second ABWH album; a solo piece by Steve Howe (one of the best things on the record) tacked on at the last minute; a Bruford-Levin duo that’s a studio document of a bit they used to do onstage; and several songs written by Trevor Rabin that were basically demos, but which made the final release with Anderson’s vocals added.

The results are, unsurprisingly, mixed. “Lift Me Up,” one of the aforementioned Rabin demos, was actually a pretty sizable hit, topping Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks chart for six weeks. But it’s a faceless chunk of early-’90s Big Rock, exactly the kind of highly polished corporate product that people who think grunge changed things insist grunge was created to change. It’s also Union in a nutshell — there’s almost none of the wild, high-wire frenzy of Yes’ glory years anywhere on this album. (“Miracle Of Life” is a nice try, but it’s still too plodding and radio-friendly by half.) The five core members weren’t even making music together at this point; they were all just agreeing to use the Yes name because nobody would buy the record otherwise.