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

"Going For The One" totally rules, why did I ever sell this? I remember an old old friend trying to get me into this record when we were kids in 1977, I was ten and had no idea what to make of it. he called it "hard rock" lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0dS7JYurPY

had never seen this before, pretty cool, but please skip to 2:20 to witness Jon Anderson as a chess piece asking to be moved to any black square

of all the guys you'd think would know the rules of chess

This is awesome!

of all the guys you'd think would know the rules of chess

lol so apparently jon anderson is a white bishop, except there's already a white bishop on a black square. and then after jon moves, black gets skipped and has its knight taken. the white queen should now be taken by the black bishop, but gets yet another turn to scoot

oh wait, that black knight wasn't taken, just like . . . sent away for a bit. now it's back, and moving like a bishop

very unorthodox strategy, especially the rare Hammond Rush Attack

yessed out and chessed out #onethread

also tony kaye should have kept the beard

It's all a travesty, the song's about a game of checkers!

here's a fun prog DJ moment - there's a bit in Fermented Hours by Wobbler which imitates the big church organ middle section in Close to the Edge. I stitched em together and some old guy at the bar said "oh NOW we're talkin"

Old guy at the bar otm

The 1994 album Talk, out of print forever because it was on an indie label that went out of business basically the week the record was released, is being reissued soon, both on its own and as a 4CD box also containing a disc of outtakes and a complete live concert from 1994.

I ranked it pretty high (#12 out of 33) when I reviewed all their albums for Stereogum in 2015; here's what I said:

The final album by the version of Yes that made 90125, Big Generator, and contributed to Union, Talk is actually a better-than-decent melodic rock record for much of its running time. Guitarist Trevor Rabin unplugs some of his pedals and sounds more like Steve Howe than he ever has; the songs are straightforward, but don't seem as cravenly aimed at the radio as they were on Union. Indeed, this was the record on which Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin finally started to work well together, each man's vision for the group fitting together with the other's. In some ways, the album recalls Rush's Counterparts -- a veteran band exploring modern ideas, in a somewhat stripped-down way, without losing their grip on their own identities. The final track, "The Endless Dream," is where Talk becomes essential listening for serious Yes fans, though. It runs nearly 16 minutes, and perfectly bridges the gap between their 1970s glory years and their poppier work of the '80s and '90s. It's got the epic sweep and meditative beauty of Close To The Edge, with occasional outbursts of high-tech energy and some atmospheric yet aggressive guitar from Rabin.

This was the first Yes album not to appear on a major label -- after two decades with Atco, they shifted to Arista for Union, but Talk was released on the comparatively tiny Victory Music imprint, which went bankrupt soon after, sending it out of print. So it's kind of the "forgotten" Yes album. Too bad, since it's their best 1990s release.

that's cool, definitely one I think I need to revisit - my recollection is that it sounds like Yes with Trevor Rabin, as opposed to 90125 and Big Generator which are more like Trevor Rabin with Yes. I do remember the songs being good but mostly too long. But I still listen to "Where Will You Be?" a lot, its such a pretty song, exactly what I hoped Jon's solo records would sound like (and maybe they do, I only really know Olias). interested in the live stuff as well, I actually have no clue what this version of the band sounded like live

also nice it's coming out on vinyl, for some reason copies of this are very expensive, must not have been a lot pressed. original edition was a single LP which is pretty ambitious for a 55 minute album. might actually be the only Yes studio album that's difficult to get on wax. I thought Union might be too but it's not really. though it was also originally pressed as a single LP and this one's 60 minutes. that's getting into Todd Rundgren territory. maybe they didn't think anyone would actually listen to it.

this is a bewildering release to me, I can't imagine there is much if any demand for it beyond the vinyl. But I hate this album, I think this and Open Your Eyes are their absolute nadir (until Heaven and Earth); some of this is circumstantial, as I first heard it while working a contract job for 3 months for these two guys who were absolute assholes with shit music taste, and one of them would play this album first thing in the morning in our basically empty office at ear-splitting volume.

I don't know if there's demand for anything anymore, but considering how long it's been out of print, I'm sure there's a subset of Yes fans who'll be thrilled to own a copy. I listened to it again yesterday and my original opinion holds up — I'm into it. Had it been force-fed to me at the time, I could easily see turning against it, though.

Never heard this one. I bet True Yes Fans took one look at the new logo and fainted.
I wonder if this means that Tin Machine II, also a victim of Victory Music, will return sometime soon.

tin machine 2 got a vinyl reissue a few years back somehow.

anyway, reading on wiki again about the recording of Talk is kind of a trip as it was tracked to like, Mac SEs or something, with software that was being written at the time. They needed 27 mics to capture the drums and it wound up taking up 34GB of uncompressed space which is something, considering everything was stored on dynatec hard drives which were like, 8 GB and probably cost a trillion dollars. Early digital recording like this sounds like more hassle than it was worth.

“So the story goes…”

listens to leave it

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71B9r8ZqkbL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

im reading this book and its so weird and nerdy i kind of love it - but album still sucks

Kevin Mulryne's YES podcasts are great, nerdy fun to listen to.

I've come around to a lot of Tormato, but the album sounds fucking awful.

sucks bcz oliver's dad was very reinstated 👎🏽

yes i am still salty abt how moraz was treated lol

Didn’t know about the Mulryne podcast but nearly jumped through the roof seeing that there’s an 8 part episode on Tales From Topographic Oceans which is a top 10 of all time for me — but then whoever starts talking about 15 minutes in about the progression from Close to the Edge to Awaken starts going on and on about how he can’t remember a single note from The Remembering and how awful Steve’s guitar sounds on The Ancient and I barely stopped myself from jumping inside my car stereo and letting him know how wrong he is (close call). For one, I feel like The Remembering is probably the poppiest moment on the album (definitely the most vocal heavy) and Steve’s sliding around on The Ancient is one of the coolest bits on the album (esp in relation to the background music he’s sliding over).

I thought I was about to jump into a bunch of TFTO heads really dissecting the album but they all seem to be of the consensus that sides 1 and 4 are the only necessary parts which makes it surprising that this is the first Yes album they decided to tackle in depth.

interested in the Tormato book though lol @ "You'll never hear the album in the same way again!"...do people actually listen to this album often? the condition of the many, many used copies that come into the local shop suggests they don't. though I admit I actually like the weird-as-shit "Arriving UFO"

yes i am still salty abt how moraz was treated lol

really an all-time weird career, I mean his work on Relayer is great, the Refugee album (which I think he wrote the vast majority of) totally rules, and his first solo album is nice...but idk if anything he did after that is worthwhile, after 1976 he's primarily known as the guy who tried to sue the Moody Blues and probably should've won

"You'll never hear the album in the same way again!"

the bit on "The Remembering" where Howe revs up and Jon starts singing "Relayer, all the dying cried before you" is one of my favorite moments in the entire Yes catalogue

do agree the music is a bit bare though, one of those things where they decided to make a bunch of longform tunes without having a whole lot of ideas for them, as opposed to the best prog epics which sound like they had too many ideas and things just spiraled out of control into these amazing semi-cohesive pieces

To me the “:..and I do feel very well” thing on The Remembering is like the catchiest part of their entire catalog, I don’t even like thinking about it because now I’ll probably be singing it in my head the rest of the day.

I’ve never really understood the prevailing sentiment that the album is padded but I do plan to listen to these other 7 episodes to hopefully at least get a sense of what parts people consider those to be (more specifically than sides 2 & 3 as a whole).

moraz claims he wrote like half of going for the one also (which is trufax why it’s good not bad)

meanwhile wakeman on topographic: " 'I don't want to do this free-form jazz" lol why not back to practicing yr scales, fatfinger boy, then you don't fuck them up so often

free-form jazz, what a fkn useless dullard you are rick

mark s hatred for Wakeman is the fire that keeps this thread alive

Is anyone prepared to mount a defence of Rick Wakeman's solo career? I'm not, but maybe there's someone in here who will.

It was as successful as Yes' and I think even outsold then at one point

I like Six Wives and thought Criminal Record was quite good (plus, it's kind of a successful triple entendre, if you believe Wakeman should've gone to jail for making it), the other solo albums I have of his are pretty boring, though I'm curious what some of the later ones sound like

not really sure how to reconcile Wakeman's reputation as the one beer-drinking, meat-eating member of the band with whom you could actually hang out with and have a good time with the fact that he did all this King Arthur on Ice shit

maybe cuz he hung out and recorded with bowie and sabbath? the only ones out of the 10000 dudes who've played in this band as rock star social as wakeman are buford (it's astonishing the same guy drummed for yes, crimson, and genesis!), alan "plastic one band" white, and trevor horn

I vaguely recall reading an interview with the producer of Union where he was like "They were constantly bickering and couldn't physically be in the same room as each other and it got to the point where I had to write most of the music myself. I was a big Yes fan and now hated their guts. Alan White was cool though."

(it's astonishing the same guy drummed for yes, crimson, and genesis!)

And Gong, though nothing was ever released officially (there might be live boots).

Wakeman is all-time you philistines however most of his solo stuff is dreck. I do love Henry VIII and enjoy Criminal Record but his choice in singers is awful. That Ashley-whatever guy bellowing on those early joints...jeezuz.

I like Moraz and Bruford's "Flags" from '85 or something but someone needed to keep Pat away from the pitch bend controller during the Yes days.

xpost to Slim - there's one guy on that podcast who has cloth ears. I think he's Canadian? Says some really dopey stuff.

Not that being Canadian has anything to do with his listening skills.

Didnwe ever discuss Progeny on here? Can’t remember. Cuz am listening straight through as of a half hour ago and it’s supreeeeme yessing out material.

I love it. Yes as kick-ass rock band. The relative rawness of the recordings — there are sound dropouts, a few flubs here and there — makes the performances all the more impressive.

wait, pat smear is listed "project assistance"!

did he tape one of the shows as a child?

listed in wikipedia i mean, i know he's a steve howe fan but he was like 12 when this was recorded

Since so many vids on the thread are no longer available here's one of my selfish faves. It was the only YES show I ever attended and is still one of theeee greates shows I've ever experienced. Well worth sitting through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez07S8hoE3g

oops sorry looks like it can't be posted here. Search "Yes new york city 2004"

Youtube, that is.

Clicking on the Watch on yt link gets me there.

unperson OTM

progeny is yessongs raw and exponentiated. i wish YES got more love not least since maybe there'd be a never-ending grateful dead-esque dick's picks bootleg bonanza. they may not have improv-ed "dark star"-style but i could listen to dozens of "starship trooper"s when they were square in their prime

starship pooper

party trooper