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

I feel like the reviews in the 1983 RS guide were worse than in the 1979 guide but can't find it?

Yep, CTTE and The Yes Album got five stars in the 1979 (red) edition, and no Yes album was awarded less than three stars. The entry was written by one Charley Walters who praises their “varied virtuosity,” calls CTTE “technically brilliant, many-hued and free…most importantly, it rocks,” and says of GFTO, “No new ground is broken…Nonetheless, it’s a more than adequate display.”

In the 1983 (blue) edition, no Yes record got more than three stars, and Tales, GFTO, Tormato, Drama, and Yesshows all got one star. Wayne King (whom I know little about, other than that he was a Who fanatic) wrote the entry, starting off with “Classical rockers with hearts of cold…” moving on to GFTO being “less an effective reduction of valid ideas than an admission of total artistic bankruptcy,” and ending with, “Who cared if the final product was now a bland assembly-line concoction? Apparently no one.”

So it’s a reversal from the red to blue edition similar to the Doors entries. I dunno how those decisions were made, or by whom (Dave Marsh? John Swenson? Both? Neither?). The only instance I can find of a negative-to-positive reappraisal is the Pere Ubu entries (one star in ‘79, four and five stars in ‘83).

Ah, yeah, thanks. Also found this, which is one I remember reading at the time.

Rating: 2.5 Stars
"Pointlessly intricate guitar and bass solos, caterwauling keyboards, quasi-mystical lyrics proclaimed in alien falsetto, acid-dipped album-cover illustrations: this British group wrote the book on art-rock excess...Close to the Edge has its moments, but most of this hotly anticipated follow-up is a monumental snore, a dubious hot-air suite whipped up around a handful of promising song fragments." (Mark Coleman, 1992 RS Album Guide)

Are there bass solos on that album? On "Siberian Khatru" maybe...?

Pointlessly intricate guitar and bass solos, caterwauling keyboards, quasi-mystical lyrics proclaimed in alien falsetto, acid-dipped album-cover illustrations

This makes it sound even better than it actually is!

The Wilson remix of relayer is better than the unpleasant rhino remaster but the original late 80s cd is even better (just turn up the volume)

had a dream the new album came out and I was reading a review that said "Yes have done it again". I'm still chuckling trying to figure out what that meant

It means "they got everybody yessed out again".

man the battle section in "Gates of Delirium" is still the craziest fucking thing this band has ever done

like even Magma doesn't go that hard

i don't at all want you to stop, but i feel like you're https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=110651#unread -ing yourself

dude. i can get yessed out totally sober! this is like yessssssed out

<3

From the time that Steve Howe joined Yes to when Bill Bruford left the band is pretty much a couple of years. Basically a year after Howe joined the band (May 70), Tony Kaye left and Rick Wakeman joined the band (July 71) then after finishing recording 'Close to the Edge' Bruford left (July 72) to join King Crimson.

The Yes Album
Fragile
Close to the Edge

Pretty impressive amount of work done.

I would like to formally apologize. upon some reflection I have come to the conclusion that Magma do indeed go that hard. I think what got me is listening to this with the sub on, there are these explosions during that section that rattled the pictures on the walls. I've never actually noticed them before

One of my favourite bits in the battle sequence is the emotive sequence that occurs at 9.20, and then again at 10.00; it somehow manages to be tender, grandiose and breakneck simultaneously.

Regarding their productivity, they made another three albums of original music between mid-72 and late 74, as well.

so I am finally giving Open Your Eyes another listen - it kind of surprises me that this album is universally shit on while Talk is mostly given a pass since they're both quite similar but something about the way the guitars and vocals are produced just irks my brain

it is funny to read some of the reviews complaining about the final track, this kind of "pad out the length of the CD" thing was pretty common in the late 90's, clearly you're not supposed to listen to it every time you play the album. though I suspect most people only listened to it once. I actually dig the surreal vibe, calm nature sounds suddenly punctuated by loud processed vocals, it's like the kind of shit we'd do to pass the time on the N64 when the games had a sound demo mode

by my count this is the 4th Yes album that began life as a different project...does any other band come close?

catching the swirling wind the sailor sees the rim of the land
the eagle's dancing wings create as weather spins out of hand
go closer hold the land feel partly no more than grains of sand

yes. . . . YES

has anyone here given The Quest a shot? I thought "The Ice Bridge" was a neat lead single, but the rest is uh...pretty boring. not as lethargic as Heaven & Earth but not as hooky either.

würm imo

Alan White has passed :(

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/alan-white-yes-and-john-lennon-drummer-dead-at-72/

Sad to hear this, he seemed to get a lot of criticism for basically not being Bill Bruford but his drumming on Topographic Oceans is one of the best things about that mess. He plays like a demon on Relayer too. RIP!

yeah his work on “sound chaser” is outstanding

The Yessongs versions of the Fragile/Close to the Edge songs have giant clanging balls compared to the studio versions, and it's because of White. And he had three days to learn the set list before the tour started!

alan white does a pretty good job for a guy who had to learn all these crazy difficult songs with limited-to-zero rehearsals

― covidiot wind, blowin every time you lift your mask (voodoo chili), Friday, October 16, 2020 10:31 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

what a guy, rip

sound chaser and especially awaken are two of the great prog songs and he played on both

played the hell out of them too

yeah I mean I love Bruford too but I thought White's less subtle/more powerful approach worked great

The Yessongs versions of the Fragile/Close to the Edge songs have giant clanging balls compared to the studio versions, and it's because of White.

― but also fuck you (unperson)

wait is this good? i mean, i know having a flaming gong is good, but i'm not sure if giant clanging balls are good or not.

Perhaps unperson was thinking of those crashing Chinese cymbals at the beginning of "The Ancient"?

When Bruford departed the group, Yes management gave his royalties from Close to the Edge to White, since Bruford would not be promoting the record. In recent years, White returned Bruford's royalties, which was a generous gesture (since, as people mention above, White had a lot of work to do on the tour).

back when you could actually earn decent money playing progressive rock!

always heard nice things about this guy. even in their later incarnations he seemed to be the one dude who just wanted to play the music.

not even waiting until late night, getting Yessed out right now. Going For The One

Ramshackled is way way down on my listening list.

If not now, when would I ever listen to this? Can it be worse than Story of I?

you can blame it on the butthole surfers to parter And all the sailors who were junkies, all
They all went sailing out to sea
And the white man sold quaaludes to the monkeys
And they all died high up in the trees

And all the teachers who were flunkies, now
They all taught you and me
And the goddamned white men still selling quaaludes to the monkeys
And they're all, you and me, dying high up in the trees https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y__6zG-equE

back when you could actually earn decent money playing progressive rock!

― frogbs

Yessongs and Relayer are amazing. RIP.

okay, Relayer it is. see y'all in space

Gates of Delirium just rips my head off every time I hear it. its like the Sistine Chapel of spacey, slightly homoerotic prog music. Alan White...you can hear the joy in the drums. I love this music so much.

his playing on Sound Chaser is really great too. so he doesn't do those polyrhythms or subtle jazz tapping that Bruford does. he still just rides on the cymbals and grounds the track from flying off into outer space

yeah he does an admirable job of tying that chaos together

I'm not a drum fill expert, but I think of Bruford as subdividing the individual measures into weird offbeats, and White going over the bar lines and doing longer and more flowing fills.

His brother Jack is now full of regret he didn't ask Alan to replace sister Meg.

l e a v e. I t

^

you took a break from smoking and suddenly the only Yes record you like is 90125

Uh no

I wish leave it was constructed a little better. Damn a capella

That’s the best part

When I bought Ultimate Yes (a 3xCD comp) I got a little guilty that “Leave It” was my favorite track

That’s the best part

Acapella bit on “Hold On” is my fave on that album

"Fly From Here : Return Trip" sounding so good on a Summer evening.