Jonathan Elias (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers);

Pauline Cheng (spoken vocals);

Jimmy Haun (guitar);

Jim Critchon, Alex Lasarenko (keyboards, synthesizer);

Richard Baker, Gary Barlough, Sherman Foote, Chris Fosdick, Rory Kaplan, Steve Porcaro, Brian Foraker (synthesizer); Jerry Bennett (synthesizers, percussion);

Tony Levin (bass, stick);

Allan Schwartzberg (percussion);

Deborah Anderson, Gary Falcone, Tommy Funderburk, Ian Lloyd, Michael Sherwood, Danny Vaughn (background vocals).

 

Producers include: Jonathan Alias, Steve Howe, Trevor Rabin, Mark Mancina, Eddy Offord.
Engineers include: Brian Foraker, Steve Howe, Trevor Rabin.

 

UNION was a milestone event in the history of Yes. For the first time in the group's long existence, the majority of its various members came together under a single banner. The result is a huge collection of songs that sounds like modern Yes with a touch of the '70s art rock that originally secured the band's legendary status. However, while it appears on the surface that all eight past and present members recorded the songs together, it was actually a conglomeration of the Trevor Rabin-era Yes and the sophomore Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe projects that were already underway.
The electronic textures emanating from keyboard masters Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye, the powerful guitar work by Rabin and Steve Howe, and the massive percussion barrage concocted by Bill Bruford and Alan White all add up to the most aurally magnificent sounds Yes has ever recorded. The unifying factor of it all is the soaring vocal work of Jon Anderson. The usual sci-fi/fantasy themes and somewhat New Age lyrics are here, of course, but the real excitement is the sheer enormity of the project. Unfortunately, after a brief tour, the group's members once again went their separate ways and into a new incarnation of Yes.