For an album which had a protracted birth beginning around 1980, the final 2025 incarnation of the music — Yes’ Fly From Here: Return Trip — has turned out remarkably strong. The new Dolby Atmos remix of this album is fascinating and even essential for fans of this incarnation of the band.
Fly From Here: Return Trip features the so-called 1980 “Drama” era of Yes, referring to a time when then-future superstar producer Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes joined Yes as a side career to their hit new wave band The Buggles (yes, the same group which created the iconic MTV pop hit “Video Killed The Radio Star”) after some of the original band members split off in 1980. With founding Yes member Chris Squire and “classic era” drummer Alan White and guitarist Steve Howe in tow, a then new incarnation of Yes created the often misunderstood Top 20 US/UK hit transitional album Drama.
Left over tracks from those sessions became the heart and soul of Fly From Here: Return Trip. One of these songs was played on Yes’ 1980 tour supporting Drama (“We Can Fly from Here”) and later expansions of this related music saw initial release on CD reissues of the second Buggles album, Adventures in Modern Recording. The full suite of music was initially issued on the Trevor Horn-produced 2011 album Fly From Here (then featuring Canadian singer Benoit David who had replaced a departed Jon Anderson in the band for a while). After David left Yes for health reasons, Horn re-recorded and sang all the vocals, transforming the album in to 2018’s Fly From Here: Return Trip.
Indeed, this music has had quite a journey coming to this time and place in 2025 where it was remixed again into Dolby Atmos. And I do like how they’ve achieved a certain level of immersion in this surround mix without it being gimmicky. There’s a nice use of the rear channels which I’m pleased about — especially because so many producers play things far too safe (especially for rock ‘n roll), keeping most of the music in the front speakers, using the other channels only for a vague sort of ambiance.
That said, I would have liked to have seen a little more aggressive use of the height channels for discreet information but in general, I’ve been enjoying these mixes. I’m also pleased how the music sounds overall which was all recorded natively in the digital realm. It feels almost more organic (if you will) hearing this music on a digital disc as opposed to the 2018 vinyl edition which I also own.
The 2018 vinyl is nice enough (lovely seeing the Roger Dean artwork in LP size!) but it feels like not quite enough care went into the mastering and disc production to make it really lift off (if you will). That said, I see that there is a new 2LP edition of the album which I hope to track down in hopes that they’ve put a bit more love and care into it (fingers crossed!).
If you are a fan of Yes and immersive surround sound audio, Fly From Here: Return Trip on Blu-ray Disc is a must get. You can find the Blu-ray Disc edition for a very reasonable $34.99 at Amazon. The 2LP vinyl version is available for $53.84 at Amazon.
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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