So, Yes has their first studio album in 124 years or so, Fly From Here.

I like it.  I like it a lot.  I like it so much I’m listening to it repeatedly, just like I did with the original Wolfmother album.

My brother Steve said it best:  the new album has a great combination of the original Yes sound with the 90125/Big Generator sound.  Original Yes singer Jon Anderson called the sound “dated.”  I agree.  That’s why I like it.

I find it cool that the new singer, Benoit David, has his own distinct voice, but is also true to the style of Anderson.  And that the 25 minute, 6-part title track is based on a demo by the Buggles, the 80s band featuring the new album’s keyboardist Geoff Downes and producer Trevor Horn.  And that Trevor Horn had a cameo in the video for “We Can Fly.”  And that the cover design is another fantastic Roger Dean creation.

What I don’t find cool is a criticism I read from one guy online.  He slammed the album for having “vapid lyrics.”  Is it this dude’s first Yes album or what?  I mean, when your band’s greatest song of all time begins with the lines

A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace

And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace

And achieve it all with music that came quickly from afar

Then taste the fruit of man recorded losing all against the hour

and continues on like that for another 17 minutes, then I don’t think the quality of the story you’re telling is really a big driver for you, right?  Yes is well-known for treating lyrics as nothing more than vehicles for the right beat and sound.

Anyway, the album is good stuff.  Not bad at allfor a band that’s been around in one form or another for 43 years.