Yes Vs Genesis

I love both. The question could do with being more specific.

If by better you mean more 'progressive' or original then I think Yes probably sneak it.

Genesis are my favourite band.

Sir Hogweed wrote: From Genesis To Hesitation.

Yes for me too

Both occupy my top three, but I have to give the nod to the one that produced five of the best albums I've ever heard in the span of '70-'74. Since that's far too ambiguous, Genesis.

The poll's 56-41 for Yes with my vote, I'm surprised, it's not closer.

While neither are my favorite bands, I like more of Genesis' material overall and get more enjoyment from listening to them, so it's obvious really.

eduardossc wrote: YES was always more accesible to the audience, that´s why more people like it. Even among prog-heads like the ones in this site.

That's a really wierd comment.  I'm not critisizing; to each his own, after all.  But it's been said many times that Genesis are the "prettiest sounding" classic prog band.  Yes on the other hand had many dissonant, experimental, improvisational bits, especially in the TFTO/Relayer phase, which is in my opinion their strongest period.  It's not uninspired, it's just further outside the box than Genesis usually went.  That's why I personally prefer Yes.  That, and the fact that I find their music to be more impassioned.  This last point is VERY arguable, however, and it's just me, so feel free to ignore it entirely.

Oh, and just figured I'd mention that CTTE isn't in a pop format, it's in sonata form.  

Love them both,but if I have to choose one I'll choose Yes.

Yes and Genesis are my two favourite bands. I'd say they're on the same level for me, but I listen a bit more to Yes than to Genesis, so if I have to choose (and this poll leaves no tie-option / tie - rack ) then it's Yes.

Since this is PROGarhives, I will limit my assessment to the proggy years of these two bands. (Cheeky me as I haven't really explored either band's pop material yet, ahem... )

Both are great, but overall I do admire the pure musicality of Yes' best moments more than I admire the high points (personal opinion, of course) of Genesis. Also, the sometimes overblown theatrical streak of Genesis songs doesn't sit as well with me as the more sophisticated approach by Yes. Gates of Delirium can certainly get kind of theatrical, too, but it's still a different kind of theatricality than the one found in Supper's Ready or The Musical Box...or The Battle of Epping Forest, for that matter. While Yes can get a bit too hyper sometimes, Genesis can get, well, a bit too pompous for their own good (Apocalypse in 9/8 and the ending of Supper's Ready -yikes)

Then again, we can't forget TFTO, which is far too meandering for its own good...and it doesn't have the hooks that Genesis were very good at even before their pop years.

Still, Yes all the way for me. (One only needs to compare the bass-playing of Squire and Ruthford to come to that conclusion  ) Listening to Yes at their best is for me a more intense experience than listening to the classic Genesis material; it's more assertive somehow, it demands one's concentration to the fullest. To use a rather clumsy analog: the musical gold nuggets of Genesis might be more visible and accessible than those of Yes (which perhaps gives Genesis an emotional edge) but that is also why Yes manages to hold my interest better than Genesis.

Finally, IMO Genesis never made a practically perfect prog record. Yes did. 

 

 

 

Edited by Fritha

Love them both, but the best albums were made by Genesis. I am not particularly fond of albums like Invisible Touch, Duke or Calling all stations, but Tormato and other newer Yes stuff is also not my choice.
Biggest difference for me is the singer. For me, Gabriels voice carries more feeling, is more sensitive. I sometimes get annoyed by the high pitched Anderson voice.
IMO, Genesis' lyrics are also better than most Yes lyrics( but this is maybe because I can understand most Genesis songs, and can not understand most Yes songs). Yes lyrics often sound to 'out of this earth' for me.
It looks like my choice is only influence by the singer (Gabriel - Anderson). And I must even say that I like the first two Collins-sung genesis albums also very much.

BTW, recently Anderson visited Tilburg in the Netherlands, a city (some 180.000 inhabitants) where he lived for a short time in the late sixties 67/68. He sung with a Dutch band Le Cruches (for other Dutch members of Progarchives, Henny Vrienten was also in this band) for a short while and releasedsome solo singles in this period. Jon gave a solo concert in Tilburg. A friend went there and told me it was a good performance.