Which of these songs is, in your opinion, the most impressive for a guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/composer's perspective?

A man mirroring my own thinking!

RE "Parallels": I just remember watching him perform that song thinking: "there are no breaks: it's just one long, continuous, whole-song solo at full-on break-neck speed! How does a human do that? And repeat it note for note, night after night, performance after performance?!?!?!

And, agreed with you about Gates: it's like no other guitar performance I'd ever heard before (or since): as if he totally invented a form/style just for that song!

BrufordFreak wrote: I've been listening to a lot of Yes lately and am being constantly reminded how much of a genius this band was but I've been even more impressed by the unpredictable contributions of Mr. Steve Howe. Though I am convinced that his absolute top shining performance came on the song "Gates of Delirium" (the layers!) (though in concert I was most blown away by his play on the song "Parallels"), there are many truly astounding performances. Which do you think is his most impressive song (not necessarily your favorite)?

Gosh, I'm glad you're not asking about the "best song" as the poll title suggest, but about the most impressive one... Which means that it is by definition very subjective and personal. If it was about my favourite, it would be Gates, but when asking specifically about Howe's performances it is not that obvious at all... So, interesting questioning... Can I go beyond my personal favourite?

I find him excellent on many (all?) of these songs and all songs are excellent whatever. Maybe he excels more on some of the longer epics because he has the time to expose his versatility... In that sense, I guess Gates would also be my choice, for the diversity he displays... But I love his playing on all of these tracks, and over time he really shows an impressive pallet of styles and playing.

Great Thread! 

I'm a long time Howe admirer. I play guitar myself and have been able to tackle some of his songs, for instance acoustics like The Ancient piece, Mood for a day, even my own version of Clap (also an impressive one, by the way; in fact before studying it I first thought it was two guitars... one for the jumping accompanying bass and the other for the rest.. pheew!). 

'Yours...' is amazing. It has many guitar styles: strumming at the beginning and then those circular bits that sort of take the keyboard's role. Later those wah wah passages.. and the sublime acoustic piece that gives place to that sustained & echoed dramatic bit. Then begins the beautiful limpid jazzy solo around 6:22 that ends in a distorted ascending chord progression. Wow! 

From the list it would be Siberian Khatru.

...away.

Sort of an Americana style.

His work on the entirety of "Close to the Edge" (both sides) is breathtaking. 

His work - along with Squire's - on that intro is one of my favorite pieces of prog, let alone from my favorite piece of prog (CTTE)!

Steve was shredding before shredding was cool.

Turn of the Century is also great !

I want a/THE song that showcases his diverse skills, including composition and style. "Mood for a Day" is just one dimension of Mr. Howe, agreed?

"Turn of the Century" was the last song I cut off! But, I agree: it is awesome and gorgeous from the guitarists perspective (always thought it dragged on a bit with too much "sameness"--a very long ballad.)

I agree that "South Side" and "Heart of the Sunrise" have great exposition of Steve's skills; just wanted some songs in which his playing/contributions were more central/forward.