Favorite YES Album, and Why
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Topic: Favorite YES Album, and Why
Posted By: MikeDupont
Subject: Favorite YES Album, and Why
Date Posted: June 20 2008 at 20:16
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There probably has been another thread like this before, and if so, I apologize, but i'de like to make another one. So yes...whats your favorite yes album? Of course the name or albums are not knew to anyone, but because the bands diskography is HUGE! there are plenty of albums to choose from....of course I expect most people will pick Close To The Edge, and thats fine for it is a good ablum...but I think many of the other albums are equally as inventive....I have difficulty but I would honestly have to say Tails from Topographic Oceans is my favorite. Relayer is also great.... So whats your favorite? and why? P.S. If your only going to post to point out that this post has been posted a thousand time before, THAN PLZ DONT POST AT ALL! |
Replies:
Posted By: Hawkwise
Date Posted: June 20 2008 at 20:56
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Guess this has been done to death and i am shore , i wont be the only one to point it out, anyway Fragile for me but then again ask me on another day may well be a different answer ------------- 
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Posted By: grahawk
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 02:34
| Drama - the only one that is consistently good throughout. |
Posted By: peskypesky
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 02:52
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"Going For The One"
I think every song is absolutely perfect. You have three energy-packed, hard rocking songs (Going for the One, Parallels, Awaken) and two exquisitely beautiful, delicate songs (Turn of the Century, Wondrous Stories). I don't think Yes ever soared as high and majestically as they do on this album. And every band member delivers masterfully. If I'm going to a desert island and can take only one Yes album, it's definitely "Going For The One". |
Posted By: Jack-in-the-Green
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 04:49
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"Close to the Edge"
Although the songs are really long they are not boring at all. ------------- Sorry if i have spelling mistakes, english is not my mother tongue. 
http://www.last.fm/user/grumfossil |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 09:09
I guess those would be lobster tails, then?
 If you put a gun to my head I would also answer TFTO, but I probably can't choose from among that, Close to the Edge, and Relayer as to what my favorite is. The Yes Album, Fragile, and Going for the One are not far behind.
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MikeDupont wrote:Posted By: jammun
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 14:26
| For me, Fragile, no question. The four core songs are unmatched in Yes's discography. |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 14:39
Fragile, because it's the only one I've heard in full.  (this is no joke)
------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: cohen34
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 18:30
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Def. Fragile! Equal parts prog and rock without being too excessive. The charming individual pieces really add character to the album and Chris Squire's bass is incredible.
------------- Life is short, the art is long - Hippocrates |
Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 18:47
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Here's my list:
#1 The Yes Album(the one that took me into Yes, it'll never leave #1) #2 Relayer (this album has been trying to rise up from #10 to #2! and well deserved it has) #3 Drama (as well as Relayer, but this is an overlooked one. Steve Howe being the mastermind here, as much as Relayer) #4 Fragile (a real masterpiece of prog) #5 Time and a Word (this album is very Hammond oriented, and you know I LOVE the Hammond!) #6 CTTE (another masterpiece, though never been a fave as GFTO) #7 Yes (the debut as much as Time and a Word, it has the Hammond and some great melodies though not fully prog) #8 TFTO (experimental, but still I like it. Disc 1 deserves all the credit, while disc 2 has the masterpiece of Nous Sommes Du Solei) #9 Magnification (Time and a Word pt2. Again the orchestra gives a special touch) #10 GFTO (I'm starting to like it, but not love it, it's very classic era oriented, CTTE, Fragile) I've heard the rest but they don't deserve place in my list. While The Ladder is good and Keystudio has excellent material, they don't have as much plays as the ones from my list) |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 18:53
| Topographic Oceans. For me it is Yes at their peak creatively. But I like all of their albums up through Drama. |
Posted By: febus
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 20:49
Very simple........YESSONGS ..
....You get the whole CTTE and almost everything, the most important tracks from FRAGILE and THE YES ALBUM. These live versions are even better than then originals played more powerfully by a band at its peak.
......Add the beautiful cover artwork and welcome to YESworld!
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Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 20:51
^Pretty damn right. But I'm not always up to live material, I highly prefer the cleaner sound of studio. But no doubt Yessongs is a masterpiece of Live perfomances. 
It's just missing South Side of the Sky... |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: June 21 2008 at 21:03
Enh...I don't care for Alan White doing Bruford's parts, for example I really don't care for the version of "Heart of the Sunrise". |
Posted By: BroSpence
Date Posted: June 22 2008 at 01:49
| For me its their wonderful, and generally not as well liked second album. Time and a Word. Peter Banks and Tony Kaye were awesome. The songs were well done. After having only known the Howe/Wakeman Yes for years and then hearing this and their debut I was very intrigued and amazed at the difference in style. Although not completely different, but Banks/Kaye had a much different quality than Howe/Wakeman. Howe seemed to emulate Banks a bit, but in his own way when he joined. Those first two albums are just as great as any of the other Yes outings. I like Everydays and the Prophet quite a bit. |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: June 22 2008 at 02:12
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For me ,Going For The One...
This is where I feel they peaked just after Relayer. Musically and Lyrically the album is flawless
Closely followed by Yessongs and TFTO ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Weston
Date Posted: June 22 2008 at 16:45
| Close to the Edge is my favorite Yes album, but Awaken is my favorite Yes song. So it would have to be etierh CttE or GftO. But darn it, I like Tales too. Not gonna part with any of them. |
Posted By: Sacred 22
Date Posted: June 22 2008 at 19:47
For me I love all the music they did up to and including Drama and even some of the pop stuff they did. I also enjoy the new material that spawned from them getting together for Keys to Ascention and then the last effort put forth in Magnification. An amazing band that is almost like a camelion. So much talent, so much diversity and resolve. They remain as the pinnicle of Progressive Rock to me. I tip my hat to them and thank them for what they have given us. 
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Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: June 22 2008 at 20:10
Yeah Time and a Word ROCKS! Not that of a Prog Masterpiece, but it's an excellent album. Tony Kaye is at he's best with his Hammond. Indeed a masterful album. Can't say it's up to the Howe material or Wakeman's. Still Time and a Word and the debut are excellent on their own way, very different from Fragile in forward, but The Yes Album is much like those two, though even refined more with Howe. I love the whole album! |
Posted By: peskypesky
Date Posted: June 23 2008 at 00:57
I'm with you on this. Although I wrote them off when the Rabin era began, I did secretly like "90125". But by then I'd become a devoted fan of punk, and then later, of indie rock. I turned my back on Yes and never bought another album by them (and never heard anything after the hits from "Big Generator"). I also passed up countless chances to see them live, Now, all these years later, I'm finally getting around to listening to all the later stuff (which there's quite a lot of). And believe it or not, I'm actually liking MOST of what I'm hearing, even from albums like "Open Your Eyes" , "Union", and "Talk"! Sure, some of the Rabin stuff gets TOO mainstream, but there always seems to be some great passages and great playing on all the albums. So, call me a fan-boy, but I'm starting to think they never released a "bad" album. |
Posted By: Norbert
Date Posted: June 24 2008 at 13:40
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Tales from Topographic Oceans. Incredibly beautiful music to my ears. But any '70s Yes album is a wonderful listening.  |
Posted By: spookytooth
Date Posted: June 24 2008 at 14:09
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With the exception of Union and some others, I like just about everything Yes did. I even like their pop stuff, and I thought 90125 was a great album. Their best album, though, has to be Close to the Edge. Everything on Close to the Edge is perfect. Fragile comes second. Actually, let me just make a list: 1. Close To The Edge 2. Fragile 3. The Yes Album 4. Going For The One 5. Relayer 6. Drama 7. Tales From Topographic Oceans 8. Talk 9. 90125 10. Keys To Ascension (mostly live, but the two studio tracks are good) Close to the Edge is my favorite album. The musicianship is top-notch, and the music they play on the album is challenging and beautiful. Some people don't like the fact that they only have three songs and all of them are fairly long, but I don't mind. Their long songs are great (although their next album, Tales, had four 20+ minute songs that kind of became annoying after a bit, but it was still a great album). Plus, this was their last album with Bill Bruford, one of my favorite drummers ever... ------------- 
Would you like some Bailey's? |
Posted By: Roj
Date Posted: July 03 2008 at 03:50
It has to be Going For The One as the ultimate Yes album. A mixture of beautiful celestial music and complete overblown pomposity. I love it all, especially Awaken, which has to be one of the very best prog epics. The church organ, the soaring vocals, still sends a shiver down my spine. Also, excellent production on this one too.
Cheers.
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Posted By: poslednijat_colobar
Date Posted: July 22 2008 at 15:46
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I love the long compositions,but they are from different albums.Maybe Going for the One is my favourite,because it is very completely in terms of ideas.But Relayer and Close to the Edge are masterpieces as well. |
Posted By: TGM: Orb
Date Posted: July 22 2008 at 15:56
| Close To The Edge. Incredible rhythm section, great lyrical content, real mystique and more focus than Tales. |
Posted By: inrainbows
Date Posted: July 22 2008 at 16:18
Same here, i totally agree. Close to the Edge , comes first ------------- 
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Posted By: Dirk
Date Posted: July 23 2008 at 11:46
| Close to the edge because the title song is such a truly great composition. |
Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: July 24 2008 at 13:46
------------- |
Posted By: ziggystardust360
Date Posted: July 24 2008 at 13:58
i'll third that. ------------- ''I always had the repulsive need to be something other than human''-David Bowie |
Posted By: Queen By-Tor
Date Posted: July 24 2008 at 15:21
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A tie between CTTE and GFTO. CttE has that great mysterious feeling to it with Howe's excellent riffing on every song and Squire playing th ehell out of his bass, same with GFTO - except different. I like the bluntness of GFTO and the really blues inspired direction they took while still holding on to prominent synths. Awaken remains one of the top Yes songs in my book |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: July 24 2008 at 16:16
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I'm happily surprised that Going For The One is so popular in this thread. That would also be my choice, maybe not as radically innovating as some of the earlier albums, but IMHO everything Yes stands for comes together on this album: power, beauty, grandeur, creativity, attention to detail... |
Posted By: HaroldLand
Date Posted: July 27 2008 at 17:42
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such a difficult question.
the yes album got me into yes, and close to the edge made me a committed lifelong fan. now after about two years of absence from yes, i've been listening to relayer and tales non-stop, and can't get enough. in fact, the revealing science of god is playing right now. this is why yes is so amazing. you can keep coming back to them and finding new things in their music you never heard before. i had a massive going for the one phase, and i've even been through a heavy tormato phase (still keep it on moderate rotation—it's a *fine* album) but as for the question at hand, i'll have to answer with tales from topographic oceans. there is just so much there, so much of that essential yes sound. the wakeman/howe/white combination is, imo, the very essence of yes. and of course squire and anderson just go without saying. so many beautiful, diverse parts, and yet the album retains a certain satisfying coherence that makes each song its own piece, and not just a mish-mash of indulgent solos and symphonic movements that a lot of its critics will have you believe that's all it is. this is most definitely not an album everyone will love from the first listen, but it ages, and ripens, and whether you prefer a whisky or fruit analogy, it just gets better and better over time. |
Posted By: Hjemland
Date Posted: July 28 2008 at 08:29
| Close to the Edge for me, it was the firs Yes album I listen to and whenever I want to listen to a Yes album I normally turn to Close to the Edge. |
Posted By: Alberto Muñoz
Date Posted: July 28 2008 at 12:46
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Well for me i have two candidates of favorite Yes Album:
1. Fragile, these is my first choice i think this album has everything about the prog listener needs to hear about the world of Yes, nice long "semi epic" structures like "South Side of The Sky "and "Heart of the Sunrise " and short, precise and beatiful songs like "We have Heaven", "Cans and Brahms" and "Five Per Cent to Nothing" the first Rogen Dean cover and also one of my favourites and 1971 what else do you need??
2. The second i think is Close To The Edge this is an album for a advanced Yes listener, with only 3 songs but that cover the entire world of Yes, the splendid title track, the rocking "Siberian Kathru" and of course the long semi pastoral "And You And I", if you like these two you can go for the nexts and previous albums. -------------  |
Posted By: Carouselambra
Date Posted: August 04 2008 at 06:46
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Close To The Edge was the 2nd prog album i really got into (after 2112) and it totally blew me away, so ive got a definite soft spot for it. However in terms of musicianship and sinergy i think the whole band just fires unlike on any of their other albums;brufords drumming and squires bass are incredible throughout.
fragile comes a very close second, but i think the solo pieces affect the overall flow of the album; it just sounds a bit fussy;but stuff like heart of the sunrise, roundabout and south side of the sky are absolutely awesome.
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Posted By: The Doctor
Date Posted: August 04 2008 at 06:59
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1. Big Generator
2. Union
3. Open Your Eyes
 1. TFTO
2. GFTO
3. CTTE
4. Drama
5. Fragile
6. The Yes Album
7. 90125
8. Keys to Ascension I and II (the studio stuff)
9. Talk
10. Time and a Word
------------- I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you? |
Posted By: Tristan Campbell
Date Posted: August 17 2008 at 06:40
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Mine would have to be Fragile because it is just so groovy. Siberian Khantru comes close but it can't beat that driving Rickenbacker sound on Roundabout. I would really like some help if someone can suggest some other stuff that is groovy like that. I have tried Flower Kings' 'Unfold The Future'. It does have some sweet bass but it seems a bit corny to me, in particular the lyrics. I have also tried Santana's Caravanserai which is good but not rock enough for me. |
Posted By: Foxtrottresspass
Date Posted: August 22 2008 at 13:20
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For me it was always Close to the Edge. The sound of a waterfall and a river contrast with the power cords of a guitar.......yin, yang......no one has touched it since. Rush came close with 2112.
But then on some days I just need the pipe organs of Going for the One, (gimme more pipe organ!).
But lately it has been Magnification and Mind Drive from the Keys to Ascension albums.
Then there is Time and a Word. The re-release sounded so good to hear again.
I know, it is so difficult!
------------- "I hope that all those that are dear to me, know of all that wasn't clear to me.....one day! Unitopia 
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Posted By: Nowhere Man
Date Posted: August 24 2008 at 14:50
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Fragile. Even though I already had Close To The Edge and Relayer and liked them both, I didn't really consider myself a true fan of Yes until this album. When I first listening to it, I was amazed by how good it was.
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Posted By: Dim
Date Posted: August 24 2008 at 17:12
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Does Yessongs count? ------------- 
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Posted By: martinprog77
Date Posted: August 25 2008 at 06:39
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Favorite YES Album Magnification
Why just listen to it,is impossible to describe it with words ------------- Nothing can last there are no second chances. Never give a day away. Always live for today. |
Posted By: imnotfashioned
Date Posted: August 25 2008 at 07:50
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CLOSE TO THE EDGE because is the best:) ------------- positive vibrations |