Steve Howe, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and later the Drama album. Growing up a drummer, I loved listening to Bruford, much more so than Alan White's stiff style. He just never seemed to flow to me.
I like most of their stuff up to and including 90125, but Drama was the one that really shined for me and is my favorite by them. Trevor's voice was very fitting. My other faves would be Close to the Edge, Going for the One, Tormato, Fragile and 90125.
It was never about Chris Squire for me, not even after I started playing bass. While I respect his mark on the instrument, he's not one of my favorites although I love Fish Out of Water...but again, not because of the bass.
I do wish I could have caught them live pre-90125. But finally getting to see Steve Howe live twice in the last decade has been great.
Why I am a YES fan
Their music reaches into the fibers of my being. It is part of me, connects very easily to my soul, and was that way from the start when I found TYA, then YES and TAAW, then every album since.
For me, GFTO, Tormato, and the 80s were, not hit or miss, but some songs just didn't ring for me. But then we had Awaken, Future Times, and Silent Wings of Freedom on them. I wonder what DKTW would have been with Chris' lyrics....
Drama, Tales, Relayer, CTTE, Talk, and TYA all stand out from the rest.
For me, GFTO, Tormato, and the 80s were, not hit or miss, but some songs just didn't ring for me. But then we had Awaken, Future Times, and Silent Wings of Freedom on them. I wonder what DKTW would have been with Chris' lyrics....
Drama, Tales, Relayer, CTTE, Talk, and TYA all stand out from the rest.
It is amazing how many of us here have posted really liking Drama. With Geoff and Trevor replacing Jon and Rick and the flack Yes took for that, the album was not very well received but has very good works on it. I've always wished "Man In A White Car" was developed into a full song - great melody/idea. And "Run Through The Light" is awesome - has an "Only A Northern Song" feel to it.
My iPod includes every song that YES ever put onto media that I could buy!I sometimes think that Yes' music is not a style of "music" per se,(like "rock" or "prog"), but I think it is a style of "composition" that fits into the "prog" category. Which I suppose could be said for the rest of the prog giants - maybe this is the reason that Yes' music hits hard with the people it connects with, and generally gets ignored by the people who decide who the Rock and Roll hall of fame inductees will be. When you consider that the instruments they use aren't any different than most other rock bands, I think it really does boil down to arrangement, and in a larger sense, composition. Tension, release, counterpoint, modulation etc....it's all in there, by musicians who know what they are doing, and can play their instruments. When it all clicks, its a wonderful thing.
I'm done rambling now.
I'm done rambling now.
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bassduke49
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6554
- Joined: Wed May 14, 2003 5:00 am
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gray
I was probably in 4th grade when I first heard Yes, and I remember being very drawn to it. It was probably Big Generator or 90125, at that point. Then when I first heard "Roundabout" as I was exploring the band on my first radio, I remember thinking how amazing and different it was from all the other music I was hearing on that station (a rock station I stuck with). It wasn't until much later I realized how I was drawn to music that featured prominent bass lines, but that was one of the things that drew me to Yes in the first place, just as it drew me to Joy Division/New Order, Bauhaus and the Southern Death Cult much later when I was in college.
The first thing that drew me to Yes was simply the fact that as 4th grader, I liked listening to the music they were making at the time. However, as I got older, what drew me to them was the otherworldly complexity of what they had done earlier.
Chris Squire was absolutely my very first bass influence, even though what I do doesn't resemble or compare to what he does, and I really appreciate how far he pushed the instrument. There are a lot of people who don't at all realize how much they owe him.
I can also say that nowadays I appreciate the music of Yes far more than I did as a teenager or even in my twenties.
The first thing that drew me to Yes was simply the fact that as 4th grader, I liked listening to the music they were making at the time. However, as I got older, what drew me to them was the otherworldly complexity of what they had done earlier.
Chris Squire was absolutely my very first bass influence, even though what I do doesn't resemble or compare to what he does, and I really appreciate how far he pushed the instrument. There are a lot of people who don't at all realize how much they owe him.
I can also say that nowadays I appreciate the music of Yes far more than I did as a teenager or even in my twenties.
In high school, I had an 8-track of Tales from Topographic Oceans. One song per "section", and a set of headphones, and I was off in another galaxy. I would lie on my bed, and dream of becoming that kind of bass player. Of course, it didn't turn out quite that way, but I do play in a band, and have played the Ric bass since '79. It's much more than music when it touches you deep inside, and allows you to dream big dreams.