There was critical and fan interest in this particular line-up of musicians due to their collective reputation from the progressive rock heyday of the 1970s.

As a sign of "union" and forward movement, the band played and recorded a week of intimate reunion shows in March 1996 in San Luis Obispo, California.

By that time, Yes had adapted to the sudden loss of Wakeman by adding multi-instrumentalist Billy Sherwood and recording what would become their next studio album, Open Your Eyes (released three weeks after Keys 2).

[6] According to bassist Chris Squire, "Be the One" was their first song to be recorded start to finish in one take since the group's second album, almost 30 years earlier.

[1] "Mind Drive" began life in 1980 as a riff practiced by Chris Squire and Alan White along with Jimmy Page, former guitar icon of Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin had recently lost drummer John Bonham, so the group was on hiatus and members of both bands were considering their next moves.

Right after his departure, Wakeman himself worried the studio tracks on Keys to Ascension 2 would get lost among the live music if they were marketed together.

[2] Commenting with hindsight in 2003, Howe felt this is exactly what happened with the studio music of both Keys to Ascension albums.

[5] Bret Adams of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, writing that it is a compilation that "makes perfect sense" and "it collects seven superb studio tracks" which he rates as "the strongest released by any version of Yes in years".