***1/2 Yes

KEYS TO ASCENSION 2

(Purple Pyramid)

*1/2 Yes

OPEN YOUR EYES

(Beyond)

Try as they may, Yes will never be anything more than an old-fashioned, overblown art-rock band -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Recorded quickly and released quietly to fulfill a lame-duck contract, the studio disc of Keys to Ascension 2 is their best album since 1977's Going for the One, and the first time they've played full-blown Yes music since then. Rick Wakeman's twiddly but dazzling keyboards and Steve Howe's twiddly but raunchy guitar are back to shed light on singer Jon Anderson's melodic musings. "Footprints" and "Mind Drive" (running nine and 18 minutes, respectively) are complex epics that hold together as songs; "Sign Language" is a simple and pretty instrumental. The second disc of Keys is a live reworking of Yes oldies, neither improving on nor trashing the original versions.

On the other hand, the official new album Open Your Eyes shows how silly Yes can sound when they try to go mainstream. Wakeman's out and LA dude Billy Sherwood is in to write and produce most of the songs; Howe doesn't get enough to play, and it sounds as if Anderson had been hastily dubbed over Sherwood's vocals. The title track and "New State of Mind" have a bit of the old Yes grandeur. The rest is mostly slick adult-contemporary with "I'm okay, you're okay"-type lyrics. Save for an interesting bonus track, with 15 minutes of effects and a cappella snippets, this makes "Owner of a Lonely Heart" sound like Beethoven's Ninth.

-- Brett Milano