Yes frontman Jon Davison has responded to criticism from some quarters about the band’s latest album Heaven & Earth.
And he says fans should put their expectations to one side and enjoy a “lighter shade” of Yes.
Davison tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “You have to go where the creativity takes you. At this stage in the game, they want to ease back into some almost relaxing music. I don’t mean to sound like everyone’s dull by any means because that’s not it at all. The music’s probably been interpreted that way.
“It’s just a phase in their lives where it’s kind of an easy-listening record. It just kind of warms over you if you let it. It’s a lighter shade of Yes.”
He continues: “If people put expectation aside, I think eventually over time more people will ease into it – a lot of people already are.”
The singer took over from Benoit David in 2012 and toured with the band before recording Heaven & Earth, an album Yes veteran Chris Squire refers to as a “new chapter” in the band’s history.
Yes are currently on tour across the US and are incorporating the whole of Fragile and Close To The Edge into their set. But Davison says he doesn’t feel any pressure to perform these Yes classics.
He says: “You’re never going to measure up to that and we don’t necessarily want to because it would be forced if we tried.”
Following their US tour, Yes head to Australia and New Zealand, before travelling to Japan for five dates in November.
