The Yes Album by Album Thread

One of the posts here said I was a madman to try to breakdown some of this stuff and in this case I have to agree with him. This drove me nuts. Here is a preview of the four part breakdown I will post of The Revealing Science of God. I posted this in another thread but I have revised it for mistakes. I am hoping someone will add their thoughts on it because the damn thing is so complex.

The Revealing Science of God

:00- :32- Opening chant section in B Major.... Jon Anderson "sings" a chant like series of verses. There is very little melodic movement in Jon's delivery focusing around the B note except for the tail end of the verse lines with a slight ascension. Very static. Steve Howe plays volume swelled notes on his guitar. He sometimes adds in a flatted third which gives an almost bluesy sound nodding to B Minor. Not totally unlike a blues drone that John Lee Hooker would play.
:32-1:34- The chant section continues with Steve Howe and Chris Squire singing harmony to Jon's chant. The dynamics gradually increase with keyboard effects added into the chant. Still focusing on B Major.
1:34-1:57 After a brief cadence, an introduction still in B Major enters which is used as a theme throughout the piece. The chord progression is B-A then to G at 1:55. The theme played on the keyboard is based on three note motifs that follow the whole tone descension around each chord. The progression continues to descend.
1:57-2:35 A second theme (main theme) in E Major enters. The first five notes are firmly rooted around the tonic E Major chord. Steve Howe plays a series of patterns all in E Major mostly descending with octave jumps at the end of some lines. Rick Wakeman follows with some ascending/descending lines also rooted in E Major.
2:36- 2:48 The introduction theme (subsidiary theme) is restated in B Major.
2:48-3:30 After a brief cadence, the main theme section (E Major) returns and is used as a pre verse section. We hear another theme sung by the group. Steve Howe paraphrases this theme in sections of his guitar solo on To Be Over from the album Relayer. We also hear it in the final section of the album in Ritual.
3:31-3:37 An ascending cadence.
3:38-4:19 The main verse section enters. The chord progression is based around A Major-D Minor-C-G.
4:19-4:50 The "Revealing Science of God" main chorus enters with a modulation to E Major.....the tonal center of the piece. The chord progression is E Major-F# Major-A Major.
4:50-5:02 A chorus tag enters.

 

Conspicuously missing from the Yessongs discussion here so far is that version of Close to the Edge. I mean- that should be the big centerpiece. Is it just a straight reading, then?

As of now I'm thinking an edited single CD Yessongs consisting of the opening, Long Distance Fish, Six Wives, Disgrace and Perpetual Change would make a nice addition to my collection.

 

In Close To The Edge is my favourite lineup:

Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Rick Wakeman.

 

It's a version many Yes fans seem to prefer to the original.

A viewpoint that utterly baffles me.

 

I am not sure why someone would prefer the live version over the studio either. I guess maybe because live it is all organic and in realtime whereas the studio is patchwork.

 

Hey Gorts, please move this to Pt II soon. Thanks.

 

"Yessongs was released on 18 May 1973. It peaked at number 7 in the UK and number 12 in the US. The album was certified gold in 1973 and platinum in 1998."

What's so cool to me is that such an ambitious and un-commercial album would chart so high at the time. It's unimaginable today. That was a unique time for sure.

 

The Yessongs CttE is a fantastic but I don't think it surpasses the LP version. One thing though, Steve's guitar tone is really great on Yessongs and that's a big redeeming factor about the sound of the live LP. The guitar comes through really, really well and Steve rocks it like crazy.

 

Wouldn't it have been great if instead of Rabin they included Banks. The 901 album is ok but I dislike this period of the band in general.
I think the first 2 records are far better then anything Rabin did while in the band. I went to a couple of the Rabin tours and they were kinda flat.
I saw Union and enjoyed most of it I was right up front.

 

Apparently Banks tried to appear on at least 1 Union stop but was denied.

 

Is the extended intro the only difference between this and the album version?

I'll be listening to each of the Topograhic tracks but not all in a row so I can absorb them fully on their own. My current standing opinion on this- possibly the most debated album on this forum- is that the first and last tracks great and there's a lot of fluff 'n' filler in the middle, but it's time to re-examine them in detail on their own.

 

Well, they were going to bring him in for one of the Union shows but Steve Howe (allegedly) nixed it:

More here (bonus interview from the Classic Artists doc:

 

As far as I know...

 

The River of Constant Change: the Genesis Album-by-Album Thread

 

Yessongs: one of the greatest live albums ever...such a shame about the rotten sound quality.

 

And it's handy if you want to have a Roger Dean art exhibition right in your own home.

 

I really like the art on that one.

 

Just want to chime in here before we move on to Part 2. Huge Yes fan from back in the '70s ... just loved TYA, Fragile & CTTE. Never could get into Relayer at the time but listened again a couple of years ago and was blown away. I guess it took me a long time to accept that Bill Bruford had left. But Fragile has a very special place in my heart, probably because I was a budding guitar player at the time and Steve's playing and the general musicianship and songwriting capabilities of the band just mesmerised me. Still does today as I listen to the MFSL cd of this as I type. So many things to admire and I'm sure most have been mentioned already but I have to give a big to the acoustic guitar sounds on "Mood for a day" and "Long Distance". They are in wonderful stereo and it takes an engineer who knows what he's doing to get that right.

Thanks to Rose River Bear for starting this and to all you other knowledgable folks for your very interesting contributions.

 

Yessongs

Released May 1973

Produced by Yes and Eddy Offord

The album opens with a section of music that in all honesty is one of my favorite moments in music. The Finale of the 1945 Version of Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Ballet, opens the Yessongs album. If you have never heard the entire 1945 Firebird Suite, try it out someday. You won't regret it.

You guys have already made great comments and observations so I will not blabber on here. The album is a fine example of how Yes was in concert. Us guys who had already seen them live before the album came out already knew that. Now fans who never got the chance knew. Yes are one of the finest bands to see live and here they were on fire pretty much throughout the album. I honestly never saw the band live when they had a bad night. I saw them at least 10 times in the 70s. The songs were culled from performances from the Fragile and Close to the Edge tours. I saw both tours so this was a great album for me personally when it was released. I still listen to it at least once a month.

The sound is a little honky at times but not too bad. The performances are amazing. I have one complaint, I miss Bill Bruford on some of the songs. Other than that, it is a helluva live album.

 

Updated TOC

1. Yes S/T
2.Time And A Word
3. The Yes Album
4. Yours Is No Disgrace Song Structure Breakdown
5. Fragile
6. Roundabout Song Structure Breakdown
7. Close to the Edge-Part I
8. Close to the Edge-Part II
9. Close to the Edge-Part III
10. CTTE Song Breakdown-The Solid Time of Change
11. CTTE Song Breakdown-Total Mass Retain
12. CTTE Song Breakdown-I Get Up, I Get Down
13. CTTE Song Breakdown-Seasons of Man
14. Yessongs

 

I am still amazed White learned every song and pulled it off so quickly.

 

Up next, the first installment of Tales From Topographic Oceans-The Revealing Science of God

 

RRB tackling TFTO should be mighty interesting!

 

I love the way Steve changes the rhythm to a more loose feel at :35. One of my favorite moments on the album and a cool change to the studio version.

 

Can music get anymore amazing than this?