Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

The background to this release 25 years ago was the latest bust up in the world of prog-rock, with Jon Anderson quitting Yes after a fall-out with Chris Squire and Trevor Horn. Yes had produced one of the eighties best examples of over the top prog-pop, with the wonderful 90125, but creative differences on the follow-up led to Anderson walking away.

Pulling together the four named contributors proved easy - and sure enough, despite the rather laboured moniker, the subsequent tour was billed as members of Yes, with much of the band's material included. As for the album itself, it of course suffers from the production sounds of the time. While Horn managed to oversee records that would stand the test of time (90125, Lexicon of Love for example), much of the more grandiose rock of the era has not travelled well.

Anderson has always had a vocal reminiscent of someone straining for the very last breaths of life, but on opener Themes he sounds even more panicked than normal. But the album settles down after that, with some tunes amongst the indulgence - especially on Brother of Mine's ten minute sequence. There are also some intriguing moments of musical inter-play on the bluesy Quartet. The album was recorded in Montserrat and the Caribbean flavour envelopes Teakbois, but not in a good way.

Lyrically, Anderson's anger at having to walk out on Yes is taken out on the British government - with the unusually political Birthright, about the testing of the atomic bomb at Woomera, without proper consultation with the Aboriginal population; "counting out the statesmen, bungling one by one....looking after number one".

This two CD version includes some extra material from the original sessions, including Vultures In The City, that didn't make the original album, as well as different versions of Order of the Universe and Brother of Mine. For fans of the original - and Rick Wakeman himself claims to be one - this is a well put together re-issue, with the sleeve notes worth a read alone.