Post Description

Fly from Here is the band's first studio album since the release of Magnification (2001), the longest gap to date between two Yes studio albums. It will also be their first with Canadian singer Benoît David on vocals, who replaced long-time member Jon Anderson.[5] Prior to joining Yes in 2008, David performed as the lead vocalist in Close to the Edge, a Canadian Yes tribute band, for over ten years.[6] He remains the lead singer of the Canadian band Mystery, which he joined in 1999.
Trevor Horn, who was the lead singer for the Drama (1980) album and tour and also produced their next album 90125 (1983) and co-produced the follow-up Big Generator (1987), produced Fly from Here.[3] Drama era keyboardist Geoff Downes returns to the band for this album,[3][5] handling "most of the keyboards", following the departure of Oliver Wakeman, who had contributed both to the album's writing and recording.[7][8][3]
The album's title track is based on a song over 30 years old. Downes and Horn had first approached Yes with a demo of their song "We Can Fly from Here" in 1980, prior to joining the band. The first rehearsals of that song with Yes featured Bill Bruford on drums.[9] It was later recorded as a studio demo, and left off Drama, but was performed on the album's supporting 1980 tour.[10] A live version from that year appears on The Word Is Live (2005).[11] After Yes disbanded in 1981, Horn and Downes recorded another demo of the song (this time as a two-part suite) for possible inclusion on The Buggles' second album Adventures in Modern Recording (1981) but it was also left off the album. This demo was released as a bonus track on ZTT's 2010 reissue of Adventures in Modern Recording.[12] This new Yes version will mark the first airing of a finished studio recording of "Fly from Here", with Parts I and II based on the earlier two parts of the song. According to Squire, the title track will be the band's eleventh epic piece, their first in 15 years, which clocks in at nearly 25 minutes.[13][14]
"Life on a Film Set" is based on "Riding a Tide", a Buggles demo that was first released on the 2010 Adventures in Modern Recording reissue. The other songs are newly written and include "Solitaire", an acoustic solo piece by Steve Howe.
The cover was designed by artist Roger Dean, who has created many album covers for the band.[13[br]
Yes
Benoît David - lead vocals
Chris Squire - bass guitar, backup vocals, lead vocals on "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"
Steve Howe - guitars, backup vocals
Alan White - drums
Geoff Downes - keyboards
Additional musicians
Oliver Wakeman - additional keyboards on "We Can Fly", "We Can Fly (reprise)" and "Hour of Need"[2][15][16]
Trevor Horn - backup vocals, additional keyboards[15][17]
Luís Jardim - percussion[15]
Gerard Johnson - piano on "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"[15]
Production
Tim Weidner - mixing and engineering[15]
Trevor Horn - producer, co-writer

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Fly From Here - Overture"   Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes 1:53
2. "Fly From Here - Pt I - We Can Fly"   Horn, Downes, Chris Squire 6:00
3. "Fly From Here - Pt II - Sad Night at the Airfield"   Horn, Downes 6:41
4. "Fly From Here - Pt III - Madman at the Screens"   Horn, Downes 5:16
5. "Fly From Here - Pt IV - Bumpy Ride"   Steve Howe 2:15
6. "Fly From Here - Pt V - We Can Fly (reprise)"   Horn, Downes, Squire 1:44
7. "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"   Squire, Gerard Johnson, Simon Sessler 5:07
8. "Life on a Film Set"   Horn, Downes 5:01
9. "Hour of Need"   Howe 3:07
10. "Solitaire"   Howe 3:30
11. "Into the Storm"   Squire, Oliver Wakeman, Howe, Horn, Benoît David, Alan White 6:54
12. "Hour of Need (full-length version; Japan-only bonus track)"   Howe 6:45