Album: Big Generator (1987)

Charted: 40

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Songfacts®:

• This song was a far cry from the group's mystical '70s output. Lead singer Jon Anderson described it as "A group identity sort of song. You know, 'rock n' roll, let's get down, boogie."
  
  Anderson's contribution to the song was tweaking the lyrics - it's not a good reflection of his work, and he did leave the band soon after. Keyboard player Tony Kaye and bassist Chris Squire also contributed to the song's composition, but it was mainly written by their guitarist, Trevor Rabin, who joined Yes for their previous album, 90125. On the Yes: Their Greatest Video Hits collection, Rabin explained: "The idea behind that was just sex, you know, the rhythm of love. I thought we've been cheeky enough with Yes by doing a song like 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart,' pushing away from the cosmic lyrics we all know. I thought it would be a nice little tease to have a sex lyric in."
• The backing vocal harmonies during the intro and before each chorus of this song were clearly inspired by the music of the Beach Boys. There was once a misconception that members of the Beach Boys performed on this (they did not).
• Although Yes remain active, this was their last US Top 40 hit - and it just barely sneaked in for a single week. After the Big Generator album failed to match the commercial success of their previous album 90125, Yes began to gravitate back toward their progressive AOR roots. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Joshua - Twin Cities, MN, for above 2

Comments: 9

• Dick from Virginia, UsaYes (or one of the cores of it) stripping off most of the airy-fairy stuff to bring solid, basic rock (which surely irritates those with a fetish for the earlier Yes pieces). After the acapella part -- a teaser and misdirection -- the bass seeming to say "to hell with this nonsense" and the drums crashing in with agreement, and the generator has come on line.
  
  I mean, I love pre-Trevor Yes. I love Trevor Yes, too, and he's probably right in some quote, that it would be fun to just get down and dirty for once. But even Yes can't just sound like AC/DC; there's still that artistry in this song. It's cool and doesn't detract from 70's Yes, for it's kind of a different band just using the old name (since Chris is in it and, not incidentally, embracing this direction for two albums).\
  
  Now, if as said above, they stopped this style due to lack of commercial success, it seems to me they were after commercial success all along, which might be obvious, but a pretense among fans is that they weren't and that Trevor moved them into a "commercial" direction, which is ironic since apparently they dropped the Trevor style due to lack of sufficient commerciality.
• Rick from PhiladelphiaWhile I prefer Yes with Steve Howe over Trevor Rabin, this is one of my favorite Yes songs.
• Mike from Port Orange, FlThe acapela intro to "Rhythm of Love" is my favorite part of the Big Generator album. They should have done more of it.
• Thomas from Oklahoma City, OkI love the vocal arrangement in this song. My only frustration is that I could once sing the top tenor part, but now not so much.
• Claude from Kingston, MaAs a Tales from Topographic Oceans era fan, I didn't think too much of 90125 or Big Generator. Good tunes, but not really "Yesish" enough for me if you know what I mean. I'll tell you one thing though - "Holy Lamb" is one of the most beautiful songs they've done. That and "Heart of the Sunrise" in my opinion are the most beautiful Yessongs.
• Randy from Colerain Twp., OhI won't neccessarily blame Trevor Rabin for "Yes West's" failure- I actually do like Trevor Rabin myself. Although 'BG' was a disappointment, "Talk" was actually a decent album. I was fortunate enough to have seen Yes in concert with the "Yes West" lineup, and they did virtually the entire "Talk" album. And they did do a pretty good job performing those songs.
• Rick from Mount Ephraim, NjI agree. The Union album does demonstrate that classic Yes beats "Yes West", hands down. Big Generator had a couple of nice tunes on there, and this is the best cut, IMO, but the album, overall, stinks.
  
  Thanks for nothing, Trevor.
• Evna from São Paulo, BrazilI love this song and can´t see anything wrong with Big Generator. Maybe I should add that I`m a huge Trevor Rabin fan, which explains my "impartiality"... LOL!
• Randy from Colerain Twp., OhI thought that "Love Will Find a Way" was a much better song than this- that should have cracked the 'Top 40'. Overall, I think that 'Big Generator' was a major disappointment. After 'BG', Jon Anderson went on to work with former YES members Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe. While working on a second album for 'ABWH', Jon Anderson reunited with the remaining members of YES, to record the album 'Union', which also featured Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe. This album had clearly shown which version of YES had the better songs- old vs. new- and I thought the 'classic' lineup blew away the latter.

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