The Official Yes Thread

[TheCountOfNYC]

Was there in Newark as well. Yes, wonderful performance. Was kind of shocked at the low turnout though.

Sunday night shows will do that for you. I woke up at 3am for work this morning and was absolutely exhausted.

[James Mypetgiress]

Just got home from the Yes Epics and Classics show in Newark. What an absolutely amazing show. Knowing Jon Anderson’s backing band The Band Geeks personally I knew they had the talent to pull this music off, but they knocked it out of the park, and Jon Anderson sounds incredible at 78 years old. I highly recommend any Yes fan to see this tour when it hits your city.

Having seen the videos on YT, I'm hoping more than ever that they find a way to bring this tour over to Europe. I'm seeing Jon with the Paul Greek kids when they're over here in the summer but wow the Band Geeks are great!

[romdrums]

Just got home from the Yes Epics and Classics show in Newark. What an absolutely amazing show. Knowing Jon Anderson’s backing band The Band Geeks personally I knew they had the talent to pull this music off, but they knocked it out of the park, and Jon Anderson sounds incredible at 78 years old. I highly recommend any Yes fan to see this tour when it hits your city.

Having seen the videos on YT, I'm hoping more than ever that they find a way to bring this tour over to Europe. I'm seeing Jon with the Paul Greek kids when they're over here in the summer but wow the Band Geeks are great!

I'm hoping they do a second NA leg in the fall with more Midwest dates.

[hefdaddy42]

Anyone else hear the new single today?

I thought it was decent.  Sounded like Yes.

[King Postwhore]

Anyone else hear the new single today?

I thought it was decent.  Sounded like Yes.

Didn't know it was released today.  I will check it out.  Thanks Hef!

[ProfessorPeart]

Good lord.

Just got home from the Jon and Band Geeks show at The Arcada. Just an epic evening. Jon sounded incredible and the band is just fire. They all looked as giddy as kids who somehow managed to get on stage with their idol, which they did. The power and intensity was fantastic. The show was sold out and the crowd was super into everything. I mean, Jon got a standing o the first time he stepped foot on stage and then they pretty much got one after every song.

Heart of the Sunrise was just amazing to see live and The Gates Of Delirium was otherworldly. Some dude was having quite the crisis during Awaken. Thought he was going to rock himself right off the balcony.

I will say that at 46, I was the young whipper snapper in the crowd. It was a geriatric fest.
 
Anyway, if you are a fan of Yes and this tour comes anywhere near you, do not miss it. You will not be disappointed. This is hands down going to be one of the best shows I have ever seen.

[pg1067]

I hope they schedule more dates - specifically west coast dates.

[romdrums]

So my 8 year old son is very interested in Yes.  And You And I is one of his favorite songs, and his favorite Yes album is Close to the Edge.  I was telling him about Relayer, because it's like a weird, alternate universe version of CTTE, and he got really stoked about it.  So, the other day, we were driving, and he wanted to listen to Relayer.  So I put it on, and explained that the "battle section" would be really intense, like Yes was off their meds, and he was all in for it.  As it gets towards the end of the battle section, he asks, "Dad, when will this song be over?" and without hesitation, I replied, "Soon."  Best prog-related Dad joke I've made yet!  Oh, and he now likes Relayer too, especially Sound Chaser.  He loves the frenetic nature of that tune!

[hefdaddy42]

So my 8 year old son is very interested in Yes.  And You And I is one of his favorite songs, and his favorite Yes album is Close to the Edge.  I was telling him about Relayer, because it's like a weird, alternate universe version of CTTE, and he got really stoked about it.  So, the other day, we were driving, and he wanted to listen to Relayer.  So I put it on, and explained that the "battle section" would be really intense, like Yes was off their meds, and he was all in for it.  As it gets towards the end of the battle section, he asks, "Dad, when will this song be over?" and without hesitation, I replied, "Soon."  Best prog-related Dad joke I've made yet!  Oh, and he now likes Relayer too, especially Sound Chaser.  He loves the frenetic nature of that tune!

[Orbert]

Wow!  Raising 'em right.

[romdrums]

Wow!  Raising 'em right.

Just continuing the family tradition!  My Dad had me listening to ELP and Genesis at the same age.

[Stadler]

So my 8 year old son is very interested in Yes.  And You And I is one of his favorite songs, and his favorite Yes album is Close to the Edge.  I was telling him about Relayer, because it's like a weird, alternate universe version of CTTE, and he got really stoked about it.  So, the other day, we were driving, and he wanted to listen to Relayer.  So I put it on, and explained that the "battle section" would be really intense, like Yes was off their meds, and he was all in for it.  As it gets towards the end of the battle section, he asks, "Dad, when will this song be over?" and without hesitation, I replied, "Soon."  Best prog-related Dad joke I've made yet! Oh, and he now likes Relayer too, especially Sound Chaser.  He loves the frenetic nature of that tune!

WOW, that is world class.

[romdrums]

So my 8 year old son is very interested in Yes.  And You And I is one of his favorite songs, and his favorite Yes album is Close to the Edge.  I was telling him about Relayer, because it's like a weird, alternate universe version of CTTE, and he got really stoked about it.  So, the other day, we were driving, and he wanted to listen to Relayer.  So I put it on, and explained that the "battle section" would be really intense, like Yes was off their meds, and he was all in for it.  As it gets towards the end of the battle section, he asks, "Dad, when will this song be over?" and without hesitation, I replied, "Soon."  Best prog-related Dad joke I've made yet! Oh, and he now likes Relayer too, especially Sound Chaser.  He loves the frenetic nature of that tune!

WOW, that is world class.

 

[emtee]

Looks like the full album is up on their YouTube channel. Can't listen now at work but will tonight. Read one review on Progarchives that was quite positive. Looking forward to headphone time later.

[Skeever]

I thought it was pretty enjoyable. The thing is, it's got Steve all over it, and Steve is one of the finest guitar players and finest prog composers of all time.

[The Letter M]

My copy of the album was delivered yesterday from Laser CD, but I've been too busy with work and other things to get around to listening to it. I'm hoping to squeeze in a spin or two in the next week when I have time. Seems like reception has been over-all positive so far, with claims that it's their best album in over 20 years (which means only 3 other albums, with Fly From Here probably being it's best competition). If this proves to be the best post-Anderson album, I'll be surprised, but pleasantly so.

-Marc.

[devieira73]

Well, sure it's the first Yes album since the mega boring Heaven & Hell that I want to invest some time to really hear it. Overall good first impression, better than The Quest, and Mirror to the Sky seems to be a truly very good song. I still think Jon Davison lacks energy in his singing, which doesn't help.

[emtee]

Went in with an open mind. Headphone on and eyes closed.

Unfortunately I found spin #1 underwhelming. Tempos are mostly all the same and nothing jumped out as refreshing or above average. Basically I didn't connect with it. There is some classic Yes DNA there, maybe enough to click with repeat listens. Title track is the best song for me.

[Architeuthis]

Haven't bought a Yes album since the departure of Jon Anderson.  It bums me out that ARW never got around to releasing that new album they started working on.

[Orbert]

I'm on my second listen now.  Definitely a step up from The Quest, which makes it two steps up from Heaven & Earth.  More Steve Howe goodness all over the place, and at this point he's carrying the band pretty much by himself.  When we still had Squire and White... well, we got Heaven & Earth, so I guess their presence or absence wasn't the missing magic ingredient.  I'm always disappointed that Geoff Downes doesn't contribute more to Yes musically.  He plays, but he rarely writes.  One co-writing credit on the album.  For some reason I thought he was more of a collaborator, with Asia and The Buggles for example.  Maybe not.  I've never actually bothered to check.

Jon Davison sings in the same range as Jon Anderson, so it's obvious why he is the vocalist, and sometimes he even sounds like him in some ways, but I agree with those who say he doesn't have the range of emotion or the strength that Anderson has.  Yeah yeah yeah, Anderson is out there doing amazing shows with a bunch of other guys playing Yes music.  That's still not new music.  Here, we have new Yes music, and while it's not blowing me away, it's not bad.  A bit of a pleasant surprise, actually.  There's more uptempo stuff, more actual rocking.  Steve is all over it, basically carrying things as I said, but hey, someone has to.  Produced by Steve Howe, all three songs on the Bonus Disc solely written by him, co-writing credits on 4/6 of the main tracks.

[Architeuthis]

Here, we have new Yes music, and while it's not blowing me away, it's not bad.  A bit of a pleasant surprise, actually.  There's more uptempo stuff, more actual rocking.  Steve is all over it, basically carrying things as I said, but hey, someone has to.  Produced by Steve Howe, all three songs on the Bonus Disc solely written by him, co-writing credits on 4/6 of the main tracks.

You're making me want to buy this album now.   

[Stadler]

I'm on my second listen now.  Definitely a step up from The Quest, which makes it two steps up from Heaven & Earth.  More Steve Howe goodness all over the place, and at this point he's carrying the band pretty much by himself.  When we still had Squire and White... well, we got Heaven & Earth, so I guess their presence or absence wasn't the missing magic ingredient.  I'm always disappointed that Geoff Downes doesn't contribute more to Yes musically.  He plays, but he rarely writes.  One co-writing credit on the album.  For some reason I thought he was more of a collaborator, with Asia and The Buggles for example.  Maybe not.  I've never actually bothered to check.

Jon Davison sings in the same range as Jon Anderson, so it's obvious why he is the vocalist, and sometimes he even sounds like him in some ways, but I agree with those who say he doesn't have the range of emotion or the strength that Anderson has.  Yeah yeah yeah, Anderson is out there doing amazing shows with a bunch of other guys playing Yes music.  That's still not new music.  Here, we have new Yes music, and while it's not blowing me away, it's not bad.  A bit of a pleasant surprise, actually.  There's more uptempo stuff, more actual rocking.  Steve is all over it, basically carrying things as I said, but hey, someone has to.  Produced by Steve Howe, all three songs on the Bonus Disc solely written by him, co-writing credits on 4/6 of the main tracks.

Asia was, for all intents and purposes, a vehicle for the Downes/Wetton writing team (I'm ignoring the Payne years, because I don't like it at all and I'm not familiar with it beyond that "I don't like it at all".)

[Skeever]

I was listening to both Mirror in the Sky and Anderson/Stolt over the weekend, and while this is not a comment on Jon Davison, it's apparent to me that Anderson still has a lot to bring to the table as a vocalist and a lyricist, even if his voice sounds a bit more worn. There's an energy to him that is just undeniable, and can't be replicated easily. I like Jon Davison very much, and I like Mirror in the Sky as well, but I'm at the point where I consider Anderson one of the greatest creative minds in rock at all time, and his abilities have not really diminished over time, even as his physical ability to hang with an enterprise such as Yes may have.

[Stadler]

I've written about this a lot: I've seen Jon probably 10 times live, including recently (not this current tour, but the one before) and his voice has always been STRONG.   He's a ROCK singer, even if his capabilities go well beyond that.  Listening to Jon Davison, he's clearly a good technical singer, and he's got the general tone of Jon Anderson down, but his voice just does not have the range and breadth that Anderson does to deliver some of the more "rock" parts of the Yes catalogue.  It's plainly evident on any of the recent "album feature" live sets the band has put out in recent years.  In a word, it's too "twee". 

[Zydar]

I didn't bother listening to Heaven & Earth or The Quest, so I can't make any comparisons. But after one listen I don't have any complaints so far. It's neither great or bad - I mean it's not Fragile or CTTE, but not horrendous either. A couple of more spins will hopefully reveal something to grab onto.

[Stadler]

I didn't bother listening to Heaven & Earth or The Quest, so I can't make any comparisons. But after one listen I don't have any complaints so far. It's neither great or bad - I mean it's not Fragile or CTTE, but not horrendous either. A couple of more spins will hopefully reveal something to grab onto.

See, this is... intriguing.  Heaven and Earth sucked so bad, I didn't even bother with The Quest.   But with all these moderately positive reviews...  it still doesn't have Anderson/Squire, though, and that's a tough hill to climb.  I avoid listening to stuff on Spotify before (because my history with digital music isn't good; I tend to underestimate stuff when listening to it that way) but I might not have any choice here.

[hefdaddy42]

Almost through my first listen.

Not bad.  Not great, by any means, but a pleasurable listen.

[emtee]

I decided to spin Magnification and Keys To Ascension albums this weekend. Enjoyable. KtA has the phatest bass sound and low end. Still slowly warming up to the new one but not sure there is enough there to bring me back often.

[Orbert]

I'm on my second listen now.  Definitely a step up from The Quest, which makes it two steps up from Heaven & Earth.  More Steve Howe goodness all over the place, and at this point he's carrying the band pretty much by himself.  When we still had Squire and White... well, we got Heaven & Earth, so I guess their presence or absence wasn't the missing magic ingredient.  I'm always disappointed that Geoff Downes doesn't contribute more to Yes musically.  He plays, but he rarely writes.  One co-writing credit on the album.  For some reason I thought he was more of a collaborator, with Asia and The Buggles for example.  Maybe not.  I've never actually bothered to check.

Asia was, for all intents and purposes, a vehicle for the Downes/Wetton writing team (I'm ignoring the Payne years, because I don't like it at all and I'm not familiar with it beyond that "I don't like it at all".)

I suspect that the Downes/Wetton writing team may have been more Wetton than Downes.  I like a good singer, and I like a good song, but I'm still mostly a prog guy, so Wetton's work with King Crimson is what first drew my attention.  His work with U.K. was fine, and he collaborated well with Eddie Jobson, but you could feel that singer/songwriter side screaming to come out.  With Asia, it finally did.  I know, I've ranted about this before, so I'll stop now, but considering the history here, it seems like Downes was probably more the one to help round out Wetton's songs, give them a little punch and prog, while the main ideas all came from Wetton.

Similarly, just guessing here, but based on their personalities, I suspect that Trevor Horn was the primary force behind The Buggles, and sure Downes was there and a great collaborator/writing partner, but while The Buggles surprised me with their occassional prog moments, I almost feel like they were accidental.

With Yes, I guess I was hoping for more from Downes.  I seem to like him as a keyboard player more than many, but now that I think about it, it's his choice of sounds and feel for orchestration.  I rarely listen to his work with Yes and go "Wow, that's a great keyboard line!"  He and Howe being together in Yes seemed to me to portend some great collaboration, being that they've worked together for years in two different bands, but I guess it's just not meant to be.

[The Letter M]

For folks who dipped out of my YES Survivor a few weeks ago once we got past Magnification and into the Post-Anderson albums, the CONSOLATION Rounds have begun, so you'll be able to vote for songs you recognize again!

For the first consolation round, please be sure to VOTE FOR FIVE songs that you think are your LEAST FAVORITE. The round will be up for three days!

-Marc.

[TAC]

So I'm going to try and get myself through the first few Yes albums. I've never heard them. I did rent Close To the Edge from my library many years ago.

My hangups with Yes generally revolve around Jon Anderson's voice. And I've never thought they were heavy enough. Yeah, that's a me thing.

Spinning the first album tonight.


Beyond And Before- Feels longer than 4 minutes. Sounds like a first song on a band's first album. Kind of ordinary.
I See You- Wow, this is really cool. Great vibes. The mellow part is nice. Cool soloing. The middle part definitely ends heavy enough. Let's just say they should've just ended it right there. 
Yesterday And Today-Er...next!
Looking Around-Great start on this one. Anderson's voice has a slight youthful gravelyness to it.  Chris Squire is absolutely killing it! I like this one!
Harold Land-This is a pretty cool song. I'm trying to place a comp to it, but I can't think of it. Again, I don't find Anderson all that annoying here. I like the outro. They just sound like a rock band here.
Every Little Thing-The beginning of this sounds like early Alice Cooper for sure. That's a nice long instrumental intro. Yeah, I like this one too. The guitar sound is heavier than I expected. I know this is Peter Banks and not Steve Howe, so that's most likely it.
Sweetness-Yeah, I don't think so.
Survival- I liked that first minute and a half intro. Not a fan of the quite parts with vocals. Can't say that I love this one either, but that's a neat little ending.


All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised at how much of this I actually liked. They seem like a guitar based band with keyboards at this point instead of the other way around, which is how I generally view Yes. I detected a very slight rawness in Jon's voice which makes it a bit more palatable to me.

[Orbert]

They seem like a guitar based band with keyboards at this point instead of the other way around, which is how I generally view Yes.

Interesting.  What drew me to them, and similar bands of this era, was that the keyboards and guitars seemed on more-or-less equal footing.  In most rock bands, it's all about the guitars, with keyboards in a supporting role.  Yes hasn't had a lot of guitarists over the years, but all three (Banks, Howe, Rabin) I think bring enough to the table to not be considered subservient to the keyboards, even when Wakeman was in the band.

I detected a very slight rawness in Jon's voice which makes it a bit more palatable to me.

On the early albums, I think Jon hadn't gone "full falsetto".  His voice is high anyway, obviously, but I think he made a deliberate choice at some point to always use the "airy fairy" voice.  His regular voice only made rare appearances past the third album.  It's not that different from his falsetto, but it is different.  There's a little bit of gravel there.

[jammindude]

Can’t wait til he hits The Yes Album.

[Fritzinger]

Can’t wait til he hits The Yes Album Relayer.

FTFY 

They seem like a guitar based band with keyboards at this point instead of the other way around, which is how I generally view Yes.

Interesting, this is also the one sentence I just HAVE to reply to (like Orbert): I always thought one of the most unique things about Yes (in their prime) was that every instrument had equal value. They are not a keyboard-oriented band (like Genesis 78-82 or ELP) or a guitar oriented band (like most hard rock bands) or a band backing a singer. Every instrument is equally present, to the point that during large parts of songs, basically ALL musicians are soloing at the same time

[Stadler]

So I'm going to try and get myself through the first few Yes albums. I've never heard them. I did rent Close To the Edge from my library many years ago.

My hangups with Yes generally revolve around Jon Anderson's voice. And I've never thought they were heavy enough. Yeah, that's a me thing.

I've long had a theory that the bigger prog bands were all amalgamations of various things; Crimson was a JAZZ-based prog band, Genesis was a CLASSICAL-based prog band as was ELP...   Yes was a ROCK-based prog band. They weren't "prog-metal" like DT, but they were the band that could play the rock hits of the day if they had to.  Their encores would be "Gimme Some Lovin'", the Beatles "I'm Down", things like that.  Chris Squire's post-Yes (before Rabin) gig was XYZ with Alan White, Jimmy Page, and (for about four seconds) Robert Plant. 

Jon is a far better ROCK singer than some of his material lets on.  I'm excited to hear what TAC thinks of "Sweet Dreams", "The Prophet", "Starship Trooper", "South Side of the Sky"...  and that's with Bruford; it got more of a rock groove with Alan White.