Yes (band)

theNoseBleedKid · #1 07-15-2007, 06:20 AM

I bought big generator, which was not a very good album.

What Yes albums are considered quinessential? Which are the ones that are easiest to get into?

help?

KJung · #2 07-15-2007, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua

Yeah, BG is about as low on the "Yes" scale as you can go.

For a great collection of prime Yes, I'd recommend going with YesSongs. It's live and covers lots of key Yes thru Close To The Edge. The bonus is that is has Alan While on most of it, but also Bill Bruford on a few key tracks.

The 3 studio discs that are covered on the above are Fragile, The Yes Album, and Close To The Edge. All 3 are winners in their own way.

Of course that's all early stuff. Relayer, Going For The One, and Tormato are great "next generation" Yes, and the live disc from the period is YesShows, and is killer in much the same way as YesSongs.

After that I fall off the Yes train...

+1... Yessongs, even the remastered version, is pretty rough sounding by today's standards. There are two somewhat recent live recordings called Key to Ascension (1 and 2). While there are a few studio cuts of new tunes on each, the live recording of the 'hits' sound wonderful.

There is also a live DVD called 'Yes - Symphonic Live' that is probably the best 'Yes' performance I've ever heard (that young Russian kid is playing keys and just smoking!). The recording is beautiful, and all the 'Steve Howe' era hits are on there. Wonderful.

Relayer is my all time favorite Yes recording, with the great Patrick Moraz. However, it can be difficult listening. That album was recorded in the heyday of the fusion era. From what I remember, the guys in Yes were really into what Chick and some of the early fusion pioneers were doing, and kicked up their level of playing a bit to match some of the amazing technical playing of that era.

Finally, the remasters of Close to the Edge, Fragile, Tales, etc. all sound very nice!

johnvice · #3 07-15-2007, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua

Yeah, BG is about as low on the "Yes" scale as you can go.
...
The 3 studio discs that are covered on the above are Fragile, The Yes Album, and Close To The Edge. All 3 are winners in their own way.

+1

From the Trevor Rabin period, the "Talk" record was the best of that era.

theNoseBleedKid · #4 07-15-2007, 07:03 AM

Cool,

well the only live album I've ever liked was live at leeds, and thats not much of a 'live' album, as in its pretty good quality.

So I am downloading the yes album, cheers guys I'll let you know the verdict!

**bassybill** · #5 07-15-2007, 07:18 AM

I like Yessongs - but then I like live albums, so that's not surprising. To me, the versions of those songs on The Yes Album/Fragile/Close to the Edge lack some of the "spark" that they have live.

That said, Relayer is perhaps my favourite Yes album. It's the first one I got into - possibly the first album by ANYONE that I really got into, back when I was about 13 - and has remained high up on my all time favourites list ever since. +1 to the comments about Patrick Moraz's playing on that album; the synth solo at the end of "Sound Chaser" is one of the greatest keyboard performances I've ever heard. Anybody who thinks Yes never grooved needs to listen to that, IMO. And in 6/4 as well. Wow.

theNoseBleedKid · #6 07-15-2007, 07:28 AM

Well The Yes albums quite decent right now, not amazingly so, but a big step in front of generator (duh!) I'll give Relayer a go tomorrow, but right now I have school in 7 hours (YAY!)

keb · #7 07-15-2007, 07:39 AM

The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge. That's the quintessential old Yes sound. It seems like almost everything else beyond that is just missing a little something. Relayer has some fantastic moments though.

Drama is a great album, but it's an anomaly as Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes are in the band and it has a quite different sound from any other Yes album.

As far as 'modern' Yes goes, I like the studio tracks from the Keys to Ascension live albums. They seem to recapture some of the old spark. The Ladder is also good. Everything else newish is kinda "meh."

It's kinda hard to figure where the Trevor Rabin-era albums sit. During that time, the band was more like the Trevor Rabin Band Featuring Members of Yes. If you've ever heard Rabin's solo album from 1989 called "Can't Look Away", you'll see what I mean (its sound and style fits right in almost seamlessly with Rabin-era Yes.) Heck, Rabin was against calling the band Yes (originally called Cinema, before Jon Anderson joined up) when it got together right before 90125, but Anderson and the record company forced the issue.

Amokoma · #8 07-15-2007, 09:19 AM

Go buy Fragile!

ducknturtle · #9 07-15-2007, 09:58 AM

Amazing how many people like Relayer. I thought I was the only one.

KJung · #10 07-15-2007, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ducknturtle

Amazing how many people like Relayer. I thought I was the only one.

I say both Relayer tours with Moraz way back in the day... really something. Yes was at the height of their popularity, and even though Relayer turned some early fans off, the concerts were still packed. That was IMO the most impressive musical line-up. Somehow, Moraz brought some additional life and 'substance' to that group. The young Russion keyboardist that toured with them a while back also lit a fire under those guys... really smokin' player.

Alan White... I always chuckle when I think about Alan going from the Plastic Ono band to Yes... talk about going from one end of the musical spectrum to the other. I can imagine the first rehearsal for both:

Plastic Ono band.... 'hello Alan, nice to meet you, the gig is in an hour... don't worry, you will hear it. Do you want a beer or something?"

Yes.... we only have three months until the tour starts, so lot's to do. Let's run a tune to get started... it's pretty easy, although the bar of 11 at the 63 measure can mess you up if you are not careful... I'm sure you will hear the alternating bars of 5, 4, 5, 3, 4, then 5 leading into the first 7 bar bridge section... just feel it... you'll do fine)

Baryonyx · #11 07-15-2007, 10:35 AM

Whats wrong with Big Generator?

MysticMichael · #12 07-15-2007, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theNoseBleedKid

What Yes albums are considered quintessential? Which are the ones that are easiest to get into?

There's kind of a dichotomy going on here, because their most essential material is not necessarily their most accessible material...

Close To The Edge is widely considered to be their masterpiece, and I certainly agree. Not just because of the amazing chops, but because of the lofty artistic vision of it and the way that all the elements of the album come together to support that vision. I love that album. (Key tracks: Close To The Edge suite and Siberian Khatru)

Fragile was certainly a ground-breaking album in its day - paving the way for Close To The Edge. (Key track: Roundabout)

Tales From Topographic Oceans is a mixed bag. It gets a bad rap, charged with excessive indulgence and conceptual incoherence. But some of the material on that album is among the best that Yes has ever produced. (Key track: The Revealing Science of God)

Relayer is a very interesting album, very intense with lots of high-energy, quasi-fusionesque, chops-intensive playing. Not particularly representative of Yes in general though, and not particularly accessible. (Key track: The Gates of Delirium)

Going For The One is a fine album all around. Very representative of classic Yes music as a whole, and relatively accessible too. (Key track: Awaken)

I personally have a soft spot in my heart for Drama, which was the first post classic-period Yes album (after Anderson and Wakeman left). It didn't get such great reviews and remains rather under-rated to this day. But it features very well-crafted pop material, is well-produced...and it's quite accessible as well. (Key track: Tempus Fugit)

MM

peteroberts · #13 07-15-2007, 11:30 AM

Being a huge Yes fan, I have to speak up and say ... the 'Classic Yes' period pretty much starts at the Yes Album when Steve Howe joined the group, and goes to Drama (Going for the One being the last one). Absolute must-haves are: Close to the Edge, The Yes Album, Fragile, Yessongs (if only for the great Bruford drum solo and the awesome version of the Fish), Relayer, and Going for the One. If you get all that and dig it, go further and get their 1st record (which has some really great tunes...Survival, Sweetness, etc); Drama is pretty good.

No one mentioned Yesshows which is also a pretty good live record.

8guy · #14 07-15-2007, 01:12 PM

I love all the older stuff Like Fragile and Relayer But I have a soft spot in my heart for some later stuff.
Tormato Circus of Heaven, with Chis Squire and his wierd efftects ladden Bass tone on that one.

Dramamore of a Yes plays the Buggles or something but still has some very cool stuff on it, Contains the only yes tune to my knowledge that some one else played Bass on, Man in a white car had Trevor Horn playing Bass.
I have a EP I bought many years ago while visiting England of the Buggles playing I am a camera, Its better Yesafied!!!!

9012live must have for any Squire fan, The Live version of him doing amazing Grace is a study in using effects. I modified a Pink floyd patch on my BassPod to kind of recreate this sound.

saxnbass · #15 07-15-2007, 01:32 PM

I liked Open Your Eyes, it's not a big time one, but I liked it. Oh, and I love my 9012 DVD

MysticMichael · #16 07-15-2007, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peteroberts

...the 'Classic Yes' period pretty much starts at the Yes Album when Steve Howe joined the group, and goes to Drama (Going for the One being the last one).

I would say that the last classic-period album was actually Tormato - the last album on which the classic line-up (Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman & White) performs, before Anderson left the band and Wakeman left the band for the second time, and which is stylistically much more directly related to all the other classic-period albums than it is to Drama or to any of the albums that came later...

MM