All YES Appreciation Thread

J-Man wrote: What are your thoughts about Tony Kaye? I really think he is a horrible keyboard player, and I have various stories to share as to why, if you're interested. What do you guys think of him?

He was competent.  He was hardly exceptional.  His greatest claim to fame is probably that back in the early days he was more willing to give us some fast, swirling finger action than most other keyboardists.  Oh, and he was rather deeply involved in composing most of the Big Generator material.  (I consider that a plus, but you may not.)

ghost_of_morphy wrote: progkidjoel wrote: ^^ Well said... As far as Wakeman goes on Keyboards, I'd actually say TFTO is his true pinnacle with YES. Actually I'd call that a mediocre effort, but that's mostly for the laziness on Revealing.  The Remembering and The Ancient are quite good for Rick, and Ritual is average.

Actually I can't agree that the Wakeman's playing of Revealing is "lazy" per se, unless you know something I don't.  I love the sounds, the orchestration of them.  As for the speed and virtuosity of things, maybe it just wasn't appropriate to the piece to go to those lengths.  Thoughts?

I will tell you this though.  I have the dubious distinction of having in my collection a bootleg from their tour after the release of TfTO.  It's called "Tales from Madison Square Garden" and was recorded there in February of 1974.  The show was simply that record and goodnight (man how I wish I could have been there for that!).  I have to say that it sounds like Wakeman couldn't or didn't remember much of it, even The Revealing in the parts he presumably wrote himself.  He literally hangs on chords as if trying to remember what comes next, then sometimes gets the next chord wrong.  Oof.  I know it's a tough cookie that symphony of rock, but no one else has this problem (maybe White fouls up a thing or two, but he gets a pass since he just joined, and besides which anyone who can ably walk into that band at that point in their output deserves kudos).

I thought Rick's work on Tales actually helped hold a lot of that album together. Even if he doesn't like it as much as he likes other albums (he's said that there's a single album worth of great material in the album). The variety of keyboard textures and playing styles was probably never bettered by himself. Funny that he disparages much of the album...

progkidjoel wrote: XunknownX wrote: ...from where does some get their opinions, their asses?  If you don't understand prog - don't post and don't register. Sorry if you want this site to only be available only to those with a massive knowledge of prog and incredibly reserved opinions, but it ain't gonna happen. This thread is for discussing YES - Not for you to put down other people's opinions. I doubt anyone came in to PA with a fully developed understanding of prog, and some members develop their understanding and appreciation at different speeds to others. -Joel

Quite right too!!!!

I came here years back listening to Kansas, Yes, Rush, and Pink Floyd.  I think that's about it, in terms of "prog" bands. 

I may have four stars by my name, but I'm still a big fat newb.

How much you know isn't important. Not at all. I know a ton about music and about prog but who cares? What does that matter? It's just because I listen to music and love so many kinds. People all love different kinds of music. Prog is NOT my preferred genre though I, strangely, listen to a lot of it. I listen to indie rock, classic rock, some rap, punk, funk, soul, jazz, and classical. But who cares? That doesn't make me any better of a person. I'd rather know a kind hearted musically ignorant person than I would an a****le who knew everything.

Sigh, let's get back from claiming that we are all newbs and discuss the greatest band of all time, Yes!  I'll just throw this out there to get things going. 

ghost_of_morphy wrote: American Khatru wrote: I came here with a very good knowledge of prog, or so I thought.  Now I can say I know prog much better, because I have seen the light.  Rock Progressivo Italiano!!! Nice job everyone. Agrees that RPI is quite enlighterning.  But Yes is still the standard by which all else is compared.

I am helpless but to agree.  I tuned into Yes at such a very young age, it's as if they formed much of my musical thinking.  They made my mind available to the better musics in the world - not just other great prog bands but the interesting ones in "regular" rock and in jazz, the demanding composers of classical/romantic, the heights of opera, the loamy but mind-opening musics of the eastern classical traditions, even the more "expensive" of the cumbias of the Americas.  I didn't know it as a little kid, but by taking a steady diet of especially The Yes Album through Tales, I was training myself to handle long forms, and to demand interest from my music.  Three cheers for Yes!

American Khatru wrote: ghost_of_morphy wrote: American Khatru wrote: I came here with a very good knowledge of prog, or so I thought.  Now I can say I know prog much better, because I have seen the light.  Rock Progressivo Italiano!!! Nice job everyone. Agrees that RPI is quite enlighterning.  But Yes is still the standard by which all else is compared. I am helpless but to agree.  I tuned into Yes at such a very young age, it's as if they formed much of my musical thinking.  They made my mind available to the better musics in the world - not just other great prog bands but the interesting ones in "regular" rock and in jazz, the demanding composers of classical/romantic, the heights of opera, the loamy but mind-opening musics of the eastern classical traditions, even the more "expensive" of the cumbias of the Americas.  I didn't know it as a little kid, but by taking a steady diet of especially The Yes Album through Tales, I was training myself to handle long forms, and to demand interest from my music.  Three cheers for Yes!

progkidjoel wrote: ^^ Same here - I'm 15, and I've been listening to YES for longer than I can remember. They're still the only Prog Band I've seen live, and as you said, they've also formed a majority of my musical thinking! THREE CHEERS FOR YES!

Joel, your a young man after my heart (old expression).  It gives me a nice feeling to see someone your age in here, perhaps not so different from myself in your excitement over music.

Thinking about you, and about ghost_of_morphy saying "Yes is still the standard by which all else is compared"...  Lately I'm reading Mann's The Magic Mountain (the Woods translation).  I hit on a little passage.  I'm not saying it bears entirely or directly, but nearly.  It turned me to think of my own young self (formative years, younger even than 15), and to connect right to the taking in of standards-making artworks; to reflecting and remembering what it was like to be alive and young, awareness just flowering, and to have, luckily and perhaps even wisely, surrounded myself as best I could with beautiful sound.

"[T]he perceptions gained by his own calm, alert child's eye were much the same -- unspoken and therefore uncritical perceptions, though enthusiastic for all that, which when they later became conscious memories retained their exclusively positive stamp, immune to all discussion or analysis."