Union Live (2011)

Union Live (2011)

Union Live was released in 2011, but recorded 20 years earlier, on the 1991 tour that featured Yes’ largest lineup: Jon Anderson on vocals, Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin on guitars, Tony Kaye and Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Chris Squire on bass, and Alan White and Bill Bruford on drums. Interestingly, the album Union was more of a patchwork than a true collaboration between all these members; various tracks were put together by subsets of the ensemble, a fucking ton of studio musicians were brought in to pad out the arrangements, and the result was a tedious exercise in late-’80s/early-’90s Big Radio Rock without a single truly great, memorable track among the 14 that made the album. So it’s kind of a good thing that there’s only one song from Union on Union Live. Unfortunately, it’s the fake reggae song, “Saving My Heart For You.”

The best thing about Union Live is hearing the band figure out stuff for all these guys to do. Having two guitars and two drummers turns some of the songs into glossy ’80s-metal versions of themselves; there’s a solo on “Yours Is No Disgrace” that’s one of the most hilariously shredtastic things ever, total Yngwie Malmsteen madness. And when Bruford and White are both jackhammering away (White on acoustic drums, Bruford on electric), it’s pretty thunderous. But ultimately, the ’90s were not a good time for Yes, and this album is probably safe to ignore.