Gimme Five: Overlooked Yes Albums (And Why Some of Them Should Be)

[realprog]

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2014...them-should-be

As if there's not enough Yes discussion!

I quite like Open Your Eyes. It's more pop than prog, but I do think that's an aspect of Yes's music, with Chris Squire contributing to that quite a bit with his harmony singing and melodic bass playing. With what I've heard Heaven & Earth also seems more pop (and we were warned it was song-orientated). It's possibly not something I mind as much as other prog fans, as I'm quite a fan of pop too.

I like Rabin's contributions to 90125 (an excellent pop/rock album for me), but I'm not mad keen on Big Generator and Talk. I find both of those albums shrill and indulgent; it's Rabin's production contributions I think I particularly don't like.

As much as I do like Open Your Eyes, I prefer The Ladder and Magnification, which to me are underrated/overlooked in being excellent fairly consistent albums. I've liked how the former's echoed Fragile, whilst the latter's been reminiscent of Time and a Word. Kind of looking backwards whilst also looking forwards!

I agree quite a bit with the article about Tormato. Think a lot of the playing is excellent (tight rhythm section stuff for one thing), but a lot of the songs aren't great and lyrically it's at times verging on being embarrassingly twee. Some great songs though - particularly got to like "Onwards" in recent years with it being an excellent pop type song that's haunting. Well done Squire!

Phil

[Poisoned Youth]

Tales is bloated and is wrought with filler. Discuss.

[Brian Griffin]

There are no "bad" Yes albums, only bad Yesfans

BG

[realprog]

Tales is bloated and is wrought with filler. Discuss.

It's never been for me. I've thought Wakeman left the band as he wanted to concentrate on his solo career, and he's used that argument. I've found Wakeman's 70s solo stuff more bloated and boring! Tales to me is well structured. There are experimental passages, but they're never indulgent for the sake. That album also for me has a great deal of beauty. Of their 70s stuff it's for me as overlooked as Relayer and Going For the One can still be. Good if Steve Wilson remasters Relayer and Going For the One in leading to those albums being reassessed. Tales to me might be too ahead of its time.

[WytchCrypt]

It's never been for me. I've thought Wakeman left the band as he wanted to concentrate on his solo career, and he's used that argument. I've found Wakeman's 70s solo stuff more bloated and boring! Tales to me is well structured. There are experimental passages, but they're never indulgent for the sake. That album also for me has a great deal of beauty.

This^ Behind Relayer, my fave Yes album

[eporter66]

I don't know if I can list 5, but I think Drama is sorely overlooked. Machine Messiah is one of my all-time favorite tracks from the band, and overall I find it a pretty strong album.

[ThomasKDye]

Tales is bloated and is wrought with filler. Discuss.

I still hold that "The Remembering" is filled with mediocre bits that don't really hold together, and listening to the first twelve minutes of "The Ancient" is like running a cheese grater across your genitals, but the rest of "Tales" is fine. In fact, "Ritual" is one of my favorite epics of all time.

[Score2112]

I'll give one for now: Talk - The best overall Yes album since Drama, IMHO. Like it top to bottom, not bad song for me. If that Anderson, Rabin, Wakeman project (did he really almost play on this??) ever materializes, would love to hear some of this stuff.

[SteveSly]

I’ll give you 4:

Drama: The obvious one. I think most hard core Yes fans hold this one in fairly high esteem these days, but back when it came out it many people blew it off due to Jon Anderson not being there.

The Ladder: I really love this one, though it gets mixed reviews from Yes fans.

Big Generator: My favorite Rabin era album, though I can find very few Yes fans who agree with me.

Fly From Here: I really like it. Like Drama many don’t give it a chance due to no Jon, but I think it is a strong release.

[the winter tree]

Here's 5 that I feel are overlooked both good and bad:

1) YES (debut) I love the energy and how its pretty much a more primitive blueprint of things to come. Nice performances and tight arrangements. Would have been cool if "Something Coming" would have been included. "Survival" is the standout track for me as well as "Harold Land" and "Looking "Around".

2) TIME AND A WORD. Despite the occaisional bad orchestra arrangement some great stuff still surfaces. "ASTRAL TRAVELLER" "THE PROPHET" "THEN" and the Stills cover are the standouts. Also a cool kinetic version of the Richie Havens tune. Most underrated is PETER BANKS and this is his final YES recording.

3) OPEN YOUR EYES. Billy Sherwood mixed whatever life was in these songs out. My least favorite YES album by far.

4) UNION. The much berated UNION is actually not a bad album once one gets beyond the thousand LA session guys and the group politics. I recently dug this one out for a few listens and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It helps to read the interview on line with Jon Elias (just Google JON & ELIAS & YES UNION) and Jimmy Haunt. Standouts are MIRACLE OF LIFE and TAKE THE WATER TO THE MOUNTAIN. Also have grown fond of "HOLDING ON". SAVING MY HEART seems very out of place.

5) FLY FROM HERE. I really love this album and have listened to it at least 100 times and never tire of it. I even enjoy the much hated MAN YOU ALWAYS WANTED ME TO BE. Standouts are the title track and overture as well as SAD NIGHT AF THE AIRFIELD and INTO THE STORM especially the final minutes with Howe working his magic. A fine album and a big thank you to Trevor Horn for stearing the ship.

[flowerking]

Tales is bloated and is wrought with filler. Discuss.

It has some overindulgence, particularly the first half of the Ancient and maybe a little bit of Ritual but the rest of it more than makes up for it. Imagine if long playing CDs had been available back in 1974. Would Yes have written and recorded 60-65 minutes worth of Tales instead of 80 and made it that much better?

[the winter tree]

The only thing that bothers me about TALES is Squires badly off pitch fretless bass on side 2.

[Finch Platte]

3) OPEN YOUR EYES. Billy Sherwood mixed whatever life was in these songs out. My least favorite YES album by far.

Who lets this guy near a mixing board???

[Sean]

The Debut
Big Gen
Tormato
Keys I
FFH

[ItalProgRules]

I've always really liked the much-maligned TALK.

I could do without "Walls," but I like the rest of it a whole lot more than most fans seem to.

The pristine production wasn't quite right for Yesmusic, but how are you gonna deny strong material like "The Calling" and "Endless Dream" (easily Trevor Rabin's high-water mark with YES.)

[battema]

Heaven and Earth - it is about to be released, and barely a word to be found anywhere on the subject...

Close to the Edge - I can appreciate why people ignore this one, what with Fragile happening shortly beforehand and then CTTE just has three songs (and one is a stupid BALLAD for pete's sake). Still, it is a kind of okay Yes album.

Tormato - the band FINALLY realizes that more is better, and stops wasting half a damned LP on some long-winded epic crap.

Union - the band FINALLY figures out that the easiest way to make an album is to have others make it for them. Really, the results speak for themselves.

Olias of Sunhillow - best Yes album in all but name; it's obvious that the others all contributed to the music along with Vangelis, and the results are the single finest moment in the great Yestory.

[llanwydd]

I think "Talk" is by far the most overlooked and underrated Yes album. Next to that:

2. Yes (most Yes fans don't even know about it)
3. 9012Live (not a great album anyway)
4. Union (most older fans had given up on Yes by then)
5. Yesshows (great performances but nobody ever talks about the album)

[ItalProgRules]

I think "Talk" is by far the most overlooked and underrated Yes album. Next to that:
5. Yesshows (great performances but nobody ever talks about the album)

It has an odd sound quality and a dodgy setlist (why play "Time and a Word" if they were going to do it that badly? Sheesh, that's unlistenable!)

But...those killer performances of "Ritual" and "Gates" are the meat of the whole album. The heart and soul of it and the only reason to have it.

And those two stunning performances are more than enough.

[HONDO]

Keys to Ascencion 1
Tormato
Magnification, of which I think is a very good release IMO, pretty strong in many areas, although certainly not their best work I do quite enjoy it.

[HONDO]

Tales is bloated and is wrought with filler. Discuss.

I totally agree Sean, this recording is highly overated IMO and the original mix is dreadful. Although a few gems do exist on this, to me it is a waste of my time to listen to. Just my opinion!!

[Facelift]

"Overlooked" By whom? One of their worst albums (Heaven and Earth) has inspired one of the longest discussions on here, and a disturbingly large minority people seem to actually like it.

So among people who like Yes, I can't say that there are any overlooked albums.

[Yves]

Nothing "YES" has ever been overlooked on this site...EVER!

[Facelift]

I've always really liked the much-maligned TALK.

I could do without "Walls," but I like the rest of it a whole lot more than most fans seem to.

The pristine production wasn't quite right for Yesmusic, but how are you gonna deny strong material like "The Calling" and "Endless Dream" (easily Trevor Rabin's high-water mark with YES.)

I'm not super-enthusiastic about Talk but I do like it. I like it a little more now than I used to. I was more down on it when it came out, because it was like "what?! didn't Yes just get their people back and put their '80s phase behind them?" I wasn't on-line in 1994 and had no idea that there had been a post-Union re-splintering of the band. Also, the album just sounded so depressingly dated in 1994. Now that rock music is a mostly-spent force and we no longer are passing through periods when the majority of contemporary music has a particular sound, these things aren't as much of an issue, I can just hear it for what it is - the follow-up to Big Generator - and not think about how there was a seven-year gap in between (during which also included ABWH and Union).

[dnieper]

I'd vote for Time and A Word. I actually like it more than The Yes Album or Fragile. I think the orchestral parts are great. Of course, maybe it's that the material seems so fresh compared to the next three albums, which have been played to death.

[willyswing]

1-Time & A Word
2-Talk
3-Fly From Here
4-Drama
5-Keystudio