Classic YES Fans Poll: ADTOE or I&W

[johncal]

I was thinking about how I think ADTOE is the best album DT has ever put out and can't really understand where/why some like I&W more. Then it really dawned on me that personally my love of Classic Yes might have a lot to do with it. ADTOE seems way more YES like with the arrangements and instrumentation.

So am I smokin' something (probably should be anyways), or do other Classic Yes fans feel the same way. Let me know.

[theseoafs]

Dream Theater never really sounded like Yes to me. They're very different bands. Yes aside, I&W is a much more consistent and strong album.

[johncal]

Dream Theater never really sounded like Yes to me. They're very different bands. Yes aside, I&W is a much more consistent and strong album.

See, to me Octovarium (the song) is so YES it's unreal. Right down to the synth sounds and pedal steel guitar. I hear similar rifs all the time. I do have almost all the Yes stuff commited to memory since that's all I played as a kid, so I hear it a lot. Interestly to me, Octovarium was written right after DT toured with YES.

[Elite]

While both being great bands, to me they are nothing alike. Regardless of your thoughts, I'll choose I&W over ADTOE any day.

[senecadawg2]

I didn't vote because I wouldn't label myself as a 'classic' yes fan. However, I do thoroughly enjoy the yes that I have heard. Also, I&W>ADTOE

[Plasmastrike]

I like some Yes songs, but I wouldn't consider myself fan enough yet to vote in this. Interesting correlation you've brought up though.

[The Letter M]

I went with ADTOE. I think some of the arrangements on IAW reflect some Yes-isms, but there's a maturity about ADTOE that's also quite Yes-like. They're pretty similar albums (in some ways, production and technology notwithstanding), so comparing BOTH to Yes seems like a unique thing, but I would also add Octavarium and Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence as also being a bit Yes-like as well.

-Marc.

[Nekov]

I think DT has some Yes aspects to its music, specially a kind of happy vibe but I don't think I can recognize a specific song that sounds like Yes to me. That being said, I think I&W is a much better record and has a lot more of that vibe I mentioned before.

[BlobVanDam]

I can't vote as I'm not a fan of Yes, but checking out the results so far, this doesn't surprise me. I don't think being a Yes fan would make a huge difference to these results, although it would be interesting to do the same poll open to all to compare.

[Orbert]

I've been a Yes fan since the early 70's, and their "classic" period is my favorite, so I guess this applies to me.

I can understand all the people who say that Yes and Dream Theater sound nothing alike, which is true, but to me the similarities between the two bands has always been that of "attitude" and their general approach to creating music.  Even if the song is attributed to a single person or just a few of them, it's pretty obvious that all members have made contributions to the arrangement and performance.  The writer may have specific ideas about what they'd like to hear during certain sections, but obviously what you end up hearing on the album is performed by five guys working together, and the result is greater than the sum of the parts.  There is also a great deal of musical exploration and virtuosity ("wanking" to the cynics) in each band.

This doesn't seem to have anything to do with the fact that I prefer Images and Words to A Dramatic Turn of Events.  I've had IAW since '94 and loved it from the first listen.  I'm still trying to get into ADTOE.  Everything sounds great, but at the same time, nothing really grabs me; nothing really, really stands out.  The one exception: that horrible croaking sound which always completely ruins what is otherwise the best song on the album.  It blows me away that I get to listen to that incredible piece, then listen to a guy belch for 20 seconds.  What is that even about?  I'm pretty sure Yes would not include a guy croaking on one of their albums, not even during their classic period when they were stoned out of their minds.

[skydivingninja]

Dream Theater never really sounded like Yes to me. They're very different bands.

This.  There's a bit of Yes influence in the structures and instrumental sections sometimes, but not a lot.  I really like classic Yes, but Images and Words doesn't have "Lost Not Forgotten" or "This is the Life."  Plus Images is one of my top ten albums ever, so yeah.  That.

@Orbert: The belches are meant to be all shamany and stuff.  I'm pretty sure its sampled from some indigenous culture somewhere.  I don't mind 'em as much anymore (I laughed hysterically when I first heard them) but if you don't like 'em you can always hold down the "skip" button.

[hefdaddy42]

While both being great bands, to me they are nothing alike. Regardless of your thoughts, I'll choose I&W over ADTOE any day.

Well, this.

[Pols Voice]

Yes is my fave band, and I voted for I&W.

The one exception: that horrible croaking sound which always completely ruins what is otherwise the best song on the album.  It blows me away that I get to listen to that incredible piece, then listen to a guy belch for 20 seconds.  What is that even about?  I'm pretty sure Yes would not include a guy croaking on one of their albums, not even during their classic period when they were stoned out of their minds.

There were those weird grunts and screams during the drum part of Ritual on Yesshows.

[Orbert]

True!  I'd forgotten about that.

Dream Theater never really sounded like Yes to me. They're very different bands.

you can always hold down the "skip" button.

Yeah, but I hate doing that.  You mean fast-forwarding through just the belches, right?  I've skipped the song a few times, too, and that doesn't make it any better.  I tend to play albums straight through, so once I hear the croaking, I could reach for the Skip button, but I've already heard the disgusting noise so I might as well hear the awesome song.  Then it comes back at the end and reminds me that I should've hit Skip about ten seconds earlier.  I could skip the whole song, but other than the retching, it's the best track on the album.  So torn.  So many emotions.  So much confusion.

[The Letter M]

True!  I'd forgotten about that.

Dream Theater never really sounded like Yes to me. They're very different bands.

you can always hold down the "skip" button.

Yeah, but I hate doing that.  You mean fast-forwarding through just the belches, right?  I've skipped the song a few times, too, and that doesn't make it any better.  I tend to play albums straight through, so once I hear the croaking, I could reach for the Skip button, but I've already heard the disgusting noise so I might as well hear the awesome song.  Then it comes back at the end and reminds me that I should've hit Skip about ten seconds earlier.  I could skip the whole song, but other than the retching, it's the best track on the album.  So torn.  So many emotions.  So much confusion.

Or just take the song into Audacity (or other wave-form editing program) and just edit out the "offending" sections and slap on fade-ins/fade-outs at the ends. BAM. A now-listenable 10 minute song.

-Marc.

[theseoafs]

I don't see why the Belches (in the Sky) would be so offensive that you just can't listen to them. It's a very silly patch and I laughed out loud when I heard them the first time, but right now I just view them as a charming and tongue-in-cheek experiment.

[Orbert]

I don't either, to be honest.  But it's one of those sounds that just bugs the shit out of me.

[Jaq]

I own more Yes albums than any other band. I voted I&W because I like it better than ADTOE, but it has nothing to do with me liking Yes. I just think it's a better album. I never approach progressive music as a fan of a particular band-oh, yeah, I can pick up on when a band is sounding like Yes, or King Crimson, or Genesis or Camel, but it has no bearing on how I listen to that particular band. It's just a level of reference for me.

[ColdFireYYZ]

I'm a huge Yes fan but that doesn't affect what other music I like. Like others said, they're 2 completely different bands. I went with ADTOE, even though I love I&W.

[Sigz]

I&W easily.

[Dimitrius]

While ADToE is the best DT album since 6DoIT... it doesn't come close to touching the masterpiece known as I&W!

[Phoenix87x]

I'm a huge Yes fan but that doesn't affect what other music I like. Like others said, they're 2 completely different bands. I went with ADTOE, even though I love I&W.

Same thing with me.

Even though I am a huge Yes fan, I see no correlation between me being a yes fan and Image and Words being my favorite album ever made. 

[wolfking]

I&W by miles and miles.

[Dr. DTVT]

Good luck keeping people who aren't Yes fans out of the pool 

[johncal]

Yeah, I know

[Rattlehead]

Images and Words.

[Lolzeez]

Imho I&W is better but ADTOE is an outstanding album.

[Priest of Syrinx]

I was thinking about how I think ADTOE is the best album DT has ever put out and can't really understand where/why some like I&W more. Then it really dawned on me that personally my love of Classic Yes might have a lot to do with it. ADTOE seems way more YES like with the arrangements and instrumentation.

So am I smokin' something (probably should be anyways), or do other Classic Yes fans feel the same way. Let me know.

Some people like I&W more because people are people and have different tastes and opinions.  Time to take off the cape and go outside, don't forget the suntan lotion. 

I like I&W slightly more than ADTOE, I think, altho I'm still in the honeymoon period with ADTOE.  I think I&W is slightly more Yes-like than ADTOE, but mayeb that has more to do with production values rather than instrumentality.

[7thHanyou]

Images and Words is my favorite Dream Theater album, and may be my favorite album of all time.

ADToE isn't close.

As far as Yes is concerned, I love Fragile and Close to the Edge, but am not too familiar with their other stuff.

I don't really see how ADToE is any more like Yes than I&W.  The only Dream Theater album I think of as Yes-like is Octavarium, mainly because of the title track...but the title track reminds me more of Transatlantic than anything else, so it's merely Yes-sounding by association.

[cosmicwxdude]

Call me blasphemous, but I only find a handful of real good songs on Images and a whole bunch on ADTOE.