Are The Yes Album, CttE and GftO the best 3 of Yes

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Posted: September 09 2024 at 11:43

It may seem so, but I can tell that The Album and CttE are my Yes fond-ofs while I find Fragile overrated.

Edited by David_D - September 10 2024 at 05:25

quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond

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Posted: September 09 2024 at 10:59

It appears the OP checked out. Is one post all the Yesster will share?

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Posted: September 09 2024 at 10:22

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Well, I hate to break it to you but you guys are in the minority. ;) https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=131924&KW=Fragile

No problem. Smile

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Posted: September 09 2024 at 10:14

Well, I hate to break it to you but you guys are in the minority. ;) https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=131924&KW=Fragile

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - September 09 2024 at 10:14

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Posted: September 09 2024 at 05:15

Starshiper wrote:

AJ
Junior wrote:

No Fragile up there is criminal.

It's not, because Fragile falls just a bit enough due to the band members' solo tracks.
Aren't those solo tracks sound dated today? Indeed, given the presence
of Rick Wakeman and the artwork by Roger Dean, "Fragile" might be a
better 1971 album than TYA, but only if a full-band song had been added
instead of letting each member create an unneeded, self-indulgent solo
tune.

I tend to agree - for my digital playlist of Fragile those 5 short solo tracks have been discarded, and I've tacked on 'America' which was recorded around the time Fragile was being recorded, but was given away for an Atlantic sampler album, tho it now is included as a bonus track on the more recent CD re-releases.

For me this makes for a more satisfying listen, and I'd recommend anyone give it a try.

'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.'

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Posted: September 09 2024 at 00:15

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I'll be honest. I never thought of those solo tracks as bad (still don't actually) until I saw people post about them online and how they bring Fragile down. Confused

Yet, nobody says "clap"(yes, there's no "the" in the actual title) and "a venture" bring down TYA. Go figure.

I was one that complained about Fragile and the short songs. For me, those short bits break the flow of the album. Those two short ones on TYA do not do that.

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Posted: September 08 2024 at 18:34

I'll be honest. I never thought of those solo tracks as bad (still don't actually) until I saw people post about them online and how they bring Fragile down. Confused

Yet, nobody says "clap"(yes, there's no "the" in the actual title) and "a venture" bring down TYA. Go figure.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - September 08 2024 at 18:35

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Posted: September 08 2024 at 18:32

AJ Junior wrote:

No Fragile up there is criminal.

It's not, because Fragile falls just a bit enough due to the band members' solo tracks. Aren't those solo tracks sound dated today? Indeed, given the presence of Rick Wakeman and the artwork by Roger Dean, "Fragile" might be a better 1971 album than TYA, but only if a full-band song had been added instead of letting each member create an unneeded, self-indulgent solo tune. However, this isn't how it works, so I therefore support that assumption of TYA-CttE-GftO as the best three Yes albums.

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Posted: September 03 2024 at 11:53

The answer to your question is subjective to each person since we all have opinions, tastes, likes, etc.

Here are the Prog Archives ratings for all 24 YES full studio albums (I'm including ABWH and KeyStudio).

1. Close To The Edge 4.68

2. Fragile 4.46

3. Relayer 4.38

4. The YES Album 4.32

5 Going For The One 4.06

6. Tales From Topographic Oceans 3.92

7. Drama 3.77

8. Magnification 3.73

9. KeyStudio 3.59

10. Fly From Here 3.42

11. Mirror To The Sky 3.39

12. Time And A Word 3.35

13. YES 3.29

14. The Ladder 3.27

15. Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe 3.21

16. Fly From Here Return Trip 3.19

17. Talk 3.08

18. 90125 3.05

19. Tormato 3.01

20. The Quest 2.89

21. Big Generator 2.57

22. Union 2.52

23. Heaven & Earth 2.30

24. Open Your Eyes 2.06

It would be too difficult to rank my top three YES albums, but for ME.........

.....if YES albums were women, the one I would marry is Close To The Edge (she's perfect). If Close To The Edge died and left me to be a widower, I'd get remarried to Drama. Before getting married, I would definitely date pretty much all the other YES albums (some more than others, of course). The one I would want to be seen with in public would be Relayer. The date which was a load of fun, but my friends questioned/warned me about is Tormato (I almost got engaged to her, though, and to be honest, I still think about her from time to time - sorry, but I just can't stop even though I know she would have been no good for me and probably would have broken my heart and left me for another dude).

There are a couple YES albums which aren't long-term dating material to me: Union/"Onion" was the first YES album to truly disappoint me, like if your date farted loudly and belched her liverwurst sandwich she had for lunch in your mouth during your first kiss (and you discovered she didn't brush her teeth). Ironically, the YES-West songs were actually better on Onion than the YES-proper songs, but that doesn't save her since she has poor hygiene. The other album which is not long-term dating material is Heaven & Earth (I loved "Believe Again" and "Subway Walls", which means I loved her hair and her shoes, but alas, the rest of her body, mind, and personality put me to sleep (and not in a good way).

Additionally and lastly, Open Your Eyes was actually a fun date. It's just that we weren't the same religion.

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Posted: September 03 2024 at 09:08

1. Close to the Edge

2. Fragile

3. Relayer

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Posted: September 02 2024 at 20:10

No Fragile up there is criminal. For me, I gotta go Fragile, Close to the Edge, and the Yes Album. As much as I love Relayer, Tales, and even the underrated Drama, I think these three are the epitome of Yes music, and are also their best sounding most cohesive albums. Tales is all over the place and although the execution of the idea sounds good, the idea itself is complete nonsense, while Relayer (for me) is too weak apart from "Gates of Delirium."

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Posted: September 01 2024 at 21:41

1.Close to the Edge

2. Going for the One

3. Yes Album/Fragile (both)

Héctor Enrique

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 18:46

CTTE, Relayer and Yes Album in that order. Fragile, Tales and Going for the One are brilliant albums, however. GFTO closes out a great run of six albums in a row.

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 11:17

richardh wrote:

someone_else wrote:

cstack3 wrote:

Not much love for TFTO in this thread!!

Ritual: Utterly pointless and forgettable. Arguably the worst track in the entire catalog of Yes (2/10).

It seems that this album finally found its due place in this thread

Really? Not counting anything on Heaven and Earth then?

This reminds me a little bit of Steven Wilson's comment of y/t recently when he said that 'Pirates (ELP) is the worst piece of music I've ever heard' and likened it to a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. LOL

Persoannly I think Ritual is great on Yes Symphonic with the orchestra and was a lot of fun to see done live with all those kettle drums (influence from Gentle Giant maybe?!). I rate it as a top 3 Yes epic and the only thing on that album that has some 'balls'. Prog rock is still rock music remember Wink

Good point about Ritual, it took me a while to really get into the last side of TFTO. I've seen that performed live a bunch of times, but not the other three.

This is Steve Howe playing his Les Paul Junior guitar during "Ritual" in Chicago, during the "Solo Albums Tour."

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 10:02

someone_else wrote:

^I have never heard Heaven & Earth

. I see that it has the lowest rating save one of all their studio albums.

That's the only Yes studio album I've never owned (not counting the Keys to Ascension albums even though I do have Keystudio).

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - August 31 2024 at 10:02

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 10:01

The Remembering is my least favorite track on tales. It just repeats itself too much (imo).

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 09:21

^I have never heard Heaven & Earth

. I see that it has the lowest rating save one of all their studio albums.

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 02:22

someone_else wrote:

cstack3 wrote:

Not much love for TFTO in this thread!!

Ritual: Utterly pointless and forgettable. Arguably the worst track in the entire catalog of Yes (2/10).

It seems that this album finally found its due place in this thread

Really? Not counting anything on Heaven and Earth then?

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Posted: August 31 2024 at 00:18

someone_else wrote:

cstack3 wrote:

Not much love for TFTO in this thread!!

Of all the albums by Yes I have heard, I only prefer TfTO over Tormato.

The Revealing Science of God: Was decent in earlier releases when the track opened with vocals (6/10). The glorious intro was completely ruined by the synthscapes that were added in later releases (5/10).
The Remembering: I like the section from about 9 to 14 minutes. About 75% is just tedious imho (5/10).
The Ancient: Obviously the best track. I like the passage with the parade of solar deities and the acoustic closing section (8/10).
Ritual: Utterly pointless and forgettable. Arguably the worst track in the entire catalog of Yes (2/10).

It seems that this album finally found its due place in this thread

Well done!! We don't agree on everything (I find "The Ancient" to be quite tedious), but I have friends who agree with you and me about the wonderful opening of "Revealing Science of God" on the original vinyl pressing, where the song opens with their amazing vocals!!

The later remastered version of Revealing, with all the noodling & ambient stuff added, is a good argument against remastering the classics.

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