For anyone who got lured into Yes in 1983 through 90125, and dug up the even better history of classic Yes albums, the period 1983 to 1989 would equal as The Great Music Depression (generally speaking). Prog-rock albums were just so hard to find. Vinyl versions were mostly out of print, and only a marginal number of prog albums had been converted to CD format. Everything on radio (let alone the internet that wasn't WWW yet) was dominated by Bon Jovi - Bananarama - Whitney Houston types. In short, it was the hardest period to find anything good - let alone prog', past or present at that time. It was in this context of sissy 80s glam rock oppression (Big Generator wasn't that inspiring either) - that suddenly ABWH was released. It was the greatest liberating moment after such a decade of boredom. ABWH sounded fresh considering that the members hadn't played together for 17 years, and also fresh in terms of hearing classic 'prog' structures played with current technology. Sure, there are moments on the album that would sound dated today (particularly Rick's array of plastic-sounding Korg digital keyboards, and Bill's dabbling in Simmons drums), but overall the musical quality shone through - one aspect that Trevor Rabin's Yes sorely lacked on 1987s Big Generator (Big Generator just sounded too dull and repetitive).