Yes
Mirror to the Sky

Never been so timely in reviewing a new album! Released just 3/4 days ago, I must admit that the credit for such timeliness is not mine, but it hardly matters because I'm still writing about the legendary Yes or rather what's left of them. If we refer to the lineup that pumped out the first self-titled album in 1969: all is lost like the lamented Alan White who left us last year and to whom this work is inevitably dedicated. A member of Yes since the colossal triple live album of 1973, the great drummer was a permanent member of the group, except for the first albums in which he was preceded by none other than Bill Bruford. Now, after such a drumming lineage, it's evident that the search for a replacement was quite complicated for the good Howe who, if only for seniority and age (76 years old), is the new band leader since the disappearance of Chris Squire; finally, the choice fell on Jay Schellen from heavy rock origins, also not very young (63) who doesn't particularly make his presence felt in "Mirror to the Sky".
Coming to the album in question, it is inevitable to note the poor commercial perseverance of producing 2 CDs when just one would have sufficed since the total timing barely exceeds an hour, a circumstance that has made it inevitable, but then is it true (?), the printing of 2 vinyls, which leads to a rather high overall cost of both versions and to the astronomical one (a technically unjustifiable circumstance) of the Blu Ray version, we start badly! To somewhat balance the first (negative) impression, there's the "consolidated" graphics of Roger Dean, about whom in the previous review, I'd wondered about his age which I finally found to be on the brink of eighty! Another curious thing about him is his claim to have sold albums with his imaginative and surreal extraterrestrial landscapes to the remarkable tune of 150 million copies and more..........mostly with Yes.
But the sound content? Overall undeniably dignified, easily listenable and enough to reconfirm, if not enhance, the good impression left by the predecessor "The Quest". Getting to the heart of the matter, I'd say the title track, lasting almost a quarter of an hour, is an absolutely valuable piece of pure symphonic prog craftsmanship, to be counted without exaggeration among the best compositions by Yes! Oh, I haven't written a trivial statement, but I'm sure even fans of stuff like "Close to the Edge" or "Tales from Topographic Oceans" would find "Mirror to the Sky" certainly quite valid: as it's full of precious variations and guitar interludes by the good Howe who continues to do his job quite nicely!
In the tracklist of the first volume, the title track ranks only in fifth place, while normally it is placed in "pole", something easily understandable with the objective difficulty of following up such a track, indeed the other 5 are honest, but without musical peaks capable of exciting ears now accustomed to rarely being moved by artistic novelties (alas!); musically everything "in place", with good harmonies and some valuable embroidery by Howe, but then again frankly to what audience do Yes now target with such a repertoire? In particular after the definitive cancellation (without a now plausible explanation) of the already postponed Relayer tour, I believe the popularity of the beloved formation is really in sharp decline. There's the loss of Squire and White who didn't choose this, but those of Anderson, although decently replaced by Davison, Wakeman, and Rabin did not find valid successors, something that inevitably affects the musical originality of the group. To conclude the first CD, I highlight the charming "Cut from the Stars" which decisively winks at an "evolved" pop, now in vogue in the land of Perfidious Albion.
Then I go on to examine the "bonus CD", but what does this term mean? A kind gift, unreleased material or rather a concentrate of Steve Howe's art as he is the sole composer? Nothing remains but to discover the three cards hoping they're aces!
Indeed "Unknown Place" has all the characteristics and the hand or better yet guitar and inspiration of Steve Howe are here at their peak and thanks also to some targeted interventions by Geoff Downes it seems to be back to the shimmering moments of the formation, when Rick Wakeman dominated the keyboards and Chris Squire set everything in motion. It drops a bit with the two subsequent tracks: "One Second Is Enough" and "Magic Potion" where the pop vein prevails too much and the prog one is completely, or almost, archived, which perhaps Howe forgot owes the historical success of his Yes and the sympathy of the writer.
Which I set aside to give a certainly Positive judgment, but conditioned by the questionable choice above and the pop debasement of most of the tracks, topics that don't allow me to go beyond 3 stars: a shame because perhaps maturing this album a bit more, maybe cutting a couple of overly banal tracks, it could have gone beyond. However, it is reassuring that despite everything, the trend of Yes is rising compared to the sorrow of "Heaven & Earth".