My GF and I have listened to "The Yes Album", "Fragile", and "Close to the Edge". We both like the "Steve Wilson Remixes". I don't know what he does exactly, but he uses a subtle hand. The mix itself doesn't sound all that different from the originals. What you get is a cleaner sounding version with less grunge. There's a bit more separation between the instruments and the vocals are a bit more distinct. Again, a very subtle difference. I think that any Yes fan would find these a good listening experience.

BTW, I purchased the 24 bit 96 kHz version.

-Dave


Cool! Are your comparisons to US releases on vinyl?
 
Thank you KevinJS for putting together this awesome, well thought out, and well presented thread! I'd seen it pop up a few times on the new posts list, but didn't read it in its entirety until the other night.

I'm sure glad I did!

Of course I've heard plenty of Yes songs throughout the years on the radio- I guess mostly their hits, but I'm ashamed to admit I've never really explored their albums until now. I've always kind of liked them, but gravitated towards more blues or punk oriented rock for my rock album listening. It wasn't until the other night that I started to explore their albums after reading this thread. I started with Close To The Edge via youtube because that album seemed to be mentioned a lot. Holy shit! So tight, so composed, the beauty, the discipline! I think I hear Yes' influence on other bands I've listened to (The Flaming Lips?, Phish?). I listened to the album three times in a row, and woke up with the music rolling around in my head, so I listened to it again.

I've since listened to Fragile over and over again (outstanding!), and found a copy of TFTO in my record collection that I must have picked up years ago at a thrift store or yard sale or something, but sadly had never put it on the platter.....until now. I love it!

It's rare for my 47 year old mind to be blown musically, and of course I'm always seeking out that experience. Yes did it for me, and I thank you for that!
 
Thank you KevinJS for putting together this awesome, well thought out, and well presented thread! I'd seen it pop up a few times on the new posts list, but didn't read it in its entirety until the other night.

I'm sure glad I did!

Of course I've heard plenty of Yes songs throughout the years on the radio- I guess mostly their hits, but I'm ashamed to admit I've never really explored their albums until now. I've always kind of liked them, but gravitated towards more blues or punk oriented rock for my rock album listening. It wasn't until the other night that I started to explore their albums after reading this thread. I started with Close To The Edge via youtube because that album seemed to be mentioned a lot. Holy shit! So tight, so composed, the beauty, the discipline! I think I hear Yes' influence on other bands I've listened to (The Flaming Lips?, Phish?). I listened to the album three times in a row, and woke up with the music rolling around in my head, so I listened to it again.

I've since listened to Fragile over and over again (outstanding!), and found a copy of TFTO in my record collection that I must have picked up years ago at a thrift store or yard sale or something, but sadly had never put it on the platter.....until now. I love it!

It's rare for my 47 year old mind to be blown musically, and of course I'm always seeking out that experience. Yes did it for me, and I thank you for that!


So nice to see another convert!! And to start out with the greatest prog album of all time...kudos!!!
Next check out The Yes Album. Other than one sweet little live ditty, a super strong prog excursion .Lots of ear worms there as well.
 
So nice to see another convert!! And to start out with the greatest prog album of all time...kudos!!!
Next check out The Yes Album. Other than one sweet little live ditty, a super strong prog excursion .Lots of ear worms there as well.

Oh yes! I will definitely check out that album. It's amazing to me how my musical tastes slowly shift and fluctuate throughout the years, allowing me to "discover" such a treasure like this that has been right in front of my eyes for years!
 
Yesterdays (1975)

Yesterdays is a compilation of previously released work from the first two albums, a cover version of Paul Simon's "America" and Dear Father, the B-side the 1970 single "Sweet Dreams". Yesterdays was the last Yes album to feature Roger Dean artwork until 1980.

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Way back in the day, before the internet you had to take chances on record purchases. Yesterdays was one of those chances for me. All I knew up front was that nobody in my small network of Yes fans owned it, hence I'd never heard it. I was pretty sure that it had to be a compilation album and I wasn't into comps. Finally, on a visit to Peaches Records & Tapes I went ahead and bought it. Guess there wasn't anything else I wanted to buy on that visit and I'd been wanting the Roger Dean artwork on the album for quite a while.
When I brought it home and played it I didn't know what to make of it. It didn't sound like any Yes album I was familiar with as my knowledge of Yes at that point started with The Yes Album.
Over the years the music has grown on me but I'll probably never embrace it. When I got around to buying Time And A Word a while later I realzed what the compilation was about.

Now for the artwork, the actual highlight of the album in my opinion.
001.jpg

In Roger Dean's book, he says that the naked woman from the Yes debut album can be seen amongst the trees. I stared at every stump and branch and couldn't find her I certainly didn't want to think he was referencing the little blue girl who's watching the boy relieving himself. @Slick Willie posted the first pic that I'd ever seen of the proper debut album and it's notorious naked woman. Of course we here in the States got a different cover altogether as discussed earlier in the thread.
Finally tonight I pulled the album to shoot some fresh pics. That's when I saw her as a ghostly almost cloud like image in the left center near the trees.
She wasn't present in the original painting.
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Now onto the back cover, which Dean says was meant to serve as an alternative front cover, and it does.
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As learned on this thread, when Going For The One was released it came with that stark reality album cover done by Hignosis/Storm Thorgerson. featuring a naked man and a city skyline.
When Jon Anderson saw what Storm had come up with he said "You've done a Roger Dean painting in a photograph" or something along that line.
I believe the back cover of Yesterdays is what Jon was referencing.
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Relayer is my favorite Yes album. It's the one I go for almost every time. I recognize Close To The Edge, The Yes Album and Fragile as the better, more user friendly albums though.
Relayer was far more aggressive and darker than anything else in their catalog.
It would probably come in as my 2nd favorite Roger Dean cover. But that's a very close 2nd to Tales From Topographic Oceans.
The things that Patrick Moraz brought out of the other three instrumentalists can't be . They were never going to make that album with Rick Wakeman.
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The drawing of the fortifications on the left was done in 1966 and is found in one of Roger Dean's personal sketchbooks. The painting on the right was done for the inner gatefold of Relayer, but it was not used.in favor of a photo of the band.
You can clearly see that Roger had the idea for Relayers artwork planned out long before the band even existed.
009.jpg


These are shots of the stage design that Roger and Martyn Dean did for the Relayer tour.
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In Roger and Martyn's book Magnetic Storm they went into great detail about the design and implementation of the stage set.
All I can say is, WOW, I'd have loved to seen them on this tour. My first Yes concert was in '79 or '80.

The entire crab nebula machine sat on the floor and rose into the air as the band took the stage. Martyn never saw it assembled and working until the first show of the tour. It was just too large to put it all together until they were in a large American arena. He said it all worked perfectly without a glitch.
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(all pics can be clicked on and made a bit larger)
My first Yes concert was the TFTO tour. I'd never seen anything like it. Great stage!
 
Going For The One (1977)

Yes_Going_for_the_One.jpg

1976 saw nothing new from Yes. The band had taken a break, during which time the members worked on solo projects. However, writing and recording was in the works. The band decided to record their next album in Switzerland and headed for Mountain Studios in Switzerland to do so. Emerson, Lake & Palmer were recording Works and had run over their projected time, so Yes were obliged to wait. Most of the writing was completed during this time. Eddie Offord had left to pursue other projects and the album was produced entirely by the band. Roger Dean's Yes logo is featured on the album, but the rest of the album art was designed by HipGnosis. What does it mean? Does it need to mean anything? It's probably just designed to catch the eye and sell records. I have some of my own ideas. The buildings are Century Plaza in Los Angeles. A hat tip the Turn Of The Century, perhaps? The naked man: is he an older version of the naked boy on Yesterdays, indicating that the band had grown up? It's not my favourite Yes album art, but what it contains more than makes up for any disappointment in the art department.

As has been noted earlier, Patrick Moraz had been asked to leave the band, in order to make room for Rick Wakeman's return. It seems that there was something of a gamble involved since Melody Maker already had the information that Wakeman had rejoined the band before he actually agreed to do so. His photograph was on the front cover of Melody Maker within hours of his acceptance of the position. Presumably, the band's management were sure enough that Rick would accept their offer that they let Moraz go without being sure of having a keyboard player for the new album.

The band was ready to repeat earlier methods of recording the church organ parts and mixing the recordings into the rest of the performances, but Switzerland's telephone system was capable of high-speed data transmission, so lines were set up between the church and the studio and Wakeman played his organ pieces in real time. He later described the experience as "magical".

The album opens with the title track, a tight little rock number. Nothing seems too much out of the ordinary. The performance is unquestionably brilliant, but there is nothing to indicate yet that the band had reached their Bohemian Rhapsody/Stairway To Heaven/2112 moment. Turn Of The Century opens with a guitar/voice duet from Steve Howe and Jon Anderson, with the rest of the band joining in for what turns out to be a beautifully sung and played ballad, with extended instrumental sections from all of the band members. The next track "Parallels" is introduced by Rick Wakeman at the church organ, to which Chris Squire soon adds his bass. Throughout the album, Alan White's percussion section keeps time. Wonderous Stories follows. Released as a single, with Parallels on the B-side, it enjoyed some chart success in the UK until, as noted by Rick Wakeman, the band appeared on Top Of The Pops and the record buying public collectively said "My God! They're hideous!" and the rise up the chart was over. However, it's a charming piece, and Yes fans don't buy singles in any case. Awaken completes the album, and this is the Bohemian Rhapsody/Stairway To Heaven/2112 moment I mentioned earlier. Awaken is over 15 minutes long on the album, with live performances being much longer. The band pulled out all of the stops for this track with pedal steel guitar sections from Steve Howe, more church organ and piano input from Rick Wakeman, Alan White playing his drum kit more as a musical instrument that a rhythm section, powerful bass guitar from Chris Squire and Jon Anderson's fantastic voice rising over everything.

I generally try to steer clear of YouTube videos in these threads, due to the potential for YT content to disappear, but I'll take the chance and add one for Awaken, for anyone who may have managed to miss it.


Track list:

Side one

1. "Going for the One" 5:30
(Jon Anderson)

2. "Turn of the Century" 7:58
(Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Alan White)

3. "Parallels" 5:52
(Chris Squire)

Side two

1. "Wonderous Stories" 3:45
(Jon Anderson)

2. "Awaken" 15:38
(Jon Anderson, Steve Howe)

Personnel

The band:


Jon Anderson – lead vocals, harp
Steve Howe – steel guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, vachalia, pedal steel guitar, vocals
Chris Squire – bass guitar, vocals
Rick Wakeman – piano, electric keyboards, church organ at St. Martin's in Vevey, Polymoog synthesizer, choral arrangement on "Awaken"
Alan White – drums, percussion, tuned percussion

Additional personnel

Ars Laeta of Lausanne – choir on "Awaken"
Richard Williams Singers – choir on "Awaken"

Further reading at YESWORLD
 
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My GF and I have listened to "The Yes Album", "Fragile", and "Close to the Edge". We both like the "Steve Wilson Remixes". I don't know what he does exactly, but he uses a subtle hand. The mix itself doesn't sound all that different from the originals. What you get is a cleaner sounding version with less grunge. There's a bit more separation between the instruments and the vocals are a bit more distinct. Again, a very subtle difference. I think that any Yes fan would find these a good listening experience.

BTW, I purchased the 24 bit 96 kHz version.

-Dave
My thoughts and listening experience to the tee!
 
When Yes made an in-store appearance in November 1996 at Tower Records in L.A, on Sunset Blvd, I was lucky enough to have scored a ticket to be in the crowd. It was the classic 70's lineup of Jon/Chris/Steve/Alan/Rick so it was a highly anticipated event for me. The store merchandise shelves had all been pushed to the back of the store to make room for the makeshift stage and small audience. They performed America/All Good People/Roundabout/Starship Trooper and appeared to be a little rusty. My favorite memory was seeing the dust trickling down from the drop ceiling due to Chris' bass pedals during the Wurm section of Starship Trooper. Quite a sight to see and experience.
 
When Yes made an in-store appearance in November 1996 at Tower Records in L.A, on Sunset Blvd, I was lucky enough to have scored a ticket to be in the crowd. It was the classic 70's lineup of Jon/Chris/Steve/Alan/Rick so it was a highly anticipated event for me. The store merchandise shelves had all been pushed to the back of the store to make room for the makeshift stage and small audience. They performed America/All Good People/Roundabout/Starship Trooper and appeared to be a little rusty. My favorite memory was seeing the dust trickling down from the drop ceiling due to Chris' bass pedals during the Wurm section of Starship Trooper. Quite a sight to see and experience.

Cool! Thanks for sharing that.

-Dave
 
The year was 1971 and I a junior in HS when I heard The Yes Album, having bought the LP because it had the song Starship Troopers, which was also a book by Robert Heinlein I had read years before. I was a sci-fi fan, so I thought Cool, I'll buy this. All the songs blew me away and I was hooked. Understandably, this is the lineup I like most, as far as personnel is concerned.

Soon after, Fragile was released and I loved it, too.

Just after my birthday in '72, Close to the Edge was released, and I bought a copy as soon as it hit Be-bop Record Shop, then my best friend, Harold, and I went to his house and placed his dad's speakers close to us as we sat on the floor burning herb, listening to what I consider the band's magnum opus for the first time. We were both in very high spirits, and must have listened to both sides of the album completely through at least four times.

The following year, '73, it was Tales... and Yessongs. I still enjoy Yessongs to this day, even though the recording quality/mix wasn't great. I like many of their following albums, but when I'm in the mood for Yes, it is usually one of these mentioned in this post. I also picked up Progeny a couple years back, too.

Had another friend who went a little religion nutty, treating Yes lyrics as holy writ, but it was a phase he eventually left behind.

Yes, the memories...


Now I need to go back to page 2 and finish reading the thread.
 
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