From: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu (David Charlap)
Newsgroups: alt.rock-n-roll.symphonic
Subject: Re: Yes (long)
Date: 20 Nov 92 20:39:25 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <1992Nov19.201434.7014@cs.tulane.edu> butterwo@cs.tulane.edu (Blake Butterworth) writes:
>
>    At the risk of being deep fried, I want to ask some questions about Yes
>seeing as how everyone is discussing them right now.  I'm a real newbie
>to Yes, the only albums I've heard are parts of Classic Yes and Union
>which some of my friends had.  I want to check out their music, but don't
>know where to begin.  I don't even know how many albums they have.  I think
>that first I want to get into the older music.  That album Tales... sounds
>pretty cool and I've heard that Fragile is really good also.  Can anyone
>give me some suggestions on what's good and where to start?  Thanks.

Do what I always do with new groups:  Start with a greatest hits album
(Classic yes, or the Yesyears or YesStory boxes are good).  Pick out
your favorite tracks and get the albums that contain them.

Aside from that, Fragile, Close To The Edge and 90125 capture the
essence of new and old Yes. Tales is great, but it's an aquired taste,
it may well turn you off if you're not used to 20 minute Yes songs.
Note that the double-disc set only has four tracks!

Here's a brief rundown of the styles.

Yes: very 60's.  Some catchy themes.  Strikes be as Beatle-ish.
Time And A Word: A few memorable tracks.  I like it, but few others I
     know of do.  Still very 60's.
The Yes Album: The first one with Steve Howe.  It has "Yours Is No
    Disgrace" and "I've Seen All Good People".  Some excellent work.
    This is the first "classic" Yes sound. 
Fragile: Five solos and four group works.  These songs are what
         everybody remembers about Yes.  Contains "Roundabout" and
         "Heart Of The Sunrise"
Close To The Edge: More of the Fragile sound.  Also excellent.
YesSongs: The Close To The Edge tour.  Three tracks from the Fragile
          Tour.  Here you find that Yes's concert sound is more
          incredible than their studio sound.
Tales From Topographic Oceans: Very long symphonic works.  It has been
      admitted that 20% of it is filler and padding, but it's really
      good filler and padding.  You have to be a fan of what is
      rapidly becoming Jon's spacey new-age style to like this on the
      first listen.
Relayer: Patrick Moraz plays keyboards on this and it shows.  It
         contains three memorable tracks: "The Gates Of Delirium",
         "Sound Chaser" and "To Be Over."  Very progressive rock, and
         very little new-age.
Yesterdays: Their first gratest hits album.  Contains tracks from Yes,
            and Time And A Word and contains one unreleased track
            "Dear Father".
Going For The One: Another virtuoso hit album.  After a blistering
      rock song "Going For The One", the album settles in to a few
      moving ballads, the only rock song to use a pipe organ as a lead
      instrumment "Parallels", and the 14-minute long "Awaken".
      "Awaken" is extremely symphonic in nature.  The lyrics are
      reminiscent of Tales, but the style is much more refined and
      polished.  A must-have album.  Ignore the silly cover-art.
Tormato: Wierd.  lots of synth stuff.  Sort of a punk-like sound, but
         anything but punk.  This is what happens when lots of great
         musicias get bored.  Great tracks from this are "Don't Kill
         The Whale", "Release, Release", and "On The Silent Wings Of
         Freedom". 
Drama: Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes of the Buggles replace Jon
       Anderson and Rick Wakeman here.  More of the Tormato style.  A
       very good album.  Great tracks are "Tempus Fugit", and "Machine
       Messiah".
Classic Yes; You have this one.  Stuff from The Yes Album, Fragile,
        and Close To The Edge.  Plus two concert tracks: "Roundabout"
        and "I've Seen All Good Poeple".
90125: The first album with the current yes lineup.  Gone are Wakeman
       and Howe, to be replaced with Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye.  It's
       a very modern rock album.  More pop-ish than any others, but
       better than any other pop band could have done with the style.
       Great tracks are "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", "Changes" and
       "Hearts".
Big Generator:  Thisone will have to grow on you quite a bit if you
    like the older stuff.  It is very pop-sounding.  Most lyrics are
    meaningless songs about sex and girls, but the music is good.
    Great tracks are "I'm Running", "Rhythm Of Love", and "Final
    Eyes".
Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe:  While not strictly a Yes album,
         the group here consists of the four people in the title plus
         bassist Tony Levin.  It's very very powerful.  It's a return
         to the old style, with everybody improving after 15 years of
         solo experience apart from each other.  Great tracks are
         "Brother Of Mine", "Order Of The Universe" and "Themes".
         Actually, I find that the entire album consists of great
         tracks!
Union: The product of lawyers and record companies.  ABWH had written
       eight more songs (for their next album) and Yes had four new
       songs.  Atco records bundled all 12 songs onto one album and
       called it a reunion.  In fact, there was no real reuinion until
       the tour that year.  If you look through the credits, you'll
       find that the ABWH tracks sound very different from the yes
       tracks.  Great tracks are "Miracle Of Life", and "Shock To The
       System".  The band admits that it was rushed out the door, and
       all the songs could have been better, but they still sound very
       good.   The styles are mostly progressive, with some return to
       Yes's original style.
-- 
  |)  David Charlap          | .signature confiscated by FBI due to
 /|_  dic5340@hertz.njit.edu | an ongoing investigation into the
((|,)                        | source of these .signature virusses
 ~|~
Newsgroups: alt.rock-n-roll.symphonic