why late during the year around thanksgiving in the USA does ilm get an all yessed-out poll?!?

Voted Yes album, Drama would have been second.

Going for the One, on a whim.

CLOSE THE EDGE, DOWN BY A RIVERRRRRR

re
lay
er

Relayer, absolutely. Tales a not-that-close second, followed by CTTE.

And how come it's studio albums only? Yessongs is awesome.

Yessongs would've been my pick actually.

Close to the Edge, only because it doesn't have any dud tracks and doesn't sound like it was recorded in a kitchen.

Bluetail, tailfly,
Luther, in time,
Suntower, asking,
Cover, lover,
June cast, moon fast,
As one changes,
Heart gold, leaver,
Soul mark, mover,
Christian, changer,
Called out, saviour,
Moon gate, climber,
Turn round, glider.

Relayer > CTTE > The Yes Album > all the ones I have heard > all the ones I haven't heard. "Gates Of Delirium" is one of the best things to come out of the entire 1970's for fuck's sake.

I mean, Yes pretty much won music 13:43 into that song. They'd already come fucking close with "Eclipse" (from And You And I), but really, the moment Steve Howe's guitar went whale-song out of fucking nowhere, that was it.

Big Generator!

just kidding.

toss up b/w fragile and the yes album. obvious and boring choices but the right ones

Tormato is grate, even if Wakeman wasn't paying attention.

Voting "Close To The Edge" although there are several brilliant ones.

And having listened to it a bit more, I realise "Close To The Edge" is kind of great too. Although Patrick Moraz sounded wrong and the other members tend to think the same thing, judging from the recent "Classic Artists" documentary, where they say his jazz/fusion playing wasn't quite what Yes were looking for to replace Wakeman.

My theory is that they would've been a lot better if Tony Kaye had never left. Having said that I voted Close To The Edge. Anybody heard any of these :
Talk
Open Your Eyes
Something's Coming
The Ladder
Magnification
?

You mean Relayer I think there Geir.

My theory is that they would've been a lot better if Tony Kaye had never left.

Nope. Kaye was unwilling to try synths. He reluctantly played a Moog on "Yours Is No Disgrace", but usually stuck to his Hammond organs. Rick Wakeman's synths and mellotrons were needed to get a more truly symphonic sound.

(And, yes, I meant "Relayer" obv)

As for the later stuff, "The Ladder" is kind of OK, even if they found its producer dead during the recording.

The rest of their 90s output are worth skipping.

Kaye was probably unwilling to try harpsichords too, and more power to him for that.

Harpsicords sound GREAT in "rock" music!

.. on a Faust album

Tales from Topographic Oceans--just for the fuck of it. (Actually, I spent something like twenty years wondering what the damn thing sounded like prior to actually hearing it (thanx to ILM and Keith Levene for the recommendation); it didn't disappoint--reason enuff!)

Anybody heard any of these :
Talk
Open Your Eyes
Something's Coming
The Ladder
Magnification
?

-- Matt #2, Thursday, 22 November 2007 20:58 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

The last two are different flavours of awesome. I didn't know Something's Coming existed until this thread.

Close to the Edge is their greatest, though I think an argument could be mustered for Relayer or The Yes Album (both of which I am more likely to reach for nowadays if having to satisfy a Yes fix).

Anybody heard any of these:
Talk
Open Your Eyes
Something's Coming
The Ladder
Magnification

Talk and The Ladder are, IMO, the only two albums they made post-Big Generator where they were an 'active' (i.e., trying to look forward) band, though these weren't successful efforts. Much of the rest is them sticking to the formula and resting on the prog rock laurels.

I was listening to Talk the other day, first time in a while. It has some decent moments musically ("Where Will You Be", portions of "Endless Dream", though that one is by and large a mess structurally). The production is awfully sterile-sounding--White's drum sound is really plodding and terrible, and Squire's bass is too low and weighed-down--totally the opposite of the nimble Rickenbacker.

Open Your Eyes is hands-down the worst album they ever made, IMO, even including Union. It's a Billy Sherwood-Chris Squire vehicle, with Anderson and Howe thrown on top for Hollandaise sauce. Awful.

Magnification (their last album) has some decent songs, but it's them coasting, and the whole "backed by an orchestra" idea is a pretty trite one; didn't really add much to the music.

Something's Coming is an archive of the first incarnation of the band's BBC and live recordings...kind of like an official bootleg, though I don't know how 'official' it is. I think Peter Banks, the first guitarist, released it, and historically there doesn't appear to be any love lost between him and the band. Anyway, interesting, but the sound ain't so great.

And how come it's studio albums only? Yessongs is awesome.

-- unperson, Thursday, November 22, 2007 1:52 AM

I think Peter Banks, the first guitarist, released it, and historically there doesn't appear to be any love lost between him and the band.

The documentary suggests the same thing. He was a schoolmate of Squire's already at school, and even though he was disappointed getting sacked from the band, he is still a mate of the boys and an active follower of the band. Mind you, Tony Kaye was sacked back then too.

Btw, as for keyboardists, I feel like the best keyboardist they had besides Wakeman was actally Geoff Downes. Even though he came from somewhere else, his playing on "Drama" is very much like Wakeman would have done it. It sounds great, and it fits well into the Yes sound.

that's an expression of agreement btw xp

Magnification (their last album) has some decent songs, but it's them coasting, and the whole "backed by an orchestra" idea is a pretty trite one; didn't really add much to the music.

I thoroughly disagree. The orchestra integrates pretty well, and gives the album a stand-out quality and the band's music a fresh direction.

There's this idea that the orchestra replaces Wakeman, but honestly there's no place for a noodling keyboard.

I often wonder if Open your Eyes would've fared better if it were just the Sherwood/Squire thing it was meant to be, and without Anderson or Yes's name on it.

close to the edge

the organ!

Interesting timing for this poll -- Yes were already on my short list for Turkey Day rotation. Our guests will range in age from 25 to 75, so music selection is a little challenging, but Relayer or Yessongs will go down well.

There are lots of good choices here, but I'll vote for Close to the Edge.

time and a word. but i meant to vote for the yes album, so i'm dumb.

Fragile

By the way, I'm a big fan of Peter Banks' post-Flash project Empire. The now-defunct (I believe) One Way Records, through coordination with Banks, released three CDs worth of shelved material posthumuously back in the 90s.
It was Banks and his ex-wife on lead vocals; her name was Sydney Fox (Foxx?) and she reminds me strongly of Debbie Harry.

The first two releases ("Empire Mark I" and "Empire Mark II") are pretty damn good and I would say both highly underrated. Definitely have that early Yes line-up & Flash feel: the Rickenbacker bass, Hammond organ, Banks' guitar sound, attention to vocal harmonies, the ambitious arrangements (e.g., the fanfare introductions, the scale runs of guitar/bass locked in with the drums that Banks/Squire/Bruford would do)...though draws more on American and pop influences at the same time.

So, if Debbie Harrie fronting the first version of Yes sounds like an interesting idea, you should check it out.

Close to the Edge is their greatest, though I think an argument could be mustered for Relayer or The Yes Album

WOT NO KEYSTUDIO

Close to the Edge JUST noses out Fragile for me.

When I first thought about it, I was thinking The Yes Album or Close To The Edge, but then I actually went and listened to things again and of course it's Fragile, although I'm still kind of bummed that I have to think of Buffalo '66 when I hear it. The drumming alone is better than most bands' entire recorded output, and South Side of the Sky still sounds like it could have been released in any post-70's decade.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Fragile is great but not really sublime or (mostly) beautiful.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I really expected Relayer would get >3 votes, judging by this thread! I voted CTTE obv but I didn't know the consensus was so strong.

5 for 90125??? I've never been able to make it all the way through.

But I guess only 2 people actually said they were voting Relayer on the thread.

when i was a yes fan, my answer was CttE easy, but now it's the Yes Album

More of a landslide that I'd expected really. Those 5 people voting for "90125" are obviously mad.

90125 is where the Art of Noise came from. But yes, in a Yes poll it doesn't rate, really.

Who voted for Tormato and why? I like it a lot, but I thought I was the only one.

we ought to have a 'yes epic' poll, or we could just have an informal discussion about it here.

CTTE vs. GOD vs. all 4 tracks off TFTO vs. Awaken vs. Heart of the Sunrise vs. whatever else you feel like choosing (as long as it's got duration to burn).

we ought to have a 'yes epic' poll, or we could just have an informal discussion about it here.

Definitely. The epics eclipse many of the albums. I wouldn't vote for Going for the One (album), for example, because half of it bores me, but "Awaken" is an incredible epic.

(definitely to a poll)

Now there is a good idea. Where to put the length limit?

Anything longer than 5 mins and with multiple sections. "South Side of the Sky" size/scope up, probably.

So you'd do "Siberian Khatru", probably, but not "Arriving UFO." For example.

I'm not making the poll because I don't know some albums too well, but here's what I'd suggest:

Astral Traveller*
Yours is No Disgrace*
Starship Trooper
Perpetual Change
Roundabout*
South Side of the Sky
Heart of the Sunrise
Close to the Edge
And You and I
Siberian Khatru
The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)
The Remembering (High the Memory)
The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)
Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)
The Gates of Delirium
Sound Chaser
To Be Over
Awaken
Future Times/Rejoice*
Release Release*
Machine Messiah
Into the Lens
Endless Dream
Homeworld
New Language
Magnification*
Dreamtime
In the Presence Of

Someone else would have to add the Rabin stuff.

* maybe

Oh shit, and these:

Footprints
Mind Drive
That, That Is
Children of the Light
Be the One
Bring Me to the Power
Children of Light

whatever you choose, i am going to vote for 'gates of delirium' :D

i was also only thinking of the real epics, i.e. the ultra-complex 15-minute+ ones (so, not HOTS).

Not many are 15+ mins though. Just all of Tales and 3-4 others (not including Keys).

7 or 8 choices, a good number for an ilx poll!

But then half of them would be from one album.

OK, we could stick a strict 10-minute boundary on it. We could thus exclude 'Sound Chaser' and 'To Be Over' for being the (albeit superb) dessert courses that they are, but include 'And You And I' for being fucking brilliant.

Imagine the bickering in the thread itself. "Why you leave off Circus of Heaven" etc.

because it was less that 10:00 long! we have to be quite fascist about this.

I was kidding there, but a 10-minute limit does absolve you/us of any omissions.

And just in case someone decides to do a "Yes song that sounds most like it was produced by Jeff Lynne" poll, I nominate "Going for the One."

you forgot "America"! (clocking in at 10:32)

CttE suite = has to win that poll, though Awaken in second place

Is the USA all Yessed out tonight? The conditions are perfectly set.

Does comparing my 2 copies of CTTE for pressing differences count? Because that's what I'm up to.

cold stainless nail torn through the distance of man
as they regard the summit -- cold reigning king
shelter the women that sing -- as they produce the movement!
river running right on over and outboard, river!
bluetail, tailfly! luther, in time!
sun tower, asking! cover, lover! june cast, moon fast!
as one changes!

Never seen this thread before, sickened to my core that Tales got zero votes, wish I could have God throw this website in the trash bin.

So much for His Revealing Science!

"the remembering (high the memory)" (tales side 2) is right there with "close to the edge" and "the gates of delirium"

The conclusion of that piece is the height of the album, the second disk is kind of an anticlimax.

it has one of Howe's sickest riffs I'll give it that

Rainbows
Soft light
Alternate view
Sunlight
Tell me
Someone
Alternate view
Alternate view
Surely, surely

we advance
we retrace our story