Yoso United States

"Former Yes members Tony Kaye (keyboards) and Billy Sherwood (bass & vocals) team-up with Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball to give life to this new super-group. Yoso debut album, Elements, released in July 2010, consists of two discs: the first one contains original songs recorded in studio, while the second one gathers a number of live recordings and is a mix of Yoso original compositions and Toto & Yes hits.

Focusing on Disc One, the music on ‘Elements’ is a very much Toto-inspired blend of melodic rock and AOR (the early-Yes influences are tiny). All songs are of good quality (and one wouldn’t expect otherwise from such a trio of musicians), and some contain excellent melodies that do stick in your head (e.g., the opener Yoso , the ballad To Seek the Truth , or the more energetic Close the Curtain ). Despite this, the overall impression from listening to this album is that this is a rather uninspired and mediocre project. Most of the songs fall flat and do not convey many emotions. In particular, Kimball’s voice is powerful throughout the album, but it gets boring and inexpressive after a while.

Overall, this is a decent album, but it lacks the spark and enthusiasm to be truly rewarding. And, given the names involved, this is somewhat disappointing."