Yes have released “Turnaround Situation,” the second single from their upcoming 24th studio album Aurora, and it lands as a reminder that the prog rock legends still have plenty left to say. The track follows the first single already previewing the album and continues to build anticipation for what promises to be one of the most significant classic rock releases of the year.
Yes have been through more lineup permutations than most bands manage in a single decade, let alone across five-plus decades of existence. Steve Howe remains the constant thread on guitar, a player whose technique sits in a category entirely his own — jazz, classical, country, and progressive rock woven together in a style that remains instantly identifiable after all these years. The current lineup has proven itself capable of honoring the band’s extraordinary legacy while continuing to push forward, and Aurora appears to be the fullest statement of that capability yet.
What ‘Aurora’ Represents
A 24th studio album from a band that formed in 1968 is not a minor event. It means Yes has now recorded more studio albums than most bands manage total songs. More importantly, it means they’re still taking the creative work seriously enough to keep making records rather than simply monetizing the legacy catalog on endless anniversary tours. There’s real artistic ambition in continuing to create at this stage, and the early singles from Aurora suggest that ambition is being met with genuine craft.
“Turnaround Situation” carries the hallmarks that Yes fans have come to expect: complex arrangements, vocal harmonies that require serious musical intelligence to pull off, and an instrumental interplay that treats time signatures as suggestions rather than constraints. It’s music that demands active listening, which is exactly what progressive rock was always supposed to be. In an era of thirty-second attention spans and algorithmically optimized playlist fodder, Yes releasing music like this is a genuinely countercultural act.
The Prog Rock Legacy Is Safe in These Hands
Critics have been declaring prog rock dead since approximately 1977, and Yes has spent every year since then proving those critics wrong. Close to the Edge, Fragile, Going for the One, Drama — the band’s catalog contains some of the most ambitious rock recordings ever committed to tape, and new music like “Turnaround Situation” demonstrates that the spirit animating those records isn’t gone. It’s just been refined by another forty years of playing together and figuring out what the music can do.
Aurora is set for release later this year on InsideOut Music. If “Turnaround Situation” is any indication, Yes fans are in for something worth the wait. And if you’ve never given Yes a proper listen — if you’ve only caught them on classic rock radio without diving into full albums — the arrival of new material is as good an excuse as any to correct that oversight. Start with Fragile. Then come back for Aurora.
Source: Ultimate Classic Rock | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/yes-band-new-single/