YESSONGS

Since my favorite Yes album is actually a 5-way tie between The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Yessongs, and Going For the One, I can't say this is my favorite Yes album either, but I do lean towards calling it a default favorite pretty often, since it contains many of the big tracks from 3 of their best albums, and it is my favorite live album ever. It's amazing how well Yes is able to recreate the ornate, sophisticated nature of their songs in a live setting, and even though there are a few moments in a few of the songs where they don't capture the energy and spirit of the original, there are far more moments where the originals are surpassed. It's great to hear Close to The Edge from it's own tour, and Alan White does a surprisingly convincing imitation of Bill Bruford (who is featured on a few tracks), especially when you consider the noticable different styles they both had when playing for Yes. The sound of the band is spectacular, props must be given to them all for harmonising so well together while playing such complex music, and I think we'll nearly all agree that the track selection rules.