Great episode, more of these please! Re: Sweet Dreams, I also love the version from the 2003-04 tours. Alan is killing it there (missing Alan).

I feel the need to push back on this nonsense about TRUE being the 2nd coming of YES. I do love the album but TRUE IS NOT A YES ALBUM. Repeat that 3 times. It is an excellent Jon Anderson collaboration, full of JA twee melodies & lyrics, dressed up in Prog by the Geeks. The strongest tracks are the first 3. True Messenger is the closest thing to a “Yes” song on this record, but Jon sings too much and the instrumental segments, though brilliantly composed and played, seem more of an afterthought. Shine On could almost be a late-Rabin-era piece (but for the outstanding contemporary production) and I love it’s catchy melodies & arrangement, but essentially, it’s a simple JA pop song underneath the crazy vocal/instrumental orchestration. Counties & Countries is one of my favorites on the record, but let’s be honest, YES would never have let this appear on a YES record. The sing-songy melody (which I rather like) with its sequence (“I received it on that day, the gift of love which is here to stay”) would surely have raised the eyebrows of Steve, Chris & Rick. I love the Hammond solo near the end but the superfluous Moog solo seems designed to give it some Prog street cred as well as a homage to Rick W. But face it: Steve & Chris would not have let this stand. The next four songs from Ocean to Realization2 have beautiful moments and exquisite playing but these are obviously Jon solo songs, again, dressed up in pretty prog outfits. The lyrics are very repetitive, the melodies meander; I love the gospel choir but we are not prepared for it. As Kevin says, how many times do we need Jon to repeat the word “love?” or “heaven?” Once Upon a Dream, though a respectable long-form piece, is no prog epic masterwork. It seems to lack much structure, and is more of a pastiche. It is most similar to, but inferior to, the long-form pieces on KeysStudio. It compares unfavorably to YES’ title track from Mirror to the Sky, which is a tighter, more organic piece of music. And finally, Thank God? Really? We know he loves Janie, but I’ll make no further comment.

In my opinion, TRUE is a fantastic album, and in many ways it’s a wonderful Prog album, but the people saying it’s the 2nd coming of YES are wedded to the vocal sound of Jon A’s voice & the “it’s not YES without Jon A” ideology (theology?-LOL). I agree that his voice is quite compelling and it’s a richer vocal sound than that of Jon Davison. But Jon Anderson is not YES, as much as some fans would have us believe that.