For Yes Fans - what happened?

"Drama"'s my JAM!

 

I completely disagree.
Tormato is not appreciated to the extent it should be by some Yes fans.
But many now realize that Tormato has a lot to like.
On The Silent Wings Of Freedom, Don't Kill The Whale, Future Times, Arriving UFO, all hardcore prog.
Drama is a fantastic album and is really Howe and Squire unleashed and it shows in some spectacular aggressive playing by those two.
90125 is another fantastic album and a remarkable accomplishment for a Prog band to dominate in the MTV era.
Are you aware that they managed to outlive the 70's and stay cutting edge even into the 80's, no small feat and very few 70's acts were able to do this.

 

Love the band and even find several strong tracks on their weakest albums. That said, it's been difficult for a number of years to hear the tempo with which Steve Howe plays things like Tempus Fugit or Siberian Khatru. That's a problem. ARW didn't have that problem. Some parts were different, but they played with a lot of energy and cohesion.

 

Everything after Bruford left was less than. With the exception of Drama, which was a great rock record, thought not really Yes.....

 

Must disagree, if only for Relayer. That’s the ultimate pinnacle of prog for me. Can’t care that Bruford isn’t there with such killer bass/drums as-is.

 

Exceptions being Relayer, Going For The one, Drama......

 

GFTO for Awaken if nothing else (although I love the whole album).
90125 is great too in almost completely different ways. I've got a particular love for Hearts.

 

I think their first change of fortune occurred in the mid 70's. Relayer was released in late 1974. The next album, Going For The One was released in the Summer of 1977. Each member produced a solo album during the break and popular music changed drastically in that time period. The questions all long running bands face at least once, if not several times in their career, is whether to continue on with their established sound and seem out of touch with the current trends. Or re-invent themselves and risk alienating established fans. Yes has chosen to do both over their history with various levels of success. Yes fans love to debate the different phases of the band and their merits. I enjoy them all. Even the Peter Banks albums. There is something special in each one.

 

GFTO, Drama and 90125 are all great for completey different reasons. After this it does get spotty, mainly because each different album has different band memebers. What they really lacked was continuity.

 

I lost interest after Close to the Edge.

 

Tormato cleared the path for a fresh start with Drama and the two albums that followed.

Fast forward 20+ years and they surprised me again with Fly From Here, another fantastic album.

 

I would echo this and it has saved some ink. I play Yessongs two, maybe three times a year. I prefer the 70s albums to the 80s ones BUT the change of direction appealed to quite a few so, nothing has happened particularly, if Yes are gone they will most certainly never be forgotten.

 

Of all the albums Yes recorded after “Drama”, the only one I like is “Open Your Eyes”.

I was shocked when I bought a new Yes album and actually liked it.

And I’m still shocked that so many Yes fans don’t like it.

It’s the only modern Yes album that I would compare to their music from the seventies,
although it’s like a cross between Yes and Asia, who also have a song called “Open Your Eyes”.

The songwriting sounds British.

And the production is very busy.

That’s what I like.

For the record, I’ve been a fan since “The Yes Album” came out.

My favorites are “Tales”, “Going For The One”, “Relayer”, “Tormato”, “Yes Shows” and “Yessongs”.

But all their albums from their debut through “Drama” are excellent.

 

This. They took the concept of what they did as far as it could go, and just ran out of ideas. I mean, where do you go after making the three albums that largely defined/kickstarted an entire genre, then a four-side, four-song concept piece, then following it up with something like Relayer? That Going For The One exists at all, and is good, is surprising in and of itself, but that particular incarnation of the group* just had run out of ideas, and more importantly, perhaps run out of enthusiasm for being in Yes.

And if you need further proof of "what happened," listen to the 1979 Paris sessions on a bootleg or via the Drama re-release, they're at best uninspired, and at worst, straight-up awful. There was nowhere left for Yes to go, musically, without drastically changing styles (and members). (And if you need further proof, realize that even Howe, the Scrooge McDuck of prog-rock, formed a pop band and recorded the biggest selling album of 1982. Even he was temporarily burned out on prog, and realized so were audiences)


(* I'm aware that 'incarnation' included multiple keyboard players and a drummer switch. But I think the general approach to Yes music was fairly consistent between The Yes Album and Tormato despite those personnel changes)

 

I'm in full agreement with the OP. I bought Tormato when it first came out and remember playing it over & over thinking that I was just not 'getting it'.

I still don't like it to this day and I never play anything newer than Going for the One. I like the 80's stuff even less and to me they got less interesting with each passing decade.

 

Anyone else keep reading GFTO as GTFO?

 

People keep citing Going For The One, however I don't think the OP needs this recommendation as it came out before Tormato, which is the point where he sees things going wrong.

 

If you isolate the period when they all did solo albums for the first time, that may have altered the course. Personally, my thoughts are that Fish Out of Water is, start to finish, finer than any Yes album that came after.

 

i have to agree with the OP on this one, except for the mess called 'tales form topographic oceans" (never got it probably never will). and add 'going for the one' to that too. did chris squire leave his bass at home for that one, such a tinny sounding mess.

however there are many other gems strewn about the catalog, you have to search for them though.

there are definitely more 'tales" than 'fragiles" that's for sure.

 

The golden years would have to include Anderson's first two solo records, Squire's Fish Out Of Water, and Howe's first and second. Howe's are the weakest but there's still a lot of Yes about them.

Everything up through and including Tormato was made by a band. Drama/90125 are fractured hybrids but not short of ideas and playing.

Everything after 90125 was made by a revolving door collective with additional input from a small army of accountants and suits and video consultants, and it never sounds like any of the musicians were in the same room at the same time during any of it.

 

A great run indeed with some good 2000-s albums. Maybe just burn out the group felt enough is enough put out an average album and done. Other people besides Yes getting involved in a later day albums creative process.

Creativity, drive maybe time past Yes by. Yet there are some who say Yes later day albums are brilliant material.
I always figured Yes would come out with one more great album.

I like all the Yes albums I take something out of each one. Shame really Yes a powerhouse band at one time, but like all great rock bands father time always has the last word, as with anything else.

 

Relayer, Drama and 90125 are all great. All better than the bloated mess that is Tales. I also have never gotten the love for Going For The One. Other than Awaken, I do not care much for it.

 

Tales From Topographic Oceans is a masterpiece where they peaked. Still made great albums thereafter up until Open Your Eyes, Fly From Here was something of a resergence

 

As well as the awful title.

 

No mention of Union, which is a little shocking in some respects, but in others not so much.

Despite the session musicians doing some Howe and Wakeman parts, I always thought it was a strong, very melodic album, that mixed the best off all of the musicians into one soup.

The album is not what it appears to be on the surface; still, the many minds that went into creating it is evident. A great intro into the '90s...and it did quite well in the charts.

I have the feeling that it wouldn't have been that different with a little more Squire, Wakeman and Howe. The basic songs were there.