best and worst Yes album

[mauricio]

this is a little difficult question.
The best album for me is Going for the one, where you can listen to all kinds of music...and the worst (if there is a worst album) is 9012Live.....it simply could have some more tracks!!!!
By the way, it seems to me that Awaken has a little of waltz or am I wrong?

[RobAdams]

Too hard a question really.

Yessongs, Fragile, Close To The Edge, Relayer, Tales From Topographic Oceans and Going For The One could all be considered THE BEST on a given day.

The worst? My opinion: OPEN YOUR EYES.

i-and-i, where's Tales?

[RobAdams]

Well, I did intend to include it....Ooops.

The TFTO Police strike again!

Ever vigilent! Yes

[Kaytou]

Favorite: Tales
Least favorite: Talk

Now see, there's a Yes fan after my own heart! Welcome Kaytou!

[nightliner]

Best Yes album...everything but Open Your Eyes.

Worst Yes album...Open your Eyes.

Funny, nightliner

[RobAdams]

Well put Nightliner.

[Yes Oz]

My Favorite is The Yes Album. As I've said before on other threads I cant find a weak part in this album. Even the silence in between tracks is magic!!

My least favourite is Drama (not that I listen to it very much at the time and I do not pocess a copy now). I'm one of those fans who thinks that if Jon isn't singing then it isn't Yes.

Originally posted by Yes Oz
I'm one of those fans who thinks that if Jon isn't singing then it isn't Yes.

Makes sense to me, Yes Oz.

[TexasYesFan]

BEST: Fragile
WORST: Open Your Eyes

I think the "best" will be defined by each fan based on his/her listening experience, history, etc. "Fragile" was my seminal Yes experience, even though I had heard tracks from The Yes Album before it. I'll never forget the thrill of listening to the pristine vinyl disc on my turntable for the first time way back in .... Man, has it been that long?

[Original_Shifty]

Best Album: Relayer
Honourable mention: CTTE

Worst Album: Open Your Eyes
Dishonerable mention: Time and a Word

[mauricio]

I'd like to thank all of you who had answered this question of mine, I hope that more and more people can say their opinions about the favourite and non-favorite Yes album......
Coming soon another question for all of you.
Thanks again....
Love you all and see you very soon.
Bye now

[Dan]

Best album: Relayer
Worst: 90125

[yesport]

For me TALES is the favourite album...That's a Master Piece.
The worst is Drama. I have to agree with yes Oz. Without Jon Anderson there's no Yes.

Nothing to argue with there, yesport!

[crazedyesfan]

best: close to the edge
worst: big generator

[closetotheedge]

Favorite: Close to the Edge
Worst: Drama

[Jackaranda]

Best Overall: Yessongs
Best studio: Too hard to call (about a 5 way tie)
Worst: Tormato (SPLAT!!), The Ladder
Good album that could have been great: Tales
Most abused: Talk

[Jackaranda]

I'm now awaiting my arrest by the Topographic Police Dept.

[brismike]

Best of the early bunch - The Yes Album
Worst of the early bunch - Yes (First Album)

Best of the mid to late 70's - CTTE
Worst of the mid to late 70's - GFTO

Best of the 80's - Big Generator
Worst of the 80's - 9012Live

Best of the 90's - Talk
Worst of the 90's - Union

Best of the new Millenium - Magnification
Worst of the new Millenium - Hasn't been a bad one yet!

Mike :)

[Balrog]

My vote for best album:

Close to the Edge

My vote for worst album:

Open Your Eyes ( and close your ears )

[yesmandroc]

best album is probably close to the edge. The catalyst of their creative zenith. NO one player dominates the album. Either that or topographic oceans. Worst? Either TALK or OPEN YOUR EYES.

[mrgone3]

Originally posted by yesmandroc
The catalyst of their creative zenith. NO one player dominates the album. Either that or topographic oceans. Worst?OPEN YOUR EYES. I think you said this better than I have tried to say it.The band merged as one and produced their greatest musical acheivement.Even Jon said Tales were high on ideals,but low on input.And OYE had nothing of interest to offer.Why did they bother? JOE

[markcampbell]

Originally posted by closetotheedge
Favorite: Close to the Edge
Worst: Drama

I was just checking out the best/worst Yes album page and came across your choice which was rather apt because 'Close to the Edge' is not only my fave Yes album, it also happens to be my
No. 1 Yes track. I was just thinking that my worst one would have to be 'Drama' (hey! double bingo, or what?!). This is not because it is so terribly bad. No, it's just that (as one other message on this page mentioned) Jon isn't on the record and it doesn't feel like Yes without him.

Mark

[Jim Mikolay]

Best Yeasalbum would definitely be Close To The Edge...

Least favorite would be Open Your Eyes.

I am surprised to see Drama & Talk mentioned for "worst" as often as they are. I thought Drama was very innovative, especially considering the personnel overhaul prior to that release. I enjoy listening to Talk very much. I think it has alot of great music on it.

To me, it's always been about the music... THAT is the magic of Yes... not who ISN'T in the band.

Honorable mentions: Going For The One, The Ladder

[Martin Riley]

Best - CLOSE TO THE EDGE
Worst - 9012 Live The Solos

[Koko]

BEST: Close To The Edge
(For me 'The' Greatest Album/ Piece Of Music of ALL TIME)....Yes, as has already been (Wisely) stated...each person will have their own Best/Least Favourite depending on every possible nuance of circumstance in Life one could possibly imagine.....When ever I hear Close To The Edge....It Takes Me Deeper Within and Farther Out to Ever greater Joy, Ecstasy, Wonderment, Bliss and 'that special place that cannot be expressed'.

LEAST FAVOURITE: Talk...It just doesn't ring of Yes as a group, more Trevor Rabin than is/was healthy for a group of strong minded, extremely creative human beings....who also happen to be 'Musicians and Composers' of immense ability.


Honourable Mention/s: Yes Album , Fragile and Magnification.


Without Hope (and Tea & Toast) You Cannot Start The Day.

[Jim Mikolay]

As it is probably just as difficult for you folks to be negative about anything Yes has done over the decades...

Their music has refreshed my soul so many times... I feel guilty being even the least bit negative towards anything they've done... this includes Rabin. Though his albums may rank lower on my list, his influence was invaluable, and his contributions as unique as any other musician lucky enough to have been a member of Yes.

Side 2 from 'Tales' was probably the most important piece of music to me ever. Many, many late nights as a confused kid were brought to a peaceful close with a set of headphones and this particular work of art. After getting caught up in the magic of this piece for twenty minutes or so, I could close my eyes and sleep.

I am going to see them at The Fox Theater in Detroit to thank them for this.

[Martin Riley]

Originally posted by Jim Mikolay
I am going to see them at The Fox Theater in Detroit to thank them for this.

Welcome, Jim.

Whilst you're there could you remind them that they're British and we wouldn't mind seeing them back over here

[Jim Mikolay]

I have been watching for tour updates... religiously... and I am not a religious person.
No dates for Europe, or my hometown either... that is why we are making the five hour trek to Detroit.
As for them being British, I sometimes wish they had decided to move back to England... just to see what type of influence living there again might have on their music.
They might live in sunny California now, but they could never forget their roots...

[Martin Riley]

Originally posted by Jim Mikolay
that is why we are making the five hour trek to Detroit.


As for them being British, I sometimes wish they had decided to move back to England... just to see what type of influence living there again might have on their music.
They might live in sunny California now, but they could never forget their roots...

I think over here we sometimes forget how big the States is. Even if they only played London over here it is easily within reach of just about everybody (about 3 hours for me - if I put the foot down to the floor and there are no traffic cops or speed traps about)

That's an interesting point about how their music could have turned out if they'd returned or stayed in Britain. I'm not so sure it would have had a beneficial effect. In the States now they may have a low media profile but over here they would be so vilified by the fashion conscious press that they probably wouldn't have survived

[prem895]

yessongs & ctte worst 90215 & open your eyes

[Mudster]

Favorite: Tales
Honorable mention cause I can't really pick one: Relayer

Worst album: 9012Live: the solos

[edugf]

The Best: Tales
The Worst: OYE

Bye

[lindil]

best
Going for the One

[ honorable mention -everything else between fragile and relayer!]

worst

OYE - Talk

-=-=-=-

I will take yes w/out jon on Drama any day over Jon singing that tomfool of a song 'big-generator'! or the utter banality of most of OYE [close your ears].

I mean sure trevor horn attempted the impossible and suffered for his efforts but Jon has sat through some souless compromises from tormato on.

Actually want to hear a great 'Yes' record [squire/bruford and moraz] w/out jon? Fish out of Water! Hols out yuor hand is as yesish as Parallels or can you imagine in my book.

you know now that i think about it virtually everyone agrees that the goldena age of yes studio work ended w/ Gft1 and when was the last time Eddie offord produced them :smksml:

So maybe we fans should forget our preoccupations w/ the set list and focus on encouraging them to get the '6th member' back w/ them in the studio !?!?!?

In all fairness I have not heard the first 2 albums in 10 yrs or so.
will try and get the millenium disc tomorrow. but even if they annoy me greatly i will cut the guys some serious slack, due to age and inexperience. i busted up reading bruford et. al. talk about he recording experiences on those albums in CttE.

[SEYYES]

BEST:YES ALBUM OR CTTE
WORST:MAGNIFICATION

[lindil]

Sey yes joust out of curiosity, how many listens have you given magnification?

You might wish to consider reading the reviews of it if you havn't . some of the boards enthusiasm might rub off on you.

I def found it grew on me like a good middle period genesis album.

[yessongs72]

Hmmmm.....The best Yes album,thats a tough one so I will do as everyone else and make a list.

Best
Yes Album,Fragile,CTTH,Tales,GFTO,Tormato,
90125,The Ladder,Magnifcation

Worst, Trauma,Union,Talk

[Mr. Holland]

Best Yes album: "Close to the Edge", there simply isn't a bad second on that album, those three tracks are one.

Worst album: "Big Generator". Although i really like the songs "rhythm of love" and "shoot high, aim low", as a whole album it still doesn't strike me as above average.

[Mr. Holland]

Oops....changing my mind on the worst album. Yesterday I listned to both "big generator" and "open your eyes" again an after that i now have to say that i think "open your eyes" is the worst album.
There simply isn't a song on that album, that appeals to me.

I also think that i know what went wrong with that album. They tried to make a "Rabin sounding" album without Trevor Rabin an understandibly that doesn't work........

[Jim Mikolay]

I have tried and tried to allow OYE to grow on me... and it just won't. If YES ever put out something cheezy, this was it.
As for the Rabin influence, I think the guys were just still under the influence, as opposed to folks thinking they were still trying to sound like Rabin. After all, they did eventually come up with 'The Ladder,' didn't they? The buzz wore off.
Hey, I have always been a Steve Howe fan... he IS the greatest...but you other Howe fans out there simply can not deny Rabin's influence on this great band. After all, this is what YES has always been about... picking up the pieces, and keepin' on.
Was 'Owner...' a bubble gum single? Yes, it was. But at the same time, it helped YES reach a whole new world of fans out there, and there is a ton of great music on 90125, Big Generator, and Talk.
Let's not forget... this 'picking up the peices and keepin' on...' Drama is the perfect example of this. I know Jon and Rick and Tony aren't on this album, but Chris and Steve and Alan were very proud of Drama... as well they should be. A fabulous album to say the least... and probably the most underrated.

[Mr. Holland]

Jim, I agree on must of what you've written. No doubt that Steve is the greatest guitarplayer. But I think that is also, apart from probably being more talented on the guitar than Trevor, beacause Steve breathes guitar, by god the man is Guitar, while Rabin is a guitarplayer-keyboardplayer-singer-songwriter-producer.

As by the time of "open your eyes" the guys still being under the influence of Rabin, seems a bit strange to me, since they allready did the "keys to accension" thing. So i stick to the opnion they tried to make a "Rabin sound"album and that was probably due to the participation of Billy sherwood. My biggest argument for that opinion is that with Billy Sherwood in the band they also played a lot more Rabin material during the two tours they did with him.

[Jim Mikolay]

Mr Holland,

I might agree with you more had 'Keys' been a total studio project... but with it mostly being live, I kind of lump it in with Yessongs, Yesyears, Yeshows, Classic Yes, Yesterdays, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I always have time for a new 'live' version of any piece of Yesmaterial, but I guess I don't count 'Keys' in with all the other studio albums, even though it did have some new stuff on it.
I think the guys worked with Trevor Rabin for so long, it simply took some time for that unique 'sound' to leave their heads.
Mr Rabin, in my opinion has to be appreciated for who he is, and not be compared to Mr Howe. To compare them is kind of like comparing apples to oranges.
We will never know what may have come from the Jimmy Page days, but I'm glad Trevor Rabin was a part of YES when he was. Like now, it's so awesome to have Steve and Rick back. It's just another chapter in the annals of YES. Let's hope they write some stuff together before the next chapter.

[Jim Mikolay]

Best album(s)... Close To The Edge, Going For The One, Drama, The Yes Album, Tales
Worst... Union, Open Your Eyes

[Aventurer]

I see Yesport that we're back to Trevor Horn bashing. If Yes isn't Yes without Anderson, then I'd apply the same logic to the Rabin era.

The tunes on Drama - no matter how you look at it - actually follow Yes progression ( if you pardon the pun). That is not a label you could hang on the Rabin years.

I saw the Drama tour and am of the minority opinion that Trevor Horn did not too bad a job with pretty tough material.

Anyway best Yes album? Going for the One. They just sound like they really mean it on that album.

Worst? Tough one. I'll go for 90125. Its just horrid pop.

[Jim Mikolay]

I would like to officially join the (minority) ranks of folks who think Trevor Horne did a fantastic job on Drama, and a wonderful job on everything else during the tour.
Like Trevor Rabin, he helped keep the YES machine going when a Jon or Steve needed to get away.

All of 90125 horrid pop? Naah... there's some great music on that album.

Even 'Owner...' wasn't that awful bad, because it did have a YES flavor to it.

Flock of Seagulls 'I Ran...' Now THAT"S horrid pop.

[Mr. Holland]

Jim

In my opnion "keys to ascension" is a full studio album, just dived over two cd's, but when you really look at it, there are 7 studiotracks, including two long ones, so that's more than on CTTE and RELAYER together.

On Trevor Horn. I think that he did a tremendous job on DRAMA. but I also think he made the right decision to go on as a producer. He did a great job on 90125 as well as on the FGTH album "welcome to the pleasuredome" and on Grace Jones's "slave to the rhythm"album, just to mention a few examples.

[ycantibu]

Favourites: Talk, 90125, Big Generator, Union [well, some of it anyhoo], Going for the One [I really like Awaken, Turn of the Century & Wonderous Stories, I even like Parallels], Tormato [OK, well, I like Madrigal & On the Silent Wings of Freedom].

I'm kinda strange I guess, with the older music I tend to like individual songs, rather than the whole CD. Really, there are coolness songs off most everything.

Now for the kicker...I haven't really paid much mind to anything released after Talk, so I am not really qualified to give an opinion. I did hear a couple songs off Magnification & I didn't really like them. I'm on a waiting list at the library to get the CD, but there are like 10 other people before me! Perhaps I'll be able to give it a fair shake someday.

[Toes To The Edge]

Best: Close to the Edge

Worst: Union

[Robert Shupe]

Best: Close To The Edge Could definately change on a given day but this is the one for me. It would be a desert island disc for certain. Let's see. It is truly epic in it's scope. It was the final product after delicate crafting and even uncertainty of where it was going. It was a tapestry open for listener interpretation. It was lush in it's musical landscape. It was bold in pushing it's musical boundries. It was an album of risk following upon the succesful heels of the glorious Fragile. Yet it worked and it has endured. Quite a wonderful piece of work don't you think.

Worst: Union - We have two great groups of hunters on the course of slaying the great musical beast. The hunters came from the same background and reunite. Oh, the possibilities. Imagine the mammoth to come. However, other hunters came to the pot to add there own spice, flavor, and expertise. It then became diluted and rushed and the final feast was not horrible but rather unfulfilled. Too many cooks. Many wondering what happened.

(Union Tour) However, the hunters then travel sharing themselves and the majesty was there.

After much posting the adjectives become more difficult. However, great thread to cause the juices to get going again.

Robert Shupe

[Jim Mikolay]

Folks,

For anyone who cares, I listened to disc 2 of "Live from the House of Blues" last night on the way to pick up my daughter, and it caused me to pull out 'The Ladder' when I arrived back at home. What a great CD... probably as underrated as 'Drama' and even 'Relayer...' maybe only because of a somewhat unknown, temporary keyboard player on the album. The Yesmen (and Igor) did a fabulous job on this CD... as well as the live versions on '... House of Blues.' Chris' backing vocals are especially powerful and crisp in the live versions of these newer tracks.
Yes has always been able to find that one great musician to fill the gap when somebody... "got off the bus..." as Jon Anderson once described the Yes machine.
Here's hoping 'The Ladder' and Igor Koroshev stay fresh in the minds of Yesfans everywhere for years to come.

[Mr. Holland]

I agree with you 100% Jim. I think "the ladder"is the best studio work Yes has done in the 90's, especially the long tracks "homeworld" an "new language".
I've been to "the ladder" tour in Utrecht in the Netherlands an the live version of "homeworld" was even more powerfull than the studio version. I would'nt mind at all if they put it in their setlist for their upcomming European tour.

[illusion]

Best: Going For The One, but more recently I'm really into Drama. Horn's voice is fine, although not as good as Jon's, and Geoff Downes does a far better job than Wakeman did on Tormato. A very underrated album.

Worst: Well I would have said Relayer until a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm unsure, as I've been listening to it quite a bit, and Soon is one of the most moving pieces of music ever written. I now like both the shorted songs too. Open Your Eyes is simply unlistenable. Horrible music. Maybe 90125, as it only has one good track on it, compared to two on Big Generator and Talk. Union is really s**t too. Tormato is quite weak as well.

[BredYes]

1969-1980
Best: Close to the Edge
Worst: Drama

1981-1994
Best: Talk
Worst: Big Generator

1995-2002
Best: Magnification
Worst: Open your Eyes


Best overall: Close to the Edge
Worst overall: Open your Eyes

[hodorman]

Originally posted by TexasYesFan
BEST: Fragile
WORST: Open Your Eyes

I think the "best" will be defined by each fan based on his/her listening experience, history, etc. "Fragile" was my seminal Yes experience, even though I had heard tracks from The Yes Album before it. I'll never forget the thrill of listening to the pristine vinyl disc on my turntable for the first time way back in .... Man, has it been that long?

ditto although Talk is pretty awful.

[owjim]

Best: Close to the Edge
Close 2nd: Tales
Honorable mention: Relayer


Worst: Big Generator (there's a reason you don't much of this if any live. even the band knows it)
Close 2nd: Drama
Dishonorable Mention: 90125

[Dave belsey]

This is tough,
The best album has to be Close to the Edge with either tales or yessongs a close second.

The Worst album is alot tougher,
I didn't like OYE I just did'nt listen to it ,Union very patchy(but a great tour!), the KEYSSTUDIO album is very poor.
No I think I'll have to go with Keystudio I never got into the studio stuff on the KTA albums i think they tried to hard on those songs.

[Martin Riley]

I was a little disppointed with the Keys stuff when they first came out, I thought they were attempts at trying to replicate a 70s Yessound.
After a while and a few more listens I still thought that there was an element of truth in that but then thought, what the hell, Yes trying to be 70s Yes is better than no Yes at all. And now I find that I like those tracks in their own right, particularly Mind Drive which I think is an awesomely conceived piece of work.

Go on, Dave, give them another go.

[BrianD]

Best: Close to the Edge

Worst: Open Your Eyes

Seems to be the general consensus of opinion!

[gathernear]

Best: Close To The Edge

Favorite: Tales From Topographic Oceans


Worst and/or least favorite-there are actually several, well three or four. I won't specify:-)

Diplomatic, you see.