Cinema won a Grammy in '84 for best instrumental. ('84 was a GREAT year. Ads, TV & otherwise, came to be that were excellent influencers to my life !!) It was also the working name for the band before they chose Yes again. Alan White is laying it down, to be sure !! I once spoke to him via phone- if ya care.... 🚬😎 Edit: Cinema was also the 1st song I'd ever seen performed live, as well.
Cinema was originally a 20 minute piece. "Cinema" developed from a twenty-minute-long track with the working title "Time". At just over two minutes in length, "Cinema" is the shortest track on 90125.
Cinema was going to be Trevor Rabins band in 1982 with Chris squire and alan white, they worked on songs mostly all of them were written By Trevor and about to record their debut album in 1983. Later Tony kaye joined but they said, since they had 3 quarters of Yes they were like just bring in Jon Anderson and make a new album. And then they recorded 90125 and look what youve got. A really good album.
That Cinema temporary band name probably explains why they were not trying to sound like Yes. They were in a way liberated from the previous 10 Yes albums.
One rather important note on that... Trevor Rabin never wanted to call the project Yes (even after Jon joined) and actually argued with the record company about that.
I read in an industry magazine at the time, the design company had been working on a letter 'C' split into 3 to represent 3 colours being projected. When they were told the record was to be released under they 'Yes' name, they rotated the design to create the 'Y'.
It's a great song for driving on a beautiful day. When this came out, I was 10 and I thought Jon was singing "Goodbye Goodbye, Beth. Hello Hello, Heather" (like he was leaving Beth for Heather). LOL
Cinema was actually recorded live in a studio (as in no overdubs) with the the four of them. Leave It didn’t immediately grab me either when I first heard it but it does grow on you. My personal favourite song on the album is up next 🙂
"Cinema", "Leave It" and "Our Song" are my favorite tracks from 90125. the production is very identifiable from its time (logical, it dates from 83 and it is signed Trevor Horn!) but it is very original, it sounds great and the quality is there.
It's actually isolation of the vocal tracks, not true a capella. But it sounds like a capella. It gets rid of the 80s over production and highlights the vocal talent of Yes. Even without a reaction, I highly recommend giving that version of Leave It a listen before you do your album review.
FYI, Justin... *I'm Running* on the Big Generator album is the Best of the Trevor Rabin Era of YES. Perhaps it's because it was first set down by Chris, Steve, and Allen during the Drama period. Definitely the best of this period, IMO...
It was a bus trip to Buffalo from Toronto in the spring of ‘84 to see this tour. The first time I had seen Yes since their 10 year celebration tour in the Spring of ‘79 in Toronto. The Buffalo show was incredible. My best memory is seeing Jon start the show for him with his part in Leave It. We had good floor seats in the old Auditorium. Jon entered stage center from the back and walked slowly to the front. My first sight of him was holding up two fingers in a peace sign to match his first line of the song has stayed with me for all these years.
I think Cinema was recorded live in the studio IIRC. I love 90125. It's actually in my top 5 best Yes albums. People say it has a very 80's sound, but it actually it doesn't sound like anything else, from that era except perhaps unmistakably .... Yes.
"Leave It" is probably my favorite song on this album... but this is probably my main example of OVER Production on an album... so much so, that I can't help but rank this well below "Drama." Drama has held up so much better over time.
Drama is massively underrated, and if Jon had sung on it Yes fans would have loved it. The production on 90125 is sort of Trevor Horn on steroids, throwing everything including the kitchen sink in to the mix. It's dated, and very much of its time. But still a brilliant album. I give them credit for being prepared to re-invent themselves.
@@tomfabozzi6309 Yeah... I think you nailed it. Drama with Anderson would have been universally acclaimed... but it was a tough sell on some die-hard fans.
I love these two tracks. The rhythm section is pretty damn good on Cinema. During the 90125 tour, Yes would open their shows with Cinema/Leave it. Outstanding! The live versions from the 9012Live concert film is worth checking out...
The part where you said that the time signature changed actually isn’t a change. The band put the emphasis on the off beats which make it feel like there was a change. If you count it carefully, you can get the feel. The second time on that same break the band uses a technique called hemiola. The rhythm is syncopated to the point where it sounds like a new tempo but it isn’t. The most amazing hemiola I’ve heard is in the song “The Lazarus Heart” by Sting. That one’s a mind bender and really tricky to tap along to.
@@JustJP Try Jazz drummer reacts - he teaches the audience about hemiola alright 😁 Also, that Sting song is a really good recommendation for a reaction!
The chorus of Leave It has given me so much joy since the first time I heard it so many years ago. A big thanks to Chris Squire for that amazing, syncopated bass line ❤
Leave it, to me, is the most 80s song /EVER/. I also think it's one of their best. Of course usually when I'm going to Yes I'm looking for prog, but Leave It is just completely brilliant. Wonder what you'll think after a few more listens!
Basically a Yes treatment of Trevor Rabin songs, the lyric sound like something in his lovelife .... and Trevor Horn is the Producer of the 80s. Jon and Rick left the band before the Drama album, then Steve Howe left to form Asia. Chris and Alan were searching for a guitarist and were introduced to Rabin. Bingo, Cinema.
There's a danger with Yes, that you become so used to the 70s impenetrable lyrics and full-on progressive music, that you become dismissive of the more commercial 80s tracks. These are still smart pieces of music, they're just more accessible and fun (and the lyrics make some kind of sense - I read them as being about life on the road as a member of a successful rock band). Do I like 70s Yes better? Overall, yes, but this is still good stuff, and knocks spots off the chart poodle rock of the same period.
This was the song that got me into Yes. I know "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was the big hit, but this one made me want to own the album. There was NOTHING like this song at it's time. The heavy vocalizations had been experimented with by Queen a few years prior, but those were in the past. Before them, it was probably the Beach Boys who were known for this approach. But no one did it quite like Yes in this song and it was something new and exciting when it came out.
Interestingly, Leave It was the song that brought me into Yes and prog rock overall (and now it’s my favorite genre). I was 15 years old when I first heard this song on the radio in 1984, and it sounded somehow better than the other 80s synth pop stuff. Next I dove into old Yes and it was all over!!! (Leave It is far from one of their best songs, but you never know what gets people’s attention!)
Some very good Yes. It strays from their identity style - a sign of the times. "Cinema" musically gets into Genesis' wheelhouse - like at the end of Wind and Wuthering. "Leave It" - 80s song with mixing board effects and the synth horns. 90125 was a landmark Yes album, in that it succeeded in introducing the group to the MTV generation.
Leave it was the song that got me into YEs. Nothing else on the radio at the time was like that at all. I was young and just starting high school. I had no idea of YEs from the 70s. So had to listen to some of their earlier albums and...it wasn’t anything like 90125 but I loved it!!! I still love 90125 and all their earlier stuff as well!!!
I LOVE this song!!!! And EVERYONE was dancing to this song in the 80's...played in all dance bars!!!! I love the funk in it.... and the vocals without the music ....Excellent!!! Then seeing them perform this in concert was sooooo out of pocket.....they stretch the song to 10 minutes......EXCELLENT!!!!
Cinema: if you would have listened to it without knowing which band it was and was asked afterwards: is this Genesis or Yes? I think my answer would have been: Genesis... liked it all a lot though and I think this got some airplay too back then. Genesis went into “Pop Prog” and so did Yes. Both succeeded and gained a new fanbase.
Yes stayed on the fringes but as you called pop Prog by Genesis totally went overboard with poppy commercial sappy music only because of the fact I grew up if you listen to early Genesis and then try to compare it with this Poppy stuff he said he’s the same bands they were them they backed in they were the most complex lyrics stage presence you know you can even compare like Asia Carl Palmer Steve Howe John wetton then of course ELP for the last album Long Beach talk about go on commercial bee Gees nothing wrong with the Bee Gees but that was an ELP except for the second side officer and a gentleman and especially the classic piece Canario there was an interview on their last high-voltage performance in 2010 referring to Emerson Lake and Palmer where Greg lake states that if they never went with works they probably would’ve been the same on the verge of doing I hate the word pop Prog ELP how to do that last time and love beach I’m not sure about the story whatever what do you music early 70s that’s what you listen to what I can’t blame them if they wanted to make more money and that sold I’ll be at he what the hell after years of hard Torino want to make easy money because it’s commercial they go for it
Leave It was actually a hit for Yes. I remember it featured at Six Flags, in the late 80's-early 90's when in line for rides. It demonstrated that Yes can do anything, including pop acappella.
Trevor Horn (producer) made this entire record, but especially “Leave It” and ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart” to be an unbelievably interesting collection of ear candy (headphones, kids!) and I love that. Trevor Rabin is an unbelievable talent-he’s a fantastic composer with a great voice, and a killer guitarist with riffs, and incredible solos.
"Cinema" comes very close to sounding like a late 70's Genesis song; it's almost prophetic in nature as well, as it is Rabin's composition - and he has spent the last thirty years primarily composing film scores for: cinema! "Leave It", of course, is a vocal tour de force, but I always thought it was compromised by having those disco elements, disco suffering its final death rattles in Europe at just around that time. (As a GenXer I have the usual allergies to anything disco-related).
You can tell the influence of Trevor Horn on "Leave it"; all the voice sampling, keyboards and sampled drums were the pinnacle of the tech of 1984. In the personnel of 90125 you'll find Gary Langan (engineering) and J J Jeczalic (programming), who where members of Art of Noise, a really influential band also produced by Trevor Horn.
Cinema was this band. Then they brought in Jon to help with lyrics. He ended up singing, then joining. The label basically said, use Yes or we use a no on releasing the album. Yes was reborn.
"One down, one to go" has become an expression coming back in my life a lot ;-) Every time it's appropriate this line comes to mind and I start singing "Leave It". A fun song and totally different, quite a surprise on my first listen.
This was about headphones and car speakers pumping out hi-fi stereo sound unlike anything people had ever heard. About teenagers being transported to another place in time. This music is not about an 80's "sound." It's about the change in how people "felt" music.
Hi Justin, cinema started to open Yes shows, on their tours, at that time, very interesting indeed. But, a question does not want to be silent, you will do the analysis of Lamb Lies down, totally, or partially. it is undoubtedly a beautiful album.
??? um, no. Saw the tour, no opening act at all. Cinema became Yes when Jon joined, and it was never a thing after that. This one instrumental recording is their only real legacy, as Jon's not on it, so it remained unchanged.
The very definition of progression whether you like it or not. Compare this to the last few albums. Yes couldn’t just keep rewriting Starship Trooper and as a consequence they became more popular than ever in the MTV era. Yes always embraced the technology of the day so here we have Simmons drums and samplers. The harmonies are definitely Yes trademarks and a cappella is a nice invention. It was pretty awesome seeing this live in 1983. Everybody singing at their mics and Alan White standing playing a couple Simmons pads. Much like their new music, the whole stage was streamlined with the amplifiers out of sight under the stage.
The album was fully written and mostly finished before Jon Anderson joined the project. Trevor Rabin, who wrote most of the album told Jon that he could change any lyrics he wanted to. Interestingly, Leave It is the only song that doesn't have any noted changes by Jon.
I love Leave it. Why? Because I’m a big fan of vocal harmony bands. I am also a Beach Boys fan as well a Bee Gees fan. Yes knocks it out of the park here. Solid vocals and incredible harmonies. This song is basically a showcase of their vocal chops. Chris has a phenomenal range, as he is both the very low voice (bass baritone-ish range) in the early parts, as well as the top end later on. I have heard it said that Jon is not a tenor, but actually an alto. It sure seems like it in this song. He is outstanding here, ethereal top end playing off of Chris and Trevor R. so well. Trevor H. and Alan are also excellent. But Jon and Chris together are, IMHO, better than either one alone. Their voices have always been perfect together. But, again, I love this song. The a cappella version is awesome.
Ok.. Cinema is a cracking opener.. This sounded awesome live butty. 😊 Great melody, drums, superb by Alan. Chris's bass hmm lush butty. Leave it sounds odd, very poppy, but the melody's are really nice. There's enough subtle changes going on to keep you involved, and interested imho.. 😊 😊. Vocals are great, guitsr work, very nice by Trevor. This song works so well after Cinema imo. 😊 Great twosome Justin.. 👍 👍 Yes.. Yes please.
There is a great clip of a very interesting one off line up of Yes performing Cinema along with Owner of a Lonely Heart at a Trevor Horn productions tribute show in 2004. The lineup is Chris Squire, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Trevor Rabin and Steve Howe.
I’ve been waiting for you to review these two tracks, and I’m glad you did them back to back. Cinema is one of my all time favorite instrumentals and at this point in the album the volume is always cranked.
I always like "Cinema", but used to hate "Leave It". Now my opinion has changed. It's funny, because back in the 90s, when I first was getting into Yes, the stuff from the 70s seemed to age a lot better and the 80s stuff just seemed so outdated. I used to hate "Leave It" because it was just so over the top 80s and just seemed so "uncool" at the time. Now I'm so nostalgic for the time that I love it.
"The most 80s song I've heard from Yes." I would not argue with this a bit. I like this album and listened to it a lot. Leave It tends to have an earworm quality that gets into your head but it isn't my favorite song on the record, by some distance.
For me, if I let go of it being Yes and hear it as a new band, without expectations, it’s not a bad album. When I hear it as Yes, it’s way down the list of best Yes albums. It’s very 80s.
BTW, it WAS the 80’s and it was a time that even the Stones and pretty much everyone either jumped on or got left behind. We knew of Yes when this came out but this brought them to the FOREFRONT and made me want more. Another “BTW”, Yes admits fully from day one that most of their song meant very little, just words that sounded good together (Jon Anderson boasted). I generally agree with you on most of your reactions but I feel this song was genius, especially the a cappella version.
Say; JP... One of the reasons I like you as a person is because you seem to be able to transcend the borders between genres. I'm not here because I like yes (of course I am), not because I like a certain genre of rock music (not so); not even because I like YOU (wrong). I'm here because you're a 'cool' dude who's open to different genres and styles and who gives a fun opinion about what he hears. I may not always agree with what you say; that doesn't make you a less agreeable person. Because you're usually not confrontational. You're the kind of guy one agrees with when you've come to a conclusion, because you make sense. How ever wrong you can be, you still make sense, hombre. 'Wrong' with a serious pinchn of salt, of course. Love and warm greetings from Belgium.
I have the A Capella version of Leave It on all of my Yes Playlists, so it's good to hear the original studio mix as well. The A Capella mix was on their Red Blue Remix EP along with a dance/club remix of Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave it that I never really cared for but had to own because it was Yes.
One of my favorite tracks from the album. I've loved 90125 since it's release (along with the rest of Yes' catalog), but I really feel it's a better album when listened to in context of the music that surrounded it at the time it was released. In comparison to most of what was on the radio on the time, it really stood out, and made you appreciate it more, at least that's the way it affected me at the time.
Yes vocality at its best! I remember as a kid in the 80's watching the quirky music video for Leave It on MTV. They played the crap out of it and I thought it was so cool, so new wave, and artsy. It has that 80's Trevor Horn production that made it such a great mainstream hit for YES.
Take 2! From what I remember, it was was was quite a shock of an album. It was new uncharted territory and Change It took awhile to soak in, maybe years but, I love it now. Trevor is a much superior vocal blend to Jon and Chris imo. Love me some Yes in the morning... working on a new series of paintings, even dreamed in the same vein, am pumped this morning, even though I probably need more sleep. Eh, I’ll take a good nap later, or have lay down, as they say elsewhere. Love that... Take care everyone, masks masks and more masks, kindness on porpoise, mucho amor, Peace and Legendary lead-in Music
I remember well when this album came out. This was like the second wave of Yes once they had been a slightly more radioesque... I though liked it, felt it hit in the synthpop world that was around as the prime star that
Justin you have to check The yes album referred to as talk which came out in 93 I saw them do it live absolutely phenomenal musicianship great lyrics and really really good music I’ll just leave it at that but I would check it out if I were you
Been to movies 2 times since like 93. Don't feel I have missed much. These are 2 great songs and if I recall right in Toronto at least leave it was all over our MTV or much and radio. Heck most of this album was too
You have to watch the MTV video they made for this song. It fits perfectly! BTW, this song always had a Gentle Giant beat to me, especially if you listen to their criminally under appropriated last album “Civilian”. It’s like if Gentle Giant embraced the early 80’s and made it their own. There were quite a few music writers that had “Civilian’” in their top 10 of 1980.
The album that got me into Yes as a teenager. Very '80's indeed, yet I really don't know any other song (or album) that sounds quite like it. '80's in its own very distinct way. I actually love the production on it. Somehow to me it sounds very '80's but not dated at all. That probably makes no sense, but, coming from my brain, that's par for the course!
Hey Justin, I haven't listened to 90125 in a long time. Enjoying this ride with you, even though you posted this months ago. One thing I noticed during Cinema - just how much Trevor Rabin was trying to replicate the sound of Boston. Cinema now reminds me very much of ForePlay/LongTime by Boston. I find this incursion into another band's sound unforgivable. With Close To the Edge and Awaken behind them and Magnification and Fly From Here ahead of them, the music from 90125 was a dip in creativity. Ken
Cinema was Yes' name for a short time..."Cinema" was used when Trevor Rabin was added,but when Jon Joined again, he insisted they go back to being Yes again so they did.In addition,Ex-Yesman Trevor Horn produced this album,hence the mechanical theme. This was done A Cappella first then instruments were added. The A Cappella version was added on the 12" single
A video was made with the group looking like houseflies hanging upside down. Twelve versions was made and MTV Viewers chose one from them to be the Official Video. Version 11 was omitted.
And who was the producer of this album: Trevor Horn, yeah the singer in Drama. You can’t listen to 90125 without listening to Hearts, the closer song of the album. You surely enjoy...
Cinema could have easily been a song on the Genesis album Wind and Wuthering. Leave it was a great vocal performance by the band but very dated for a eighties song, way overproduced but still overall part of a fantastic album.
Keep Up the Great Work you are doing with your Reactions to All of the YES Music you have Done So Far but just remember There is Much More to Cover As You Dig Much Deeper into There Anthology of Music.
I've always liked these two songs. Leave It is definitely different from typical Yes songs, but I still like it. In the context of a vinyl album, these two songs do a nice job of opening side 2. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that 90125 was the first album I purchased on CD. :-)
Pretty much nailed how I feel about these songs with this version of YES. Not fully my cup of YES that I grew up loving and worshipping but all things must change and evolve especially when the members/writers change. I honestly left the YES fan fold throughout the entire 80's. I only heard these songs later in the 90's because I felt YES could no longer sustain their progressive high after their transition.
Been busy, but liked the choice today. Leave it was without a doubt my fav. on this album. More college memories. Loved the harmony with the digital sound of the vocals. Then it kicks in with a great bass line. 80's were hard on rock music, this was a good song though.
“Leave It”... (to Beaver) ... got it. 😉. That song will grow on you if you give it a few more listens. It has grown to become one of my favorites from this album. From the Yes catalog? Much lower down, but for this album, I like it!
You know what Justin....just love your honesty. Yes set such a high bar...didn't they?? I always felt these 2 songs were ok. Liked them but not crazy about them...so I understand your reaction. Note: my personal favorite song on this album...Hearts. Absolutely love it. Hopefully you'll like it too.
If your first reaction is “I don’t know how I feel about this,“ then you probably don’t feel very positively about it. Especially when you follow that up with “it sounds very 80s” and “I appreciate their experimentation.” I guess “Leave It” isn’t for everyone. I like it for its boldness and for successfully penetrating the MTV market and becoming a minor hit. For the record, “Cinema“ was the name of this band before Jon Anderson got involved and it became Yes again.
Speaking of Yes ... did you notice "Arc Of Life"? This is a new band around Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood. They released their first album in 2021. If there is a free place in your todo list, you may listen to the song "Therefore We Are".
Ahh the eighties. When everything was overproduced and bombastic. I do like this song but like you said it is similar to Turn it on again. You can enjoy both but 30 -40 years later you are not going to go out of your way to listen to it again like Firth of fifth or Roundabout.
It just occurred to me, no matter how good those cans are JP is listening to the same crummy RUclips sound file as we are. Would be interesting to see a reaction now comparing a high bitrate CD quality copy.
Good call on the comparison with Turn It On Again by Genesis, JP, although the Genesis song is punchier and drives along at a faster pace, but both definitely stadium worthy as you rightly say! Turn It On Again was a staple of Genesis' live performances throughout the 1980s onwards.
Love these two songs so much! Tried to talk my high school choir director into having us perform Leave It as I had a friend who was willing to transpose it for us. After listening to it, he said it was way too complicated for us!
This is the most original song on that album, even though there's no individual instrumental or vocal performance or lyric that stands out at all. It's about the arrangement.
Cinema won a Grammy in '84 for best instrumental.
('84 was a GREAT year. Ads, TV & otherwise, came to be that were excellent influencers to my life !!)
It was also the working name for the band before they chose Yes again.
Alan White is laying it down, to be sure !! I once spoke to him via phone- if ya care....
🚬😎
Edit: Cinema was also the 1st song I'd ever seen performed live, as well.
Cinema was originally a 20 minute piece. "Cinema" developed from a twenty-minute-long track with the working title "Time". At just over two minutes in length, "Cinema" is the shortest track on 90125.
Cinema was going to be Trevor Rabins band in 1982 with Chris squire and alan white, they worked on songs mostly all of them were written By Trevor and about to record their debut album in 1983. Later Tony kaye joined but they said, since they had 3 quarters of Yes they were like just bring in Jon Anderson and make a new album. And then they recorded 90125 and look what youve got. A really good album.
That Cinema temporary band name probably explains why they were not trying to sound like Yes. They were in a way liberated from the previous 10 Yes albums.
As I understand it, Jon was selling oranges on the freeway off-ramp at the time, and the band rescued him.
One rather important note on that... Trevor Rabin never wanted to call the project Yes (even after Jon joined) and actually argued with the record company about that.
@Bookhouse Boy Just poking some fun at our astral traveler. No need to get defensive.
I read in an industry magazine at the time, the design company had been working on a letter 'C' split into 3 to represent 3 colours being projected. When they were told the record was to be released under they 'Yes' name, they rotated the design to create the 'Y'.
As you likely know, Trevor Rabin went on to compose the scores of many films. Cinema is a preview of his cinematic writing.
It's a great song for driving on a beautiful day. When this came out, I was 10 and I thought Jon was singing "Goodbye Goodbye, Beth. Hello Hello, Heather" (like he was leaving Beth for Heather). LOL
😁😆
Now you know why Beth was calling Peter Criss....
Cinema was actually recorded live in a studio (as in no overdubs) with the the four of them. Leave It didn’t immediately grab me either when I first heard it but it does grow on you. My personal favourite song on the album is up next 🙂
Big fan of ‘Our Song’ here, too.
“Good good part!”
"Cinema", "Leave It" and "Our Song" are my favorite tracks from 90125. the production is very identifiable from its time (logical, it dates from 83 and it is signed Trevor Horn!) but it is very original, it sounds great and the quality is there.
You should check out the a cappella version of Leave It. It's great.
He should. It is.
Yes, definitively he should.
oh hell yes. I much prefer that one. The vocals sound incredible on their own, and it comes off less cheesy.
It's actually isolation of the vocal tracks, not true a capella. But it sounds like a capella. It gets rid of the 80s over production and highlights the vocal talent of Yes.
Even without a reaction, I highly recommend giving that version of Leave It a listen before you do your album review.
FYI, Justin... *I'm Running* on the Big Generator album is the Best of the Trevor Rabin Era of YES. Perhaps it's because it was first set down by Chris, Steve, and Allen during the Drama period. Definitely the best of this period, IMO...
It was a bus trip to Buffalo from Toronto in the spring of ‘84 to see this tour. The first time I had seen Yes since their 10 year celebration tour in the Spring of ‘79 in Toronto.
The Buffalo show was incredible. My best memory is seeing Jon start the show for him with his part in Leave It. We had good floor seats in the old Auditorium. Jon entered stage center from the back and walked slowly to the front. My first sight of him was holding up two fingers in a peace sign to match his first line of the song has stayed with me for all these years.
I think Cinema was recorded live in the studio IIRC. I love 90125. It's actually in my top 5 best Yes albums. People say it has a very 80's sound, but it actually it doesn't sound like anything else, from that era except perhaps unmistakably .... Yes.
Somehow, Leave It makes even Owner of a Lonely Heart seem less 80s lol. I love this album. :)
"Leave It" is probably my favorite song on this album... but this is probably my main example of OVER Production on an album... so much so, that I can't help but rank this well below "Drama." Drama has held up so much better over time.
Isn't it odd that the singer from Drama produced this album?
@@rokkkrinn2793 Yeah... It's like he pushed everything to 11... and it wowed at the time... but now? Not working for me.
Drama is massively underrated, and if Jon had sung on it Yes fans would have loved it. The production on 90125 is sort of Trevor Horn on steroids, throwing everything including the kitchen sink in to the mix. It's dated, and very much of its time. But still a brilliant album. I give them credit for being prepared to re-invent themselves.
@@tomfabozzi6309 Yeah... I think you nailed it. Drama with Anderson would have been universally acclaimed... but it was a tough sell on some die-hard fans.
@@tomfabozzi6309 This Yes fan DID love it!
I love these two tracks. The rhythm section is pretty damn good on Cinema. During the 90125 tour, Yes would open their shows with Cinema/Leave it. Outstanding! The live versions from the 9012Live concert film is worth checking out...
The part where you said that the time signature changed actually isn’t a change. The band put the emphasis on the off beats which make it feel like there was a change. If you count it carefully, you can get the feel. The second time on that same break the band uses a technique called hemiola. The rhythm is syncopated to the point where it sounds like a new tempo but it isn’t. The most amazing hemiola I’ve heard is in the song “The Lazarus Heart” by Sting. That one’s a mind bender and really tricky to tap along to.
I just looked up the Lazarus Heart. Love those kinds of things! And now I know there's a name for it.
And the metric modulation that Manu Kache plays in sync with Brandon’s soprano sax solo.
Well ty for that, never heard of hemiola. I listened again and you're right :D
@@JustJP Try Jazz drummer reacts - he teaches the audience about hemiola alright 😁
Also, that Sting song is a really good recommendation for a reaction!
I always appreciate learning new things. I am going to check out that song by Sting right now!
The chorus of Leave It has given me so much joy since the first time I heard it so many years ago. A big thanks to Chris Squire for that amazing, syncopated bass line ❤
Leave it, to me, is the most 80s song /EVER/.
I also think it's one of their best. Of course usually when I'm going to Yes I'm looking for prog, but Leave It is just completely brilliant. Wonder what you'll think after a few more listens!
Basically a Yes treatment of Trevor Rabin songs, the lyric sound like something in his lovelife .... and Trevor Horn is the Producer of the 80s.
Jon and Rick left the band before the Drama album, then Steve Howe left to form Asia. Chris and Alan were searching for a guitarist and were introduced to Rabin.
Bingo, Cinema.
There's a danger with Yes, that you become so used to the 70s impenetrable lyrics and full-on progressive music, that you become dismissive of the more commercial 80s tracks. These are still smart pieces of music, they're just more accessible and fun (and the lyrics make some kind of sense - I read them as being about life on the road as a member of a successful rock band). Do I like 70s Yes better? Overall, yes, but this is still good stuff, and knocks spots off the chart poodle rock of the same period.
This was the song that got me into Yes. I know "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was the big hit, but this one made me want to own the album. There was NOTHING like this song at it's time. The heavy vocalizations had been experimented with by Queen a few years prior, but those were in the past. Before them, it was probably the Beach Boys who were known for this approach. But no one did it quite like Yes in this song and it was something new and exciting when it came out.
Interestingly, Leave It was the song that brought me into Yes and prog rock overall (and now it’s my favorite genre). I was 15 years old when I first heard this song on the radio in 1984, and it sounded somehow better than the other 80s synth pop stuff. Next I dove into old Yes and it was all over!!! (Leave It is far from one of their best songs, but you never know what gets people’s attention!)
Some very good Yes. It strays from their identity style - a sign of the times.
"Cinema" musically gets into Genesis' wheelhouse - like at the end of Wind and Wuthering.
"Leave It" - 80s song with mixing board effects and the synth horns.
90125 was a landmark Yes album, in that it succeeded in introducing the group to the MTV generation.
Great tune from the Great YES ☝️❤️ thanks for the reaction JP ☝️
This song is greatness, and what a gift for generations of college acapella groups to come!
The Leave It video was in heavy rotation on MTV.
Leave it was the song that got me into YEs. Nothing else on the radio at the time was like that at all. I was young and just starting high school. I had no idea of YEs from the 70s. So had to listen to some of their earlier albums and...it wasn’t anything like 90125 but I loved it!!! I still love 90125 and all their earlier stuff as well!!!
Exactly the same for me!!!
I LOVE this song!!!! And EVERYONE was dancing to this song in the 80's...played in all dance bars!!!! I love the funk in it.... and the vocals without the music ....Excellent!!! Then seeing them perform this in concert was sooooo out of pocket.....they stretch the song to 10 minutes......EXCELLENT!!!!
Cinema: if you would have listened to it without knowing which band it was and was asked afterwards: is this Genesis or Yes? I think my answer would have been: Genesis... liked it all a lot though and I think this got some airplay too back then. Genesis went into “Pop Prog” and so did Yes. Both succeeded and gained a new fanbase.
As I listen to cinema my first thought was "Wot Gorilla" by Genesis so I get what you are saying.
Yes stayed on the fringes but as you called pop Prog by Genesis totally went overboard with poppy commercial sappy music only because of the fact I grew up if you listen to early Genesis and then try to compare it with this Poppy stuff he said he’s the same bands they were them they backed in they were the most complex lyrics stage presence you know you can even compare like Asia Carl Palmer Steve Howe John wetton then of course ELP for the last album Long Beach talk about go on commercial bee Gees nothing wrong with the Bee Gees but that was an ELP except for the second side officer and a gentleman and especially the classic piece Canario there was an interview on their last high-voltage performance in 2010 referring to Emerson Lake and Palmer where Greg lake states that if they never went with works they probably would’ve been the same on the verge of doing I hate the word pop Prog ELP how to do that last time and love beach I’m not sure about the story whatever what do you music early 70s that’s what you listen to what I can’t blame them if they wanted to make more money and that sold I’ll be at he what the hell after years of hard Torino want to make easy money because it’s commercial they go for it
Rabies sound and Hacket 🤔
...naw 😉
The a cappella version of this mind blowingly great! Their voices marking every sound! Remarkable harmonies!
Leave It was actually a hit for Yes. I remember it featured at Six Flags, in the late 80's-early 90's when in line for rides. It demonstrated that Yes can do anything, including pop acappella.
A Beautiful Song, Cinema! Pure music.....one can feel such and freedom listening to it and then the voices come in Wonderful Harmony at the end!!
Trevor Horn (producer) made this entire record, but especially “Leave It” and ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart” to be an unbelievably interesting collection of ear candy (headphones, kids!) and I love that. Trevor Rabin is an unbelievable talent-he’s a fantastic composer with a great voice, and a killer guitarist with riffs, and incredible solos.
....90125 was my very first cd purchased...and these 2 songs positively factored into that decision. Great album 100%.
"Cinema" comes very close to sounding like a late 70's Genesis song; it's almost prophetic in nature as well, as it is Rabin's composition - and he has spent the last thirty years primarily composing film scores for: cinema! "Leave It", of course, is a vocal tour de force, but I always thought it was compromised by having those disco elements, disco suffering its final death rattles in Europe at just around that time. (As a GenXer I have the usual allergies to anything disco-related).
Ad a boomer, I'm also allergic to disco. But I never got any hint of disco from Leave It. And even if I did, I wouldn't mind because it's Yes.
You can tell the influence of Trevor Horn on "Leave it"; all the voice sampling, keyboards and sampled drums were the pinnacle of the tech of 1984. In the personnel of 90125 you'll find Gary Langan (engineering) and J J Jeczalic (programming), who where members of Art of Noise, a really influential band also produced by Trevor Horn.
Also loved the hello goodbye remix of leave it
The a cappella version is incredible!
Cinema was this band. Then they brought in Jon to help with lyrics. He ended up singing, then joining. The label basically said, use Yes or we use a no on releasing the album. Yes was reborn.
MTV made a huge spectacle of the "Leave It" video, but the first time I heard the song I was blown away, video be damned.
Love it!!!! Cannot get enough of this group!
"One down, one to go" has become an expression coming back in my life a lot ;-) Every time it's appropriate this line comes to mind and I start singing "Leave It". A fun song and totally different, quite a surprise on my first listen.
This was about headphones and car speakers pumping out hi-fi stereo sound unlike anything people had ever heard. About teenagers being transported to another place in time. This music is not about an 80's "sound." It's about the change in how people "felt" music.
Hi Justin, cinema started to open Yes shows, on their tours, at that time, very interesting indeed. But, a question does not want to be silent, you will do the analysis of Lamb Lies down, totally, or partially. it is undoubtedly a beautiful album.
??? um, no. Saw the tour, no opening act at all. Cinema became Yes when Jon joined, and it was never a thing after that. This one instrumental recording is their only real legacy, as Jon's not on it, so it remained unchanged.
The very definition of progression whether you like it or not. Compare this to the last few albums. Yes couldn’t just keep rewriting Starship Trooper and as a consequence they became more popular than ever in the MTV era. Yes always embraced the technology of the day so here we have Simmons drums and samplers. The harmonies are definitely Yes trademarks and a cappella is a nice invention. It was pretty awesome seeing this live in 1983. Everybody singing at their mics and Alan White standing playing a couple Simmons pads. Much like their new music, the whole stage was streamlined with the amplifiers out of sight under the stage.
The album was fully written and mostly finished before Jon Anderson joined the project. Trevor Rabin, who wrote most of the album told Jon that he could change any lyrics he wanted to. Interestingly, Leave It is the only song that doesn't have any noted changes by Jon.
Justin, Yes also released an acapella version of Leave It, you should check it out
Absolutely
Watching you hear this for the first time reminds me of when I first heard it! Happy memories!! Thanks!
I love Leave it. Why? Because I’m a big fan of vocal harmony bands. I am also a Beach Boys fan as well a Bee Gees fan. Yes knocks it out of the park here. Solid vocals and incredible harmonies. This song is basically a showcase of their vocal chops. Chris has a phenomenal range, as he is both the very low voice (bass baritone-ish range) in the early parts, as well as the top end later on. I have heard it said that Jon is not a tenor, but actually an alto. It sure seems like it in this song. He is outstanding here, ethereal top end playing off of Chris and Trevor R. so well. Trevor H. and Alan are also excellent. But Jon and Chris together are, IMHO, better than either one alone. Their voices have always been perfect together. But, again, I love this song. The a cappella version is awesome.
Ok.. Cinema is a cracking opener.. This sounded awesome live butty. 😊
Great melody, drums, superb by Alan. Chris's bass hmm lush butty.
Leave it sounds odd, very poppy, but the melody's are really nice. There's enough subtle changes going on to keep you involved, and interested imho.. 😊 😊.
Vocals are great, guitsr work, very nice by Trevor.
This song works so well after Cinema imo. 😊 Great twosome Justin.. 👍 👍
Yes.. Yes please.
JP it didn’t strike gold. It struck platinum😀. Take a listen to the a cappella version. The song is awesome.
Leave it is different give it more listens and it will hit your playlist. Even my kids like it, great car song to sing with wife or family.
There is a great clip of a very interesting one off line up of Yes performing Cinema along with Owner of a Lonely Heart at a Trevor Horn productions tribute show in 2004. The lineup is Chris Squire, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Trevor Rabin and Steve Howe.
I’ve been waiting for you to review these two tracks, and I’m glad you did them back to back. Cinema is one of my all time favorite instrumentals and at this point in the album the volume is always cranked.
I always like "Cinema", but used to hate "Leave It". Now my opinion has changed. It's funny, because back in the 90s, when I first was getting into Yes, the stuff from the 70s seemed to age a lot better and the 80s stuff just seemed so outdated. I used to hate "Leave It" because it was just so over the top 80s and just seemed so "uncool" at the time. Now I'm so nostalgic for the time that I love it.
"The most 80s song I've heard from Yes." I would not argue with this a bit. I like this album and listened to it a lot. Leave It tends to have an earworm quality that gets into your head but it isn't my favorite song on the record, by some distance.
Happy Sunday Justin! Great vid! Please react to the “Talk” album from YES???
For me, if I let go of it being Yes and hear it as a new band, without expectations, it’s not a bad album. When I hear it as Yes, it’s way down the list of best Yes albums. It’s very 80s.
^This
Saw this album tour. Even though Howe and Wakeman weren't there, Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye did a great job. This album was fun and unique.
BTW, it WAS the 80’s and it was a time that even the Stones and pretty much everyone either jumped on or got left behind. We knew of Yes when this came out but this brought them to the FOREFRONT and made me want more. Another “BTW”, Yes admits fully from day one that most of their song meant very little, just words that sounded good together (Jon Anderson boasted). I generally agree with you on most of your reactions but I feel this song was genius, especially the a cappella version.
Great song.The drums on Leave It are provided by the Fairlight C.M.I. IIx. Alan had drum pads connected to the Fairlight to trigger the sounds
Say; JP... One of the reasons I like you as a person is because you seem to be able to transcend the borders between genres. I'm not here because I like yes (of course I am), not because I like a certain genre of rock music (not so); not even because I like YOU (wrong). I'm here because you're a 'cool' dude who's open to different genres and styles and who gives a fun opinion about what he hears. I may not always agree with what you say; that doesn't make you a less agreeable person. Because you're usually not confrontational. You're the kind of guy one agrees with when you've come to a conclusion, because you make sense. How ever wrong you can be, you still make sense, hombre. 'Wrong' with a serious pinchn of salt, of course. Love and warm greetings from Belgium.
I have the A Capella version of Leave It on all of my Yes Playlists, so it's good to hear the original studio mix as well.
The A Capella mix was on their Red Blue Remix EP along with a dance/club remix of Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave it that I never really cared for but had to own because it was Yes.
One of my favorite tracks from the album. I've loved 90125 since it's release (along with the rest of Yes' catalog), but I really feel it's a better album when listened to in context of the music that surrounded it at the time it was released. In comparison to most of what was on the radio on the time, it really stood out, and made you appreciate it more, at least that's the way it affected me at the time.
Cinema was the side band but what a lead in. I love Chris’ vocals and Trevors harmony
Yes vocality at its best! I remember as a kid in the 80's watching the quirky music video for Leave It on MTV. They played the crap out of it and I thought it was so cool, so new wave, and artsy. It has that 80's Trevor Horn production that made it such a great mainstream hit for YES.
I LOVE 90125 ❤💛💙 , I LOVE , YES 💙💛❤
Fun fact this song has Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Alan White, Trevor Horn, and Trevor Rabin all on vocals.
I really like Leave It! ❤️ As I’ve said before, “Owner...” is the only one I don’t care for on this album. Very approachable. 👍🏻👍🏻
Take 2!
From what I remember, it was was was quite a shock of an album. It was new uncharted territory and Change It took awhile to soak in, maybe years but, I love it now. Trevor is a much superior vocal blend to Jon and Chris imo.
Love me some Yes in the morning... working on a new series of paintings, even dreamed in the same vein, am pumped this morning, even though I probably need more sleep. Eh, I’ll take a good nap later, or have lay down, as they say elsewhere. Love that...
Take care everyone, masks masks and more masks, kindness on porpoise, mucho amor,
Peace and Legendary lead-in Music
I remember well when this album came out. This was like the second wave of Yes once they had been a slightly more radioesque... I though liked it, felt it hit in the synthpop world that was around as the prime star that
Justin you have to check The yes album referred to as talk which came out in 93 I saw them do it live absolutely phenomenal musicianship great lyrics and really really good music I’ll just leave it at that but I would check it out if I were you
Been to movies 2 times since like 93. Don't feel I have missed much. These are 2 great songs and if I recall right in Toronto at least leave it was all over our MTV or much and radio. Heck most of this album was too
You have to watch the MTV video they made for this song. It fits perfectly! BTW, this song always had a Gentle Giant beat to me, especially if you listen to their criminally under appropriated last album “Civilian”. It’s like if Gentle Giant embraced the early 80’s and made it their own. There were quite a few music writers that had “Civilian’” in their top 10 of 1980.
The album that got me into Yes as a teenager. Very '80's indeed, yet I really don't know any other song (or album) that sounds quite like it. '80's in its own very distinct way. I actually love the production on it. Somehow to me it sounds very '80's but not dated at all. That probably makes no sense, but, coming from my brain, that's par for the course!
Hey Justin, I haven't listened to 90125 in a long time. Enjoying this ride with you, even though you posted this months ago.
One thing I noticed during Cinema - just how much Trevor Rabin was trying to replicate the sound of Boston. Cinema now reminds me very much of ForePlay/LongTime by Boston. I find this incursion into another band's sound unforgivable. With Close To the Edge and Awaken behind them and Magnification and Fly From Here ahead of them, the music from 90125 was a dip in creativity.
Ken
Now that you discovered "leave it", your vision of the music must change forever. If you don't, you're deaf
If you want to hear how tight the harmonies really are on Leave It, check out the a capella version on the Deluxe Version of 90125. Fun listen.
Cinema was Yes' name for a short time..."Cinema" was used when Trevor Rabin was added,but when Jon Joined again, he insisted they go back to being Yes again so they did.In addition,Ex-Yesman Trevor Horn produced this album,hence the mechanical theme. This was done A Cappella first then instruments were added. The A Cappella version was added on the 12" single
A video was made with the group looking like houseflies hanging upside down. Twelve versions was made and MTV Viewers chose one from them to be the Official Video. Version 11 was omitted.
The two others was Owner Of A Lonely Heart and It Can Happen
And who was the producer of this album: Trevor Horn, yeah the singer in Drama. You can’t listen to 90125 without listening to Hearts, the closer song of the album. You surely enjoy...
Cinema could have easily been a song on the Genesis album Wind and Wuthering. Leave it was a great vocal performance by the band but very dated for a eighties song, way overproduced but still overall part of a fantastic album.
Keep Up the Great Work you are doing with your Reactions to All of the YES Music you have Done So Far but just remember There is Much More to Cover As You Dig Much Deeper into There Anthology of Music.
I've always liked these two songs. Leave It is definitely different from typical Yes songs, but I still like it. In the context of a vinyl album, these two songs do a nice job of opening side 2. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that 90125 was the first album I purchased on CD. :-)
A bit like putting the Beach Boys in an art-pop outfit :-)
I actually enjoy this.
Pretty much nailed how I feel about these songs with this version of YES. Not fully my cup of YES that I grew up loving and worshipping but all things must change and evolve especially when the members/writers change. I honestly left the YES fan fold throughout the entire 80's. I only heard these songs later in the 90's because I felt YES could no longer sustain their progressive high after their transition.
There is an acapella version of Leave It. It is amazing
Been busy, but liked the choice today. Leave it was without a doubt my fav. on this album. More college memories. Loved the harmony with the digital sound of the vocals. Then it kicks in with a great bass line. 80's were hard on rock music, this was a good song though.
“Leave It”... (to Beaver) ... got it. 😉. That song will grow on you if you give it a few more listens. It has grown to become one of my favorites from this album. From the Yes catalog? Much lower down, but for this album, I like it!
I love that lyric: I can feel no sense of measure, no illusions as we take refuge in young man's pleasure, breaking down the dreams we made real
You know what Justin....just love your honesty. Yes set such a high bar...didn't they?? I always felt these 2 songs were ok. Liked them but not crazy about them...so I understand your reaction.
Note: my personal favorite song on this album...Hearts. Absolutely love it. Hopefully you'll like it too.
Leave it was one of the "disco" songs they played in some bars in the 80's...
If your first reaction is “I don’t know how I feel about this,“ then you probably don’t feel very positively about it. Especially when you follow that up with “it sounds very 80s” and “I appreciate their experimentation.” I guess “Leave It” isn’t for everyone. I like it for its boldness and for successfully penetrating the MTV market and becoming a minor hit. For the record, “Cinema“ was the name of this band before Jon Anderson got involved and it became Yes again.
Speaking of Yes ... did you notice "Arc Of Life"? This is a new band around Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood. They released their first album in 2021. If there is a free place in your todo list, you may listen to the song "Therefore We Are".
I saw then pop up on Twitter, didnt take much notice in the moment though
Ahh the eighties. When everything was overproduced and bombastic. I do like this song but like you said it is similar to Turn it on again. You can enjoy both but 30 -40 years later you are not going to go out of your way to listen to it again like Firth of fifth or Roundabout.
If you have the expanded edition, a few Cinema tracks are on there. Trevor and Chris take the leads. They're cool tunes.
It just occurred to me, no matter how good those cans are JP is listening to the same crummy RUclips sound file as we are.
Would be interesting to see a reaction now comparing a high bitrate CD quality copy.
Good call on the comparison with Turn It On Again by Genesis, JP, although the Genesis song is punchier and drives along at a faster pace, but both definitely stadium worthy as you rightly say! Turn It On Again was a staple of Genesis' live performances throughout the 1980s onwards.
You got to love Trever Horn's prediction on it though?? I think he nailed it with the prediction choices.. No??
Love these two songs so much! Tried to talk my high school choir director into having us perform Leave It as I had a friend who was willing to transpose it for us. After listening to it, he said it was way too complicated for us!
At least you tried! :D
@@JustJP true. How is it that my favorite songs off albums are inevitably your least favorite? LOL. Can’t wait for your reaction to City of Love.
"Cinema" is the ring tone for my boss' callings, haha (the first bits, looped)
This is the most original song on that album, even though there's no individual instrumental or vocal performance or lyric that stands out at all. It's about the arrangement.