Most integral member of Yes

Squire, not just the main man but also the one who defined their sound the most to me.  First and foremost, it's that big bass sound that I notice.  I barely take much notice of Anderson except for the wrong reasons but I am sure I am in a minority there.  

For me it is Jon Anderson. It just sounds like a different band without JA.

wehpanzer wrote: Dellinger wrote: Argonaught wrote: Successful bands are always synergistic entities (on many levels), which means they are more than the arithmetic sum of their members. Therefore, the question about who defined the success of Yes is hard to answer. As for the "most integral member", it has to be Chris Squire. He is the only member of Yes who has never left the band and is playing on all albums (yes, this IS important, since we are talking about the whole of Yes career). I'd also argue that the "Squire Sound" - even over the "Anderson Sound" - was the uniquely valuable component of the earlier Yes.   Well, for me ABWH is really Yes... more so than Yes West, actually. I don't know which legar reasons were there for them not being able to use the Yes name (surely Squire was somewhat involved, wheter intentionally or not), and besides, Union almost made ABWH oficially Yes. Plus, Anderson at least considers the ABWH album as a Yes album, and in some way the rest of the band had agreed with him... while he has been part of the band. If Anderson, Wakeman, and Rabbin end up making their new album together, I guess it would be as much a Yes album for me as "Fly from here" and the new album Yes is thinking about recording with Davison. I disagree.  Squire had nothing to do with ABWH until Union, and then it was only his vocals.  Whereas there are some definately Yes-like parts to ABWH, it's not Yes without Squire.  Remember, Anderson refuses to do anything from Drama, but Drama rocked - I would absolutely LOVE to hear Anderson sing Tempus Fugit!

Exactly because Squire didn't have anything to do with ABWH is that ABWH is the perfect album to compare how important he was to the Yes sound. Of course, the other problem is that by the 80's they were already making different music than what they did in their prime, so if ABWH isn't as good as their 70's albums, we might blame the time of it's release more than the absence of Squire. Another way to judge who was more Yes might be listening to their solo albums in the 70's (which I haven't heard all, but I guess most here would go with Fish out of Water in that case as the most Yessy). Also, I guess you could compare the Drama and ABWH albums and choose which one better achieves the Yes trademark sound in order to choose between Anderson and Squire. Still, I would have a hard time choosing between Anderson and Squire as the most integral member, perhaps giving the edge to Anderson, and Howe comes in third place. Also, I guess you could compare the Drama and ABWH albums and choose which one better achieves the Yes trademark sound in order to choose between Anderson and Squire.

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: It's hard to determine Squire's importance, because he's played on every Yes album, so we don't have any albums without him to judge what impact his absence would have had.  I'm going to have to go with Steve Howe; the band made at least one good album (90125) without him, but it didn't sound like Yes.  Whenever he's been a member, the band sounded like itself.

Argonaught wrote: Successful bands are always synergistic entities (on many levels), which means they are more than the arithmetic sum of their members. Therefore, the question about who defined the success of Yes is hard to answer. As for the "most integral member", it has to be Chris Squire. He is the only member of Yes who has never left the band and is playing on all albums (yes, this IS important, since we are talking about the whole of Yes career). I'd also argue that the "Squire Sound" - even over the "Anderson Sound" - was the uniquely valuable component of the earlier Yes.

Well, for me ABWH is really Yes... more so than Yes West, actually. I don't know which legal reasons were there for them not being able to use the Yes name (surely Squire was somewhat involved, wheter intentionally or not), and besides, Union almost made ABWH oficially Yes. Plus, Anderson at least considers the ABWH album as a Yes album, and in some way the rest of the band had agreed with him... while he has been part of the band. If Anderson, Wakeman, and Rabbin end up making their new album together, I guess it would be as much a Yes album for me as "Fly from here" and the new album Yes is thinking about recording with Davison.

Edited by Dellinger - February 08 2013 at 18:39

Successful bands are always synergistic entities (on many levels), which means they are more than the arithmetic sum of their members. Therefore, the question about who defined the success of Yes is hard to answer.

Edited by Argonaught - February 05 2013 at 19:15

Howe

Dayvenkirq wrote: ^ What's Yes West?

Yes West stands for the Yes that produced albums with Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin and who produced 90125 and Big Generator

Howe for me. I love Squire's bass approach, but one of my favorite aspects of yes is Howe's soaring additions to the mix and inventiveness. Plus, his work on Relayer sets the bar miles above the heads of the vast majority of prog guitarists.

David Benoit



Edited by Tapfret - February 03 2013 at 23:39