The Official Yes Thread

[Stadler]

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

HAHA, I triggered that joke and it didn't sink in at first, but that's a good one!

[KevShmev]

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..
   

As great as Talk sounds, I'd love to hear a version that was a bit warmer, especially in regards to the bottom end, but I suspect that would be impossible given the way it was recorded, not to mention that it's not a popular-enough record in their history to warrant such treatment, unfortunately.

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

 

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.

This thread got me on a Yes kick in the last week, and a fresh listen of The Ladder reminded me of why I liked it so much when it was first released; it's a great blend of their proggy sound and their pop sensibilities.  Like you said, there are a few hiccups on there, but any album with Homeworld, It Will Be a Good Day, Face to Face, The Messenger and Nine Voices, is damn good in my book, and of course Lightning Strikes is good pop fun. 

[pg1067]

90120 is a tv show in the 90's. 

90125 is the Yes album.

I thought this was the Yes Album...

But who's on second?

[jammindude]

No....Who's Next

[gazinwales]

I checked Discogs and it appears that Talk has never been remastered .
There are quite a few re-issues but not REM, must be one of a few or the only Yes albums that has not been remastered?

[Orbert]

Steven Wilson did several remasters for Yes, but only the albums that he really liked, which were all from the 70's (The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Relayer).  I know Close to the Edge was remastered at least once before that because someone gifted me a remastered CttE, and I'm sure there were others.  But I doubt Talk is really a candidate for remastering anyway.  Most people think it already sounds great, including Trevor Rabin, whose permission I'm sure would be required for anyone to touch his mixes.

By the way, I have all of Steven Wilson remixes, the 5.1 Blu-ray editions, and they're all amazing.  Revelatory.  Highly recommended.

[KevShmev]

By the way, I have all of Steven Wilson remixes, the 5.1 Blu-ray editions, and they're all amazing.  Revelatory.  Highly recommended.

I've heard a couple of them (Fragile and Close to the Edge, I think) at a buddy's house who has a surround sound set-up and got them all, and they definitely sound most awesome.

[romdrums]

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

HAHA, I triggered that joke and it didn't sink in at first, but that's a good one!

I’ve been searching for the bootleg of their secret gig at The Peach Pit for years.

[Orbert]

Holy shit, that's a 90210 reference!  I get it.  Actually, I don't get it, but Brandon + Dylan + The Peach Pit finally clicked for me.  I still have no idea what the connection is to "Hold On".

[King Postwhore]

Stads said 90120.  Freudian slip.  That's why I made up the line.  Lol

[Orbert]

Freudian slip?  You mean, he subconsciously wanted to see/hear Brandon and Dylan singing backup for Yes because of some suppressed homoerotic fantasy?






Cool. 

[King Postwhore]

 

I now hear the 90120 theme done by Yes.  Trevor Rabin of course. 

[Stadler]

FYI, 90210, Big Penetrator and Onion are all sort of inside jokes.  My best friend all through high school and college was a die-hard prog guy.  While he liked 90125, Big Generator and Union, and we saw them about five times through that period, the nicknames were sort of his way of showing allegiance to the Wakeman/Howe era and it just stuck.  It's a hard habit to break now (especially with 90125).   

[ytserush]

FYI, 90210, Big Penetrator and Onion are all sort of inside jokes.  My best friend all through high school and college was a die-hard prog guy.  While he liked 90125, Big Generator and Union, and we saw them about five times through that period, the nicknames were sort of his way of showing allegiance to the Wakeman/Howe era and it just stuck.  It's a hard habit to break now (especially with 90125).

We affectionately call Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe "Maybe" I suppose the fairly Anderson, Rabin how thing might be called that too, but have not been interested in hearing it.

[Orbert]

When Drama came out and Jon and Rick had been replaced by The Buggles, what I remember hearing a lot was that Yes was now "Yeah".  Then when 90125 came out, they were "Yup".  I think the sound of the 90125 band was so different that even with Jon's voice, it didn't sound as "Yessish" to the old-school fans as Drama did.  Or maybe it was just funny that the lineup kept changing and the sound continued to stray from the wonderful proggy 70's sound.  Then you had the truly hardcore old-schoolers who had dissed Drama anyway because Jon Anderson wasn't on it, and they didn't even know what to think about 90125.  Jon was back, but everything sounds different, and who's this Trevor guy on guitar?

[ytserush]

When Drama came out and Jon and Rick had been replaced by The Buggles, what I remember hearing a lot was that Yes was now "Yeah".  Then when 90125 came out, they were "Yup".  I think the sound of the 90125 band was so different that even with Jon's voice, it didn't sound as "Yessish" to the old-school fans as Drama did.  Or maybe it was just funny that the lineup kept changing and the sound continued to stray from the wonderful proggy 70's sound.  Then you had the truly hardcore old-schoolers who had dissed Drama anyway because Jon Anderson wasn't on it, and they didn't even know what to think about 90125.  Jon was back, but everything sounds different, and who's this Trevor guy on guitar?

That was a crazy period. You had Drama, Yesshows, Classic Yes and 90125 all within a three year span.

[Stadler]

When Drama came out and Jon and Rick had been replaced by The Buggles, what I remember hearing a lot was that Yes was now "Yeah".  Then when 90125 came out, they were "Yup".  I think the sound of the 90125 band was so different that even with Jon's voice, it didn't sound as "Yessish" to the old-school fans as Drama did.  Or maybe it was just funny that the lineup kept changing and the sound continued to stray from the wonderful proggy 70's sound.  Then you had the truly hardcore old-schoolers who had dissed Drama anyway because Jon Anderson wasn't on it, and they didn't even know what to think about 90125.  Jon was back, but everything sounds different, and who's this Trevor guy on guitar?

That was a crazy period. You had Drama, Yesshows, Classic Yes and 90125 all within a three year span.

All of them excellent in their own way.  Of course, if you were a fan, it was, like you said, crazy. 

[Orbert]

It was crazy, but yeah it was fun.  Drama is top-tier Yes to me, but I also liked 90125 when it came out and still do.  I'm apparently in the minority in liking Yesshows, but I'm okay with that; it's an important document of some good live stuff and the CD version is even better.  I nabbed Classic Yes when it came out as well, just because I'm a completist and there were the bonus live tracks.  That was rare shit back in those days.

[pg1067]

I just ran across this ranking of Yes songs, although it's over a year old (it doesn't appear that it got any mention in this thread at the time it was published):  https://ultimateclassicrock.com/yes-songs-ranked/

The bottom 1/3 - 1/2 is full of (1) obscure and not-so-obscure outtakes, (2) post-90215 material, and (3) songs from Tormato.

The first thing I saw that I really disagreed with was Love Will Find a Way at #146.  I like it much better than that.

But I really disagree with City of Love at #119.  That might be my favorite track from 90215 (although I think the Def Leppard comparison is funny).

I dig Make It Easy (#101) and probably would rank it higher.

I'm of mixed feelings about Hearts (#94).  My friend sold me on it as being a "classic Yes" track on 90215.

Parallels at #90 is a bit surprising, although I think the Yesshows version is vastly superior to the album version.

I probably like Don't Kill the Whale better than it's #76 spot (and it's certainly better than Arriving UFO at #74!), but the video (which I forgot existed) was somewhat amusing.  The comments about Howe being out of tune and he and Wakeman battling for how many notes they can play suggest someone wasn't really listening to the song.

I'm surprised the TFTO songs are all ranked in the top 1/3, and I even agree with the comments on The Ancient at #55.

The Fish, while classic, is too high at #43, and Mood for a Day at #42 should be much higher.

Future Times/Rejoice at #34, Wonderous Stories at #32, Leave It at #29 and A Venture at #28?!

Turn of the Century at #30 is too low.

To Be Over, Time and a Word and Survival in the top 15 is nuts.

I could nitpick about the ordering of the top 12, but the only songs I wouldn't have that high are Owner of a Lonely Heart and All Good People.

I'm apparently in the minority in liking Yesshows, but I'm okay with that; it's an important document of some good live stuff and the CD version is even better.  I nabbed Classic Yes when it came out as well, just because I'm a completist and there were the bonus live tracks.  That was rare shit back in those days.

I love Yesshows, and both Yesshows and Classic Yes were gateway albums for me.  My band briefly played Roundabout, and we modeled what we did on the Classic Yes live version.

[Orbert]

Back in the 80's, we accidentally put together a bar band with prog tendencies.  It was fun.  We messed around with Roundabout and always said we should actually learn it, because we probably could.  But we never did.  Worthless slobs, all of us.  We did play some of Tarkus for some guys in Manistee, Michigan one time, though.  That was fun.  And for a while, we opened with jazzy jams, courtesy of our lead singer Mitch on Trumpet and myself on Saxophone.  Then segue into something by The Police or Loverboy or something.  In the 80's, you could do shit like that.

[pg1067]

Back in the 80's, we accidentally put together a bar band with prog tendencies.  It was fun.  We messed around with Roundabout and always said we should actually learn it, because we probably could.  But we never did.  Worthless slobs, all of us.  We did play some of Tarkus for some guys in Manistee, Michigan one time, though.  That was fun.  And for a while, we opened with jazzy jams, courtesy of our lead singer Mitch on Trumpet and myself on Saxophone.  Then segue into something by The Police or Loverboy or something.  In the 80's, you could do shit like that.

We were, at that time, a three piece.  The guitarist was our primary lead vocalist, but somehow I ended up doing lead vox on Roundabout (despite not being half the singer either Jon or Chris was).  The guitarist and I were very good at harmonizing, but the drummer also thought he could sing and did all of the highest harmonies in falsetto.  Needless to say, it was a bit of a train wreck.  Instrumentally, we all played it well, but it obviously was missing something without keyboards or a second guitar.

[Orbert]

Yeah, but you did the song live.  Maybe it wasn't perfect, but you did the song live.  ♫♫

[Fritzinger]

It was crazy, but yeah it was fun.  Drama is top-tier Yes to me, but I also liked 90125 when it came out and still do.  I'm apparently in the minority in liking Yesshows, but I'm okay with that; it's an important document of some good live stuff and the CD version is even better.  I nabbed Classic Yes when it came out as well, just because I'm a completist and there were the bonus live tracks.  That was rare shit back in those days.

I'm 100% with you. I think Yesshows is criminally underrated. Those performances of Ritual and The Gates Of Delirium are not from this world.

[The Curious Orange]

I'm 100% with you. I think Yesshows is criminally underrated. Those performances of Ritual and The Gates Of Delirium are not from this world.

And they really show what Patrick Moraz brought to the band - really makes me wish he'd stuck around longer.

[romdrums]

I'm 100% with you. I think Yesshows is criminally underrated. Those performances of Ritual and The Gates Of Delirium are not from this world.

And they really show what Patrick Moraz brought to the band - really makes me wish he'd stuck around longer.

Listening right now, and holy wow is the battle section of Gates just furious.    I'd love to hear some good bootlegs from that 1976 tour. 

On a related note, my uncle owns a music store down in Venice, FL, and I guess Patrick Moraz lives near by.  Says he pops into the store from time to time. 

[Architeuthis]

Just watched ARW (YES)  Live at the Apollo bluray again last night.  I just reminds me how much I like this line-up.  Trevor Rabin brings so much to the table and him and Rick seem to really have fun being in the band together. Jon Anderson gives a flawless performance on this show.  This would have been the perfect show if they substituted Long Distance Runaround with Shoot High Aim Low, and played Endless Dream as an encore.

This is only a dream, but my ultimate Yes line-up (without Squire) would be:
   Jon Anderson
   Trevor Rabin
   Rick Wakeman
   Geddy Lee
   Mike Portnoy

Call it blasphemy,  but I think it would be awesome!   

[pg1067]

It was crazy, but yeah it was fun.  Drama is top-tier Yes to me, but I also liked 90125 when it came out and still do.  I'm apparently in the minority in liking Yesshows, but I'm okay with that; it's an important document of some good live stuff and the CD version is even better.  I nabbed Classic Yes when it came out as well, just because I'm a completist and there were the bonus live tracks.  That was rare shit back in those days.

I'm 100% with you. I think Yesshows is criminally underrated. Those performances of Ritual and The Gates Of Delirium are not from this world.

I listened to Gates and Ritual at lunch today.  I had forgotten about Jon's little vamp where he thanks the road crew and the sound and lighting guys.  I don't think I've ever heard anything like that on any other live album.

This is only a dream, but my ultimate Yes line-up (without Squire) would be:
   Jon Anderson
   Trevor Rabin
   Rick Wakeman
   Geddy Lee
   Mike Portnoy

Call it blasphemy,  but I think it would be awesome!   

Might be awesome, and I'd likely go see it, but I'm not sure I could bring myself to consider it "Yes."

[Mladen]

Insert Steve Howe instead of Trevor, and I'm in for it.

[Architeuthis]

I had to bring in at least one player from each of my top three favorite bands of all time. Rush, Yes, and Dream Theater.

[Lupton]

I had to bring in at least one player from each of my top three favorite bands of all time. Rush, Yes, and Dream Theater.

That would be interesting. Who would do the writing? 

[Fritzinger]

Just watched ARW (YES)  Live at the Apollo bluray again last night.  I just reminds me how much I like this line-up.  Trevor Rabin brings so much to the table and him and Rick seem to really have fun being in the band together. Jon Anderson gives a flawless performance on this show.  This would have been the perfect show if they substituted Long Distance Runaround with Shoot High Aim Low, and played Endless Dream as an encore.

This is only a dream, but my ultimate Yes line-up (without Squire) would be:
   Jon Anderson
   Trevor Rabin
   Rick Wakeman
   Geddy Lee
   Mike Portnoy

Call it blasphemy,  but I think it would be awesome!   

I think Yes feat. ARW is a great band! I saw them live at the Night Of The Prog and they absolutely killed it. Only problem with this show was that the lower frequencies were so loud in the mix, at least in the first few rows (I was in the first one in the middle of course  ).

Jon Anderson still has the voice of an angel he had back in the early 70s, it's really unbelievable. Molino is not a world class drummer, his drumming is not as colourful as f.e. Bruford's, but his beats are rocking and very tight (unlike White's, unfortunately). Lee Pomeroy is a fantastic musician and I like him a lot better than Sherwood. Rabin's playing can't be compared to the one and only Steve Howe, but I have to admit, he is a great guitarist and good background singer. I still would have loved to see Howe in this lineup. And do I have to say anything about Wakeman vs. Downes?

I just don't understand why ARW had to mix in fake audience sounds into the otherwise great live album. It's particularly ridiculous when you see the bluray: you'll see people sitting perfectly still and enjoying the music, but you'll hear a crowd going fucking nuts like on Rush in Rio at the same time.

[Architeuthis]

I had to bring in at least one player from each of my top three favorite bands of all time. Rush, Yes, and Dream Theater.

That would be interesting. Who would do the writing? 

I would say all five of them could make some pretty great collaboration songs. 😎

[Architeuthis]

Just watched ARW (YES)  Live at the Apollo bluray again last night.  I just reminds me how much I like this line-up.  Trevor Rabin brings so much to the table and him and Rick seem to really have fun being in the band together. Jon Anderson gives a flawless performance on this show.  This would have been the perfect show if they substituted Long Distance Runaround with Shoot High Aim Low, and played Endless Dream as an encore.

This is only a dream, but my ultimate Yes line-up (without Squire) would be:
   Jon Anderson
   Trevor Rabin
   Rick Wakeman
   Geddy Lee
   Mike Portnoy

Call it blasphemy,  but I think it would be awesome!   

I just don't understand why ARW had to mix in fake audience sounds into the otherwise great live album. It's particularly ridiculous when you see the bluray: you'll see people sitting perfectly still and enjoying the music, but you'll hear a crowd going fucking nuts like on Rush in Rio at the same time.

I finally noticed that after watching it a couple of times.  I wonder if during the show it was Rick Wakeman with his sense of humor, hitting a patch on his keyboards that mimic a cheering crowd.. That wouldn't surpise me one bit. 

[pg1067]

I have a question that I think I know the answer to.

When playing Close to the Edge live, Steve Howe starts with his Gibson ES-175 (I think that's the model), which he plays throughout the intro.  He then switches to what looks like a different six-string guitar (looks sort of like a strat) that is mounted on a stand.  What is that second guitar?

[njfirefighter]

It was crazy, but yeah it was fun.  Drama is top-tier Yes to me, but I also liked 90125 when it came out and still do.  I'm apparently in the minority in liking Yesshows, but I'm okay with that; it's an important document of some good live stuff and the CD version is even better.  I nabbed Classic Yes when it came out as well, just because I'm a completist and there were the bonus live tracks.  That was rare shit back in those days.

I'm 100% with you. I think Yesshows is criminally underrated. Those performances of Ritual and The Gates Of Delirium are not from this world.

I always quite enjoyed Yesshows, it's a little different snapshot and a representation. I do revisit it from time to time and enjoy it. I also love the Keys to Ascension sets (both live stuff and studio) shame that stuff wasn't widely heard beyond the diehards.