What does Sup Forums think of Yes?

What does Sup Forums think of Yes?

Yes.

>no
Kidding. They're nadass/amazing musicians and I always catch myself listening if I turn it on in the middle of a jam. Then the song comes back and I'm....
>meh

I like them. They're like a poppier Genesis.
Incidentally, for this type of prog-rock,I prefer Genesis.

I've listened to Fragile and Close to the Edge more times than I can count. The rest of their early stuff is fine but those two albums really do outshine the rest of their discography.

Close to the Edge [Atlantic, 1972]

What a waste. They come up with a refrain that sums up everything they do--"I get up I get down"--and apply it only to their ostensible theme, which is the "seasons of man" or something like that. They segue effortlessly from Bach to harpsichord to bluesy rock and roll and don't mean to be funny. Conclusion: At the level of attention they deserve they're a one-idea group. Especially with Jon and Rick up front. C+

Going For The One [Atlantic, 1977]

The title cut may be their best song ever, challenging a formula that even apologists are apologizing for by now with cutting hard rock guitar and lyrics in which Jon Anderson casts aspersions on his own "cosmic mind". But even there, you wish you could erase Rick Wakeman and elsewhere Steve Howe has as little to say. C+

Everything Rocks and Nothing Ever Dies [1990s]

Only listened to Roundabout thanks to JJBA, feel kinda guilty about it. Bought a physical copy of that album years back before I'd heard of the anime and its always been in my backlog. I suppose whence I've listened to all of NIN's albums they'll be next on my list.

Why is this plebian hack still alive?

I'm such a fanboy of them that I enjoy all their albums except Open Your Eyes and Heaven & earth

Yes, I even like Union

Absolutely phenomenal musicians but for me their best aspect is their ability to create wonderful landscapes, astral, sci-fi, fantasy, they just construct beautiful worlds to explore through the music , full of heart and childlike naivity.. the songwriting is unique and interesting and they knew how to experiment with different styles and genres while retaining a cohesive sound that expresses a coherent musical story without losing its meaning and becoming a mess.

Close to the Edge is unironically a masterpiece.

I really don't find them poppier than Genesis. There's a certain "optimism" to Yes, but I think it's like classical music - it may sound happy, but it's not commercial.

King Crimson > Gentle Giant > Yes >>> Genesis

Genesis fucking suck

I find that there's a certain consistency to Yes that GG doesn't have. I would put most of Acquiring the Taste above Close to the Edge, but there are some points on the record that I would put far below it. After Visconti stopped producing their records I find that their production value never really recovered as well.

I prefer Octopus to both Acquiring the Taste and anything by Yes. Never really understood the love for CTTE either.

That's fair, I think Octopus is in a different vein of prog than CTTE and ACT.
Can I ask which KC records you're most into?

>Can I ask which KC records you're most into?
Discipline, Larks' Tongues and Islands are my top 3, but they're really consistent and I like most of their albums about equally, up until Discipline at least.

I feel pretty much exactly the same about KC. Not sure why I hear GG and Yes so differently.

I got into them this week and really regret not doing so earlier. shame that from what I've heard their later stuff doesn't do anything for me at all.
also, as a prog pleb, is there anything like Fragile/CTTE Yes with a bit more of a jazz influence? I've tried Henry Cow but that's way farther out into the jazz fusion side of things than what I'm looking for. bonus points for stuff with lots of organ/mellotron/synths that don't sound cheesy as fuck.

>shame that from what I've heard their later stuff doesn't do anything for me at all.
>also, as a prog pleb, is there anything like Fragile/CTTE Yes with a bit more of a jazz influence?
The exact record you're asking for is Relayer, but you've prefaced this question by saying you don't like later Yes so I don't know what to do for you friendo. That is what CTTE would sound like with more jazz fusion influence.

huh, I figured early Yes would include Relayer. I actually really like it, probably my second favorite I've heard alongside Fragile. I haven't really thought of it as too jazzy though, but I can see it now that you mention it.

Um, no.

I usually count their later stuff as "post Rick Wakeman". I'm very biased towards their early-mid period though and I haven't listened to any of their albums in their entirety past Tormato bar Magnification. Early prog bands usually go past their sell-by date around '75 and I don't like wasting my time listening to ok-bad music.
You also might like Mahavishnu Orchestra and in general, probs the rockier side of fusion: Ratledge dominated Soft Machine, very early Magma, etc.

Setting Henry Cow as a limit to how fusiony you want things to get doesn't leave you much wiggle room though. Imo the usual reason Henry Cow is perceived as quite inaccessible is that they often played quite free and volatile, which isn't necessarily a characteristic of fusion, it's a characteristic of free jazz. On an album like Kobaia, Magma play quite jazzily and from a timbral standpoint, they're quite similar to Henry Cow. However, when they settle into a groove, Magma are usually less inclined to dick around with atonal guitar accompaniment or suddenly shift into a rhythmless, harmonyless morass. They do some weird stuff and the vocals are...unusual, but there's a more easy to follow sense of direction to the tracks and the album as a whole than on something like Legend. If this sounds like I'm misinterpreting what turns you off about Henry Cow, what I'm saying is probs irrelevant but most fusion isn't like Henry Cow. You listen to something like Miles' Jack Johnson or Chick Corea's Return to Forever, they give you a little more of an idea what fusion usually sounds like. Henry Cow is more drinking from the same well that Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton were.

Has anyone here taken the TFTO-pill? Honestly it's as good as Close to the Edge, and Nous Sommes du Solei might be their best song. The album as a whole is a rollercoaster of emotions, and not nearly as boring as some people make it out to be. The moment it clicked was a glorious one.

TFTO used to be my favourite. Lost my copy, have just listened to CTTE since then.

If it was edited down a little, it'd surpass CTTE. There is a lot of filler though. I love Steve Howe as a player, but I'm not enough of a fanboy to pretend his unaccompanied improvised monophonic solos are good. It was cool on Fragile and The Yes Album cause he'd composed and practiced the fuck out of those solo performances, but on Tales, it's just garbage.

Yasss

Nah. Genesis (Gabriel era) is superb.

>I haven't listened to any of their albums in their entirety past Tormato bar Magnification
I recommend you listen to Drama, it's fantastic.

i like The Yes Album a lot and feel like it's underrated by prog fans on this board

I rate the end of Starship Trooper as Howe's best solo and I snuck Clap onto a blindfold test back when those threads were running. It doesn't have the cohesiveness of the albums that'd follow, but musically it's on par with the likes of Fragile and CTTE.

i always thought yes had more "soul" than other prog rock bands