What is it about 'Talk'?

[Iris]

another yes thread, i am afraid. i regard yes as one of my favourite bands but i do not know their story in detail. the albums i especially like are those with steve howe making a big contribution. this means i do not have in my collection the ones that trevor rabin took charge of making ................... with the exception of 'talk'. now i love 'talk'. it has great melodies and lovely passages. the bits i have heard from the other albums of this period haven't won me over in the way that 'talk' has. why is this? what is special about 'talk'? and if I like this where should i go next? are there other albums from this incarnation i really should give a chance to?

i know there is much to read online about yes but are any of the books about them worth getting?

[DocProgger]

They were thinking of calling the album Elephant Talk envisioning future Internet forum activity, but King Crimson beat them to it.

[Yodelgoat]

Talk? - Huh, I own it, but I do not recall any "great melodies and lovely passages" I must revisit it. I picked that album up as an "Autobuy" and never really spent any time at all with it. Cool! thanks for the recommendation!

Maybe its another "Ladder" - I cant tell you how much I am delighted by that album! Jon Anderson actually sounds like he has hair on his... chest on that album.

[Yodelgoat]

i know there is much to read online about yes but are any of the books about them worth getting?

I have read a couple books, but they were so biased and obviously worshipful, that I was never really feeling I was informed about the truly interesting stuff.

Close to the edge - the story of Yes, and one other I cant recall the title....

If you want a kind of generic, "this is where they were born... This is why they are the greatest....blah blah blah..." They were OK reads.

[Kanukisbrave]

Talk never did anything for me... Every time I listen to it, the fade out of every single track haunts me. They couldn't finish a single song on that one. They needed another producer on that one so badly.

[Koreabruce]

The one track from Talk that I usually want to hear is "I Am Waiting." I really love both the vocal & guitar melodies in that song. The rest... I can take or leave.

[bondegezou]

another yes thread, i am afraid. i regard yes as one of my favourite bands but i do not know their story in detail. the albums i especially like are those with steve howe making a big contribution. this means i do not have in my collection the ones that trevor rabin took charge of making ................... with the exception of 'talk'. now i love 'talk'. it has great melodies and lovely passages. the bits i have heard from the other albums of this period haven't won me over in the way that 'talk' has. why is this? what is special about 'talk'? and if I like this where should i go next? are there other albums from this incarnation i really should give a chance to?

The other Yes albums with Rabin aren't that much like Talk: you might be better looking to some of Rabin's solo work, Can't Look Away perhaps? Personally, I think 90125 and Big Generator are much better albums and Talk the misstep.

i know there is much to read online about yes but are any of the books about them worth getting?

Chris Welch's biography, "Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes", is good. Aymeric Leroy's "Yes" is great, but in French. After those, I'd probably recommend Dave Watkinson's "Yes: Perpetual Change".

It depends what sort of book you want. In terms of the broader context, I think Edward Macan's "Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture" is the best, but it's not specific to Yes. If you want less history of the band and more about listening to the music, my mate Simon Barrow has a book out today, "Solid Mental Grace: Listening to the Music of Yes", which I haven't read yet. If you want interviews, Jon Kirkman's "Yes Dialogue" is interesting.

Henry

[miamiscot]

I like the first 116 seconds of Endless Dream...

[TheH]

Talk is the Album where Yes totally lost me.

I think Real Love has a very good Chorus and I'm Waiting is a decent song, I don't care about the rest at all.

[arturs]

I like the first 116 seconds of Endless Dream...

...and then between minutes 2-6 there's that muted piano/mumbled vocal part where I usually forget that I'm listening to anything at all. But then it gets interesting again, if a little incoherent, for the last 5-6 minutes. What a bizarre attempt at a Yes epic.

As for the rest of Talk, I think the first four tunes are strong. Rock solid AOR with just enough prog to keep my interest.

[GuitarGeek]

I like The Calling, Walls, and Endless Dream. The rest of the album I don't remember being very good. Walls actually sounded better when they played it on Letterman, than it does on the album. Rabin has a better guitar tone during the intro solo, and I like the coda they came up with for the live arrangement.

I like the first 116 seconds of Endless Dream...

You mean the sequenced piano thing? That's the one part I don't like.

[mozo-pg]

I enjoy Talk the most compared to 90125 and Big Generator. I'm quite fond of Endless Dream. They're not all gems but there is enough good Yesness to keep my interest. I saw the tour in Montreal and it was excellent.

[Farpoint Kevin]

I really like TALK. In my opinion, among the Rabin/YESWest lineup, it's not quite as good as 90125, slightly better than Big Generator. I can still remember hearing "The Calling" on the radio the first time about a week before the album came out...I loved it then and still do. Of course, I was late to the party, becoming a fan of YES at about age 13 with 90125, and then going backwards later to discover the majesty of the '70s output. But I find something to enjoy in pretty much all phases of the band.

[Iris]

Chris Welch's biography, "Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes", is good. Aymeric Leroy's "Yes" is great, but in French. After those, I'd probably recommend Dave Watkinson's "Yes: Perpetual Change".

It depends what sort of book you want. In terms of the broader context, I think Edward Macan's "Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture" is the best, but it's not specific to Yes. If you want less history of the band and more about listening to the music, my mate Simon Barrow has a book out today, "Solid Mental Grace: Listening to the Music of Yes", which I haven't read yet. If you want interviews, Jon Kirkman's "Yes Dialogue" is interesting.

Henry[/QUOTE]

thank you for that helpful and courteous reply. i remember reading chris welch's contributions in melody maker but discover his book is a decade old. i would like to read the whole story up to the present ....... i have bought and enjoyed the releases of the last few years. it looks like simon barrow's book is the one to get. it is listed as not yet being available but i will order it when it when it is.

i will also investigate the trevor rabin album you mention.

[Chichen Itza]

i love 'talk'. it has great melodies and lovely passages. the bits i have heard from the other albums of this period haven't won me over in the way that 'talk' has. why is this? what is special about 'talk'? and if I like this where should i go next? are there other albums from this incarnation i really should give a chance to?

i know there is much to read online about yes but are any of the books about them worth getting?

I prefer Talk to 90125 or BG by a decent margin

I find it a great mix of classic and 80's Yes

Endless Dream was incredible live, and they played pretty much the whole CD with conviction on that tour

As to books I'd recommend he Welsh book as the starter

[strawberrybrick]

Just listened to this one over the past few weeks. Mixed bag, but Real Love is quite heavy and I like the sound of the digital recording. More than anything, I think it reveals just how different Rabin is from Howe. Rabin seems to be a "franken-prog" composer, while Howe is far more musical. Just compare the album to the ABWH debut.

I saw Yes in 1994 and could not even stay to see the finish of the show. Up until that point Yes was my #1. Took until Masterworks tour to regain my trust.

[arturs]

I am sad I missed the Talk tour. The boots are great; I own several. As Chichen says above, most of the Talk album was played with real conviction.

[strawberrybrick]

It wasn't the Talk material that threw me off, it was the 70s songs - going through the motions.

[Steve983]

Talk is the album I nearly and threw on the floor and jumped up and down on. Not one of my faves.

[DocProgger]

I enjoy Talk the most compared to 90125 and Big Generator. I'm quite fond of Endless Dream. They're not all gems but there is enough good Yesness to keep my interest. I saw the tour in Montreal and it was excellent.

Bingo, same here. Best of the YesWest albums imo. Sure its very Rabin heavy, but if accepted for what it is, a very good album, certainly the best since Drama. I view Drama and Talk in much the same way---a different Yes but one that is definitely worth hearing and was great to see live. I remember Squire's bass being a monster in the live show on tunes like I Am Waiting and Real Love. And seeing them do Endless Dream, the best Yes epic since the 70s, was well worth the price of admission.

[jamesmanzi]

Talk is the album I nearly and threw on the floor and jumped up and down on. Not one of my faves.

If you weren't seven years old when Talk came out, this response is worrying.

[Staun]

I must agree, that album, in places, showed a little muscle, a little grit.

[MDC]

Talk never did anything for me... Every time I listen to it, the fade out of every single track haunts me. They couldn't finish a single song on that one. They needed another producer on that one so badly.

Uh...I'm pretty sure "Walls" is the only track that fades out on this one. Everything else has an ending.

[happytheman]

Chris Welch's biography, "Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes", is good. Aymeric Leroy's "Yes" is great, but in French. After those, I'd probably recommend Dave Watkinson's "Yes: Perpetual Change".

It depends what sort of book you want. In terms of the broader context, I think Edward Macan's "Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture" is the best, but it's not specific to Yes. If you want less history of the band and more about listening to the music, my mate Simon Barrow has a book out today, "Solid Mental Grace: Listening to the Music of Yes", which I haven't read yet. If you want interviews, Jon Kirkman's "Yes Dialogue" is interesting.

Henry

I always liked Dan Hedges book as well as Tim Morse Yes Stories.. but agree Welch's book is the best of the bunch..

[Garden Dreamer]

I don't want to talk about it...