Yes studio albums countdown thread! (# 01 featured!)

[KevShmev]

Alright, as I am a man of the people, let's do this.

List your top 15 favorite Yes albums.

I was a little wary about doing this one, given that the more prog-influenced countdowns haven't has as much participation, so I am counting on the hardcore prog fans to come through and participate in this one!

Send your list to me via PM.

The rules:
-Albums must be listed from 15 to 1 in order (in reverse order), with no ties.  No having three albums at number 1 or anything like that.  DO NOT list your albums with the points total. List them in your order (I will figure out the points on my end).
-Any list submitted with the albums not numbered will be ignored.
-Anyone wanting to submit a list must do so by the end of day, Saturday, July 15th.  I will then begin the countdown shortly thereafter.
-The list will be tallied numerically in a simple way. On each list, whatever album is at number 1 gets 15 points, number 2 gets 14 points, number 3 gets 13 points, etc.
-PROOFREAD YOUR LISTS BEFORE SENDING THEM.  Any list with the same album mentioned twice will be not be counted.

Feel free to post in this thread as well that you have PM'd me, if for no other reason than to bump this back up for others who may want to participate who may not have seen the thread yet.

This ranking engine link below works great if you have too much difficulty making one on your own. You can input all of the albums you want, and then you pick your favorite of every 1 on 1 matchup and then it spits out your list.

https://rankingengine.pubmeeple.com/

Two notes:
1) I am listing Keystudio as one album, which makes more sense that listing to the two Keys albums separately, especially since both are partial live albums.
2) Fly from Here can only be listed once, so a vote for the original counts as the same as a vote for the Return Trip version.  Whichever version you like best is the one you can list, but you cannot list the two separate versions to take up two spots.

Final list:

22 Heaven & Earth
21 The Quest
20 Mirror to the Sky
19 Open Your Eyes
18 Yes
17 Magnification
16 Union
15 Time and a Word
14 Fly from Here
13 The Ladder
12 Tormato
11 Big Generator
10 Keystudio
09 Talk
08 90125
07 Tales from Topographic Oceans
06 Drama
05 The Yes Album
04 Relayer
03 Going for the One
02 Fragile
01 Close to the Edge

[The Letter M]

Sweet! I'm all in. I'll try to get my list in by the end of thebweek if I can remember to!

-Marc.

[jammindude]

I really like that you are doing it this way. I honestly haven’t heard every single Yes album and if we were required to rank their entire catalog, I don’t think I would participate.  But making a top 15 seems much more reasonable. I will try to get on this.

[lonestar]

Easiest list ever. Sent.

[DragonAttack]

Do I have to place ‘Power Windows’ in the Top Five in order for my list to be accepted? 

[TAC]

Do I have to place ‘Power Windows’ in the Top Five in order for my list to be accepted?

It doesn't even belong in the Rush countdown.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Do I have to place ‘Power Windows’ in the Top Five in order for my list to be accepted?

It doesn't even belong in the Rush countdown.

[Mladen]

I'll play along, this will be cool. 

[DTA]

List is submitted...I was kind of surprised by how high certain albums were

[hefdaddy42]

Yeah, I'll send one of these in.

[devieira73]

Smart decision to do a top 15! A few of their discography I never listened to and there are around 15 Yes albums that I like or really love. l will also send a list.

[KevShmev]

There was no chance I was going to do this with asking for every album to be ranked. Heck, I still haven't heard any of Mirror to the Sky, and I have zero plans to do so any time soon. I was fine doing my own top 15 without having heard it.

[HOF]

I'll have to give a listen to at least 5 more albums to be able to participate in this one. I'll see if I can manage that by the 15th.

[Orbert]

I'm in.  PM sent.

[pg1067]

I really like that you are doing it this way. I honestly haven’t heard every single Yes album and if we were required to rank their entire catalog, I don’t think I would participate.  But making a top 15 seems much more reasonable. I will try to get on this.

Wow...I just noticed the top 15.  I was thinking the bottom of the barrel would be an absolute crap shoot.  This makes it MUCH easier!

[hefdaddy42]

I will probably still rank all of them, to have it for myself, but just send in my Top 15.

[The Letter M]

List submitted!

I was QUITE surprised at how a couple of albums ended up being ranked in the sorter, though given how there are some albums I rarely listen to these days, it really doesn't surprise me as to which ones ended up not making the cut (and ranking 22-16).

By the way, if anyone copies their list from the ranker/sorter but needs to reverse it, use this site to quickly reverse line-items in text!

https://www.gillmeister-software.com/online-tools/text/reverse-sort-list.aspx

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Marc, your Inbox was full, but I received your list.

[Metro]

I have every Yes album, but I really only care for maybe 8 of them. Might try to put to put a list together.

[romdrums]

Sent.

[Dittomist]

This countdown will be fun--thank you Kev!!

I wasn't the least bit familiar with their '90s albums and so that's what I'm starting with on this deep dive. Is it a popular opinion among hardcore fans that "Be the One" is one of the best songs from this era?

[KevShmev]

I wasn't the least bit familiar with their '90s albums and so that's what I'm starting with on this deep dive. Is it a popular opinion among hardcore fans that "Be the One" is one of the best songs from this era?

Not sure.  I can speak only for myself, but I find the majority of songs on Keystudio to be a bit clunky melodically far too often.  The music is great across the board, definitely harkening back to their 70s prog stylings, but there just seem to be a lot of moments where the melody Anderson is singing just doesn't land right (and there are many that do land right for me). 

[Orbert]

My favorite from that period is "Mind Drive" though there are those who prefer "Be the One" or even "That, That Is".

[KevShmev]

My favorite from that period is "Mind Drive" though there are those who prefer "Be the One" or even "That, That Is".

The long intro of Mind Drive might be favorite Yes "moment" post-1994.  The rest of the song is what I would classify as good, but that intro is incredible. 

[jammindude]

Count me in as the guy who was immediately smitten with That, That Is.

[Orbert]

The intro to Mind Drive helps elevate it from good to very good and the middle section ("and so it comes to this now...") pushes it to great for me.

"That, That Is" is my fave from the first two.  "Be the One" has some good parts, but I have never gotten over the weird, clumsy beginning.  Those drum fills sound like someone stumbling and falling down on a bunch of boxes or something and somehow the song starts from there.

[DragonAttack]

Just to give this a bump. 

Sent

[KevShmev]

Only 12 lists thus far, with less than a week left.

[HOF]

Yeah, don’t think this one is going to happen for me. I started on the albums I don’t know and just didn’t have the interest to continue. Will try to follow a long with the reveals though.

[Metro]

Yeah my top 8 was easy, but there's too many albums I'm either not familiar with or just don't care about. Think I'll sit this one out.

[HOF]

Definitely feels like there are more Yes albums in existence than necessary. I enjoy the ones I own, and that’s a solid career’s worth for most bands. But I don’t love their music enough to own 20+ albums of it by a dozen different lineup permutations.

[Trav86]

About to send mine. I have a feeling it will be pretty unique.

[Dittomist]

I'll be submitting my list in the next couple of days. I listened to The Quest for the first time last night and it took a very long time because I kept playing "Future Memories" over and over. That's a really lovely song.

[Stadler]

Yeah, don’t think this one is going to happen for me. I started on the albums I don’t know and just didn’t have the interest to continue. Will try to follow a long with the reveals though.

Yeah my top 8 was easy, but there's too many albums I'm either not familiar with or just don't care about. Think I'll sit this one out.

Go with what you have. I mean, I think I've submitted for every list except for Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree, who I ACTIVELY dislike.

I'm a big Yes fan, but have not heard The Quest or the new one.  I'm not sweating it; they don't make the cut.

[pg1067]

Yeah, don’t think this one is going to happen for me. I started on the albums I don’t know and just didn’t have the interest to continue. Will try to follow a long with the reveals though.

Yeah my top 8 was easy, but there's too many albums I'm either not familiar with or just don't care about. Think I'll sit this one out.

Go with what you have. I mean, I think I've submitted for every list except for Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree, who I ACTIVELY dislike.

I'm a big Yes fan, but have not heard The Quest or the new one.  I'm not sweating it; they don't make the cut.

Some of the difficulty was obviated for me by this being limited to 15 albums.  Had I needed to include all the albums, it would've been a tough one.