The Official Yes Thread

[JayOctavarium]

Listened to Fragile for the first time last night. Honestly my first true YES attempt. I loved it.


Orbert... I can't find your discog thread.


Also... recommendations anyone?

[jammindude]

Going For The One for the classic sound.

If you're slightly more daring....TALK.

[Outcrier]

Listened to Fragile for the first time last night. Honestly my first true YES attempt. I loved it.


Orbert... I can't find your discog thread.


Also... recommendations anyone?

The general consensus is that:

Close To The Edge and Fragile are easily the best.
Then comes The Yes Album and Relayer.
THEN, Going For The One, Drama and Tales.

Personally, after Fragile, i would listen to Close To The Edge or The Yes Album (the later if you're not prepared for the long songs on CTTE).

[King Postwhore]

Close To The Edge next.

I for one love Drama Jay so check that out as well.

[jammindude]

I actually put Fragile near the bottom of the "classic albums".   The songs that are there are really good...but it's mixed up with solo pieces, and makes for a very uneven album.

I say (of the classic era)

1. Going For the One
2. Close to the Edge
3. The Yes Album
4. Relayer
5. Tales From Topographic Oceans
6. Fragile

If I had to plug Drama in there, I would probably put it between The Yes Album and Relayer.

[Orbert]

Listened to Fragile for the first time last night. Honestly my first true YES attempt. I loved it.

Orbert... I can't find your discog thread.

Also... recommendations anyone?

Congratulations on taking the dive.  Fragile is an excellent starting point.  From there, I would just continue chronologically, but I'm like that.  You may want to take one step back, to The Yes Album, before proceeding forward to Close to the Edge.  Close to the Edge is very intense and quite demanding for the listener, so I think one more "regular" album of theirs before tackling one of the biggies might help.

Yes got really, really out there in the 70's, back when anything was possible.  Chronologically, Tales from Topographic Oceans came next.  A single work in four movements, over 80 minutes total.  Some people can dive right into it, others really are better off working into it more gradually, so it's hard to give hard recommendations.  If you can handle Close to the Edge, then maybe try it, but if CttE gives you trouble, try Going for the One or Drama.

The Discography Thread is here. It looks like a bunch of the images have gone away, and I remember I accidentally killed some of the writeups (clicked "Modify" instead of "Quote" to copy the format, then didn't realize what I'd done until I'd posted) but most of it's there.

[JayOctavarium]

After reading through your first couple write ups, I think I am going to go back to The Yes Album, and then hit up Close to the Edge.... After that Probably just check out various albums based on what I learn on the adventure that is a band discog thread.


So here's what pushed me to finally check YES out. I was driving to work while listening to KTYD (1 of the only 2 classic rock stations left in the area)... and the DJ gives a little intro to the next song he is putting on (In the 70's some people called this art rock, some prog, but I have always called this great music. Here is Yes....  Roundabout")


And then I hear the intro to Roundabout. My reaction was "Holy shit I know this... this is YES?"

I pulled in to the parking lot and turned it off. Then yesterday Along For The Ride premiered, and a few people compared JMX's playing underneath the Moog solo to Chris Squire. I wanted to know what they were talking about.. So I looked up what album Roundabout was off of and through it on  (oooh spotify) and now I am hooked.

[Orbert]

That's pretty cool!  Dream Theater used to compare themselves to Yes.  Mike more than the others, I suppose, but I always got it.  It's not the sound, obviously, but more the "attitude".  Singer, guitar, keys, bass, drums, let's see how crazy we can get and still call it rock.  Let's go ahead and take off for an instrumental, not just a five-minute guitar solo but an actual composed instrumental, and come back not to the same thing, but something else which still works.  I love that about Yes, and it's what originally drew me to Dream Theater.

[jammindude]

I will say that Roundabout was the first Yes song I ever heard....and then I was aware of their 80's output.

But it was hearing "Heart of the Sunrise" from my sisters Classic Yes CD that really hooked me.   When I heard that bass groove, I immediately went "HEY! THAT'S LEARNING TO LIVE!!!"   

After that, I went out and bought Fragile and The Yes Album....I was hooked after that.

[King Postwhore]

I remember on a snow day, that was a Tuesday (Record release day!)  My cousin and I walked 2 miles to get to a bus stop that took us to the mall a town over and we both bought Drama.  Took the same trip back and 4 hours in total we got to listen to it.

The things I would do back in the day to buy an album.  Now, you go online and a minute later you have it!

[Orbert]

I remember those days.  We had a bus stop right in our neighborhood, but still had to transfer downtown, then take another bus out to the mall, which was pretty much out on the edge of town at the time.  Over an hour total, each way.  So not as bad as you had it, but on the same scale.  But yeah, this is how we bought albums back in the day (those of us who were too cool to have Mom drive us anyway).

[KevShmev]

Yep, the art of finding a way to buy an album is lost.  Now, you know months ahead of time when it is coming out (99% of the time), and it is so easy to get it online and start listening after a few clicks.  Easier, but not as fun. 

We used to have this store called Now Hear This in St. Louis that had a list of upcoming releases for the next few months, and we would go there every few weeks to see if any of our favorites had one of there.  I remember seeing Once in a LiveTime on there and thinking, "Sweet, a new DT album!"  Granted, it was only a live album, but that euphoria of suddenly seeing one of my favorite band's name on that sheet was very, very real. 

[King Postwhore]

I used to sit with my boom box just to record the new single of any band I loved and now,  like the new DT, boom!  It's out there.

That's why I try to lay off listening to the new material now because in this day and age you can wear out a new song much faster.

[KevShmev]

Same here!  In fact, there are certain songs from the 80s that I got used to hearing them fade out in the start of another song, because when I recorded them off the radio, the radio station started the next song while the one I was recording was fading out.  I got used to it that way, so it almost sounds weird to not hear a particular song start after hearing the other.

[King Postwhore]

    Let me tie in a Yes song then.  Well AWBH but I always looked at them as YES.


Brother Of Mine came out on the radio and it was a 6 minute edit.  So when the album came out I was all messed up!

Even worse was after the album came out there was a 4 minute version of that song on the radio.  The editing was terrible!!

[lonestar]

I have this little ritual where I hit the record store in Berkeley, a huge one, and buy music blind that has just been released. Usually I'll refer to a review or two on my phone, but sometimes it's just a shot in the dark. They have their metal section seperated into genres, but that's about all the hints I get. For twelve bucks, I get that thrill of discovering something totally new(or finding out I just wasted 12 bucks). It can be a gamble, but the rush of getting home and listening to something totally new that is awesome is incomparable.

[KevShmev]

Ah, the old blind purchase.  I miss those. 

And yeah, radio edits can be atrociously bad sometimes, king.

[Orbert]

I hate radio edits, even though I do understand the necessity for them.  Like many, "Roundabout" was my first exposure to Yes.  I remember how it started with the "Spanish guitar" (that's what it sounded like to me) which also came back at the end.  Then one night listening to my old FM clock radio, I heard a different version.  It was longer, and had some other stuff, and then that Spanish guitar did a little thing in the middle, too!  And I wasn't sure, but it seemed like the solos were longer, too.  We're talking grade school here, so I had no idea how any of this worked, but that's when I learned that there could be a "long version" and a "short version".

To this day, my wife and I will still use the terms "AM version" or "album version" to mean the edited or unedited version of something.  Watching an R-rated movie on regular TV, you get the "AM version".

[ytserush]

Listened to Fragile for the first time last night. Honestly my first true YES attempt. I loved it.


Orbert... I can't find your discog thread.


Also... recommendations anyone?

Everything but Open Your Eyes always works for me......

[Orbert]

It's Official: 5.1 and 2.0 remixes by Steven Wilson in both DVD-A and Blu-ray

[Cygnus17]

After Fragile, you should listen to the following (in order):

Close to the Edge
Going for the One
The Yes Album

[Cygnus17]

   Let me tie in a Yes song then.  Well AWBH but I always looked at them as YES.


Brother Of Mine came out on the radio and it was a 6 minute edit.  So when the album came out I was all messed up!

Even worse was after the album came out there was a 4 minute version of that song on the radio.  The editing was terrible!!

I always looked at ABWH as YES as well..and consider their show one of the best Yesshows I've ever seen.

[jsbru]

After reading through your first couple write ups, I think I am going to go back to The Yes Album, and then hit up Close to the Edge.... After that Probably just check out various albums based on what I learn on the adventure that is a band discog thread.


So here's what pushed me to finally check YES out. I was driving to work while listening to KTYD (1 of the only 2 classic rock stations left in the area)... and the DJ gives a little intro to the next song he is putting on (In the 70's some people called this art rock, some prog, but I have always called this great music. Here is Yes....  Roundabout")


And then I hear the intro to Roundabout. My reaction was "Holy shit I know this... this is YES?"

I pulled in to the parking lot and turned it off. Then yesterday Along For The Ride premiered, and a few people compared JMX's playing underneath the Moog solo to Chris Squire. I wanted to know what they were talking about.. So I looked up what album Roundabout was off of and through it on  (oooh spotify) and now I am hooked.

If the AFTR commentary about Myung's bass sounding like Squire is what is intriguing you, I think the Yes Album is the right choice.

Both Starship Trooper and Perpetual Change are in my top 5 Yes songs of all time, and they both have wicked bass lines.

Of course, the bass on the Close to the Edge title track is beyond words.  And Jordan's Moog solo on AFTR is probably most reminiscent of Wakeman's solo on And You And I...

No matter what, you can't go wrong with either of these two albums.  If you already like DT, I predict you will become addicted pretty soon...

[jsbru]

Close To The Edge is simply mind blowing. 

To me, the lyrics are about an "enlightenment" or "ego death", influenced by the book Siddhartha (like Anderson once confirmed), and perhaps influenced by the use of psychedelics.

"Down at the edge, round by the corner,
Not right away, not right away.
Close to the edge, down by a river,
Not right away, not right away."

You know that you're on the edge of enlightenment, but are cautious of it "not right away"

"Now that it's all over and done,
Now that you find, now that you're whole."

By the end of Part 1, you have gloriously tasted enlightenment, and become one with nature/the universe

"Sudden problems shouldn't take away the startled memory.
All in all, the journey takes you all the way......

......Passing paths that climb halfway into the void.
As we cross from side to side, we hear the total mass retain."

This is one of the most intriguing lyrical passages.  It's talking about how amazing the journey of enlightenment is, but I still cannot figure out the phrase "total mass retain" 

In part three, now that you essentially know everything, are one with nature, and have become enlightened about the world, you explore the big problems in humanity and struggle with them:

"Two million people barely satisfy.
Two hundred women watch one woman cry, too late.
The eyes of honesty can achieve.
How many millions do we deceive each day?"

After the lyrical passage in Part 3, comes the amazing instrumental section and the fantastic keyboard solo, leading up to one of the most marvelous pieces of music, IMO.

"The time between the notes relates the color to the scenes"

YES is famous for lyrics that basically have no meaning, but sound cool. This is one of the most famous ones, but anyone who has used psychedelics and listened to music knows what this means. "Time between the notes" = rhythm, the rhythm of the music makes sense of the color and the extraordinary visuals you see that go along with the music.  This may not actually be what they meant, but is an interesting thought nonetheless.

"Then according to the man who showed his outstretched arm to space,
He turned around and pointed, revealing all the human race.
I shook my head and smiled a whisper, knowing all about the place."

What an amazing few lines.  Pretty self explanatory if you're considering the theme of enlightenment or ego death, but the combination of the musical and rhythmic themes(especially at the end of the passage) that come along with this part make it one of my favorites.

At the end, you hear the main themes of the song "close to the edge..." "I get up, I get down" in a grand finale that makes you feel, well, enlightened! 

This is a pretty fantastic summary.  CttE is really the pinnacle of prog rock...not just because of the music, which is mindblowing in and of itself...but because it quite possibly has the best lyrics of all time.

Not all of them make sense or are meant to make sense.  I'm not sure if Total Mass Retain means anything at all.  It reminds me of the first law of thermodynamics, but how that relates to the rest of the song, I'm not totally sure.  Anderson has said sometimes he writes them simply because he likes how certain words sound next to each other.  This song's lyrics "cross from side to side" of the void between sheer surreal fantasy and the most grounded of all realities: the enlightenment.  It uses the abstract to draw a clearer picture of the concrete.  It's beyond poetry.

One of my favorite lyrical parts not mentioned above is:

And assessing points to nowhere, leading ev'ry single one.
A dewdrop can exalt us like the music of the sun,
And take away the plain in which we move,
And choose the course you're running.

This, and pretty much everything from Seasons of Man.

[jsbru]

And yes, the synesthesia of the lyrics are definitely influenced by psychedelics.  Sound describes vision "the music of the sun," "reaching out to call the color of the sky"; taste describes complex philosophical concepts "taste the fruit of man recorded losing all against the hour"; tactile senses manipulate sounds "held the word within my hand," "smiled a whisper" etc.

The other cool thing is that A Solid Time of Change is written in the second mode of the harmonic minor scale (harmonic locrian?).  Harmonic minor is exotic enough...but then to write a song in its second mode really makes it sound unique.

[The Letter M]

https://yesworld.com/2013/10/yes-the-studio-albums-1969-1987-box-set/

YES: THE COMPLETE ATLANTIC STUDIO ALBUMS

The Progressive Rockers’ Legendary Atlantic Years Revisited With 13-CD Boxed Set Featuring Remastered and Expanded Versions Of The Band’s Studio Albums

Includes The U.S. Debut Of Remastered And Expanded Version Of Big Generator

The Collection Will Be Available On November 11 From Rhino

YES, the most successful and influential progressive rock band in the world,  will celebrate its prolific tenure at Atlantic Records with a new boxed set that contains all 12 of the studio albums they recorded with the label. Each one features the remastered sound and bonus tracks that originally appeared in 2003 and 2004, when Rhino’s reissued the band’s catalog.

The collection spans nearly 20 years of music over the course of 13 CDs and includes the albums that earned Yes an international following and helped the English group sell more than 30 million (and counting) albums. Roger Dean, who illustrated many of Yes’ iconic album covers through the years, created the new artwork for the clamshell box that houses the music, making this set instantly recognizable to any Yes fan. The set also marks the American debut of the expanded and remastered version of Big Generator, which was previously available only in Japan.

COMPLETE ATLANTIC STUDIO ALBUMS 1969-1987 will be released on November 11 for a suggested list price of $74.98. A digital version will also be available.


Read more at https://yesworld.com/2013/10/yes-the-studio-albums-1969-1987-box-set/#rHw12iU1P84Je6OS.99

Nothing NEW per se, except some Roger Dean artwork, but this is a repackaging of the Rhino Remasters, from their debut up to Big Generator.

Anyone who has an incomplete collection or just wants to replace their old albums might be interested in this. Those who have bought their albums a dozen times over will just see this as a cash-grab, especially since there's no new mastering/mixing, or even any new extras.

However, the thing that intrigues me the most is the Rhino Remaster of BG, as I don't believe it ever made it States-side. If it did, I never got it.

However, at the price of about $75, it's a steal considering that is $5.77 per CD (being 13 CDs, 12 albums).

-Marc.

[jammindude]

Which remaster of TFTO had the long intro on TRSOG?     Didn't they remaster it with the long intro...and then RE-REmaster it with the long intro removed again?

I had heard that it was originally removed for time constraints....I personally think it is a FAR better intro than just going directly into the vocals.

[Orbert]

The version originally released on vinyl is 20:23.  The version with the intro is 22:01.  I don't know how to identify which release is which, but if they list the track times, the 22-minute version is the one you want.

[ytserush]

I suppose I'll see if I can pick up Big Generator individually at some point to see how it compares with the original.

Somewhat related..... Was there ever an expanded edition of 9012Live released. The original is cool, but I always thought it was too short.

[Mladen]

I've got a question. A while ago, I heard a different live version of And you and I on the radio. The difference was, there was no ''and you and I climb crossing the shapes of the morning'' at the end - instead, the verse that got repeated was the one that goes ''coming quickly to terms with all expression laid...''. There were some more different moments, and I thought it was pretty cool.

It made me wonder, which live album can this live version be found on, why they changed it and was that something that happened more often?

[King Postwhore]

I believe that might be the live version from the box set Yes Years from the Big Generator tour.

[ytserush]

I believe that might be the live version from the box set Yes Years from the Big Generator tour.

I forgot about that version.

It's been a while since I've had that fourth disc in. I'll have to fix that.

[Zydar]

Has anyone heard the new remix of Close To The Edge by Steven Wilson?

[King Postwhore]

I believe that might be the live version from the box set Yes Years from the Big Generator tour.

I forgot about that version.

It's been a while since I've had that fourth disc in. I'll have to fix that.

Same for me.  I have no idea why I don't have it on my I-Pod.

Has anyone heard the new remix of Close To The Edge by Steven Wilson?

My cousin has it and he's been gushing over it.  It's on my Christmas list for sure.

[Orbert]

The folks at Yesfans.com are pretty impressed, too.  Definitely on my Christmas list as well.