This by far is the best YES album

[proggtr1]

Im not sure how many of you will agree with this, since im new here im not sure of everyones taste, but i do think this is best album.

First ill go on record that no band i can think of has released a string of great albums in a row as YES did with: Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales, and Relayer. This is something all bands shoudl strive for. And while the other albums mentioned are all great i think Relayer has the perfect track listing.

Gates: A true epic, well written and performed
Soundchaser: A true Prog classic, everything a true prog music lover could ask for.
To be Over: Beautiful and well written.

Not a bad song on this album......Your thoughts

[Jackaranda]

Well it's my favorite!

[Silent_wings]

It's one of my favorites

[allpurechance]

proggtr1,welcome!

My brother,an avowed Yesfan as well as I(though lacking my singular obsessiveness...!),has said repeatedly that Sound Chaser is the best Yessong of all...

And he a guitar player,too!(he renders a pretty fair Mood For A Day!)

Me?I'm more of a Gates person,and...especially with the mellow flavor that time has somehow so wonderfully bestowed upon it,To be Over...

Yet Relayer is unique among Yes albums.And,not just for the touches the wonderful Patrick Moraz placed into it.And,not just because it's Steve's most blazing statement from those golden times.And,not just because this was the first time we were ever fully privy to the powerhouse that is the Chris Squire/Alan White leviathan rhythm engine.

No.

There was something else afoot,here.This may have been the furthest afield Yes ever went.And,it has been my experience that the further afield Yes went(or goes!lol),the better the result is,in the end,in the fullness of time.

So,Yes you're right!Relayer is truly a thing wonderful,utterly unique not only in Yesmusic,but all music.Time is what it will take,as it has taken for the fullest possible appreciation of this landmark recording.

Oh,and I'd like to add The Yes Album to the beginning of your list of amazing consecutive recordings by any band,ever.And Going For The One and,yea,even Tormato(have you heard the amazing remaster?!)to the end.

Again,welcome!

Frank

:O)

[Timmo]

You'll get no argument from me, except I don't know that I'd go as far as saying "by far."

[proggtr1]

proggtr1,welcome!

My brother,an avowed Yesfan as well as I(though lacking my singular obsessiveness...!),has said repeatedly that Sound Chaser is the best Yessong of all...

And he a guitar player,too!(he renders a pretty fair Mood For A Day!)

Me?I'm more of a Gates person,and...especially with the mellow flavor that time has somehow so wonderfully bestowed upon it,To be Over...

Yet Relayer is unique among Yes albums.And,not just for the touches the wonderful Patrick Moraz placed into it.And,not just because it's Steve's most blazing statement from those golden times.And,not just because this was the first time we were ever fully privy to the powerhouse that is the Chris Squire/Alan White leviathan rhythm engine.

No.

There was something else afoot,here.This may have been the furthest afield Yes ever went.And,it has been my experience that the further afield Yes went(or goes!lol),the better the result is,in the end,in the fullness of time.

So,Yes you're right!Relayer is truly a thing wonderful,utterly unique not only in Yesmusic,but all music.Time is what it will take,as it has taken for the fullest possible appreciation of this landmark recording.

Oh,and I'd like to add The Yes Album to the beginning of your list of amazing consecutive recordings by any band,ever.And Going For The One and,yea,even Tormato(have you heard the amazing remaster?!)to the end.

Again,welcome!

Frank

:O)

Hello sir...and thank you for your most informative comments...and i agree that THE YES ALBUM could be added to the beginning, and GOING FOR THE ONE at the end..but TORMATO..hmmm....im not so sure...and yes i have purchased the remastered version. I personally find Tormato a little lacking in direction compared to other YES albums. But im glad to read that we see eye to eye on Relayer..it is truely a masterpiece.

[cinderella]

a string of great albums in a row as YES did with: Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales, and Relayer.



I love these albums. I'd have to say Relayer is probably tied with Tales as my favorite album. Of course I loved the albums in the Trevor era also, but Relayer is definitely one I love from 70's Yes.

[Yes2Yes]

I think Relayer is one of their best works!

[Warhorse]

it's in the middle of the pack in my books, not sure if I'd put it in the top ten.

[Yes_Fan_4_Life26]

I think Relayer and Tales were Yes' "darker" albums.

More guitar and keyboards.

But Relayer is more heavy than Tales.

[pianozach]

No argument here . . . I think it's probably their most "perfect" album.

:1loudspkr

[Timmo]

it's in the middle of the pack in my books, not sure if I'd put it in the top ten.What ARE in your top 10???

[proggtr1]

No argument here . . . I think it's probably their most "perfect" album.

:1loudspkr

I whole heartedly agree with this comment.

[new_sum_do_solve_ay]

I will have to say 'by far' is oversimplifying things. Perhaps its the tightest musically. I really really like it. But I like Tales more. Tales have a greater range and thematically blows away Relayer. What's relayer really about? It's kind of murky. CTTE is also great. I have been listening more to Talk recently and the lyrics here are among their finest. I'd list my top 5 as:

Relayer, Tales, Talk, CTTE, ABWH, Big Generator

in no particular order.

[inside_out]

CLOSE TO THE EDGE STANDS ALONE. Everything else can be debated.

[JL]

I saw the title of this thread and automatically assumed that it was about Going For The One. GFTO is the best Yes album, but I don't know about by far.

Relayer is way, way up there.

[DJ Panurge]

Close to the Edge is my favourite Yes album... followed closely by Fragile, Relayer & GFTO.

I've always thought that the band themselves have also always considered CTTE to be their finest hour, even back in the 70s (here I await some yesfan to point out to me that this isn't the case)... To me, the fact that Relayer has EXACTLY the same album structure than CTTE seems to clearly show that the band had the conscious desire to recreate what they did so well in CTTE in their new album.

Even if one of you effectively shows to me that this was not actually the case, I will nevertheless always consider CTTE slightly superior to all other Yes albums.

To me, CTTE just represents the materialisation of everything that Yes initially set out to achieve. There had been nothing like it before, or ever since.

[gitsy]

It's my top Yes album closely followed by Close To The Edge. We are a mixed bag aren’t we as all love Yes and yet have so many different opinions (I wouldn’t have it any other way). Many on this thread have quoted Relayer at the same time as Tails which for me is one of the weaker albums would have made a great album but far to padded IMHO. Anyway what do I know I like Open Your Eyes.

[creamy]

Im not sure how many of you will agree with this, since im new here im not sure of everyones taste, but i do think this is best album.

First ill go on record that no band i can think of has released a string of great albums in a row as YES did with: Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales, and Relayer. This is something all bands shoudl strive for. And while the other albums mentioned are all great i think Relayer has the perfect track listing.

Gates: A true epic, well written and performed
Soundchaser: A true Prog classic, everything a true prog music lover could ask for.
To be Over: Beautiful and well written.

Not a bad song on this album......Your thoughts


Certainly it is up there at the top along with CTTE, FRAGILE, Going For THE ONE with TALES right close behind.Gitsy said it the best though. But i will need private therapy from Gitsy concerning OYE.

[rgfudd99]

Relayer is great. But it's not my favorite. GFTO, TYA, CTTE all go ahead of Relayer on my list.

[breadboy526]

:git[1]: love 'em all

[ZenGuitar]

Well...

Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales, and Relayer are my all-time favorites with CTTE being first. I'd hate to have to rate the others in any order. I also love the earlier and later stuff, too.

[RABARKS]

All the seventies albums (that's including Tormato!) are equally great to me.
But I'll say this about Relayer: It was the last really innovative, progressive album that Yes made. After that the quality was still there for some years, but they were not leading figures in pop/rockland anymore...
:headset:

[francoyo]

Relayer is my favourite!!!! but not so far from CTTE, TYA, FGL. Have you heard Sound Chaser, that guitar solo....the Alan´s solo and the end of the song. It´s a jazz rock masterpiece. Then To be over, I once fell in love with that song. really!!

[Sad Preacher]

Close To The Edge is without a doubt IMO the best YES album to date....i love Tales and The Yes Album.....but Close To The Edge is near perfect....lyrically, musically, and production wise.....i took my handle for And You And I....i really liked YES, TIme And A Word, The Yes ALbum, and Fragile....but those albums do not compare to CTTE.....next to Pink Floyds Dark Side Of The Moon....my favorite album ever......

[luckeydoug1]

I don't care much for CTTE and I still haven't come to grips with Relayer yet. I prefer 90125, Big Generator and Talk.

[umgekehrt]

They don't call me "Gates of Deliri-Umgy" for nothing

[Jon08]

What ARE in your top 10???

I'd really like to know the answer to this question.

Tied for first with Close to the Edge. GOD is my favorite song of all time.

[decoman48]

Being an old timer, I gotta say that I'm kind of partial to the 70's stuff. Relayer, while being excellent, for me would not be able to steal the spotlight from TYA, Fragile or CTTE.

The 80's & 90's stuff, for me, just didn't quite measure up. That is until you get to The Ladder and later, Magnification, both of which are outstanding.

Ain't diversity great!

[SadPreacher]

I don't care much for CTTE and I still haven't come to grips with Relayer yet. I prefer 90125, Big Generator and Talk.

wow....i had to do a double take on this post...

[JB86]

I love Relayer. Not for the Gates of Delirium (although the 'Soon' section is magnificent, and the whole reason why I bought this album), but for the other two tracks, Sound Chaser and To Be Over. Patrick Moraz is such a great keyboardist, I wish he'd played with them for one more album. Steve Howe's guitar playing on TBO is great, too.

Then again, there's the old saying "Too much of a good thing"...

[steve4001]

I don't care much for CTTE and I still haven't come to grips with Relayer yet. I prefer 90125, Big Generator and Talk.It's good to see we've still got some Generators coming on board

[KPatrick]

I wouldn't say this is "by far" the best Yes album. But depending on when you catch me, I'd put it at No. 1.

[Faceintheplace]

Relayer may be Yes' best album but it's got heavy competition from CTTE. Personally though, CTTE and Tales will always be my all time favorites but I do reguard Relayer very highly.

[tormatotork]

After dark side of the moon, this is the only album I will be taking to hell with me, though if the Devil permits it, The Lamb lies down on Broadway too.

[Close to Loch Ness]

CTTE is about as perfect as it gets. Followed closely by Tales, Relayer, TYA, GFTO. (IMHO) :D

[YESYOUANDI]

In just one album PAT was elevated into REAL YES status.

Relayer will always be one of YES's finest efforts.

A REAL YES album indeed.

Cheers fans.

[gt76yesman]

They don't call me "Gates of Deliri-Umgy" for nothing
Your just panda-ring to this thread! :lol:

Toughy here, I would put CTTE first, GFTO has my favorite song (Awaken) and is right up there with Relayer as the top three on my list.