Solo Yes better off as Yes albums?

Not better, not worse, but different and sometimes that's exactly what's needed.

In a sea of Six Fish Wives Out Of Sunhillow posts that will indubitably dominate this thread I like to make a lone cry for Alan White - Ramshackled. An odd and quite bewildering solo album that's not all bad, or at least not quite as bad as it is made out to be, produced by a band member who really didn't want to make a solo album at that time in his career, who was still trying to fit into Brufford's shoes when this plan for all band members to record a solo album was concocted in 1975... White was a sessions musician, not a band leader, he was developing his writing skills in Yes on TFTO and Relayer, but they weren't ready for solo fight - talk about a fish out of water - here he is trying to fly - so he did what he knew best - got his session musician mates to help out and produced a jazzy soul funk rock lounge lizard album - not a stunningly good one, but an honest one and one I've enjoyed listening to from time to time over the past 33 years or so. It's the only Yes solo album to bear the Yes logo as far as I'm aware.

Since you haven't liked the other Wakeman releases, you might not like Out There either, however, it does sound more modern and doesn't have the circus like histrionics he often used in his 70's releases, so it might have a difference in sound you could find more likeable. Still, it's unmistacably Wakeman with lot's of keyboard solos and so.

I think the majority of Yes members solo albums are awful. Olias and Fish Out of Water are exceptions to the rule and work great as they are. Howes albums in particular are bad. His guitar work is fine but he should not sing. Wakeman albums would be better as a group effort.

BunBun wrote: Yea, all the Yes members are very talented in their own right but nothing I've heard within the various members solo careers ever reaches the height of Yes classic material. Sure, there are some very good moments here and there but the collaboration between all the members is what made Yes so special. The only solo album that was ever truly great to my ears was Bruford's One of a Kind, which obviously benefited from Allan Holdsworth presence.

I might not have heard so much of their solo discographies, but I do know many albums from Rick Wakeman and enjoy them a lot. Actually, there are more Wakeman albums that I would give 5 stars than Yes album. For Yes, there's only Fragile and CttE for me, while Wakeman has Six Wives, King Arthur, Criminal Record, and Out There.

Terrapin Station wrote: uduwudu wrote: But the idea of Yes future being all instrumental... now that would be progressive, bordering on real classical rock. (Picture any audience singing all the words for Close To The Edge). I really don't like the idea of them continuing as Yes without Chris Squire.  It would be like continuing King Crimson without Robert Fripp.  Squire was the anchor and the thread that connects all of the various versions of the group.

I know. It's a question of the audience disassociating the cult of personality. Difficult with popular music as one grows up (or not...) and lives in such close proximity with whoever produces the music.

After all it's no coincidence that after every change (in any rock band) but using Yes as an example, the audience react with caution to the change. The two Trevors spring to mind as two very creative guys who unfairly earned audience vitriol. This happened with Genesis; hey look, no Genesis. Terrific. Well done...

But what is the choice? Squire is dead should his band die as well? Especially as he had long ago expressed the idea that Yes music be played. Perhaps now a variety of types of Yes repertoire can be played without too much fear of the ultra conservative fan hearing something he does not know.

While I understand that KC with no Fripp is to me either impossible or unappealing it would be possible if the KC repertoire be played with a Fripp type performance. Not even he can lie forever...

So for the most part Yes would have been better off with the solo albums contributing to the band efforts (mainly). Solo efforts were a bit diluted or distracting.

Must try Olias again one day. It always irked me that, given it's popularity generally I didn't like it. But ,yes, perhaps that could've been the Yes album between Relayer (one more with Moraz!) and GFTO. Oh well, we may never know.

But the idea of Yes future being all instrumental... now that would be progressive, bordering on real classical rock. (Picture any audience singing all the words for Close To The Edge).

I actually prefer Jon Anderson's Change We Must over any solo effort other than Fish Out of Water. Olias is hugely overrated, muddy, and rarely getting to any 'heights.' The piano-based, and orchestrally supported arrangements of Change We Must are, in my opinion, far superior format for Jon's talents than the Yes material that was going on ten years before and after it. 

Epignosis wrote: I prefer Chris Squire's voice to Jon Anderson's.

not the lyrical genius Jon was... but yeah.. even though I have never had a problem with Jon's voice (obviously as Yes is and has always been one of the absolute favorites) but I do just on pure preference like Chris's voice.

I prefer Chris Squire's voice to Jon Anderson's.

I like 'em the way they are, really. 

First off, with the exception of Rick Wakeman once he started getting really new agey in the later 80s, I like all the Yes-related solo albums a lot.

When it comes to the most Yes-like solo albums--and maybe Howe's Beginnings is the best example, I think it's still valuable to "hear the parts of the whole separated out" so to speak.  It gives you a clearer view of a particular band member's perspective and contributions.  That's true in most cases of a band doing solo albums, I think.  And of particular interest to folks around here, Pink Floyd is another great example, as is the Who.

But a lot of solo albums depart from the band concept in significant ways, too.  Even Rick Wakeman's early solo albums have a much different feel to them than Yes albums.  And of course, Alan White's Ramshackled explores some very different material than Yes, as does a lot of Bill Bruford's stuff, some of Jon Anderson's stuff, Patrick Moraz's stuff, etc. 

And with something like Ramshackled, which I love, by the way, it doesn't really make sense to try to envision it as as a Yes album.  Something like "Ooh Baby", for example, owes more to R&B/soul and jazz fusion than it does to progressive rock, and Yes wouldn't be able to pull a song like that off in the same way.  "Ooh Baby" is more the sort of thing that Frank Zappa would have done really well in the early 70s, especially with the Waka/Jawaka or the One Size Fits All/Roxy bands.


Edited by Terrapin Station - July 30 2016 at 13:40