Official Yes Top 50 Countdown Thread! - #17-15 Revealed!

[pg1067]

It's not rocket science, folks.

Also, I get someone like Tim not being familiar with enough songs.  However, if you know Yes, you're probably REALLY familiar with at least The Yes Album through 90125, and that's more than 50 songs.  If you only want to rank songs on those albums, that's perfectly fine and shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes.  Heck...my own list didn't include anything from the last 25 years.

We're at 10 lists now, by the way.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

It's not rocket science, folks.

Also, I get someone like Tim not being familiar with enough songs.  However, if you know Yes, you're probably REALLY familiar with at least The Yes Album through 90125, and that's more than 50 songs.  If you only want to rank songs on those albums, that's perfectly fine and shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes.  Heck...my own list didn't include anything from the last 25 years.

We're at 10 lists now, by the way.

This was the approach I took, I popped all those songs on the OP into the ranking site provided and was like "uhhhhh" lol

Then I went back and just did the discography through 90125 and another couple ones i really like like Union, Fly From Here, etc and it made it a lot easier

[pg1067]

The one that took me the most time was Rush because I did all 165 album tracks plus Broon's Bane.  However, for every other countdown, I've done an abbreviated list, which is usually 10-15 more than the list amount.

[Stadler]

In as FLYNN!!!!  Gosh darn it, that was hard.  I have 168 songs on my list (I omitted Heaven and Earth, and the two most recent albums).   My 90 or so through 140 is a mess, because there's just not a lot of separation there.  The last 20 is clear and for good reason (I'll post my bottom 10 when Paul tells me I can).   

My top ten, though, is GLORIOUS.

[pg1067]

My 90 or so through 140 is a mess, because there's just not a lot of separation there.  The last 20 is clear and for good reason (I'll post my bottom 10 when Paul tells me I can).   

My top ten, though, is GLORIOUS.

EVERYONE's top 10 is glorious.  Yes has about 25 songs that are top-10 worthy.  Your 90-140 sounds like my Rush list.  Whatever it was I had at 135 probably could have easily swapped with my #108 song.

[pg1067]

Twelve lists so far.  I gotta say I'm going to be REALLY surprised if we end up with fewer lists for Yes than we had for Fates Warning (19).

Only three songs have appeared on every list.

Seven different songs have been listed as at least one person's #1 song.

[Dittomist]

I'll be submitting my list tonight, and I have a feeling that many of my choices will be super controversial!

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I'll be submitting my list tonight, and I have a feeling that many of my choices will be super controversial!

Tales is my favorite Yes album, so I suspect it won't be that controversial to me

[hefdaddy42]

Got mine in, but I'm sure it's terrible lol

[romdrums]

Tales is my favorite Yes album, so I suspect it won't be that controversial to me

If you've got The Ancient at #1, or anywhere in your top 10 for that matter, THAT would be controversial.

[Animal]

Just sent my list.

Album breakdown
The Yes Album - 6
Fragile - 6
CTTE - 3
Tales - 4
Relayer - 3
GFTO - 5
Tormato - 3
Drama - 5
90125 - 7
Talk - 5
Magnification - 3

Obviously, 90125 gotta be the best Yes album.

[Animal]

EVERYONE's top 10 is glorious.  Yes has about 25 songs that are top-10 worthy.  Your 90-140 sounds like my Rush list.  Whatever it was I had at 135 probably could have easily swapped with my #108 song.

Everyone's top 10 is glorious but whose is the longest? Mine is about 127 minutes, quite short for a band that produced so many fantastic epics (it includes one really short song).

[DTwwbwMP]

Excellent question! My top 10 came to a VERY PEDESTRIAN 83mins 24seconds

[pg1067]

Everyone's top 10 is glorious but whose is the longest? Mine is about 127 minutes, quite short for a band that produced so many fantastic epics (it includes one really short song).

That's the sort of thing one might expect me to try and figure out, but I'm not going to do that!  I will, however, do MY top 10, which is 146 minutes and 7.2 seconds!

Also, my album count:

TYA - 3
Fragile - 6
CTTE - 3
TFTO - 4
Relayer - 3
GFTO - 4
Tormato - 5
Drama - 3
90125 - 8
BG - 1
ABWH - 4
Union - 1
Keys - 1
Other - 4


Just casually eyeballing the totals, it looks like the #1 song is about 90 points ahead of the #2 song, with 3 and 4 close behind.  The current #5 might be a bit of a surprise.

Every full-length album has gotten at least one vote.

[devieira73]

PG, I see that I really hurted your (classic era) feelings with my list as you truly hurted my (Rabin era) feelings with yours! Let's say, one album for one album, that's fair!

[pg1067]

Hey...I had almost every song from 90125!   

[devieira73]

Hey...I had almost ever song from 90125!   

I noticed!

[HOF]

I had all but one song from 90125 (Redacted).

[Animal]

PG, I see that I really hurted your (classic era) feelings with my list as you truly hurted my (Rabin era) feelings with yours! Let's say, one album for one album, that's fair!

As an ardent classic Yes (The Yes Album – Going For The One) and Steve Howe fan (I think I had him at 2 in the guitarist countdown), let me say Trevor Rabin is a great musician and 90125 is a really good album. The man is also a very capable lead vocalist and can do prog epic stuff (I have come to really dig Endless Dream).

On a more general note: with an each new countdown, I realize that the reason I like these threads has less to do with the enjoyment of the actual countdown (though I enjoy these a lot), and more with the fact that it makes me go and re-explore music I thought I knew. Every single time, I discover new gems where I thought I had already found everything.

[romdrums]

Album breakdown:

The Yes Album: 3
Fragile: 5
Close to the Edge: 3
Tales From Topographic Oceans: 3
Relayer: 3
Going For The One: 4
Tormato: 1
Drama: 3
90125: 5
Big Generator: 6
ABWH: 3
Union: 5
Talk: 5
Keys to Ascension: 1

Total Run Time of My Top 10: 2 hours 7 minutes

Number of Musicians:
Keyboardists: 4
Guitarists: 2
Drummers: 2
Vocalists: 2
Bassists: 2

Appearance Totals of Each Member:
Jon Anderson: 47
Chris Squire: 46 (2 as vocals only)
Alan White: 33
Steve Howe: 32
Rick Wakeman: 23
Tony Kaye: 21
Trevor Rabin: 18
Bill Bruford: 17
Tony Levin: 6
Trevor Horn: 3
Patrick Moraz: 3
Geoff Downes: 3

[pg1067]

15 lists now.

Keep 'em comin'!

Finish strong!

[Dittomist]

These numbers might not be exact, but I think these are my album breakdowns:

Yes- 2
Time and a Word- 2
The Yes Album- 2
Fragile- 3
Close to the Edge- 3
Tales from Topographic Oceans- 4
Relayer- 3
Going for the One- 4
Tormato- 4
Drama- 2
90125- 5
Big Generator- 3
ABWH- 2
Talk- 1
Keys to Ascension- 4
Magnification- 2
Fly from Here- 2
The Quest- 1

[Stadler]

Yes- 1
Time And A Word- 3
The Yes Album- 4
Fragile- 4
Close To The Edge- 2
Tales From Topographic Oceans- 1
Relayer - 1
Yesterdays - 1
Going for the One- 5
Tormato- 3
Drama- 6
90125- 7
Big Penetrator- 3
Onion- 4
Talk- 2
Keys To Ascension- 0
Keys To Ascension II - 0
Open Your Eyes - 0
The Ladder - 0
Magnification- 1
Fly From Here- 2

[Orbert]

As an ardent classic Yes (The Yes Album – Going For The One) and Steve Howe fan (I think I had him at 2 in the guitarist countdown), let me say Trevor Rabin is a great musician and 90125 is a really good album. The man is also a very capable lead vocalist and can do prog epic stuff (I have come to really dig Endless Dream).

On a more general note: with an each new countdown, I realize that the reason I like these threads has less to do with the enjoyment of the actual countdown (though I enjoy these a lot), and more with the fact that it makes me go and re-explore music I thought I knew. Every single time, I discover new gems where I thought I had already found everything.

That's what I'm here for, exploring new music, rediscovering old music, and the discussion.  I don't hate countdowns, roulettes, rankings, whatever; I just think that they are largely a waste of time if they don't lead to any discussion.  I don't care if 78% of people like this song; I want to know why.  The solo?  The lyrics?  The arrangement?  What am I missing?  Sometimes I can't put my finger on why I don't like a song, but it may be that I've missed something important, or misunderstood what it's about, and I want to know what that is.  Conversely, if there's a song or album that I really like, I want to share why that is, for anyone who cares to listen.

[HOF]

I think I ranked every song from every album from The Yes Album through Big Generator except for 1 song from 90812 and the "songs" from Topographic Oceans which I can't in good conscious rank as I can't remember a single note from them after several listens and would barely categorize them as songs in the first place (I actually think it is an interesting album for what it is, but what do you do with those tracks in a countdown like this? Just doesn't compute).

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I had no problem putting the Tales songs all near the top of my ranking

[pg1067]

Yes- 1
Time And A Word- 3
The Yes Album- 4
Fragile- 4
Close To The Edge- 2
Tales From Topographic Oceans- 1
Relayer- 1
Yesterdays - 1
Going for the One- 5
Tormato- 3
Drama- 6
90125- 7
Big Penetrator- 3
Onion- 4
Talk- 2
Keys To Ascension- 0
Keys To Ascension II - 0
Open Your Eyes - 0
The Ladder - 0
Magnification- 1
Fly From Here- 2

ftfy

[pg1067]

I had no problem putting the Tales songs all near the top of my ranking

5 of the 15 lists so far feature all 4 TFTO songs.

Will that be enough to land any or all of them in the top 50?  Stay tuned.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

That's more than I figured. Even among Yes diehards I've met, seems like a lot of people are really turned off by Tales. For me, it's the Yes album that easily speaks to me the most.

[Stadler]

I had one song; it struck me from the first day I heard it and resonates today.  I love the rest of the album, and listen to it frequently, but I kind of agree that "as songs" it's a tougher putt.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Very much agree. Can't say I've ever gone out of my way to listen to any of the 4 songs without just simply doing the whole thing. Possibly only when I've seen Yes live is when it's actually happened

[devieira73]

I recognize the band's effort on Tales, but I simply can't enjoy the album or any of its songs in their entirety.

[The Letter M]

List sent! I saved myself some time in the sorter by cutting out songs or whole albums I was not very familiar with or attached to. It really expedited the process, and honestly, if I'm ranking Yes songs, I'm only picking the ones I like, especially when 50 is nearly a quarter of all the ones listed. I love Yes quite a bit, but not as much as, say, Rush or DT, so I wasn't going to try and take the time to rank all of their songs, especially when I'm just not very familiar with most of their 21st century albums.

I think of my top 20, there's a lot that most folks will include in their top 20, so I'm interested to see how far off my list will be from the final ranking.

-Marc.

[jammindude]

FINALLY got around to starting this…


…and the ranking site is down for maintenance. 

[jammindude]

I’m starting mine right now. Please give me until the end of today and I will have it in.