Your Favourite Song on ‘Yes’ Poll

I think the difference now a days is the vaste variety of music that is available & that you get exposed to. In our day the choice was much more narrow & more defined. There was also a lot less available on hand. Take for instance the OP who has just heard his 1st Yes album. He now knows he like Yes which means that has a large number of albums to listen to see if he likes them. Much easier for me I heard The Yes Album when it first came out so only had a 2 album backlog to catch up on. Even living with Yes in (almost) real time I became disconnected along the pathway & had to work back on missed albums. Some worth the effort. others less so.

 

They're in Bruges...

Also, talking about this bands mystique... I was a teenager in the 70's and the kids that liked Yes were not cool, were not popular, but were kind of nerdy. There was no internet/easy way to get info on the band so all you had visually was the album art work and the concert t-shirts. Someone mentioned real-time, and yes I feel like my life unfolded in real time, the music that I loved was being made for me in real time. We would have to wait a year or so for something new, a shred of news. The radio station was the center of the rock universe and they typically played new music with occasional older tunes thrown in the mix, but I wasn't responsible for having to know a huge history of Rock or to even unearth it. I just listened to my radio station and popped into my local record store every week.

It's like trying to make sense of American Poetry. It is real hard to get a grip on who's who and what has happened in the last twenty years even though the internet provides instant knowledge, even if it isn't always correct knowledge. As I have been trying to put a reading list together for myself it has been real hard to discern what to read and why. Lots of self published authors, hard to find "books" and less critical writing about current/recent poetry that I trust to guide me. Anyway, I could see how at this stage that navigating backwards musically could be difficult, especially if you can't just let it unwind in real time.

 

That's interesting, and also unfortunate. I wonder if it's a regional thing then? Over here in America, I suppose music is a lot more ingrained with our history. There's also this sort of "70's 80's nostalgia" thing going on around people who weren't even alive during that time, which is where our little "vinyl craze" is coming from I'm guessing. In any event, it's cool to meet someone (if only just online) with such similar views and tastes. I never understood the whole "rebel against your parents" thing with our peers. I can see where some of them come from, but my parents are great people and went through a lot to raise me. It's good to find a peer that sort of shares that viewpoint.

 

Nice post- some great points, esp. about radio being a source for looking forward instead of back. Music was in real time (like going to see Yes for the Drama tour and not knowing Jon and Rick were gone when we got tix). You had a great sense of anticipation for your faves' next album. And I also made a trip to the record store every Friday after getting my paycheck. It was a world of wonder and mystery, but there wasn't so much that it overwhelmed. We put so much time and effort into finding new music that of course we'd enjoy it more.

When I was a teen (also in PA- suburban Philly), most of the folks who liked Yes- or Prog in general- seemed to be the stoners (guilty as charged). We thought we were cool! But then at that time, such a high percentage of kids were baking that even many of the nerds were stoners. So I might have been both. Actually, given my family's background in education and my genius , I always did well in school and many of my actions in HS were motivated by not wanting to be a nerd.

Pretty ignorant about modern American poetry, but I get your last point. Too much info- combined w/ sometimes false info- definitely makes it hard on kids today.

 

I got into Yes in the late 70's and saw them on the Tormato tour. Went by myself because no one I knew wanted to go. Remained perfectly sober through the whole thing, even when the joint came down my aisle. I just saw Jon and Rick about 18 months ago and really enjoyed it. Steve's version of Yes is coming to our town but I have no interest if Jon is not singing.

I saw the Drama tour as well - it was really good, as good as it can be without Rick and Jon. The Drama album is filled with great songs so they had their own music to play that night.

I took my wife to see Yes in 2000 - Jon, Alan, Chris, Steve, Rick - and she was blown away by them. I never get tired of the music up through Tormato.

 

Well, if you didn't get into Yes until late 70s, then I can understand the nerd label; Yes was pretty uncool once punk really kicked in.

Did you see the Drama tour at the Spectrum? If so, we were there together (at least maybe- they probably played more than one night). Philly was a great Yestown! I enjoyed that concert, but it was my least fave of the 20 or so I saw.

That's awesome that your wife loved the show! Sounds like a keeper. I also stopped seeing Yes once Jon was gone. But Chris was just as critical. Haven't caught ARW yet, but hope to next time around, though they're not coming very close. But the APB show I saw was just as magical as a Yesshow (Ponty is one of my faves as well). It's amazing how great Jon sounds at his age!

I never tire of the classic Yes period, though I have to be careful not to listen too much and get burnt out on them. I also love most of the post-Cinema albums. The Ladder is a real fave- possibly related to how much I enjoyed that tour (3 shows). Also love Mag- but not because of how much I loved that tour (also 3 shows); they really neglected their new album on the Symphonic tour.

But I really love the new life brought into the classic 5 albums SW mixed into 5.1. I'm a real surround lover and those mixes make the albums so fresh again- almost like new. I wish SW would do more- but at least he picked my fave 5!

 

All of it, Yes, every little thing, that is to say I never select individual songs, always has to be played as-is from beginning to end,
unless there is an annoying (though sometimes necessary) interruption to proceedings e.g. FIRE!

The musicianship, songs and narratives presented so well as to seduce an appreciative listener’s undivided attention throughout,
then after all the emotional ups and downs (Hon. Harold) we are offered the heights of Survival which gives a little peek as to a possible future if / when the time is right.

I think even the covers could be considered definitive without causing too much offence.

Summer on its way, what’s not to like?

 

Survival, mainly because of those harmonies.

 

Man, love the whole album, so hard to pick one. I'd say the top 3 in no particular order would be:

Beyond and Before
Harold Land
Survival

I guess if there was a gun to my head, I'd pick Beyond and Before...

 

Me too. I rarely listen to anything from this album without listening to the whole thing in order, as I do with most albums.

 

My top 3:
1. Survival
2. Beyond and Before
3. I See You

 

I have a weak spot for "Yesterday And Today" and "Harold Land".

 

Every Little Thing. One of the best Beatles covers ever.