The Official Yes Thread

[Architeuthis]

Shoot High Aim Low is such a wonderfully crafted song!  The ambiance of this track is captivating and lets it breath really well.  Probably tied for first place (for me) in Yes' entire catalogue along with Endless Dream.  The Talk tour would have been perfect if they included SH/AL, same with the ARW tour. Missed opportunities!  I can't believe that song wasn't a staple on all the Rabin era tours.
 Could you imagine the light show that could acompany that song. "Someone shouted Open The Door LOOK-OUT" all of a sudden pillars of white fog explosions in the form of small mushroom clouds shoot up on all sides of the stage with intense lighting. 

[KevShmev]

Shoot High Aim Low is such a wonderfully crafted song!  The ambiance of this track is captivating and lets it really breath well.  Probably tied for first place (for me) in Yes' entire catalogue along with Endless Dream.  The Talk tour would have been perfect if they included SH/AL, same with the ARW tour. Missed opportunities!  I can't believe that song wasn't a staple on all the Rabin era tours.
 Could you imagine the light show that could acompany that song. "Someone shouted Open The Door LOOK-OUT" all of a sudden pillars of white fog explosions shoot up on all sides of the stage with intense lighting. 

That would have been great, but it was not to be.  When I saw them on the Talk tour, I didn't count on hearing much from Big Generator, and sure enough, Rhythm of Love was the only one they played.  They had said in interviews that they'd be playing all of Talk (and they did, except for State of Play), and by the time they played a bunch of 90125 (they played six from this) and a handful of 70's classics (IIRC, they played four), I knew there wouldn't be much time left for anything else.

Ive asked, but I don't know if anyone answered: is there a way of searching one's posts in a given thread?  Or do you have to manually go through them?  I did a Yes Top 20, but I can't find it.

The best way I know how is to search for your own user name in the bar at the top right when in the thread and then any post of yours will show up in the search along with any post that has your user name in it or any where someone quoted you (I think).

[Architeuthis]

The Talk tour is still to this day the best Yes experience I've ever had by a landslide.  Plus it was on the Columbia River Gorge accompanied by an incredible sunset during Endless Dream.   

 I still remember the date.  7-10-1994

[Mladen]

Kudos to DTA for including THREE Drama songs in his top 10. 

[Lupton]

The Talk tour is still to this day the best Yes experience I've ever had by a landslide.  Plus it was on the Columbia River Gorge accompanied by an incredible sunset during Endless Dream.   

 I still remember the date.  7-10-1994

    Mine was Dallas Starplex 7-31-94. Still got the ticket stub.

[DTA]

Kudos to DTA for including THREE Drama songs in his top 10. 

Best Yes album after Relayer/Tales imo. Into The Lens and Tempus Fugit would probably make my top 15.

[Architeuthis]

The Talk tour is still to this day the best Yes experience I've ever had by a landslide.  Plus it was on the Columbia River Gorge accompanied by an incredible sunset during Endless Dream.   

 I still remember the date.  7-10-1994

    Mine was Dallas Starplex 7-31-94. Still got the ticket stub.

That's awesome!  I lost my ticket stub years ago but not the memories.  I bet the Dallas show was great too,  what did you think of it?

[Lupton]

The Talk tour is still to this day the best Yes experience I've ever had by a landslide.  Plus it was on the Columbia River Gorge accompanied by an incredible sunset during Endless Dream.   

 I still remember the date.  7-10-1994

    Mine was Dallas Starplex 7-31-94. Still got the ticket stub.

That's awesome!  I lost my ticket stub years ago but not the memories.  I bet the Dallas show was great too,  what did you think of it?

It was perfect. After seeing the 8 man lineup on the Union tour I wasn't sure if anything could top that, but they came pretty damn close! The sound was huge where we were sitting and you could hear all the different instruments fairly clearly even though the acoustics there aren't the best. Endless Dream was indeed the highlight. It was sublime. I also remember Hearts being a particularly powerful standout performance (and I'm not even a fan of that song!).

[edit: Forgot to add The Calling absolutely slayed live! Definitely my favorite tune on Talk and it was killer!]
[further edit: Just re-checked my stub to see the "0" was really faintly printed where you could only see one side so it looked like a "1". So the date was actually 7-30-94]

[Architeuthis]

That's awesome Lupton!  I agree about Hearts and The Calling, both were fantastic live.  I missed the Union tour in 1991 though. I was working at an Italian Restaurant washing dishes and couldn't get off work that night. I still have kick marks to this day! 

[Lupton]

That's awesome Lupton!  I agree about Hearts and The Calling, both were fantastic live.  I missed the Union tour in 1991 though. I was working at an Italian Restaurant washing dishes and couldn't get off work that night. I still have kick marks to this day! 

Aw man.  Sorry to hear about that. Well at least for the Union tour I think there is a video available somewhere (not sure if it is official). Yeah I know...obviously it's not the same thing as being there, but it's nice to have some sort of document of the event on tap.

But on the bright side, seeing that Talk show gave you a chance to hear tunes from that album that would probably never be performed live again. A one of a kind performance. Plus that particular lineup was firing on all cylinders. They were HOT!

Happy Holidays! 

[Kwyjibo]

It's about war in general, Nicaragua in particular, and Anderson and Rabin are providing contrast between the harsh realities of war and the more idealistic way things could be.

Yes. That's the one. I remember reading somewhere ages ago that the "blue fields" referred to a specific conflict. Thanks for the correction. 

And I always imagined sedan meaning the city in France where some battles between Germany and France took place over the centuries, so that the song was more about war in general. But the "blue sedan" could also be referring to a car. So I don't know.

[KevShmev]

The Talk tour is still to this day the best Yes experience I've ever had by a landslide.  Plus it was on the Columbia River Gorge accompanied by an incredible sunset during Endless Dream.   

 I still remember the date.  7-10-1994

Nice! I saw them I think on June 30th, 1994.  I remember that because I saw Pink Floyd on 6-21-94 in Kansas City, and then I believe Yes was here in St Louis just nine days later.  Factor in that I had see the Moody Blues for the first time in April of that year, and that was a great run for me considering, at the time, Floyd, Yes and the Moodies were three of my five favorite bands.

But on the bright side, seeing that Talk show gave you a chance to hear tunes from that album that would probably never be performed live again. A one of a kind performance. Plus that particular lineup was firing on all cylinders. They were HOT!

Yep, that tour was great, or at least our show was.  It wasn't as well-attended as I would have hoped - it was at our local outdoor venue which holds around 17-18K, and the seats were all pretty full, but the lawn was pretty empty - we had like 5th row center - but we still had a blast.  I remember in particular the live performances of Real Love and Endless Dream being tremendous.

[jammindude]

I am so sad I didn't see the Talk tour.   

Yes had always been on my radar, but I didn't really "discover" my love for Yes until around about the time Talk was just coming out.   It was at that time that I borrowed my sister's "Classic Yes" CD and heard Heart of the Sunrise for the first time, and noticed that the Learning to Live opening bassline was practically a homage to that song.    After that, I did more digging.   

In retrospect, Talk is such a perfect blend of YesWest's pop ideals, and Classic Yes' arrangements.   I love that album, and I would have loved to have seen the tour.

[Big Hath]

Ive asked, but I don't know if anyone answered: is there a way of searching one's posts in a given thread?  Or do you have to manually go through them?  I did a Yes Top 20, but I can't find it.

I don't think so but if you do an advanced search you can search for your user name and a unique word from one of the titles you probably would have included and it should pull up all the posts you've had containing that word.  Hopefully it's unique enough where the results are only Yes related and most of them in this thread.

[Architeuthis]

In retrospect, Talk is such a perfect blend of YesWest's pop ideals, and Classic Yes' arrangements.   I love that album, and I would have loved to have seen the tour.

Indeed!   Rush is also so good at this same thing,  tastefully blending prog/ pop elements which results in really good songs.
DT has shown they can do this too. 

[Stadler]

Ive asked, but I don't know if anyone answered: is there a way of searching one's posts in a given thread?  Or do you have to manually go through them?  I did a Yes Top 20, but I can't find it.

I don't think so but if you do an advanced search you can search for your user name and a unique word from one of the titles you probably would have included and it should pull up all the posts you've had containing that word.  Hopefully it's unique enough where the results are only Yes related and most of them in this thread.

Excellent; thank you.

[Stadler]

My best Yes experience is still the first; the first leg of the 90210 tour, Hartford Civic Center.   Opening act was Bugs Bunny, and they had the lasers (which I haven't seen since with the band).    During "Hearts" there were floating hearts over the floor from the lasers, and it was an amazing experience.  Couple that with "Cinema", the a cappella "Leave It", and finally getting to see my favorite member (Squire) play the "Tempus Fugit" riff during "Whitefish", and it was quite the experience.

[King Postwhore]

When Brandon and Dylan sang "Hold On" I almost lost it.

[KevShmev]

There is a live version on YT of them performing Leave It totally live back in '84 and it was a major struggle to nail the harmonies and have them sound good, which is no shame since they are layered out the wazoo on the studio version.  It makes perfect sense why they changed it to where most of the vocals were pre-recorded except for (if memory serves me, from the 90125 Live video) the lead vocals by Anderson and Rabin. 

[Fritzinger]

In retrospect, Talk is such a perfect blend of YesWest's pop ideals, and Classic Yes' arrangements.   I love that album, and I would have loved to have seen the tour.

I would love to hear a great remix of Talk where that weird kick drum is toned down a little and replaced with a normal sounding one.

Steven Wilson always delivers great remixes, but 1. I don't think he likes Talk and 2. I don't think he would change the sound of the kick drum, since he always has a lot of respect for the original.

[Setlist Scotty]

When Brandon and Dylan sang "Hold On" I almost lost it.

I doubt most people got the joke (and it took me a second), but thanks for that laugh!

[Orbert]

I certainly didn't get it, and I consider myself pretty well-versed in Yes lore.

Anybody care to explain?

[King Postwhore]

90120 is a tv show in the 90's. 

90125 is the Yes album.

[KevShmev]

90120 is a tv show in the 90's. 

90125 is the Yes album.

I thought this was the Yes Album...

[King Postwhore]

 

[The Letter M]

90120 is a tv show in the 90's. 

90125 is the Yes album.

Wasn't it 90210?

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

90120 is a tv show in the 90's. 

90125 is the Yes album.

Wasn't it 90210?

-Marc.

Oops.  Yes.

Get it? Yes.

[Architeuthis]

In retrospect, Talk is such a perfect blend of YesWest's pop ideals, and Classic Yes' arrangements.   I love that album, and I would have loved to have seen the tour.

I would love to hear a great remix of Talk where that weird kick drum is toned down a little and replaced with a normal sounding one.

Steven Wilson always delivers great remixes, but 1. I don't think he likes Talk and 2. I don't think he would change the sound of the kick drum, since he always has a lot of respect for the original.

Trevor Rabin produced the Talk album and I highly doubt Steve Wilson could make it sound any better. I would think Rabin has more experience in the production room and is much more of an accomplished musician than Wilson, and that's saying a lot!  let the flames begin..
   

[ytserush]

The title track for Open Your Eyes is a great song. The rest of the album is iffy but that one is definitely a standout for post-Drama Yes.

I disliked that album so much I sold it back. The last studio album I like is Magnification.

My least favorite albums prior to that (other than Open Your Eyes of course are Tormato and about half of Going For The One.)  I've heard random songs after Magnification but nothing that I've committed to. (I almost feel I have to make a disclaim that it's got nothing to do with Jon Anderson being in or out of the band.  Don't have much of a feeling either way on that. If the music is good it doesn't really matter to me.

[ytserush]

So can someone please enlighten me. What's all the hatred for the title song Big Generator? It's not just I Don't not Do not things post. I've seen hate for this song expressed unanimously. Why do people hate it? It's probably in the top 10* of all the Rabin tunes. Is it the psuedo metal guitar riff? Is this a life warning clue that I should be wary of?...To indicate my own horrible penchant for musical taste? I  never saw anything "wrong" with it. Even when I was in my youthful proggy Yes discovery phase. I still think this is one of the more interesting almost Yes-like Rabin period tunes. And to this day I still like it. I love the way the low note in the "heavy" guitar harmonizes with Squire's bass. The OTT production style of this era really serves this tune too. Am I just too stupid? Or maybe nostalgic? It's a good song in my book.

*if my brain actually rated things in numeric order (which it doesn't)

[edit: PRAISE O PRAISE THIS ANTHEM GENERATOR!]

No idea. I don't mind it. Never have.  It's not Shoot High, Aim Low, but what is?

[ytserush]

With Yes, it was never about length for me; it was about the playing and the writing.   Wonderous Stories is still one of my favorite tunes in their catalogue.

With anyone, it's not about length. 

Wonderous Stories is a great song....so is Going For The One. Those are really the standouts on that album for me. Both of those are faves.

[ytserush]

This is where I chime in that Awaken is not only not as great as Endless Dream, but that many hardcore Yes fans overrated it big time.  It's a good tune, and has that warm proggy Yes vibe that you can't help but like, but it just doesn't come together to be truly great like many of their other long epics do.

Not speaking for other Yes fans, but I'd much rather listen to Endless Dream given the choice. Not a contest in any way.

[ytserush]

Regarding Big Generator. You've got Anderson on one hand trying to turn everything into this deep, serious spiritual thing and Rabin on the other sticking to his boy meets girl cliched lyrical guns. Good example: "Shoot High Aim Low" Anderson is singing about the Milagro Bean Field conflict (or somesuch thing) and Rabin comes in "In the blue sedan we couldn't get much further" . He's just out cruising around the town with his girl (standard AOR trope ) and Anderson is trying to make some sort of meaningful statement on the human condition. It's fairly schizo, but it works.

It's great the way the end result turned out. Good song. Actually sort of hated it the first time I heard it. Took ages for it to grow on me.

This is where I admit I sometimes listen to the live version on the Word Is Live on repeat in the car for nearly an hour.

[ytserush]

When Brandon and Dylan sang "Hold On" I almost lost it.

I've already lost it!

[DTA]

The title track for Open Your Eyes is a great song. The rest of the album is iffy but that one is definitely a standout for post-Drama Yes.

I disliked that album so much I sold it back. The last studio album I like is Magnification.

My least favorite albums prior to that (other than Open Your Eyes of course are Tormato and about half of Going For The One.)  I've heard random songs after Magnification but nothing that I've committed to. (I almost feel I have to make a disclaim that it's got nothing to do with Jon Anderson being in or out of the band.  Don't have much of a feeling either way on that. If the music is good it doesn't really matter to me.

Magnification is excellent, along with The Ladder which doesn't seem to be mentioned much. The Ladder is really strong throughout, and besides a few JA missteps (If Only You Knew, Can I), every song is high quality. The Fly From Here suite is great but H&E really comes up short of anything worth listening to. Tighter playing, more adventurous arrangements, some editing, and some livelier musicianship would've improved it greatly.