YES

Borrowed this DVD from a friend. I haven't heard of 9012 yet, but Owner of A Lonely Heart. Just came home, and sit to watch the show. Lots of poor effects, they tried to use the Cinema theme as a concept. And it doesn't work right. Trevor's costume is the less ridiculous one, and that's a good point for his score, because this guy is actually underrated. Here I could see, he's not bad, he has the personality and he is the writer of the outstanding riff hit of the album, but his style isn't Yes style. And a different personality together with the lack of a keyboardist personality (Tony Kaye, please...) Yes went to another style.

About the DVD performance, it's bad. They played well, but the lack of enthusiasm and excitement by the members annoys me. They seem to be faking excitement. Too forced. I don't like the 9012 music, as you could read at my review for the album. The last track, Starship Trooper, sounds very different here, so-so. The Roundabout performance at the DVD extras was my last hope. And damn again, they ruined the song!

Not for me.

Come on everybody, Yes returns! And this time, an album for the whole family. Call your mama and your papa, and dont forget your uncles and grandparents.

Who's Tony what? The line-up doesn't care if the album is great. But it's cheesy enough, and not catchy. If you are trying to make cheesy and commercial music, please, try something catchy. 90125 starts with Owner of The Lonely Heart, the radio hit. A good song. But the rest of the album is just fillers. The instrumental are uninteresting. It's the kind of album that you have to listen to once. But just once in a lifetime. I'm telling you because I tried more than once. And it wasn't a good experience.

You know, it's funny. I listened to "Close to the Edge" as my first foray into Yes. I wasn't very impressed. However, there is something about the artwork on "Relayer" that really attracts me, so I decided to continue my Yes journey. I'm pleased to say that I really like this album.

First off, I gotta say: "Gates of Delirium" is one of the best prog epics I've ever heard. It's sweeping, technical, melodic, and ethereal. This track is an instant classic. I had trouble with the vocalist on "Close to the Edge", but I feel there are more harmonies here that cover the part of his voice I don't like. Either that, or I'm getting used to it.

I also love the song "Sound Chaser". It felt like more of a rocker in comparison to the first track. The bass is particularly well done here. The last track, and the track "Soon" are both good as well, but I didn't like them as well as the first two. Either way, this is a great album, and I'm sure it will get much playtime from me. From this album especially, I can see why Yes has been so reverenced and influential through the years. I've gained a little more respect for them.

Yes, Yes are back with a strong album! "Fly from here" is Yes' nineteenth studio record and was released in 2011. On this record participate Chris Squire(bass, vocals), Steve Howe (guitars, vocals), Alan White (drums), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Benoit David(lead vocals) and Trevor Horn(vocals). Yes has a new singer and I think that is good. David has a strong and high voice and not too similar with Jon Anderson's. On later years I think Anderson's voice lost its sharpeness and strength so this new member really gave something to the music.

The first track(s), the title "Fly from here" is an amazing piece of Yes music. Unfortunately the whole almbum doesn't match this song. "Fly from here" has wonderfull passages, symphonic melodies and a strong theme. It is little more catchier and poppy than the seventies' Yes but it is more symphonic and better than the eighties' Yes. Here meets different styles and the track is very varied. Even if it is long it could have been longer. "Solitaire" is an acoustic gitarr piece played by maestro Steve Howe and that is ear candy for me. A really strong song which I relate to other acoustic Yes works. The closer "Into the storm" is also a very strong track with great vocals and a very exhilarating sound. A good final.

What lowers the rating from four to three stars is the other tracks. I don't either like the voice of Trevor Horn we can hear in "The man you allways wanted to be". That is a boring song that is a shame for this record. "Life on a film set" is okey but not especially much more. The tracks feels a little lame though. "Hour of need" is also okey but in my opinion rather gooey. So as a conclusion I think Yes still has a lot to give the symphonic listeners but this record isn't fantastic as one.

For some reason I never heard this album when it was released in 1996, but this is by the line- up that many Yes fans still feel to be the 'proper' one, namely Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and Alan White.

In addition, it has to be said that this is a very enjoyable album, one that I am sure that I will play repeatedly. It has great vocals, plenty of harmonies and melodies, with some quite stunning solos. But, and there has to be a but, it just doesn't have any of the show stopping songs that Yes fans are used to. There is nothing on here that could stand up to "Starship Trooper", "Long Distance Runaround", "Yours Is No Disgrace", "All Good People" etc etc.

Maybe that is too much to hope for. It may not be classic Yes but it is still better than a lot of the prog that is available today, with "Foot Prints" in particular an attempt to bring together the Yes of the Seventies with the Yes of the Eighties and make it a band for the Nineties. Now where did I put that vinyl version of 'Going For The One'???

Originally appeared in Feedback #63, July 01

After just having enjoyed the wonder of attending to a fresh live execution of this timeless masterpiece by Yes, during their Rio stop from the South America Tour 2013, I cannot excuse myself from writing some thoughts down with the rest of the world about this particular piece of art. Before I first listened to it back around 1993 I thought it would be impossible to top Fragile, which I was the only early Yes material I was familiar then, apart from the Yes West hits from the 1985 Rock in Rio. The intro to the the whole thing proved me wrong. I was always fascinated by that introduction: incisive, exotic and exuberant. The nature sound effects, Steve Howe's incendiary solo and Bill Bruford's awe inspiring phobia for steady beats, sublimed by the ethereal voice of Jon Anderson are all blended and played together against Rick Wakeman's and Chris Squire's busy lines. The song takes a deep breath and plunges into the main theme and body of the song develops into its verses and chorus... It partially concludes in a meltdown into a beautiful subtle and dreamy soundscape, forming one of the most profound passages in phonographic recorded history from the 20th Century, with the emotive vocal harmonies and transcendent atmosphere which gives it a quasi-religious and certainly wholly spiritual quality... This peace is interrupted after climatic resolution by a organ count in into a full instrumental musical attack of unparalleled in aggressiveness, as in a spiritual war-field of awakening clarity, with arguably the most memorable Rick Wakeman solo in the Yes catalogue. The fanfare morphs back to the original theme and it's closed by the nature stream sound... An emotional torrential track to say the least. Simply brilliant! Turn the record:

Then side B has other two 'shorter' tracks are as diverse and as interesting as the first composition: And You and I built up as a wave, from the ephemeral harmonic notes from the acoustic guitar laid down against bucolic organ chords, to the epic climax of Apocalypse. It is a beautiful "four movement sonata" with some of the most interesting timbres and playing on a Moog ever. The folkish climate, the thrilling slide guitar cries and all the ascendant and grandeur tone from that song are landmarks this genre of music, ever since. The whole album ends with the Siberian Khatru song. A oriental flavoured straight rock 'n' roll song with a natural feel keyboard line, haunting guitar riffs and lots of nice vocal harmonies. It was definitively rendered as a true band signature song beyond Roundabout, as more intimate fans might attest from the recurrence of its outro verses ("Outbond, River, Blue tail, Tail fly..."). The lineup is considered for many as the quintessential for this great band (including myself), even though the classic consolidated lineup that followed, with Mr. White filling for Mr. Bruford, is just as solid, as we know. This is a true masterpiece in the best sense and usage of the word, a work of true heart and soul propelled creativity, with people who knew what they were doing in terms of not abiding to rules and mastering their instruments, each with its own personal impression on the way the arrangements sounded, i.e. great.

Credits should be reserved to Eddy Offord for guiding the whole process into tape. Obligatory in any serious music lover discography.

This album is probably the most representative of what a "progressive masterpice" means. I don't think in terms "better or worse" when i talk about music because everything is subjective, but this album really provides most of the qualities i find possitive in a prog rock album. It's not fair to me to consider it the best prog album ever but it is this site's number one and it is in my top 20 for sure. Outstanding composition, great musicmanship, right balance of chaos and order, creative arrangements, very nice instrumentation, wide range of feelings provoked, etc. Ion Anderson's timbre is not among my favourite ones but i don't care because he's a great singer and i can't imagine Yes without his voice! I listen to this since i was 14 (i think) and the first time i heard it i could not believe the strong feelings it provoked me. I wish i could erase my memory and listen to this masterpiece for the fist time again, and be surprised by the magnificent beauty of this music. 5 stars well deserved!

I'm not so secure if is truth which Vangelis has been probed to fill the keyboard place in the absence of Rick Wakeman, just as a friend told me, but I can say is - probably the final result not had been so impressive ! In my point of view Patrick Moraz (and his jazzy, erudite and more aggressive style) was more fitting to replace Wakeman than the Vangelis's new age and electronic sound. Another point that call attention is the Howe's choice of Fender Telecaster for all tracks, which makes the sonority more "glaring" than the "velvety" Gibson timbre. In resume : Relayer, is a album full of peculiarities, if comparable with other YES works. The first track "The Gates of Delirium" is simply magistral and embody in his several passages countless detachable points: counterpoints between guitar and keyboards, drum's broken beats, distorted bass guitar, and a unexpected conclusion in a "soft" passage more well-know as "Soon" , where the highlights comes through the Anderson's vocals and Howe's pedal-steel guitar. The secound track "Sound Chaser" is a exercise for the musicians and the listeners with almost the same complexity for the previous track, excepting in their conclusion. The most notable in this track is the "unison" duet scale between bass/guitar and the White's performance. The last track " To Be Over" is one of most beautifull and creatives forms of progressive ballads. However, I wish to emphasize the notable arrangements from Moraz for the keyboards, because, in spite his very different musical style, he not "deforms" the music of YES. My rate is 5 stars !!!

I remember first hearing this. Roundabout came on, and I was like "oh, this song, it's ok" but soon found this album was extrememly great. Roundabout is now one of my favs, and is a sweet opener. Great solos by Rick and Steve, and Chris kills it with the bass intro. Definitely an accessible but very progressive song. Anyone reading this probably knows but this album has three main songs, and six experiments. These experiments range from just, experiments, to great songs. Cans and Brahms is a nice piano piece, but not to much to it,. Five Percent For Nothing is just, well, um, experimental. We Have Heaven is a nice song lead by Jon's vocals, but gets old quick. Still, nice song. Long Distance Runaround is a great pop song, and really shows how diverse yes is. Great flow, nice lyrics, and just a very cool tune. This is followed by the more progressive Fish, a cool space rock kinda song with Jon and Steve vocals in the back. Mood for a Day is a beautiful instrumental piece, and a complex one too. Not much to say other than it's sweet. The other two songs are South Side Of The Sky and Heart of the Sunrise. Both these songs really have a bunch to like. South Side of the Sky has a vibe to it that kinda takes you on a trip, at least I like to think so. Lyrically it's kinda lame but a cool song. Heart of the Sunrise is probably the peak of this album. A extremely progressive song with every member here doing so much, This song alone makes the album worth getting. It might sound like a trashed a few songs, the experimental ones really. I think everything here is great, but with that said from a standpoint of taking all content into account this one gets a four from me. Essential though for sure. Just be aware of the shorter and potentially out of place numbers.

I don't know about you, folks, but for me this compilation album resolved a small, but annoying problem: to wit, I had never been able to fully enjoy the 3 first albums of Yes. Guess they didn't quite measure up to Fragile, when taken as a whole?

The Yesterdays seems to have taken the 3 pre-Fragile albums, set aside all the songs that I didn't particularly like, kept in the ones that I had soft spot for, added the excellent Dear Father (which I think wasn't on any of the albums?), and arranged them in such order that you can almost see in time lapse the development stages of the early Yes. What's there not to like?

So, Side A music is a pleasant symph-y pop rock, peppered with some early signs of future grandeur, like Mr. Bruford's most potent drumming and the nascent hurricane of Mr. Squire's bass. On Side B, these signs and attributes continue to accrete and build up to the point of a quantum leap, where the band's sound develops into a powerful, colorful, delicious symph with all necessary "prog" attributes to boot. Which is the hallmark of the best years of Yes.

Five stars without hesitation, therefore.