Best Yes Studio Album

Is it just me, or is "The Clap" on the Yes Album WAY LOUDER than any of the other tracks?

gentlemen, here is a song called "clap"

Playing this at the moment.

In 1971, did it make sense to hear "Yours Is No Disgrace," then "The Clap," then "Starship Trooper"? Now "The Clap" sounds like a random piece of old-timey pastiche inserted into this prog album by mistake.

I feel like there was an older sort of entertainment model still influencing rock bands at that time where you'd have, like, instrument features as part of the show, and hence also the album. Led Zeppelin did this a lot but I think a little more seamlessly. I mean you still have that happening now in certain genres, but I think in 1971, while the album-as-unified-work vision had gained a strong foothold, it hadn't totally defeated the album-as-variety-showcase sort of model.

I didn't come around to Relayer until a couple of years ago and now love it. But yes it is prickly listening due to Moraz and Howe skronking away on those upper registers together. Moraz's style was harsh for the time. Very little concern with lush Mellotron cushioning and stuff like that.

The Stephen Wilson remix is godlike.

'To Be Over' used to be my least favourite on Relayer simply because it was relatively calm compared to the rest of the record, and at one point I remember thinking that it would be even better if the album had been just a relentless musical assault from beginning to end. Nowadays, though, I see 'To Be Over' as the necessary breath of fresh air at the end of the record.

I just picked up a lovely copy of Relayer and found that it has fadeouts at all the section changes of Gates of Delirium. What a drag.

Really? It's probably a copy for radio play.

speaking of drama im v suprised there no white label beardo edit of this rarity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxg9j2Zpt4w

I think Sparkle Motion might have this copy...

https://www.discogs.com/Yes-Relayer/release/4748965

for me Sound Chaser is the tune where they just launch off the fucking planet. in case you didn't realize how nutso it is check out this insane piano cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqR0AP7A_l4

Oh shit, I think I remember you sharing that in the Relayer thread! I'd forgotten about this, and yeah, it's definitely worth a watch.

p sick collectors item imo, sparkle.

Yeah, I wouldn't be disappointed with owning that at all. I'd just keep it as a collectors item and seek out another retail copy.

I adore "We Have Heaven", I wish Jon did a whole album like that with all those loops. Maybe he has.

I like the idea of it, like you say, using all of those loops to build up the track... and I particularly like the door closing at the end of the track and then re-opening at the end of the album, creating the reprise. I just find the track itself a bit throwaway, though.

I find it very beautiful.

It is beautiful, it's just...not what I come to Yes for?

The album isn't one I want to listen to often but I think it's definitely among the highlights for me. Despite all the flaws and disappointments I think the run from debut to 90125 is incredible.

I hardly ever listen to the first two albums these days, though I love 'No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed' from Time and a Word.

I like Time and a Word a lot. They used the orchestra well, and Bill Bruford swings like hell on it.

yeah i don't hear it either. "heart of the sunrise", "roundabout", and "south side of the sky", would be the best song most bands ever recorded. the intercalary solo bits help keep the listener from getting her/his mind blown apart forever

― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, September 7, 2016 12:28 PM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ otfm

I like Time and a Word a lot. They used the orchestra well, and Bill Bruford swings like hell on it.

― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, September 7, 2016 11:47 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree! I think it's a better record than people generally say it is.

"Heart of the Sunrise" doesn't sound like "21st Century Schizoid Man," but the former does have loose echoes of the latter's swinging sax/guitar-solo section.

loose echoes

maybe in the pink floyd thread, but surely you meant to say parallels

just occurred to me reading the thread title what a wasted opportunity it is that yes never came out with a comp called "Best Yes"

Oh man, 'Parallels' is one of my favourite Yessongs ever, the church organ on that track sounds fucking monumental. Love this video, too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAQDL-tvd6U

I think Sparkle Motion might have this copy...

https://www.discogs.com/Yes-Relayer/release/4748965

― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, September 7, 2016 2:39 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

p sick collectors item imo, sparkle.

― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, September 7, 2016 2:55 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I wouldn't be disappointed with owning that at all. I'd just keep it as a collectors item and seek out another retail copy.

― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, September 7, 2016 3:31 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If only! Looks like it's this reissue from '77.
- https://www.discogs.com/Yes-Relayer/release/6427430
Funny enough that had a promo release as well... Still it's clean and in nice shape and I only paid $5 for it. I'll keep looking for an un-banded copy tho'. Relayer is in my estimation only behind CTTE.

I didn't like the remastered Relayer (the one with the 'studio run through' as a bonus track). The sound really bothered me and I ended up going back to the original cd. So... There has been a more recent Steven Wilson edition of it?

http://yesworld.com/2014/08/relayer-5-1-hi-res-stereo-remixed-expanded-steven-wilson-2014/

it does have the run through, so don't know if this is the same one you have.

No my remaster came out way before 2014. Cool.

all of Steven Wilson's remasters have been excellent. I think I've got every single one. His Close to the Edge remix definitely had a few "oh shit, I didn't know that was there!" moments.

I love his Crimson ones and his tull war child. His aqualung is very good but kind of neck and neck with the original for me.

His Close to the Edge remix definitely had a few "oh shit, I didn't know that was there!" moments.

― frogbs, Thursday, September 8, 2016 9:16 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Going to Amazon to buy this right now based solely on this recommendation (CTTE is an all time favorite and if there's anything new to be revealed about it, well then gimme gimme gimme)

But whoa nelly that's expensive

yeah it ain't worth THAT much. it's good though

Wow, I had no idea Steven Wilson has had a full-on moonlighting gig as prog remixer. I mean, I knew he'd done KC and Yes, but also some Tull, Gentle Giant, XTC, Tears for Fears ... what a gift must that be for one of the foremost prog flag bearers, to go back to these formative prog(gy) albums and break them down track by track, then remix them to your liking.

Yeah, he's been doing this for years now, and he's been doing an absolutely amazing job at it too. I actually like his remixes more than I like his own music.

it shows too in how excellent his solo albums have been post-Porcupine Tree

Listening to "Relayer" for the first time ever. "Gates of Delirium" is definitely one of the few Yes songs to give me Genesis vibes.

wait till you get to "sound chaser". there are no more major 'what the fuck' vibes than that one . . . cha cha cha cha cha!

Cha cha cha
CHA CHA

the wilson fragile remix sounds quite good so far but it's weird! with the sound nudged around certain parts have much more friction to them, and the slower parts in say 'roundabout' feel quite a bit slower than they used to

later on, the more churchy parts - organs and choral sounds and such - seem more harmonious, and i found myself hearing lyrics i thought must have been added in from other takes, a la albini's 'in utero' alt-remix. but they weren't, same old lyrics.

'cans and brahms' sounded less annoying, which is a major plus

I liked "Gates of Delirium," but have to admit I tuned out during (and then jumped ship after) "Sound Chaser."

to be over is kind of wonderful, it's their best cheesy bliss-out by far

How on earth can you tune out
Cha cha cha
CHA CHA

its a grower

dizzying, definitely

j., are you comparing the Wilson mix (which I haven't heard) to the LP or the old CD?

I wish there were more moments in Yes' catalogue where they went as totally full on as they do on 'Sound Chaser' ... I remember when I heard that track for the first time it was a completely overwhelming, and yes, dizzying experience. It's quite a ferocious and sonically dense track. I think I remember reading an interview with Eddy Offord where he said that Alan White had a tough time when he first joined Yes, and certainly his drum parts on Topographic Oceans are probably a little bit more spare than Bruford would have done. By the time of Relayer, though, he's just totally fucking going for it... the intro to 'Sound Chaser' in particular being an amazing piece of drumming. Of course, I've heard 'Sound Chaser' that many times at this stage that it sounds like a pop song to me.

xp the old cd, i think. although i don't know if i might have replaced my ripped mp3s with higher-quality mp3s from teh internet, if there have been any updates to the cd sound (or that for 'ctte') in the meantime, i might have forgotten that.

compared to those, i'm sure you'd think the new mixes were a trip

I have the Studio Albums 1969-1987 box, which has the mixes from 2003. I'd really like to hear the Steven Wilson mixes of Close to the Edge and Relayer, but can't justify the price to myself yet. I wonder if/when he's gonna do Tales...

Oh, hey, it's coming out September 26 as a 3CD/Blu-Ray set.