Talk (Yes album)

With a recording deal secured Rabin joined Anderson in a motel in San Clemente, California where Anderson had been staying, to write new material. During the next two or so weeks they came up with a group of songs either from scratch or ideas that they had both put down for potential development, using an acoustic guitar and two boomboxes for putting down what they came up with.[4][3] This occasion marked the first time Anderson had been involved in the songwriting for a Yes album from its initial stages since his return to the group in 1983, as his involvement on previous records came at the latter stages of production, which limited his input.[5] Rabin knew the importance of forming a strong musical bond with Anderson for Talk as on Big Generator, he felt "the frustration in Jon that, although he was involved, it was basically me writing the songs and Jon trying to work on top of them [...] So I realised, the best possible way is [...] I need to work really closely with him to provide him the best possible platform to sing on [...] which led to its being a better album for us".[3] Anderson noted that having such an instant collaboration with a songwriter in the band makes "a true Yes album", and recalled that the album's direction was set after four days of writing which was to include one long track.[6] Squire made a conscious decision to reduce his involvement in the songwriting to ensure Rabin and Anderson came up with material they deemed strong enough, and received credit for "The Calling" and "Real Love".[7] Despite this, he felt "very happy" with the material on the album.[5] Anderson and Rabin said an early working title for the album was Blueprint.[8] White went on to reveal another as it was being made, Crunching Numbers.[9]

Rabin recorded Talk on four Apple Macintosh computers (pictured) linked to an IBM machine.

The majority of Talk was recorded and mixed at Rabin's home studio in Hollywood, California which he named The Jacaranda Room.[lower-alpha 1] Additional recording took place at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood.[7] Rabin took charge of the album's production, opting for digital non-linear recording techniques rather than traditional recording tape. He recalled: "Everyone thought I was nuts – but the band was great, very supportive" and they agreed to pursue it.[10] After a period of research, Rabin and his engineer and mixer Michael Jay linked four Apple Macintosh computers to a single IBM machine, each running the digital audio workstation software Digital Performer developed by Mark of the Unicorn, and saved onto 12 GB Dynatec hard drives.[10][11] As they worked on the album, Rabin and Jay wrote down errors they encountered or new functions they needed to complete the recording process, to which the programmers would update the software with their new code.[9][12] Anderson later said that the album took as long as it did to finish because of the teething problems with the software.[13] The process resulted in a reduction of takes as problems that arose were able to be corrected using the software which kept the songs fresh.[10] Rabin stressed that the album is not computerised music, and that the instruments are "real" and feature live instrumentation, but recording them onto a hard drive allowed the tracks to be manipulated in an easier way than tape.[14]

Having recorded in such a cutting edge fashion, Squire preferred the sound he got from his bass with the computer than previous digital tape systems that he had used.[15][16] He played his Rickenbacker bass, a Tobias four-string bass, a custom made Mouradian bass, and Rabin's Casio computer guitar that was run through a synthesiser.[15] Early into the production of Talk, White said an initial 5.5 GB of space was insufficient due to the estimated 27 microphones used to record his drumming in real time and the decision to use more tracks for the drums in the final mix as opposed to condensing them. Until that point, each song was roughly 350 MB in size.[9] In its unedited form, the album took up over 34 GB of memory.[9][16] Production was delayed for a short while following the Northridge, California earthquake on 17 January 1994 to protect the equipment from damage caused by subsequent tremors.[16] The album was then mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Mastering in Los Angeles.[7]

The album's cover was designed by German-American graphic artist Peter Max.[7][14] Squire held some reservations about the design, despite the art having grown on him since he first saw it.[15] The album's sleeve contains the message "dedicated to all Yes fans",[7][17] along with the tongue-in-cheek warning: "P.S. 'Caution' Extreme Digital Dynamic Range", signifying that the album is a fully digital recording.[7] Early pressings contained a misprint in the credits which originally had all songs credited solely to Anderson and Rabin.[15]

"The Calling" developed and evolved around the song's introductory guitar riff. Rabin did not wish to make the song have a "preaching" message, but as a call for people to get together with one another.[5]

Rabin developed "I Am Waiting" with ease and little effort, taking him one day to put the music together. He remembered Anderson took an instant liking towards it, writing the lyrics and singing most of the vocals on the same day. Anderson singled out "I Am Waiting" as a favourite, described the song as "real pure music" because of the spontaneous way it was written.[18]

The music to "Real Love" was mainly written by Squire; Kaye described it as "pretty heavy".[19] The lyrics were partly inspired by Rabin's reading of A Brief History of Time by British physicist Stephen Hawking ("Far away in the depths of Hawking's mind...").[18]

Rabin co-wrote "Walls" with Supertramp vocalist Roger Hodgson who also sang on its demo.

"State of Play" originated from an incident with Rabin where an emergency services vehicle passed him with its siren on. He recalled about the sound of its siren: "I thought that's an amazing sound with the Doppler effect and everything as it goes by. That gave me the idea for the screeching kind of guitar sound in the beginning".[19] Speaking about its tune, Squire thought the track was a "conscious effort" from the band to combine a style of hip-hop "groove with heavy rock guitars".[19] White pointed out the singing from Anderson, Rabin, and Squire as particularly strong, with "great musicianship all round".[9]

"Walls" was the last track produced for the album.[19] Rabin co-wrote the song with Supertramp vocalist Roger Hodgson, who declined an offer to be Yes's lead singer following Anderson's departure in 1988 following the Big Generator tour.[20] The pair recorded a demo in 1990 which was included on Rabin's demo compilation album 90124, released in 2003.

"Where Will You Be" is a song written by Rabin, originally as the signature tune to an Australian film.[19] He thought Anderson's lyrics were some of the best on Talk.[21] An instrumental version can be found on Rabin's 90124 demo album.

"Endless Dream" is a fifteen-minute track divided into three parts, "Silent Spring", "Talk", and "Endless Dream". The repeating piano riff at the beginning of "Silent Spring" came from a longer piece that Rabin intended to use as part of a film score, but chose to use it for the song instead. The piece then moves into a 15/8 time signature.[21] The instrumental section on "Talk" was originally a piece Rabin wrote for orchestra titled "October". Anderson said the song is "as good as anything" the band has done and noted its "remarkable" structure in the "Endless Dream" section, rating it on par with "Close to the Edge" and "Awaken", two long Yes tracks from the 1970s.[21] White also praised the track highly.[9]

On 16 March 1994, Yes held a Talk premiere party broadcast hosted by Bob Coburn at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, California. This was followed by a release party broadcast on 21 March 1994, the day Talk was released. The album was a mild commercial success, reaching No. 20 in the UK and No. 33 in the US, their lowest charting album in the US since The Yes Album in 1971. Anderson and Rabin blamed the bankruptcy of the Victory label which caused a lack of promotion.[22] Two tracks were released as singles—"The Calling" and "Walls"; peaking at No. 3 and 24 respectively on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Carson spoke of the album following its release: "[It] was probably one of the best albums they have ever done ... But of course it was totally at the wrong time. It sold around 300,000 around the world but nothing like that it should have."[2][23]

In 1994, Yes released Yes Active, a CD-ROM containing the album and various interactive bonus material including interviews and band performances.

Talk was reissued as a Collector's Edition in April 2002 by Spitfire Records which included "Endless Dream" as a single track, a version of "The Calling" titled "The Calling (Special Version)", and extensive sleeve notes. In 2006, Talk was released as part of the Yes album compilation box set Essentially Yes (2006) on Eagle Records.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[24]
Rolling Stone	[25]

Talk received a mostly negative response from critics. Rolling Stone rated it two stars out of five.[25] Critic J. D. Considine reviewed the album in Musician with "Shut up." Rabin spoke of his review: "I laughed at first ... But then I thought a review like that doesn't do anybody any good. We all get negative reviews of albums, and if the criticism is negative, and if it's constructive criticism, often it's something you can feed off".[26]

Talk was supported with a 1994 tour of North and South America and Japan. Rabin supervised the development of Concertsonics, a quadraphonic sound system that allowed people seated in selected seats to hear the concert's soundboard mix with headphones and personal radio by tuning into a specific FM frequency. Rabin was pleased with the band's performances, describing the tour as his "most satisfying" with the band.[27] The tour included a performance of "Walls" on Late Show with David Letterman on 20 June 1994. According to Rabin, host David Letterman "was driving one day and 'The Calling' ... came on the radio. He stopped the car and apparently called his producer to get the album".[26]

After the tour's conclusion, Rabin and Kaye decided to leave the band.