(Art Rock, YES-Family) ABWH - Anderson,Bruford,Wakeman,Howe - 1989 [Japanese Mini LP CD - K2 24-Bit Remaster (BVCM-37386)], APE (tracks+.cue), Lossless

The end of the 80s was prog's darkest period so it's easy to see why 'ABWH' was welcomed as a classic then, and it doubtless sounded very fresh upon its release, utilising contemporary production techniques and instruments combined with the old wave Yes sound. But there's the rub- the digital production has dated now, sounding very clinical. In my mind, it's arguably more dated sounding now than the 70s albums which utilised organic, 'analogue' production and 'real' instruments. A shame, because the material is generally quite strong, even if Chris Squire's bass is sorely missed.
'Themes' begins majestically with Wakeman on piano, as well as some neat synth fills to add to the atmosphere. But the atmosphere is shattered by the AWFUL syn-drums of Bill Bruford which come crashing in with no subtlety. The song itself isn't bad though, and it's good to hear Wakeman on great form here with some enjoyable synth fills. Jon Anderson's vocals are as good as they ever were, though Steve Howe's guitar work is oddly generic '80s metal' in style. There's a transition into a more upbeat, galloping section with rippling synths and guitarwork to the fore.
'Fist Of Fire' sounds even more 80s. Anderson's lyrics and vocals are typically empowered, but the clinical syn drums clatter all the way through this, while Wakeman's synths are pure bluster with no subtlety. Still,the chorus has a certain impact due to Jon Anderson's stirling work.
'Brother Of Mine' is one of the better tracks here, beginning nicely with a dramatic gong crash and giving way to a catchy main melody, emotionally delivered by Jon Anderson and supported well by Steve Howe. The chorus is stirring stuff, with lots of vocal overdubs and would have worked reasonably well on a classic 70s Yes album, with fine choppy rhythms from Wakeman and Howe throughout. Steve Howe's guitar solo, though I'm sure it's a synth guitar, moves this into another gear and gives it a certain emotive power. It leads into a complex instrumental section with pomp synths and shifting percussion to the fore, moving into the final section which is a bit on the cheesy side due to the handclaps, yet I feel this song flows somewhat better than a lot of their more recent epics like 'That That Is' do.
'Birthright' is a highlight of this album. It's a joy to hear Steve Howe on acoustic guitar again and Wakeman's droning synth is atmospheric. The percussion adds a 'world music' feel and Jon Anderson's vocal has barely aged since its 70s heyday. His lyrics are as eccentric as ever, but I find them preferable to a lot of their 80s lyrics which were more straightahead and really, generic. The band's full entrance with some heavier guitar and percussion has a lot of impact, as does the rumbling instrumental section though Wakeman's synths clatter. This track still works well, though, despite Anderson's cheesy percussion/vocal bit at the end.
'The Meeting' is a warm track which is one of few numbers that still gets played from this album. It's a delicate ballad, with some hazy synths and gentle piano from Wakeman and a heartfelt vocal performance from Jon Anderson. This is one of the classiest songs of the album, and doesn't feature Bruford's syn drums- go figure.
'Quartet' is again a fine track, with a gorgeous acoustic guitar and keyboard intro which again has real class and showcases subtlety that the band lost in their AOR period. Again, Jon Anderson's vocal is warm and genuine- he sounds more at home here than he did on the overtly flashy 'Big Generator'. Though the sounds aren't the best, the instrumental sections have a nice pseudo classical feel due to Wakeman's keyboard fills, especially his neat little harpsichord section.
'Teakbois' though, is unbelievably bad. This track is perhaps unfortunate for having Anderson's worst lyrics ever, whilst musically it's a cheesy cod reggae effort. This is one of the worst songs ever to have any relation to Yes. The sounds are just nauseating...
'Order Of The Universe' is a bit corny, really, and below the band's usual standards in terms of epics. There is some fine guitar and keyboard work in the introduction. Again though, the percussion and synths are dated and very clinical and the intro goes on a bit. The main song is an upbeat rocker with heavy guitars, but doesn't sound much different to Yes' AOR years. The percussion section is a cut-rate 'Ritual'...
'Let's Pretend' is a gorgeous finish, being a solo piece from Howe's acoustic guitar and Anderson's heartfelt vocal. It's refreshingly shorn of the bombast of the previous track.
All in all, a largely decent but patchy album, and somewhat tainted by 80s production values. Nevertheless it was doubtless nice to hear them doing 'old wave' prog material again. It's better than most of the albums that followed, at least, though doesn't approach their 70s work.

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 1 from 25. May 2007
EAC extraction logfile from 29. July 2007, 17:25
ABWH / Anderson,Bruford,Wakeman,Howe (K2 24-Bit Remaster BVCM-37386)
Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-108 Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:58.45 | 0 | 26894
2 | 5:58.45 | 3:32.30 | 26895 | 42824
3 | 9:31.00 | 10:21.57 | 42825 | 89456
4 | 19:52.57 | 6:04.55 | 89457 | 116811
5 | 25:57.37 | 4:23.38 | 116812 | 136574
6 | 30:21.00 | 9:23.30 | 136575 | 178829
7 | 39:44.30 | 7:41.52 | 178830 | 213456
8 | 47:26.07 | 9:02.33 | 213457 | 254139
9 | 56:28.40 | 2:57.27 | 254140 | 267441
Track 1
Filename C:\NVIDIA\01 - Themes.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 98.5 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 4859CFEC
Copy CRC 4859CFEC
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\NVIDIA\02 - Fist of Fire.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC CCFE97A7
Copy CRC CCFE97A7
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\NVIDIA\03 - Brother of Mine.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.69
Peak level 99.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 28E43449
Copy CRC 28E43449
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\NVIDIA\04 - Birthright.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:01.98
Peak level 99.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 263B0032
Copy CRC 263B0032
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\NVIDIA\05 - The Meeting.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:00.98
Peak level 99.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 89BE78A2
Copy CRC 89BE78A2
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\NVIDIA\06 - Quartet.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:03.12
Peak level 99.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F11AA896
Copy CRC F11AA896
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\NVIDIA\07 - Teakbois.wav
Peak level 99.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D639AE0D
Copy CRC D639AE0D
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\NVIDIA\08 - Order of the Universe.wav
Peak level 97.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 1FF56C8E
Copy CRC 1FF56C8E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:\NVIDIA\09 - Let's Pretend.wav
Peak level 99.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 19E5F316
Copy CRC 19E5F316
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
No errors occurred
End of status report