Yes vs. ELP

Yes to that, sort of.

ELP knew when to throw in the towel while we are still beleaguered by the many versions of Yes assaulting us on a nearly every-two-year cycle (especially enjoyable though was 2001's Wakeman-less edition promoting Magnification  - even Jon Anderson had the cajones to tell the audience at the Hollywood Bowl that the band hadn't performed with each other for quite some time, but they carried on regardless and played a great show riddled with key tunes from their catalog).

I love both bands. Brain Salad Surgery, Trakus, Trilogy and self titled are all steller ElP albums. The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Relayer are all great, I haven't listed to tales in its entirety yet. I would say  that overall I like Yes more but I really enjoy both bands for different reasons. I will say that I prefer Bruford over Palmer though.

giselle wrote: Unfair to compare. Two bands from the same early stages of the genre, both with something to offer that was different from each other, both outstanding in their field. I personally couldn't choose between them in terms of who's best, it's like asking which of your children you prefer.

yes!  i feel always the same as you through these various polls, it's like the question about the island, kind of choose 10 albums you would bring with you on an island, why would i go with 10 records,on an island ( where, probably, ther's no electricity)

Thought I would look at the ratings of the albums on this site.

Edited by richardh - April 21 2011 at 01:42

akaBona wrote: richardh wrote: akaBona wrote: YES. Average Yes material beats top ELP material easily. ELP has nothing equal if you think timeline from Yes Album to Going For The One. And still there are lots of Yes albums after that which are much much better than any ELP effort, Union and Magnification just to name few.   What do you class as 'average Yes material'?   Average Yes is something like Union, Tormato, Talk, Open Your Eyes, 90125 and Ladder.

no way do those albums beat the best ELP albums unless you have your Yes tinted glasses on.

ELP.

Easy--YES---ELP were always hit or miss for me ---too pompous---dated---not timeless---plus--no HOWE.

Heathcliffe wrote: YES - but I also like ELP. had they become a combined band they would have been awesome.

Could we call them Yep?  That would still mean yes.  Or Yelp?  Doesn't sound so good.  Or Es?  I kinda like that one. 

Good question!

It's funny, when I was in my teens, ELP were my absolute favourite and Yes were just ok with me, but these days I'm much more likely to be listening to Yes.

I think it's because nowadays (generally speaking) ELP sound a bit soulless by comparison. I do still love the Trilogy album and Tarkus has it's moments. Unfortunately they've also made some HORRIBLE records - Love Beach, Works Vol2 anybody?

So....Yes for me!