OMFG! Listening to a live "Close to the Edge" - sweet mother of God,

[Rabrrrrrr]

what a band YES were!

Fuck.

Just fucking amazing.

In my top 5 bands of all time (Zappa, Floyd, Rush, Yes, and I leave the fifth one blank), ever, and have been since I was in high school, lo those 20+ years ago.

A band and music that never get boring, that I can listen to over and over and over, and every time be blown away by its sheer incredibleness.


This is the version from the Yessongs CD.

[eyepaddle]

1. Nothing significant to add,

I just want to second that.

I love Close to the Edge...down by the river

[Chemical Bill]

2. They still are. n/t

[Chichiri]

3. They still do rock. Case in point:

The "Symphonic Yes" DVD. They start out with a kickass version of "Close To The Edge," and never let up.

Heck, I know what to watch now . . .

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. is that Yes with an orchestra? Or an orchestra playing versions

of their music?

I have a CD of an orchestra playing their music, but not with band; just part of that craze a few years back of having orchestras perform the music of rock bands, for which the Pink Floyd one ended up being the only worth keeping.

[Chichiri]

8. That's Yes with an orchestra.

A good one, too.

[hickman1937]

5. I listened to And You and I way too many times in college.

I saw them in concert in 1973. Even with binoculars Steve Howe's hands were a blur when he got going.

[MazeRat7]

6. Put ELP in that fifth slot... at least for me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. I generally put the pre-Duke Genesis in that slot

But sometimes it's other bands, ELP being one of them. ELP, to me, isn't as consistently good as other bands, though. I don't like all of their music, and sometimes I don't like their tone. Kinda weird, I know, but there's something about their tone that doesn't excite me. Same with much of Alan Parsons Project's stuff - I don't know if it's the mixing or what, but....

ELP were all, though, incredible musicians. Absolutely in the top of their league.

[MazeRat7]

9. I'll settle for early Genesis without argument. *smile.

Glad to hear there are a few of us left. Most people just think I am "obscure" or worse a "dinosaur". Go figure.

MZr7

[Gregorian]

10. Yes.

In 1974 I was in the dorms at UC Santa Cruz. A few of us guys would go to a dorm and turn out the lights, take bong hits and just sit and listen to that album. Those are times I will never forget. I recently wrote myself a note to get that album.

And don't forget about Genesis.

If only I had memory for band names I've listened to. The world of music since that time is huge. My favorite period is the 90's. But I shouldn't say that. The decades were all so different.

[chknltl]

11. Yessongs, Spartacus (by Triumvirat), 2112 by Rush....

...are 3 of the 5 on my all time list for the major label essentials.
Yessongs.... I know that I am not the only person who gets a religious experience from listening to this material.
Spartacus....hooked me in by taking me there, Trimvirat paints mental images better than any other artists can for me.
2112.... keeps feeling like a tale from a possible future controlled by the descendants of todays religious right. Its early Rush, nuff said!
btw Rabrrrrrr, just for the record: If you are a freeper then I am the Pope. (in ref. to an earlier thread in which you claimed to be one) :hi:
ps: If I got you mistaken for someone else who claimed to be a freeper....well in the imortal words of a famous dead actress:....... never mind

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Your Holiness!

I'm standing while I type this.

My claim to be a freeper was totally tongue in cheek, and fucking hilarious in the context.

I have never heard of Spartacus by Triumvirat. In fact, I've never heard of Triumvirat. I will have to check them out! I assume they are a rock band?

2112 is bloody fucking great. I was just listening a live version today, from the 97 tour, I believe.

I did, in fact, see Rush in the 97 tour and got to hear them play all of 2112, and it was AMAZING! Alex had the distortion cranked up about ten times higher than I had ever heard him play before, and they fucking JAMMED it.

[chknltl]

13. Why Bless you....

...got you covered....next time you sneeze.
Triumvirat, "Spartacus", about '75. The classic story as told by a German "prog-rock" band. Compared by many as a German ELP, Triumvirat has an equal number of fans and the band is still around.
www.triumvirat.net/welcome.htm
on edit: if you should go to link, click on "website story", once there click on "3" for a VERY interesting poem, highly recommended.

[WCGreen]

20. Illusions on a double dimple......

Mine is the road to nowhere........

[chknltl]

22. Wowsers, a fellow Triumvirat fan...

...quoting an older album too I see. I love Spartacus, how is their earlier stuff?

[WCGreen]

24. Better....

I love that album......

[chknltl]

25. On that recomendation...

I shall seek out and purchase it. Thanks for that.
When I hear these lyrics from Spartacus, in my minds eye I see our current struggle to regain Democracy here in America:

"The Deadly Dream Of Freedom"

In the night,we lie awake
And see the hazy shades of dawn
There's no rest for those who die
The deadly angel greets the Morn

I have a dream that we can change it
You need just a glimpse of hope and I
Will be your leader in the fight against Rome
We're united so you don't stand alone

In the night, you hear the drums
The last and longest fight begins
You're knife is sharp and in you're mind
You know this time we got to win

I can see the face of fate is turning
We can throw the ball and chain away
We can make it happen just as long as you believe
Together we stand up for our peace
Triumvirat, 1976

I hope history shows that our struggle turned out somewhat better than Spartacus's did. I look forward to listening to Triumvirats' second album now, I see it is out of print but I have some friends who know exactly where to get that sort of stuff.

[Elidor]

14. One of the must-see bands I've never seen live

Except for that concert video where Howe is wearing a cape and tripping balls. Close to the Edge is magic. So much of their music from that era has a spiritual feel of godhead.

Listening to Siberian Khatru here now.

[MissMillie]

49. Steve Howe is seriously underrated

Everyone goes gah-gah over Clapton and Randy Rhodes and Stevie Ray Vaughn, but none of them hold a candle to Howe.

[Initech]

15. YES is awesome!

Close to the Edge is one of my favorite albums, too!

[gardenista]

16. We regularly listen to them for hours, esp. on road trips. nt

[Floogeldy]

17. Greatest song ever.

End of story.

[dxstone]

18. Wow, GREAT taste Rabrrrr n' ALL of you guys...

My faves too. AND Genesis, when Gabriel was at the mike...
DEFINITELY all heavy-as-it-gets headtrippin' stuff...
Also LOVED ELP, King Crimson, Gentle Giant (no one remembers the Giant in their prime... sob!)
Of all of 'em, none is more spiritually positive--Jon Anderson's vision of mankind's future is this breathing luminous heaven of hope and gladness and joy and unity and peace and splendor...
Moody Blues was also very much like this.
And Todd Rundgren's first Utopia album, Utopia. The Ikon. Sorta mirrors Anderson's vision, and certainly one of the finest fastest most intricate and progressive rock opuses ever produced--it was a whole album side when it came out back in 75 (I think), and at 30 minutes and change, possibly the very longest ever crammed onto vinyl!)
I mention it cuz it's just the very closest thing from some other artist to that shining lovely great bird of rarest heaven-spun metal that Yes calls down to take our breath away and transport us, at their very best... their music brings ecstasy.
Awaken. Another favorite; when I saw them back in 90-somethin', they KICKED ASS... and they saved this for the very last encore.
They are amazing; they just get better and better.
YES!!!
d
ps: I must save this thread, so I can identify you all...
FINALLY... the DUERS WITH REALLY GOOD TASTE IN MUSIC thread!

And now for something completely different...
A Man With Three Buttocks

[chknltl]

21. dxstone

A Man With Three Buttocks!!!!! :rofl: Good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I opened that page!!!
I had already bookmarked this thread for the same reasons you mentioned but then came back to it just now to read the newer posts!
I have that same presidintevil link thingy too but hadn't been to it lately. The page I use is very depressing but gets the point across!
btw: I saw Yes on their Tales from A Topographic Ocean Tour, possibly back in '72 or '73. Absolutely stellar show. I saw Rush just a little later, maybe around '74 or '75, in Seattle. They were not headliner, Styx held that spot, (yeah I know Styx who?), Rush was promoting 2112 back then. I also saw Gentle Giant in
Berlin Germany back in '70 or '71, they were on this bill: Colosseum, If and Gentle Giant. Alas none of those bands stand out in my memory from way back then. (But some superb Afghan Black in a wine filled bong is still a memory from that particular show).
At that same venue I saw Rod Stewart and the Faces, Rod got beat up pretty bad by the crowd, he earned that pummeling but to his credit he came back onstage and finished the show. (I guess they "liked his body" but must have thought it other than "sexy")
I encourage you to continue with the: "And now for something completely different..." thing.

[WCGreen]

19. The very first time I smoked a lot of columbian pot...

I mean a lot was at a Yes concert in 1975...

I was bonkers high....

Float on the clouds high....

Steve Howe was taking me higher still....

And then, the audience started to all hold up lighters and matches and it was at the old Cleveland Stadium, a warm June Friday night....

It was magical......

And then, we smoked one too many joints....

The fire started to look menacing to me, itchy and George.....

Everywhere we looked the stadium was pulsating with flame...

Well, we walked off the stadium flood and went up stairs where it seemed safer.....

Great Concert......

Way too good pot to be out and about in public like that.....

[alarcojon]

23. Yes fan here as well

Mood for a Day inspired me to take up the classical guitar. Thank you Steve Howe.

Fragile and the Yes Album also deserve much praise. The Clap is a virtuoso performance.

[Orsino]

26. They're still rocking.

As of last year, anyway. I was blown away by their great performance.

They're not in my top five of bands, but dang! For that one night, at least, they were incredible. They've no right to sound that good after so long.

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. And they make intelligent people want to go and urinate on the

95% of musician shit in the pop culture milieu, and say "This is what musicians are SUPPOSED to fucking sound like, you fucking fake worthless fuck".

At least, it does me. Mariah, Beyonce, Celine, Brittney, N'Stink, the whole gamut of top 40 sounding bubblegum shit bands,and the overhwleming majority of the shit metal bands, and on and on and on, should all be pissed on for diluting the American culture with their worthless crap.

[B3Nut]

28. No, they need to be pooped on!

Go to www.formetopoopon.com and type the URL of any of the fake pop-crap poser sites in, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog will lay a big ol' load of poop on their page! :D

Anyway, most of today's pop "artists" aren't musicians. They're just corporate props. Put 'em behind a piano or strap a guitar on 'em and they'll just give you a deer-in-the-headlights stare. Hell, some of 'em can't even SING on pitch without running the Antares Auto-Tune plugin on their vocal track in ProTools! Fake fake fake. Bah humbug. Miles could have stuck his horn in his ass and farted and made better music than these plastic hacks...Emerson could blow them away playing a Jaymar toy piano with his nose...you get the idea. :D

Those pop "artists" are an insult to anyone who actually knows how to play an instrument.

BTW, speaking of inspring Yes tracks, Awaken is one of my all-time faves. Wakey's tutti runs on the pipe organ near the end give me chills. Awesome cut. :)

Todd in Beerbratistan, prog-rock lover

[WCGreen]

30. Yes Album is still my favorite.....

They also did, early on, some great covers...

Simon and Garfunkle's - America
The Beatle - Everylittle Thing She Does....

[B3Nut]

44. The long version of America rocks...

It's on one of the early hits/compilation albums. I cannot for the life of me figure why they put the edited single version in the YesYears box set...heresy! No raped-for-radio versions on CD's period! Come on you record company mooks! Kind of like the butchered version of Fly Like An Eagle on the Steve Miller Greatest Hits CD...there's simply no excuse. I had to buy the CD of the album to get that tune in an unadulterated state.

Did I mention recently I hate single edits? Grrr...and don't get me started on excessive mastering compression...oy oy oy oy oy

Todd in Beerbratistan, annoying audiophile

[WCGreen]

56. That song was great.......

And still is......

I listen to it at least once a week

[tarkus]

29. Yessongs is quite possibly the best live album ever.

It is so ridiculously good. I could listen to that version of "Siberian Khatru" all day.

[catmandu57]

31. Okay Rabrrrrrr Pulse is coming out

and Yes is going in. I worked in an old school in the sticks back in 75, since nobody cared every afternoon I would go down to the basement and smoke up a bowl.
One day I came up from my daily smoke when And you and I was playing on the radio, I'd listened to Yes several times before but that day just rocked my world.
I've been a Yes freak since then.

[Blue_Tires]

32. 'owner of a lonely heart' is great!

n/t

[maveric]

33. I saw them play it Live, 1973.

Wakeman just got back with the band.
The music and visual effects were GREAT!

[WCGreen]

34. I saw them in 1971 at a college gym out here in Cleveland...

It was way cool...

My second concert....

[Initech]

40. I saw them live last year playing with Dream Theater.

AWESOME FUCKING SHOW.

[tigereye]

52. somehow I just can't wrap my head around

the Yes/Dream Theater thing. There are lots of similarities in terms of the "progressive-music" aspect... but the metal "attitude" seems to me to be in pretty strong conflict with what Yes always seemed to be about. I like to tease younger friends that progressive rock was why punk got started, on some level, and ironically, it seems to have come full circle. ;)

(disclaimer: I was a huge prog rock fan in high school - I loved Yes, ELP, Genesis, etc. with a passion)

[Initech]

53. It was kind of a weird combo, but it worked

Damn good show, I went out and bought quite a few Yes albums the next day!

Although the better tour combo was Dream Theater / Queensryche. The two bands came out on stage after QR's set and played a couple of cover songs.

[no name no slogan]

35. Y'know, that's not just Wakeman playing on that track...

he had a second keyboard player hidden under the stage during that tour.

I have the Yessongs video and if you watch closely you can tell that he's not playing all those parts by himself.

Either way, it's still a cool track.

[Floogeldy]

36. Curious

Are you positive there was a second keyboard player, or are you reaching that conclusion solely because you heard parts that Wakeman was not playing?

I think Wakeman put a two-by-four on his organ keys, with something on it to press certain keys, to play that never-ending ethereal chord in the middle part of Close To The Edge.

There were other ways to add music to the performance other than using an extra human being, e.g., on tape or maybe sampling (don't know if we had sampling yet back then).

Edit: The intro to CTTE (birds chirping and water falling) was probably on tape? Also that real fast, high keyboard riff that comes in when the music starts?

[no name no slogan]

37. They did use tapes for the nature sounds

Also, I believe the pipe organ solo in the middle of "I Get Up I Get Down" is also on tape.

Sampling (as we know it) didn't exist back then-- the closest they got was a keyboard called a mellotron, which was basically a tape playback machine that played 8-second tapes when keys were pressed. Because the sounds were basically pre-recorded magnetic type, they typically didn't have the sonic fidelity or "feel" of the instruments they immitated. For example, the strings had their own distinct sound, but don't sound like an orchestra.

IIRC, the fast keyboard part at the beginning of CTTE was done by a Minimoog monophonic synth, probably with an arpeggiator. Wakeman had at least two of these in his setup circa 1973.

[Floogeldy]

38. Yes

I love the Mellotron. I used to go play one at a music store in town, and the owner would walk by and say, "I'll trade anything for that; car, boat, guns . . . ." Seems like nobody around here had $4000 to blow on a Mellotron.

I love the cheesey, wobbly tape sound. Very eerie. :)

[graywarrior]

39. Saw them live years ago...about 3 times

Mind blowing.

[sendero]

41. Since you've scoped the genre..

... to prog rock, I'd have Jethro Tull as number 5. Totally underrated IMHO :)

I love Yes, from the rocking Yes Album through the quixotic Going for the One.

Relayer will always be my favorite though. The Gates of Delirium one of the best anti-war songs ever written, the other 2 tracks equally wonderful!

[chknltl]

43. Beat me to it with Ian Anderson and Co. ..... drats

I was gonna come back here and post that addition today. Saw Jethro Tull 3 times, always an exceptional show.
First one was just prior to Thick As A Brick. I agree with you that Jethro Tull is highly underrated. What a cool thread this has turned into!

[Rabrrrrrr]

48. Tull is often in my fifth slot

Broadsword and the Beast, Minstrel in the Gallery, Songs from the Woods, Thhick as a Brick... all phenomenal.

Great band!

[CBGLuthier]

54. Tull isn't just underrated

They are thoroughly disrespected. Not even a mention at the so-called rock'n'roll hall of fame but AC/DC is in there. They have sold 60 million albums worldwide and I hope influenced at least a few musicians. Plus being one of the truly unique bands.

They get grief for winning the best Hard Rock grammy, but Tull has always had a hard edge and that particular album was very good hard rock.

And Martin Barre is one of the greatest guitarists alive.

The very first album I ever bough was Tull's Passion Play, the abum that lost them all the love from the critics they had earned with Thick as a Brick. I still love that album even if Thick is better.

[sendero]

55. Except for that silly bit in the middle...

.... Passion Play is easily my favorite Tull album, followed by a tie between Aqualung, Thick, and Songs from the Wood.

In fact, my current sig silliness is from that recording :)

[CBGLuthier]

42. A major Yes fan friend of mine

spends all his time trading concerts online. All with the blessing of the band. They can trade anything that has not had an official release, so long as they don't charge that is.

I am more of a casual Yes fan, I loved the great lineup of the 70's but didn't follow them into the 90's.

I did see them a few times and they always pleased. The best was with Donovan as their opening act way back in 77 or so.

[sendero]

45. Soundstage..

... (on PBS) had a 35 Year Anniversary Concert with Yes on last winter. I missed the first 10-15 minutes and am waiting for them to reprise it. It included Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Squire and I think White but I'm not certain who was drumming.

Most of them looked great and played great, but Howe did look a lot like granny on the Beverly Hillbillies :)

I lost interest in them when they released "Drama". And really, nothing since "Going for the One" really approaches their early stuff. Pop/rock music is a young man's game, IMHO.

[Mike Daniels]

51. 35th Anniversary is available on DVD

Saw it in a store a week or so ago. Never saw Yes live so I may have to buy one of the concert sets on video.

[ProfessorGAC]

46. Back In The Day, Yessongs. . .

. . . was on my turntable nearly every day. I actually had to get a second copy because i was getting too much hiss from the grooves shrinking. And, i had a decent cartridge and stylus!

Many years later i got the CD version, because, well, i JUST HAD TO!

That whole album is superb.
The Professor

[MissMillie]

47. I'm in the new "Songs from Tsongas" video

My sis and I saw them last year, and went to their record signing the night before the concert. At the signing, we won front row seats, and then we wound up on the concert DVD. (You can only see the back of my head, but my sister's mug made it passed the editor's cuts.)

[MN ChimpH8R]

50. Love this thread

Yes has been one of my fave bands since the first time I heard Roundabout back in 1972. I even bought a Rickenbacker 4001 bass back then so I'd have the same bass as my hero, Chris Squire.

Those were the days, back when a band had to be able to play, not just in the studio, but live as well. The first time I saw Yes (Topographic Oceans tour March 1974) I was astounded that they could replicate the studio sound live. Five unquestionable virtuosos in one band.

Yes also had something more, and that was Jon Anderson's unfailingly hopeful take on the future.

That Yes are still blowing the roof off anyplace they play thirty years later is amazing.

FYI, there's a new two-disc live video out - saw it at a friend's house. IT's called Songs From Tsongas - the 35th Anniversary.

And then there's King Crimson, Genesis (until Steve Hackett left), Can, ELP, Pink Floyd, mid-1970s Hawkwind, the Moody Blues, etc., etc.,

PROG RULES!!