If you asked me, I would have said Relayer or Close to the Edge. I've got excellent reasons for believing those to be the best Yes records, but I realized this morning that I've been reaching for Time and a Word more and more often lately. This is the one that brings me the most joy. My favorite.
I don't know if it's my favorite, but I enjoy this one and I too find myself reaching for it a lot (and the debut too) . Highly entertaining album.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
I've always been very fond of this album - it has the right mix of naivety and gumption, plus Tony Kaye's Hammond licks are out of this world. Great time for prog rock, 69-70 was.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
I love Time And A Word too. In fact, I like it every bit as much as any of the renowned classic Yes albums.
IMO, much better musically than TYA, GFTO, Tormato, Drama. Brilliant orchestral arrangements, stellar musicianship. And Jon's vocals sound more androgynous, than his later squeaky, piping tone.
"Clear Days" and "Sweet Dreams" are the only clunkers for me. Early YES songs with the word "sweet" in the titles=auto skip-it!
But any album with "Astral Traveler" is already a winner. Plus you gotta love that big, bombastic pomp opening to "No Opportunity Neccessary..."
And I have no real problem with the oft-maligned strings on this album.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
The great thing about Yes is that all of those 70s albums had their charms. I often bounce from one to another in terms of favorability, and TaaW has certainly been near the top more than once. I'm almost more of a fan of that era in the band's history, rather than the album itself. I commented in the Bruford thread about how much I miss that looser, more "jammy" version of the band.
I have always loved this album.
It's when they first became progressive.
The first classic Yes album that lead to a run of 7 masterpieces ! Unequalled by any other prog band !
Love it, too. If favorite means I play it more than any other Yes album, then it is my favorite.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
I actually LOVE this album. For years I favored this album over The Yes Album. I always like Peter Banks as a guitarist a grittier sound over Howe's more earthier sound.
Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
Well, someone has to present a dissenting opinion. The first couple of Yes albums had a certain naive charm to them, but TYA was a MAJOR step upward and into the style of Yessongs I find most pleasing. So, they're okay, but almost a "proto-Yes" to what came after.
Gnish-gnosh borble wiff, shlauuffin oople tirk.
One thing I have really come to appreciate reading this board is the expression "I find myself reaching for________________(name of album)". Most people just passively listen to music, PEers reach for it.
I like their first two albums, but I'm a Howe fanboy, so I much prefer the few that came after.
That said, Peter Banks is an overlooked guitarist.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
I'd agree (almost) with the 7 masterpieces but not the unequaled bit -VDGG produced 8 consecutive masterpieces in my opinion.Originally Posted by Rufus
I really do like this album more than The Yes Album. A big reason is that all the TYA material has been so overplayed live, and the TAAW so underplayed live, except the title track, which is probably my least favorite song on the album. I actually think the music on TAAW is just better, more interesting, riskier, and probably a little more complex. TYA might as well just be "The Steve Howe - Yes album."
Chalk me up as another one who loves this album! Tony Kaye absolutely shines on this record!
I personally have to count "World Record" as a miss for VdGG. That's just me. I've never liked that record and feel it's the glaring weak spot in an otherwise unblemished run of albums.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
My fave Yes album, period. "Everydays" is a shining example of how strings should be used in popular music.
I personally enjoy World Record as much as the earlier classics (and even more than acknowledged classics such as The Least & H to He). But I can see where the jamming aspect of it (w/Hammill's love-it-or-hate it leads on electric guitar) would turn even some VdGG fans off.
However, it holds no less a place in VdGG's catalog than other classics of the seven-stretch Yes canon. If 'Tales' has to be included in that run, than we can count World Record as a VdGG classic and keep a straight face.
Then by all means, enjoy this video!
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I love that DVD, except it's too damn short. Still, it sounds so much better than the CD versions of the BBC stuff.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
I have to say this album is a bit hit and miss for me. I love Astral Traveler, Sweet Dreams, Then, and Time and a Word. No Opportunity... and Everdays a little less. The Prophet and Clears Days I find to be brutal.
I love the fat bass on Sweet Dreams, and Clear Days is beautiful, cultured tune, in a classical mode.
Opinions differ.. For me Mind Drive is brutal. And fatal at the same time
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