Good topic. Also, the idea of making a rivalry out of two bands is very interesting. I wish more people would also be explicit why they think one is better than the other. I´ll try to do that with my limited english.
My personal favorite has always been Genesis, since I was 15 (now 30). By 19 I met Yes. First I thought their music was very uninspired, repetitive and souless. It seemed to have no real human feelings in it. It just sounded too mechanic and with lack of textures. By then, I had heard everything by Genesis. I had not heard many bands by then but still, even after comparing it with others, I knew this should be the most creative and imaginative band ever. Their music has always sounded full of passion, soul, conviction and the number of different moods and images is greater than any other´s.
Genesis created a variety of styles, sounds, feelings and moods throughout the 70´s that no other band ever matched. Whatsmore, they did that with such a way that no album from that period sounds immature within it´s style. There is no question about the differences between the style, concept and sound of "Foxtrot" and "Selling England". Or between "The Lamb" and "A trick". In the same issue, YES never changed a bit and what´s worse, just turned every time less creative and more repetitive.
Well, I started liking YES some 5 years ago. I discovered their best albums are "YES" and "Time and a word". Curiously, when they were the least prog, but the most inspired, creative and when they delivered the best songwriting of their carrer. These two pop albums really had conviction and very well expresed feelings. Songs like "I see you", "Every little thing" (great covers), and "Astral traveller" are some of the songs that I consider, expose the best of a musician´s energy and passion. ...After these records they became more prog and less inspired and much less creative.
Has anybody thought about the possibility of "Close to the edge" (The big epic by YES) being a "Prog-pop" song ?. It is a pop song with the playing of a prog song. The structure is that of a regular pop song and the chorus is repeated more than ..7 times ?. The hooks on this song are the choruses. Oposed to "Supper´s ready" which is as lenghty as "Close" but never uses "the chorus cheap trick". "Supper´s" never waste a second with no music or with simplistic music as "Close" in that pointless "I get up I get down,I get up I get down, I get up I get down" middle section. "Supper´s" never come back to the main theme to close the song like "Close" with the exact same "Close to the edge, down by the corner, close to the edge down by the river" part.
Also, there is no argument about the Lyrics issue. Read the lyrics on "Close" and the ones in "Supper´s".....No comments.
Is "Roundabout" supposed to be the prototipe of prog?. Be carefull when telling that to an antiprog person. "Roundabout" is one of many Prog-pop songs by YES. A band than after the third album couldn´t manage to create a song with more than 3 ideas. "Roundabout" is not only repetitive, it also gets boring after 10 listens. Like any commercial song. After you dug on the chorus line, there´s nothing to listen at. Yeah ¡¡, the bass and the playing is great, no question about it, that´s why this is another Prog-pop song. Genesis very rarely repeated a word in their songs. Unless they really tried to make a pop song like "I know what I like". When they made prog, they never made Prog-pop like YES did. Genesis made Prog-pop after ´77, when YES started doing "CRAP-PROG-POP".
I do really appreciate "South side of the sky". It has everything I like; Passion, conviction, creativity, diversity, good textures, good songwriting. To be fair. By the way, it shows way more ideas than "Close to the edge", and the horrible and repetitive instrumental in "Gates" together.
However, song like "Heart of the sunrise" are impressive on the first 15 listens. Then, there´s nothing in it. After you have heard that playing enough, and start paying attention to the structure of the song and the textures and the rest of the elements (the songwriting included), you will notice this song could have been written in 6 minutes. The instrumental parts are impressive and you may not want them to end, but they are always the same ¡¡. It´s the same as repeating a churus 20 times during a song. After the 15th listen to this song I just thought: "Í know the trick". And most of their songs are like that. Also, some of their songs are made out of nothing, or with one single idea, like "And you and I", which has a nice melody. That would be good for a 3:00 song, but a 10:00 song of a single chorus??¡¡
I will tell you why YES won this voting excersise. YES is way more conventional than Genesis. While Genesis played "The return of the gisnt hogweed and never sang the same word twice", YES was singing the word "Roundabout" over and over. Or repeating the same 10 imprssive seconds of music over and over in "Heart of the sunrise". Or making 10 minute balads out of a single idea, while Genesis would make short but full of creativity and passion balads like "Harlequin".
While you find underrated and overlooked songs like "Can utility" from "Foxtrot" in Genesis´output, you will find overrated, overlong and simplistic songs like "To be over" by YES.
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.
Curiously, Genesis managed to make way better pop than YES, when it was time for making POP. Genesis is slammed for making pop. But no one seems to remember YES tried hard being succesfull and never made it. They even tried sooner than Genesis. The reason?, Genesis was more creative and would always make better songs than YES on any field.
Thanks
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Yes Vs Genesis
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