Let us come together and worship in the name of YES

[LynneSin]

I just love Love LOVE this band, it's probably my third favorite band behind Led Zeppelin and Queen (1,2).

I was working out yesterday to Classic Yes and boy did I get my blood pumping while listening to Starship Troopers (probably my second favorite YES song). Plus they put on an amazing concert to boot.

So who else is a YES fan and what is your favorite song?

Mine would have to be All Good People (the first part you can hear thing singing "Give Peace a Chance" in the background)

[vi5]

1. I begrudgingly enjoy their work...

despite all the pomposity and prog-rockness of it all.

prog rock is the most vile genre of rock ever. But I am a sucker for some of the bands in said genre.

[RandomKoolzip]

25. I understand the animosity to prog....

but, c'mon people...there were so many shitty New Wave bands that it's time to update our musical HATE columns. Yes vs. Modern English? I'll take Yes in a heartbeat. Plus, prog sounds positively AVANT compared to the shit going on nowadays.

[vi5]

48. Sorry, but I'll take modern english any day....

A catchy song is first and foremost to me. Listening to some jagoff run scales or play some classical piece on an electric guitar just ain't rock and roll to me. However, a killer melody sung or played with conviction yet no discernible musical talent is EVERYTHING that rock and roll is supposed to be.

[GOPisEvil]

2. I'm a Yes fan, too.

The first song that popped into mind was "Long Distance Runaround", but they've got a bunch of classics.

A friend of mine auditioned for a jazz band ensemble by playing "Remains of the Day". She was hired sight unseen - they just hired her off the tape.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

3. Owner Of A Lonely Heart

others may differ but its my fave :)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

18. It's their only bearable song. FLAME ON!

[SheepyMcSheepster]

4. yes, Yes rules!

i don't really have a favourite song, there are many good ones. the older stuff is a little cooler than the "owner of a lonely heart" era. i was it Trevor Rabin who took over guitar duties for that bit of time. when did steve howe com back? the newest "ladder" album is pretty fun too.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. O boy. Too many.

Starship Trooper (my personal fav). The Gates of Delirium. And You And I. All Good People. The painfully overplayed but still great Roundabout.

I also like Changes from their poppy album 90125.

[LynneSin]

6. A man after my own heart - I love "And You and I"

that's such a beautiful song!!!

and the Harmonies of Changes is fabulous!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. I have all of their albums up to and including 90125 -- in vinyl.

Brazilian editions, though. Some of them come without a lyrics sheet. :mad:

Boy, Tormato was sure hard to find.

[LynneSin]

11. ME TOO

Including some solo and quazi-yes albums

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. I have a confession to make

I bought Big Generator too. But I DIDN'T KNOW! There was no Napster or Kazaa at the time! Please forgive me! :spank:

[LynneSin]

15. I have it too

:shrug:

I'll forgive you if you forgive me

:pals:

I even have this on Vinyl

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. I don't. Does it suck as bas as BG? (nt)

[LynneSin]

19. It's better than BG

But I haven't listened to either in ages since I don't have a record player

:shrug:

But I keep the Vinyls

7. saw them back in the 70s

incredible shows --
the Going for the One and Tormato tours right when Wakeman rejoined.

but remember Bruford LEFT Yes to join that King Crimson Band. I put them above Yes. I can understand why people would prefer Yes, however.. they're a bit more cheerful.

[BrewerJohn]

9. One of the greatest bands ever

I love everything they did up until the mid '80s when Trevor Rabin joined. After that they were just OK. But they've been coming back strong again since the late '90s with most or all of the original members. Have you checked out their CD "Magnification" from 2001? It's really wonderful.

My favorites are their long tunes from the '70s -- Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Gates of Delerium. Some amazing music on there.

[bif]

10. Great group. Well ahead of their time

I've seen them about 10 times--back in the olden days.

[XNASA]

13. I'll admit that Yes were the first band I ever really got jazzed about.

I must have listened to "Yessongs" about 5 million times in high school.

"Close to the Edge" was probably my favorite album. Siberian Khatru (sp?) really used to do it for me.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. I Knew There Was Something I Liked About You!

You listened to Yessongs 5 million times? That's a lot of times! Probably beat me by at least a million. (I'm guessing only about 3.8 million times for me!)

In my post, you'll see our fave tune may be one and the same!
The Professor

[XNASA]

37. I spent years trying to figure out that opening riff.

I still can't play it.

It's funny. Back when I was a punk, there would have been no way I'd admit to anyone that I "ever" owned a Yes album.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. I'll Worship At The Altar Of Yes

I saw them live in 1973 at the Amphitheatre in Chicago. They were better live than on record, because the music had a much higher level of energy than most of their studio work. (Most of that is a little dry and overly articulated.)

The vocals were very, very good, live, too! They are a tight, solid, band who was willing to be more good than popular, even though art rock was ok at the time.

Some of their stuff went over the top in pretension, (Tales from A Topographic Ocean, anyone?), but i've always been a fan.

My favorite album is Yessongs, but i like the first one they did with Trevor Rabin, too!

My favorite song is probably Roundabout, or maybe Siberian Khatru.
The Professor

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Yes is great.. how about E.L.P?

My hubby adores classic rock. I like it, but don't know all the names of bands and songs.

[LynneSin]

22. you'll have to start your own thread on ELP, not a fan here

I mean, they're ok, but not getting excited as I do about YES

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. I have one reason to be partial towards ELP

Brazilian TV used "Fanfare for a Common Man" as the opening theme for Formula 1 broadcast in the 70's. Imagine the effect THAT had on an impressionable 7-year old. :wow:

26. E.L.P. and Yes are miles apart

they may have somewhat similar sound but there is a big spiritual difference.
I saw both of these bands in the 70s.
E.L.P was like a machine run amok, they didn't seem to have an awareness of the energy they were giving out.
Yes always seemed to be aware of the magntitude of stadium shows.
They were very uplifting in concert.
By contrast, E.L.P. were kind of scary.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. Then Genesis = aware AND evil! (nt)

[RandomKoolzip]

31. Early Genesis....*sigh*

Oh, the days of eating blotter acid by the handful and putting "Foxtrot" on the box....

Early Genesis were AMAZING.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

32. Ma, ça va sans dire

Anybody praising Phil Collins Genesis in THIS thread is going to get the Mel Gibson treatment. :spank:

[XNASA]

36. Man, do we have a "lot" in common.

Our bands. Professed devotion to early Genesis. Our love on English music.

I'm not so sure that I really want to meet you. My head might explode.

You're not married to a tall thin brunette are you?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

38. I want to meet you people for a Prog Rock extravaganza.

WAAAAAAAH, plane tickets are FSCKING EXPENSIVE for a Brazilian.

Yeah, I know, I know...

[RandomKoolzip]

41. Chicago's a great city for Anglophile musicians, I guess....

I mean, they have SCOOTER RALLIES here, where my band will be playing obscure mod-revival covers and stuff....That NEVER happened in Nashville!

I know: do you have the other half of this amulet?

Married to a 78-year old black lesbian midget with three legs and no teeth. Sorry!


Oh, and I negelcted to mention my favorite Yes song:

Tales from Topographic Oceans, listened to all the way through, while tripping on mushrooms.

[Zero Gravitas]

20. I Love Yes

Starship Trooper
Heart of the Sunrise
Close to the Edge
Gates of Delerium.

Great stuff, and they were a very good live band.

[RandomKoolzip]

21. Chris Squire is God.

And "Close to the Edge" is the best music for taking acid to I've ever heard. I'm not at all ashamed to say that I LOVE Yes, at least pre-1978 Yes (And "Drama" wasn't too shabby, either, believe it or not!) And that's the last word from me on this subject.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Wrong!!!!

Wakeman was god. Squire was one of the archangels, but not god. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. I know god when i see him, and it was Rick Wakeman.
The Professor

[RandomKoolzip]

29. Wakeman was "Zod," from Superman II. They had similar capes.

Squire's bass tone ALONE is worthy of fealty.


But Wakeman's solo material was SHIT. In fact, all Yes solo material was shit. It's only when the Wakeman, Squire, Anderson, Howe, and Bruford (White? Well, okay, in a pinch...) is together and cranking that the true Magic occurs.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. Now, We Can Fully Agree

Nothing any of these guys did individually measured up to their work as a unit. But, now you've ruined everything. Here i wanted to get into a fight with you, and you made me agree with another cogent point!

Spoil sport!
The Professor

[RandomKoolzip]

34. Okay, lemme try again....

Trevor Horn was better than Jon Anderson.


Howzat?

[ProfessorGAC]

39. Let Me Stew on That

BTW: Are you coming on the 7th? If you are, i can stick my tongue out at you then.
The Professor

[RandomKoolzip]

43. Yes, and I'll be sure to denounce you as an "Accursed Mountebank"

and challenge you to an antique pistol duel....

"Horn!"
"Anderson!"
"HORN!"
"ANDERSON!!"
"Squire!"

BLAM!

[ProfessorGAC]

46. I'll Do Everything But The Blam!

The guns have to be empty, or i'm not playing!
The Professor

40. better at what?

:crazy:

[RandomKoolzip]

44. Wearing big silly sunglasses and producing shitty 80's pop.

Seriously, though, I actually LIKE "Drama." It's not nearly as bad as people say it is, and "Machine Messiah" kicks prog booty.

35. correct

Steve Howe's Beginnings isn't that bad though. It has been a few years since I listened to it though, maybe I'd have a different opinion today.

but what was he thinking when he was in that band, Asia?


Yes -- Live in the 70s with White were awesome. Wish I could have seen them with Bruford though.

(edit) Tony Levin is god not Squire. Whoops wrong band again.

[Nihil]

30. Yes - at times

I only really like the Wakeman periods ... couldn't stand the Yeggles
time (when those two dorks from Buggles joined in), the Tony Kaye bits
were OK but wasn't that keen on Patrick Moraz either.

Anderson's voice is just superb (for their type of song at least).

Favourite track is probably "Heart of the Sunrise" but there are a
few other contenders.

Nihil

[Moriarty]

42. Yes helped me back into enjoying music again.

The music scene from the mid-late 90's on through to the early 00's was simply a period of stagnation for me. Nothing new ever piqued my interest and even my old staple bands were even letting me down. With a little money to burn, in the mood for something completely different, and (in completely full disclosure here) with the inspiration of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I fired up allmusic.com and went searching for Prog. Went to the nearest Tower Records and came back with a stack of albums that all got me into loving the music scene all over again. Yes' Fragile and Roxy Music's Country Life in particular found special places in my heart. Now I find myself going to pitchforkmedia.com rather than allmusic.com when I get the musical jonze...despite the fact that I want to throttle pitchfork's review staff on almost every occasion I visit, but if you can't get passionate about music, then what can you get passionate about?

[RandomKoolzip]

45. How old are you? Because....

There's some great underground prog out there, even today, if you wanna search it out...

The 5UU's, Cheer-Accident, and Ruins are probably the best of the "new school," and if you want to investigate the Canterbury scene/Rock in Opposition of the mid-seventies, you will not come away disappointed, either: Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow, Slapp Happy, Lol Coxhill, etc. Good stuff.

47. off topic , could you give me some suggestions

for recent "prog rock" (I really hate that term though) in the King Crimson vein? both the cacophonous and the gamelan variety. Last stuff I'm really familiar with is Monks of Doom and some Primus and Chadbourne.
I have a feeling you might have some.

[RandomKoolzip]

49. The last post above has my three favorites listed in it.

You might also want to try:

1. Polvo. Polvo was lumped in with the "math rock" genre of the mid-90's, but I always found their sound more in line with an updated King Crimson, with dream pop tendencies. "Exploded Drawing" and "Shapes" are their best efforts.

2. Slint. Now they're legendary as catalysts of "new prog," but Slint received very little notice upon arrival. Only an album and an EP were bestowed on us undeserving listeners before dissolution, but the album, "Spiderland," is a marvel of playing and production. Steve Albini captures THEE perfect drum timbre on this one, and the byzantine arrangements and atmosphere of doomy melancholy are unique to this band.

3. Kryptasthesie. Italian dissonant prog with vocals borrowed from Peter Hammil of Van Der Graaf Generator. Very psychedelic, chaotic, and very hard to find album released in double LP format: "Shaken at the Sun."

4. Sleep. "Stoner Metal" gods who put out an incredible, 56-minute, one-song prog epic Cd, "Jerusalem," in 1997. Best listened to under the influence of LOTS of Nyquil and Northern Lights.

5. Vermilion. One CD from 2002 I've found, entitled "Flattening Mountains and Creating Empires." The shortest song on here is 7 minutes and 12 seconds; the longest is over 12 minutes. Cover art, believe it or not, is by ROGER DEAN! Production is by Steve Albini. Drummer is elephantine but somewhat sloppy, but their prog epics are worth the time the listener gives to them.

6. Table. Don't know much about these guys apart from the fact that they can play incredibly aggressive and fast without turning into metal. I only have a couple singles. Instrumental, whirlwinded and featuring churning chunks of huge guitars and maze-like song construction.

7. Anything you might find on the ReR and Cuneiform labels is for the most part high quality stuff. Cuneiform is home to Djam Karet, Chris Cutler, etc. and ReR has reissued Ivor Cutler, Slapp Happy, Peter Blegvad, Fred Frith, the Art Bears, and others of the Canterbury/RIO scene as well as put out recent stuff by worthies like the 5UU's (my personal favorites of this genre.) Also, check out the related in spirit Post-Rock scene based around Chicago's Thrill Jockey label: Tortoise, Sea and Cake, Trans Am, the Fucking Champs, etc. Stark, tight playing and theoretical strategies form a mixture that is SO almost prog. And Guided By Voices's songwriter Robert Pollard is a MAJOR fan of early Genesis, and often the best moments in his tunes deliver the same kind of haughty kicks that the best, most tuneful prog used to. And Tool, System of a Down, and The Mars Volta have all taken prog style rock into the mainstream in the last few years.

8. Shudder to Think. Their output has not been consistently prog, but I MUST mention their 1994 proggish album "Pony Express Record," simply because it reminds me of a nightmare Robert Fripp might have had once. Dissonant, dark, sexy, operatic, metallic....stopstart song structures and aggressive, complex arrangements...A couple of songs feature extended, tension-inducing periods of total silence. Sounds like Yes crossed with the Melvins with Freddie Mercury on vocals, but of course that comparison falls short of the totality of this CD. I know people (my wife, f'rinst) who DESPISE this band, who have to leave the room when STT is playing. I also know people who have said that "Pony Express Record" is to the 90's what "Trout Mask Replica" was to the 60's: a litmus test for adventurous listeners. If it ISN'T prog, I shudder to think what is actually IS. Unclassifiable.

Anyways, those are the ones that stick out the most in my head as being music from the last decade that shares elements with prog gods like Van Der Graaf, Crimson, Yes, Hampton Grease Band, etc. Enjoy!

50. Thanks

especially for the detail.

Did you know that a recent John Paul Jones album has Trey Gunn and Paul Leary on it? & another one has Fripp.
http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/cat/index.htm


on edit -- I should have known you'd slip Guided By Voices in there. .:evilgrin: My sister keeps raving about them to me also

[supernova]

51. I love YES

In fact, when I was in East Berlin in 1984, the only souvenir I bought was a "Classic YES" cassette at a DDR-approved record store. LOL!

It just thrilled me no end to buy contraband inside the DDR. :D

I never, ever get tired of listening to YES.

[TheMightyFavog]

52. My fave.

Take a straight and stronger course to the corner of your life.
Make the white queen run so fast she hasn't got time to make you a wife.
'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured
For the queen to use.
Move me on to any black square,
Use me any time you want,
Just remember that the goal
'Sfor us to capture all we want, anywhere,
Yea, yea, yea.
Don't surround yourself with yourself,
Move on back two squares,
Send an Instant Karma to me,
Initial it with loving care
Don't surround
Yourself.
'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and
its news is captured
For the queen to use.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit
Didda.
Don't surround yourself with yourself,
Move on back two squares,
Send an Instant Karma to me,
Initial it with loving care
Don't surround
Yourself with yourself.
Don't surround yourself.
Send an Instant
Karma to me. Don't surround
yourself.
'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured
For the queen to use.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured.
II. All Good People
(Squire)
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
Yea, yea.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.

[Westegg]

53. Yes! You are correct, sir.

Yes is in my top, oh, half a dozen or so, behind Zep (#1), The Who, Pink Floyd, Dylan, and early Genesis. When it comes down to pure skill and tightness, however, I guess you could argue that no-one beats Yes. I had the pleasure of seeing the band twice, in the 1970s. Great shows. Not sure what my favorite Yessong is---"Heart of the Sunrise" is way up there---but I've recently been grooving to "Close To the Edge." Lots of drama in that song, but maybe I like it because it's just so damn loonnnnggg!