Anyone like Yes? I’ve been listening to some of their older CDs. However, Tales from Topographic Oceans was probably not the CD I should have picked for my very long drive to work this AM.
Anyone have any favorites? I’m looking for both CDs and DVDs.
I actually don’t own any Yes, but like them enough that I probably should.
My mom owned Big Generator, and maybe another album or two (not all the LPs got replaced with CDs, sadly). In high school and college I played in a band with a guy who loved Yes, Rush, and some other prog bands. I ended up enjoying Rush a bit more and never bought a yes album.
Whenever I hear a tune on the radio, though, I’m tempted to go out and buy a CD or two.
I do get a little sick of Roundabout and Seen All Good People (or whatever that one is called).
These three are the “classic” Yes albums of my youth. I can listen to them endlessly. Others that I enjoy but don’t find myself listening too as often are Tormato, Tales from Topographical Oceans, and Going for the One.
If I had to pick a single album it would be CttE or Fragile.
In college, I did a calligraphy project that had the “Soon…” portion of the lyrics to “The Gates of Delirium” (from Relayer) in gold. For the background, I used the lyrics to the rest of the song in red ink on a red paper background. It took forever, but the final effect was pretty cool. I think “The Gates of Delirium” is the best of their 20-minute-plus songs.
I first discovered them through 90125 (“It Can Happen”, actually, not “Owner of a Lonely Heart”). When I then followed it with Yessongs I had a bit of a shock, but I got into their older albums quickly enough. Their albums after 90125, however, just didn’t do as much for me.
I love Yes…I used to have the cd with Starship Troopers and All Good People . Their songs are so long, though. I don’t have any Yes on my ipod because they would definitely take up a lot of room.
I thought the 35th Anniversary Concert: Songs from Tsongas was very good. Symphonic Live, a/k/a Live in Amsterdam, with the band augmented by an orchestra, is pretty decent as well. Yessongs is a fine performance by the band at their early peak, but it is murky both visually and sonically, and the DVD transfer is worse than the old VHS version.
Wow. Where to start. Yes has been my favorite band quite literally for decades. Sure, I listen ardently to new music, enjoy classical and blues but ahhhh, give me some Yes.
Not sure I can even do a reasonable Top Ten list, except to say that in my brain, Roundabout is played out and I can go a few years without hearing it. I have quite a few bootlegs but the best hands down in a stereo soundboard mix from the LA Forum in 1978. I listen to an awful lot of my Yes music live. An ** denotes a live track.
They played an encore of ‘Starship Trooper’ at Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena in 1979, and Howe’s guitar solo in the third part (over the three Nirvana chords!) may have been the greatest guitar solo I have ever heard in person.
FWIW, I was a teetotaller then, and I have never done any drugs.
When I was 19 years old, I wanted to be Steve Howe.
I’ve always enjoyed Yes. And others have covered the topic well enough so far that I won’t add much.
But I do want to plug Jon Anderson’s “Olias of Sunhillow”, his solo 1976 album which for me really captured the essential spirit and lack of coherent lyrics that defined Yes and made it appealing for me.
I love Yes. One of the few bands that was continuously able to hold a candle to Pink Floyd. (And now Yes is still around and touring and sounding fantastic as recently as 2 years ago and the Floyd is splintered and moribund).
I recommend the very long live album “The Keys to Ascension” for anyone not particularly familiar with their work.
My favorite tracks: South Side of the Sky; Your Move; And You And I; Starship Troopers; We Have Heaven; Close to the Edge; Turn of the Century; Mind Drive; Roundabout; It Can Happen; Heart of the Sunrise.