why late at night in the u.s. does ilm get all yessed out

http://yes.iq.pl/images/jade_sea.jpg

Caesar's Palace, morning glory, silly human silly human siillllyy huuuuuuman race....

http://www.doheth.co.uk/profiles/cbg.gif

I fucking love "Yours Is No Disgrace" so damn much. What a beautiful, beautiful song. Howe's playing on the whole Yes Album just blows me away.

I grew listening to WIOT out of Toledo, Ohio, and when 90120 came out they used to play "Our Song" all the time because it had that line "Toledo is just another stop along the good king's highway". Like, they actually thought it was about Toledo, Ohio!!

Yes fans jonesing for more YESSOUNDS should totally check out those two latter-day Os Mutantes LPs, by the way. When they got all progged-out. Total Yes homages.

I thought "yessed out" was some sort of cockney slang for "sucking it's own dick" or somethin'.

Your mention of the "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" video reminded me there was one version that had a guy with maggots crawling around on top of his closed eyelids. Did "Fear Factor" rip off this idea? I think MTV stopped showing that version.

i love yes. sometimes i'll be walking around and suddenly a bass line from some yes song will pop into my head and i'll be all excited.

would that ilm actually were a bit more yessed out.

One of my (many) large gaps of musical knowledge is rock of any variety from 1970-1985 or so.

Wobbly, if you're out there, tell your Jon Anderson at NAMM story . . .

best

Drew

at a booth that sells vocoder software there is a man earnestly saying in a silvery, elven speaking voice reminiscent of Glinda the Good Witch "no, no, NO, you don't understand. I want to make my computer-" and here he erupts into a shivery high melodious flutter "s-i-i-iing!" and it's HIM and he's singing the word "sing" in THAT Yes voice.

What is NAMM, anyway?

I just watched some of that DVD "The Future Is Wild", the cheezy computer animated forecast of what freakish species will dominate this planet in 200 million years. It was very Yessed out too, CGI supercontinent-formation footage and giant global oceans (topographic tales of .. .)

http://stat.discogs.com/R/262506-1103102672.jpg

Olias of Sunhillow Critical Edition, with commentary track guest starring the 'scientists' from The Future Is Wild

maybe a little like the trevor horn yes (or maybe i just wish it sounded more like trevor horn yes).

it's basically arp-heavy metronomic 1978 eurosynth cheese.

I always see a Dean landscape, or some Art Nouveau P. Craig Russell planet landscape whenever I listen to Yes. Except for Yes mach-90125 and onward.

related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN2b7-CDxYA

https://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2021/07/attachment-Air-Supply.jpg

Hover connections

an FB post today reminded me that Arc of Life (essentially, a bunch of the current Yes lineup without Howe or Downes but with Jimmy Haun) exists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbXXXP7mrgE

(it is not good at all. it makes Circus of Heaven sound like fucking Close to the Edge)

idk what it is about him but I just do not buy Jon Davison. he was fine with Glass Hammer, kinda charming actually like "awww they got their own Jon", but he's like the Temu Jon. yeah I'm sure he can do the "I get up I get down" part on CTTE pretty well but he doesn't have Jon's other vocal modes, and he certainly doesn't write songs like he does. he does write strange nonsequitur lyrics but not in a way that sticks in your head, he doesn't really sell it like other Jon, old Jon comes off like he's taken heroic doses of psychedelics in order to personally greet and befriend the machine elves, while new Jon just comes across like he's really into Jesus. just my opinion

yeah for that reason I prefer either of the two Trevors and even Benoit David to him.

I just wanna yell at him FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU DO like he's the Chunky

Circus of Heaven is awesome. This is my kinda pop song

happy 35th to UNION, an album that had its own subsection at the used cd store i frequented in college

Benoit was great. I don't know why they felt that Horn needed to re-do the vocals on Fly from Here.

I saw them twice on that tour in case anyone was mistaken that I was cool or something.

Xp

I think Horn felt like he wanted to redo the vocals so they let him. I think both versions are good.

There are also some good things on From A Page, the album that got aborted in favor of Fly From Here, including a different take on Into the Storm.

watched some old Yes footage late at night (of course), including some from the Drama tour. I don't think I'd ever seen any live footage of that, Horn and Downes just do not appear comfortable on any of the classic material, but they're basically fine. then they hit "Tempus Fugit" and it's totally killer. watching Horn mug for the camera is so odd, I mean you almost forget the fact that they just took in the Buggles wholesale like that. cool era for them, wish it had lasted.

after that watched some 2003 stuff...basically the classic lineup, and they are still very good, but you can kinda tell by their stage demeanor that they aren't really enjoying themselves. outside of Jon, who always is I suppose. amusingly in a few of these Jon would just come out in a t-shirt and hoodie which I think made Wakeman/Howe/Squire's outfits look even sillier. anyway at the end of "Siberian Khatru" they launched into a long jam session like they always did and it's pretty apparent none of them want to have a thing to do with what the other members were doing, Howe's just off in space, Wakeman waiting for it to be over, Squire's scowling at everybody, and Jon's just dutifully slapping the tambourine...weird times. but still a good performance overall.

This was very much the vibe I got from the Union tour, they were bored and didn't like playing together, very little enthusiasm, just dutifully cranking out the hits. Hard to overstate how much more lively and entertaining Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks were.

Does that weird crustacean-looking stage set from the Relayer tour give anyone else the ick?

xpost I dunno I saw them in NYC on that 2003 tour and they were on fire.

Good piece on ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yes-owner-of-a-lonely-heart/

Just found out there's a Steve Howe + Jon Anderson cover of Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. Not enough overdubbed-Anderson-choir on the verses, and too much soulless turn-of-the-century major-label-rock sheen everywhere, but still, it's pretty neat.

all complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

bear season 5 teaser episode makes the best use of "heart of the sunrise" i've heard since buffalo '66

the two songs out for the new album have to be the most unnecessary Yes songs ever. Just terrible

seeing this album in the record store is the real "Turnaround Situation"

so more like No

Just found out that Rhino is putting out a live 2CD/3LP next month with an official version of a very often bootlegged show from Jersey City 1976.

It's the Anderson/Howe/Moraz/Squire/White lineup, and this is the set list:

Apocalypse
Siberian Khatru
Sound Chaser
The Gates of Delirium
I've Seen All Good People
Long Distance Runaround
The Story of I (excerpt)
Clap
Olias of Sunhillow (excerpt)
Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)
Heart of the Sunrise
Roundabout
I'm Down (Beatles cover)

I'm pretty excited for this.

The "Gates of Delirium" on Yesshows, recorded a month later, is one of the only live Yes things that I return to. I'd be curious to hear what Moraz does with the earlier songs but really I'd trade any of them for a version of "To Be Over".
Interesting that Squire doesn't have a feature from Fish Out of Water here.

I gave the version of Roundabout from that show a listen since it's out as a preview track and it's really great! Sound quality is not exactly superb but it didn't bother me that much as an archive recording. I then went an listened to a few other live versions of Roundabout: one from the newest lineup's most recent live release, which was so slow and plodding and terrible I couldn't finish it; one from their 2003 Glastonbury set, which wasn't bad; and weirdly, my favorite was on the AWR live release (which seems to now be tagged as "Yes" in Apple Music) which had a lot of new life and energy. It made me realize I'd be happier with AWR existing as Yes these days than the current Yes.

Sound quality is not exactly superb but it didn't bother me that much as an archive recording.

It was originally recorded for radio broadcast and sounds like it; it's hissy and trebley and tightly compressed. But the performance is insane. I feel like those Relayer tracks are gonna sound like Agharta or something.

anyone else gonna brave the new album with me?

Nope.

so far my main impression is that it sounds awful - it's one of those albums you can tell was mostly completed over DropBox, where none of the elements seem to gel and its got this dull lifeless sound to it, outside of the orchestral bits. if I didn't know better I'd suspect it was AI-generated, not just because of the compositions (which feel like they're just stringing things together) but also because of what sounds like a bunch of digital sludge (especially on the drums, which sound particularly bad), or maybe because they're using a lot of flat digital reverb, or maybe it's new Jon, who sings everything the same way and also writes such bizarrely generic lyrics. amusingly the long track has the line "In the age of AI, there goes you and I"...wtf ???

lotta little runs by Howe and Downes here, occasionally on time with the music in fact. Howe sounds like he's lost a step but some of his playing is decent. Downes is still using his presets from his Asia days. kinda wonder who is really at the wheel here. is it new Jon?

only track I kinda liked is "Jambustin" mostly because its so fuckin stupid, "Don't Kill the Whale" heads can rejoice

Got about halfway through some 14 minute track called Countermovement and bailed, and that's me done with the new Yes album. Not that I had any expectations for it. Why does this record even exist? An excuse for touring I guess, I'm not sensing a vast enthusiasm for the music.

it's abysmal. even the last two Davidson albums were better than this. Really surprised to see people online saying it's their favorite of his run. I think this beats Heaven and Earth for the slot of 'worst Yes album ever'

more auto tune than a T-Pain album

I basically dropped out of listening to new Yes music with Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe, which isn't even that bad in retrospect (though some is very bad). I'm very cautiously dipping my toes into the records I've missed, starting with the Keys to Ascension releases, which could have provided an enjoyable LP-length studio release. Probably The Ladder is next for me. I may get to Aurora in the 2050s maybe.

I'm out after 90125, which I kind of like against my better judgement but it's not really Yes anyway if you ask me. Don't think I've even heard Big Generator all the way through, best to focus on the good stuff rather than the warmed-over attempts to recapture former glories (and make some $$$).

even the last two Davidson albums were better than this.

I haven't listened to the new one yet, but I liked Mirror To The Sky.

the only post 90125 stuff I ever listen to on a regular basis are a handful of songs off Generator and ABWH, and all of Fly From Here, which is really very good.

They premiered Big Generator on the syndicated radio call-in show Rockline, when they played the title track I thought, "oh, that's funny, they put in a bit of the 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' bassline as a humorous callback". Then I realized with horror that's the actual bassline.

I'm very cautiously dipping my toes into the records I've missed

Try Magnification (the 2001 album they made with an orchestra). I like it.

yeah that one is pretty good too, I dont' listen to it very often but it's better than Talk and Open Your Eyes which you can just skip

My boss has a copy of that signed by the guy who did the arrangements.

The Ladder has some good stuff on it - the opening track definitely has a full-throated "Yes is BACK!" feel to it in the chorus at least. Magnification is pretty good as well. Fly From Here ain't quite Drama, but it's decent. The Davison albums you could pretty comfortably write out of Yes history however. as bad as Heaven & Earth was at least that one had some hooks on it, I can still remember how half the tunes go, while the last three are completely indistinguishable from one another. Yes have certainly had their ups and downs but they never made the same album twice, even the Rabin albums all sound pretty distinct to me.

Probably The Ladder is next for me

the ladder is really good! there are a few duds, but the two epics -- "homeworld" and "new languages" -- completely rule. "face to face" and "to be alive" are decent prog-pop, and "nine voices" is as fine a latter-day closer as they've ever recorded, up there with "take the water to the mountain" and "into the storm." and there is no talking me out of my theory that "lightning strikes" inspired anco's merriweather post pavilion

and frogbs you are doing hero work taking the bullet for us with aurora. i'm pretty much done with 'the davison era'

only track I kinda liked is "Jambustin" mostly because its so fuckin stupid, "Don't Kill the Whale" heads can rejoice

Okay, you've got my attention

qualmsley, you too! Haven't tried The Ladder yet (or almost any actual Yes -- been so happy with Olias, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Tormato for now)

Don't Kill the Whale is a great song

You've gotta dig it (dig it)

There's so many fun solo albums and offshoots that I won't be listening to those post-Jon albums any time soon.