Which of these four Yes albums is your favorite?

[Floogeldy]

1. Fragile

2. Close To The Edge

3. Tales From Topographic Oceans

4. Relayer

[Burma Jones]

1. Fragile....n/t

[FreepFryer]

2. TFTO

[Floogeldy]

3. What does TFTO mean?

[opiate69]

5. It means "Tales From Topographic Oceans"

And my vote is actually "The Yes Album"..

[Floogeldy]

7. Sorry

I got stupid.

[opiate69]

13. Hehe.. no prob... happens to the best of us.

[KitchenWitch]

4. Close to the Edge n/t

[Elidor]

14. I'll 2nd that

And I'll add: anything before Trevor Horn came along.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. None.

90125.

I've always liked Trevor Rabin.

[Floogeldy]

8. That wasn't one of the choices

I like Trevor, too. I especially liked him on "Talk."

[hickman1937]

9. Close to the Edge,

I think I listened to And You and I for a solid year. Does anyone know wtf a "valley of endless seas" means? I was never good at poetic images.

[opiate69]

10. It may not mean anything, really..

I seem to remember reading an interview with John Anderson where he said that he didn't really write poetry, but instead just tried to find different word combinations that worked well within the music. "Sharp!.. Distance!.. How can the wind with so many around me?" :wtf:

[Floogeldy]

11. Its not what it means

Its what emotion it invokes. Its interesting how references to nature, the elements, and Earth composites evoke feelings within us.

I once asked Terre Roche what she meant by a particular lyric in the song "Another World." Her reply was, "Whatever it means to you."

There are no real answers.

[opiate69]

12. Exactly.

[hickman1937]

15. Either John Anderson's a genius,

or we're a big pack of nerds. I prefer to believe John is a genius.;-)

[BrewerJohn]

16. What a choice you offer

Fragile is my least favorite of the four. Lots of great moments on there, and "Heart of the Sunrise" is one of the very best Yes tracks, but on the whole it's a little too unfocused for me.

Close to the Edge - stunning album. Set the pace for the next two.

Tales - legions of critics have slagged this one, but I will never agree. For me it's pure gold from start to finish. Most likely because I took a psychedelic imprint of it once upon a time. For sure the most "out there" of the four, and to me that's a good thing.

Relayer - Easily as great as CttE or Tales. "Gates of Delirium" is incredible, the sheer virtuosity exhibited on "Sound Chaser" alone makes the record, and "To Be Over" is simply a beautiful song.

Notice how I cleverly avoided stating a winner?

[Floogeldy]

17. The only winners are . . .

. . . all of us life-long listeners.

Lost in their eyes as you hurry by
Counting the broken ties they decide

Love comes to you, and then after
Dream on, on to the heart of the sunrise

Lost on a wave that you're dreaming
Dream on, on to the heart of the sunrise

Sharp-distance
How can the wind with it's arms all around
Me?

Sharp-distance
How can the wind with so many around me?

I feel lost in the city

[hickman1937]

18. Hey, Floogeldy, thanks for this thread.

I just found out, probably the last to know, and very off topic, Syd Barrett wrote Piper at the Gates of Dawn. You started me thinking about when I was listening to Close to the Edge, way back when....

[6000eliot]

19. The Yes Album, of course!