The "Yes" Appreciation Thread: For Those Who Are Just Beginning...

[JohnRogers]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

[Segue Myles]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

 

Erm...no...

 

I think it is a great album, but not that great.

[Narps]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

No...

[Segue Myles]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

No...

 

Thanks for backing me up Narpsicularawesomeness.

[JohnRogers]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

No...

 

Thanks for backing me up Narpsicularawesomeness.

oh it is their Signals?

[Narps]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

No...

 

Thanks for backing me up Narpsicularawesomeness.

Its a good album I agree but they produced even being conservative 3 or 4 albums in the 70's as good or better than Moving Pictures. Just my opinion of course...

[Narps]

90125. Yes snobs will tell you it's too commercial or accessible. But it is a fantastic album. My favorite by the band by a lot.

It is the band' Moving Pictures, no?

No...

 

Thanks for backing me up Narpsicularawesomeness.

oh it is their Signals?

A better comparison in my view...

[Lorraine]

They lost me after Close To The Edge. You know it had to be downhill after that one. Plus, the band members were always coming and going.

[Narps]

They lost me after Close To The Edge. You know it had to be downhill after that one. Plus, the band members were always coming and going.

With the exception of Tales they were great up to and including Tormato. Every bit as good as Rush in my view... :)

[bluefox4000]

To me the last of CLASSIC Yes was going For the One. Yes was never the same for me after that. They kinda sucked at the pop thing too.

 

Mick

[foghorn-leghorn]

I think Drama was a very strong album too.

[Segue Myles]

To me the last of CLASSIC Yes was going For the One. Yes was never the same for me after that. They kinda sucked at the pop thing too.

 

Mick

 

Yes did two very wonderful pop albums.

 

I like 90125 and Big Generator a lot (but not as much as the bands prog stuff, obviously).

[geezer]

To me the last of CLASSIC Yes was going For the One. Yes was never the same for me after that. They kinda sucked at the pop thing too.

 

Mick

 

 

Yes did two very wonderful pop albums.

 

I like 90125 and Big Generator a lot (but not as much as the bands prog stuff, obviously).

 

You all are right but I think back in 1983 Trevor Rabin saved the band from oblivion

Edited April 10, 2015 by geezer

[bluefox4000]

To me the last of CLASSIC Yes was going For the One. Yes was never the same for me after that. They kinda sucked at the pop thing too.

 

Mick

 

Yes did two very wonderful pop albums.

 

I like 90125 and Big Generator a lot (but not as much as the bands prog stuff, obviously).

 

i don't really like either......but easy come easy go. i really think the pop stuff was a giant fail.

 

Mick

[Jaminbenb]

To me the last of CLASSIC Yes was going For the One. Yes was never the same for me after that. They kinda sucked at the pop thing too.

 

Mick

 

 

Yes did two very wonderful pop albums.

 

I like 90125 and Big Generator a lot (but not as much as the bands prog stuff, obviously).

 

You all are right but I think back in 1983 Trevor Rabin saved the band from oblivion

 

No doubt he brought it back from the dead...but it was mostly to get his own career started, and get his name out there... (and I'm not saying that was a BAD thing...but you saw his motives) And when the ABWH version of the band sort of put that together, it started a new appreciation for the OLD Yes... Although Chris Squire must be an S-O-B to work with...it seems like he's a major control freak in the grand scheme of things....

 

I have a good appreciation for all "era's" of the band and have seen most of the modern versions. Saw them on the Big Generator tour, the ABWH tour, the Union Tour, The tour with Igor Khoroshev on keys, and also saw one of the Howe, Squire, White tours (I think Benoit David was the singer) The COOL things that I've gotten to see were the two Wakeman solo tours, and a Jon Anderson solo tour. Neat insight into all of their music.

 

But album wise... I don't have any that I really dislike.. I think Relayer is a good one, as are some of the later ones... I know a lot of people don't like anything that doesn't have any of the "core" members in it, but they all were good. Tales is one of my favorites, and ranks up there with Close to the Edge!

 

I remember getting an import version of Yesshows on CD years back (when cd's were first really making their mark) and being thrilled to have a good copy of that! (I think I also ordered ELP's Welcome Back My Friends, live disc from the same place, another Japanese Import)

 

Lot's of good Yes stuff out there! You won't go wrong...

[Jaminbenb]

They lost me after Close To The Edge. You know it had to be downhill after that one. Plus, the band members were always coming and going.

With the exception of Tales they were great up to and including Tormato. Every bit as good as Rush in my view... :)

 

Yikes....how can you NOT like Tales? The four "suites" on that, and then The Gates of Delirium on Relayer were all great pieces! Granted, none of them were QUITE as crazy as Close to the Edge, but they were all amazing pieces of music!

 

I had those programmed on my iPod to go concurrently (CTTE, the 4 from Tales, Relayer, AND Awaken) for "trip" purposes!

[Segue Myles]

I think Close To The Edge pales in comparison to Tales.

 

And I think CTTE is one of the greatest albums of all time!

 

Am I alone in revering Tales as highly as I do?

[bluefox4000]

Editing this cause it's in the wrong thread......typing on a headache Yay me.

 

Mick

Edited April 10, 2015 by bluefox4000

[gudbuytjane]

I think Close To The Edge pales in comparison to Tales.

 

And I think CTTE is one of the greatest albums of all time!

 

Am I alone in revering Tales as highly as I do?

 

It took me a long time--years--but I love Tales now. It's sprawling and confusing and transcendent and beautiful. Their ambition out-reached their grasp a lot of the time while creating the album, but the moments when it works are among the best the band has done, IMO (the finale of "The Remembering," or the ending guitar solo of "Ritual," among other parts). I love Relayer, too, which is another album I know folks sometimes find similarly inaccessible. *shrug*

[gudbuytjane]

I tend to think of Yes as an overarching concept that involved a couple of different bands.

 

1. The first two albums: It was the 60's, no one can remember much of what happened, so let's go to #2.

2. The Yes Album through Tormato: Classic Yes

3. Drama: This makes more sense to me to think of them as a band called Drama who released an album called Yes. ;) I actually really love Drama--"Machine Messiah," "Tempis Fugit," "Does It Really Happen?" and "Into The Lens" are solid songs--and Squire's playing is among his best, though the album does feel quite alone in their discography.

4. 90125 through Union and ending with Talk: YesWest, or YesRabin, or 90125Yes. I have a soft spot for some of their material, and I think Rabin did get a bum rap from the fans. And truthfully, I probably wouldn't have been the Yes fan I was when I was if not for 90125.

5. Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Union: ABWH or YesEast. I think ABWH is as much a Yes album as Big Generator was.

6. Keys To Ascension through whenever they sacked Jon: Various versions of Classic Yes Revisited. Some good moments (The Ladder), some painful (Open Your Eyes).

7. Fly From Here and Heaven & Earth: No: The Anti-Yes. About the seventh-best Yes cover band ever. OK, that's being generous, eighth. Not Yes but an Incredible Simulation? An extended performance art instillation on the theme: "Retire gracefully before you embarrass yourselves"?

Edited April 10, 2015 by gudbuytjane

[Jaminbenb]

I think Close To The Edge pales in comparison to Tales.

 

And I think CTTE is one of the greatest albums of all time!

 

Am I alone in revering Tales as highly as I do?

 

Tales is an amazing album, and I agree that it DOES take a little time to "get into it"! It's definitely not for the weak stomached!

 

I can't say honestly which IS better CTTE, or Gates, or anything off of Tales, but it's all good stuff, and your personal preferences are going to win out every time. But as I said in another thread...when they opened the second set with Firebird Suite into CTTE, on the ABWH tour in 87, I was just totally blown apart because I had NO clue that they were even going to come close to any of that kind of stuff! i figured a few Yes "classic" tunes, but not that!

 

 

I tend to think of Yes as an overarching concept that involved a couple of different bands.

 

1. The first two albums: It was the 60's, no one can remember much of what happened, so let's go to #2.

2. The Yes Album through Tormato: Classic Yes

3. Drama: This makes more sense to me to think of them as a band called Drama who released an album called Yes. ;) I actually really love Drama--"Machine Messiah," "Tempis Fugit," "Does It Really Happen?" and "Into The Lens" are solid songs--and Squire's playing is among his best, though the album does feel quite alone in their discography.

4. 90125 through Union and ending with Talk: YesWest, or YesRabin, or 90125Yes. I have a soft spot for some of their material, and I think Rabin did get a bum rap from the fans. And truthfully, I probably wouldn't have been the Yes fan I was when I was if not for 90125.

5. Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Union: ABWH or YesEast. I think ABWH is as much a Yes album as Big Generator was.

6. Keys To Ascension through whenever they sacked Jon: Various versions of Classic Yes Revisited. Some good moments (The Ladder), some painful (Open Your Eyes).

7. Fly From Here and Heaven & Earth: No: The Anti-Yes. About the seventh-best Yes cover band ever. OK, that's being generous, eighth. Not Yes but an Incredible Simulation? An extended performance art instillation on the theme: "Retire gracefully before you embarrass yourselves"?

 

 

When you hear some of the interviews with Rick Wakeman during the Union period, he summed it up that Yes is an ever evolving kind of entity, that at some point may not even have any of it's founding members in it, and still be going strong... I can't say that I AGREE with that concept, but if it works for those guys, then yeah....

 

Personally I think every era up to when they decided to tour without Jon and took Benoit David on the road in his place was a legit part of the group...Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Drama as well, but it just doesn't feel like Yes without Jon having a part in it.

 

Jon to me is Yes's MAIN sound, and it doesn't matter who else is in the band, if Jon isn't singing SOMETHING, then it's a Chris Squire solo project!

 

I think there's a part of each version of the band (with Jon involved) that I really like, (and there are individual songs that just don't sit with me, well, but, you can't love everything)

 

Thank Trevor Rabin for getting it back together! I think the "Cinema" project still would have been good had Jon not gotten involved, but I'm just glad he did...that album was a BIG part of my life at that time, and even though I liked the older (more popular) Yes stuff at that point, it got me to dig even further, and get into much more.

[gudbuytjane]

When you hear some of the interviews with Rick Wakeman during the Union period, he summed it up that Yes is an ever evolving kind of entity, that at some point may not even have any of it's founding members in it, and still be going strong... I can't say that I AGREE with that concept, but if it works for those guys, then yeah....

 

I remember seeing those interviews. I don't think I took it quite as far as he did, with the idea of their music becoming like classical pieces that are played by an entity called Yes, a hundred years from now. I think Yes as we knew it is in its final stages. Sad they had to go out this way.

 

Personally I think every era up to when they decided to tour without Jon and took Benoit David on the road in his place was a legit part of the group...Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Drama as well, but it just doesn't feel like Yes without Jon having a part in it.

 

Trevor Horn's voice sounds so out of place on that album. And I can't listen to Drama without thinking of an interview I read with him about how Chris was all excited about Trevor doing Jon's songs, but he couldn't really sing them. He had a nightmare once set en route to a show at Madison Garden in which Chris was just tossing classic Yes songs at him to perform that night, despite never practicing them. Rock star stress dream. :) Poor Trevor Horn, no wonder he went fulltime as a producer afterwards. :)

 

Thank Trevor Rabin for getting it back together! I think the "Cinema" project still would have been good had Jon not gotten involved, but I'm just glad he did...that album was a BIG part of my life at that time, and even though I liked the older (more popular) Yes stuff at that point, it got me to dig even further, and get into much more.

 

Totally, I bet if 90125, Big Generator, and Talk were recorded by a band who wasn't Yes they'd get a lot more cred than they do.

Edited April 10, 2015 by gudbuytjane

[Jaminbenb]

When you hear some of the interviews with Rick Wakeman during the Union period, he summed it up that Yes is an ever evolving kind of entity, that at some point may not even have any of it's founding members in it, and still be going strong... I can't say that I AGREE with that concept, but if it works for those guys, then yeah....

 

I remember seeing those interviews. I don't think I took it quite as far as he did, with the idea of their music becoming like classical pieces that are played by an entity called Yes, a hundred years from now. I think Yes as we knew it is in its final stages. Sad they had to go out this way.

 

Personally I think every era up to when they decided to tour without Jon and took Benoit David on the road in his place was a legit part of the group...Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Drama as well, but it just doesn't feel like Yes without Jon having a part in it.

 

Trevor Horn's voice sounds so out of place on that album. And I can't listen to Drama without thinking of an interview I read with him about how Chris was all excited about Trevor doing Jon's songs, but he couldn't really sing them. He had a nightmare once set en route to a show at Madison Garden in which Chris was just tossing classic Yes songs at him to perform that night, despite never practicing them. Rock star stress dream. :) Poor Trevor Horn, no wonder he went fulltime as a producer afterwards. :)

 

Thank Trevor Rabin for getting it back together! I think the "Cinema" project still would have been good had Jon not gotten involved, but I'm just glad he did...that album was a BIG part of my life at that time, and even though I liked the older (more popular) Yes stuff at that point, it got me to dig even further, and get into much more.

 

Totally, I bet if 90125, Big Generator, and Talk were recorded by a band who wasn't Yes they'd get a lot more cred than they do.

 

 

Yeah, I can see "tribute" bands in 20-30 years doing this kind of stuff (Rush as well) kind of like the bands that come out and do the old Big Band stuff, or the Elvis stuff, etc....but I don't see a "sanctioned" Yes act out there, still going... I look at the guys involved, and you know that there's an "end" date so some of them...Like Bill Bruford, who took this like it was a regular "job"...he retired, and you don't really see him in a musical capacity, and you have to respect that. Some people just shouldn't continue, and I don't see this act lasting a whole lot longer....I mean they already are playing MUCH smaller venues!

 

 

I have heard a few bootlegs of when Trevor did Jon's songs, and they aren't pretty! ...You KNOW that a lot of what they did, and the 90125 band did was pushed on the Yes name, but that really WASN'T Yes as the world knew it! I knew people that had no clue that Yes had prior stuff when they first started playing the 90125 stuff on the radio and MTV! And they they DID go buy some of the prior stuff were blown away at how different it was! (some liked it some didn't know what to think!) I mean imagine only knowing 90125, then going out and getting Tales!?!?!?! Talk about a shock! hahaha!

 

I actually DO know someone that wasn't hip to the whole Jon and Rick leaving when the Drama stuff happened, and saw a "YES" concert coming up at a venue close to him. He didn't have the Drama album, didn't really hear anything on the radio...he just saw YES was coming! He got his tickets, and went to see it...when Trevor Horn came out and started singing he was like WTF?!?!?! He had NO clue...he said he stayed for the whole show, and pretty much tried to figure out what happened, and was just amazed that they had the audacity to call themselves Yes! But you have to figure...it was 1980...Unless you really paid attention to some radio stations, or bought some of the music magazines, you had no clue!

 

But hard to say that if Jon never got involved, if that would have really taken off as it did?

[Segue Myles]

Appreciation of this band is regrowing!

 

What a great band!

[1950]

Steven Wilson's recent 5.1 work helped get me in to Yes.

I like:

 

The Yes Album

Fragile

CttE

Going for the One

The Ladder

 

The rest are pretty meh to me.