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Are The Yes Album, CttE and GftO the best 3 of Yes
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ObeisantBread84 View Drop Down
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Points: 27 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ObeisantBread84 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2024 at 05:45
My Personal 3 favorite yes albums are Fragile, CTTE and Relayer. The yes album is probably a good fourth place. I never really personally enjoyed GFTO that much though. It is sort of tied with Tormato for my least favorite out of the original 11 yes albums. Let me go into why I love each of these yes albums.

Fragile:
My favorite yes album, and easily in my top 10 albums ever. This is an experience of prog that cannot be missed. From the energetic Roundabout al the way to the emotional and climactic Heart of the Sunrise, this album takes you on a flurry of emotions and adventures. Cans and Brahms takes some time to grow on you but is a phenomenal song once you get it, We Have Heaven is super catchy and fades nicely into South side of the Sky (plus the reprise at the end is super cool). The aforementioned South Side of the Sky is a phenomenal Prog masterpiece, then you get the poppier Long Distance Runaround, the Fan-Favorite Fish, the incredible Guitar picking on mood for a day (probably my favorite of the shorter tracks) before finishing with Heart of the Sunrise. What a fantastic album I love every second of it.

CTTE:
This album is the single highest rated prog album ever. And it sort of makes sense. The title track is arguably the best song yes ever did, AYAI has a great ethereal Riff, and Siberian Khatru... Exists.. Just a phenomenal experience through and through

Relayer:
The last 5 minutes of Gates of Delerium are some of the best 5 minutes in all of prog. It is transcendent, emotional, moving, and powerful. Even if I think CTTE is an overall better album for having a better long track, Relayer probably has a better B side, with that funny moment where Jon goes "cha cha cha cha cha" Just amazing even if it isn't as good as the other two.

TLDR: I love yes
Sincerely, Bread
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richardh View Drop Down
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Points: 29372 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2024 at 20:01
Originally posted by mrawjm mrawjm wrote:

Imo, Yes were plugged into the ether/creativity most for:

Going for the One
Relayer
Close to the Edge

You could argue Fragile for the direction it was going.

Tales was inspired too but would have benefitted from being a whole band album rather than being written only by Jon and Steve.

I agree about Tales , certainly has many great moments and wonderful melodies but whenever Wakeman comes in it just feels tacked on. Alan White was a great rock drummer but not so good as Bruford at filling space. Chris makes everything sound better and his tone is as good as ever so maybe not so much lost there.
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Mishkou View Drop Down
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Points: 67 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Mishkou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 24 2024 at 01:42
The Yes Album * Close to the Edge * Going for the One? the best 3?
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richardh View Drop Down
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Points: 29372 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 25 2024 at 00:43
maybe we can break it down into eras of the band
Proto Yes (first 3) 
Classic Yes (Fragile to Drama)
Rabin Era 
Neo Yes 
Pastiche Yes
I still think that Kaye had to leave for the band to shake off its hippy trippy beginnings and become a fully functioning classic prog band. The Yes album is therefore a transtion album for me albeit that it's still very good. After Drama they become something different for a while (Rabin Era) before circling back to the classic traditional Yes sound for the Ladder and Keys studio stuff (''Neo Yes''), before we then we have all the later 'Yes pastiche' albums. I think my point is that GGTO doesn't take the band any further forward so perhaps some weight could be given to 90125 (the peak of commercial radio orientated Yes) and The Ladder (nicely rounded if not that inspired Yes). I've thought long about this for many seventies bands that were just treading water after their earlier ground breaking releases. Yes fit this idea as well as any. Progressive Rock in all its high filuting pomposity is certainly well represented by GFTO but I'm not hearing anything new in terms of ideas.
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BasedProgger View Drop Down
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Points: 73 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BasedProgger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2025 at 15:48
Drama should be it's own era (Buggles era?) and I consider "The Yes Album" classic Yes (when Steve Howe joined and the band figured out their sound, although I get why it could be seen as a proto album, no Rick Wakeman keyboards or Roger Dean cover art yet) but otherwise I agree.

As for the best 3 of Yes, in my opinion, "Close to the Edge", "Relayer", and one of the 1971 albums.
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Jaketejas View Drop Down
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Points: 2149 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jaketejas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2025 at 22:45
I’d have to change the 3 to a 5 and say negative.

The Yes Album
90125
Fragile
Close to the Edge
Drama

Wish we had more of The Buggles version.
Yes has changed as much as the mighty morphing King Crimson.

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BasedProgger View Drop Down
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Points: 73 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BasedProgger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2025 at 09:28
For a band like Yes, it's easier to come up with a best 5 or even best 4. "The Yes Album", "Fragile", and "Close to the Edge" are often thought of as the best three, I'd include "Relayer" too. It really depends on the band. In the case of King Crimson, Court, Larks, and Red are generally agreed upon the best 3 (though some may substitute Larks for Discipline). But seriously can we all agree all the classic Yes albums are good (with the possible exception of Tormato)?

I'm not sure what direction Yes would have taken if Horn and Downes stayed in Yes. Maybe their breakup needed to happen.

>Yes has changed as much as the mighty morphing King Crimson
Lineup-wise yes, but not initially. Sonically, not entirely sure but I don't think so.
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