All YES Appreciation Thread

Originally posted by J-Man Chris Squire was quite the contrary. He looked like a huge monster that was going to eat a random audience member

He put on quite a bit... Pretty bleak in contrast to what he used to look like...

Speaking of YouTube, Anaon had a question earlier about live footage of Bruford playing Close to the Edge.  Anyone know of any footage of him on that or any other CttE song live?  Couldn't find on YouTube, maybe there's tape or a DVD out there?

They are all technically and emotionally superb. Yes were my first prog band, and remain to this day the ultimate symphonic experience. I look forward to discussing them for many years to come.

By the way, given that this is a Yes appreciation thread, what do you people think of Jon Anderson's singing? I find most people find it diffilcult to like his voice, even in the prog archives. But as far as I'm concerned, he is one of the very best singers in prog and rock in general, quiet a unique and beautiful and powerful voice.

Originally posted by Dellinger Originally posted by American Khatru Speaking of YouTube, Anaon had a question earlier about live footage of Bruford playing Close to the Edge.  Anyone know of any footage of him on that or any other CttE song live?  Couldn't find on YouTube, maybe there's tape or a DVD out there? There's a DVD of An Evening of Yes Music, by ABWH, which is virtually another lineup of Yes (without Chris Squire, but with Bruford). I still got to get that DVD, but it has the most awsome version of Heart of the Sunrise (I have the CD), with the best drumming I've heard on that song. There's also the Union tour video, which as far as I know is VERY difficult to get, and it features both Bruford and White.

Its a great DVD - It also has this... Wakeman at what is easily his best



(Sorry, no luck on the CttE Bruford video)



-Joel

Originally posted by tamijo Only time i saw Yes was the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe tour   Howe was excellent

I love ABWH, absolutely great band and album.


Was Tony Levin involved during the performance? On the ABWH DVD he's barely visible for most of the performance.


-Joel

Originally posted by Dellinger By the way, given that this is a Yes appreciation thread, what do you people think of Jon Anderson's singing? I find most people find it diffilcult to like his voice, even in the prog archives. But as far as I'm concerned, he is one of the very best singers in prog and rock in general, quiet a unique and beautiful and powerful voice.

I love love love his voice.  My wife finds it annoying, too "fay", which is a lot of people's complaint about it I guess.  But I think it's beautiful and powerfully moving, the first unmistakably great and mystical voice I got into (Tim Buckley great too, but a very different thing).  And as for fay, I find much more of that quality for real in today's pop singers.  Oof.

There was a thread recently (I'm sure many of you saw it) that polled people for who was the better vocalist, Peter Hammill (VdGG) or Jon Anderson.  The more people explained why they preffered Hammill - the reasons they gave, like theatrical range of emotion, verbosity, hi wails and later soft meaningful whispers - well, the more I read what was supposedly better about Hammill (no slouch mind you) the more I was convinced of Anderson's cool superiority.  Anderson didn't do all those "stretching, searching" things... and thank goodness he didn't (or wouldn't, or couldn't, who cares), how it would have wrecked Yes!  He just brought the goods in the classical, consistent vocalist sense, time after time after time.  And can still sing.

BTW, I wish I had more time to spend in this thread, or anywhere in these pages.  Kind of sad to start this page and only look in on it 1 to 3 times a day.  My job write now doesn't keep me in front of a computer.  Been driving a lot, and will again today.  You can bet I'll be taking some Yes with me!

Progkidjoel, could you recommand me some Jon Anderson albums? I just own Olias of Sunhillow which I love but I fear that some of his album are too... 80's or something...

About Anderson's voice, I think he's unique too. I can see only Anderson sings "Close To The Edge" or "Heart Of The Sunrise", it's just "the" voice of this otherworldly music!

Originally posted by Anaon Progkidjoel, could you recommand me some Jon Anderson albums? I just own Olias of Sunhillow which I love but I fear that some of his album are too... 80's or something... About Anderson's voice, I think he's unique too. I can see only Anderson sings "Close To The Edge" or "Heart Of The Sunrise", it's just "the" voice of this otherworldly music!

Without wanting to steal Joel's thunder, I would heartily recommend Toltec to you as a starter, followed by Animation. Ifyou like both, you can move on to other, more obscure, albums. Both are, IMO, easily 4 star LPs.

Originally posted by progkidjoel Originally posted by American Khatru Originally posted by Dellinger By the way, given that this is a Yes appreciation thread, what do you people think of Jon Anderson's singing? I find most people find it diffilcult to like his voice, even in the prog archives. But as far as I'm concerned, he is one of the very best singers in prog and rock in general, quiet a unique and beautiful and powerful voice. I love love love his voice.  My wife finds it annoying, too "fay", which is a lot of people's complaint about it I guess.  But I think it's beautiful and powerfully moving, the first unmistakably great and mystical voice I got into (Tim Buckley great too, but a very different thing).  And as for fay, I find much more of that quality for real in today's pop singers.  Oof.There was a thread recently (I'm sure many of you saw it) that polled people for who was the better vocalist, Peter Hammill (VdGG) or Jon Anderson.  The more people explained why they preffered Hammill - the reasons they gave, like theatrical range of emotion, verbosity, hi wails and later soft meaningful whispers - well, the more I read what was supposedly better about Hammill (no slouch mind you) the more I was convinced of Anderson's cool superiority.  Anderson didn't do all those "stretching, searching" things... and thank goodness he didn't (or wouldn't, or couldn't, who cares), how it would have wrecked Yes!  He just brought the goods in the classical, consistent vocalist sense, time after time after time.  And can still sing. BTW, I wish I had more time to spend in this thread, or anywhere in these pages.  Kind of sad to start this page and only look in on it 1 to 3 times a day.  My job write now doesn't keep me in front of a computer.  Been driving a lot, and will again today.  You can bet I'll be taking some Yes with me! I'll take care of the thread in your stead A quick question - Do you have any of Jon Anderson's solo albums? -Joel

I actually only own two, but I've heard scattered things from the others.  Not sure just what stuff I've heard actually, mostly I'm a Yes listener.  What one would you recommend?  (There's so much music to get to...)  I have the first two.  The great Olias, also Song of Seven.  For me, I don't like a lot of this record.  Some very good songs.  I'd welcome recommendations.