What is your favourite Roger Dean album cover?

[BrianD]

Roger Dean's album covers for Yes are:

Fragile
Close to the Edge
Yessongs
Tales
Relayer
Classic Yes
Drama
Yesshows
Union
KTA 1 and 2
Yesyears/Yesstories
The Ladder
In a Word Yes

As well as ABWH and An evening of Yesmusic plus...

So which ones do you like best?

My personal favourite is Close to the Edge, but I also like Relayer a lot.

[deelovesyes]

My favorite is Relayer

dee

[Dances w/PURPLE]

The animated YESSONGS on DVD is right up there.

[Jackaranda]

Tales.

[Faceintheplace]

They're all great but Drama is my favorite.

[Earl Grey]

Relayer for me!

I have a wonderful lithograph of Relayer on my living room wall: signed and numbered by Jon Anderson!

I hope, for the re-release of Relayer, that they give us extra Roger Dean cookies... I'd love it if the cover-insert were done-up on a thicker grade of paper: I hope they give us a nice booklet with extra photos and lots of extras!
The artwork is always an essential part of the YES experience for me...

After Relayer, I would have to say Yessongs and Tales are my faves.

Has anyone gotten the new Roger Dean DVD yet? I had some trouble ordering it from the british site, and hear there's an american site it can be ordered from now. I'd like to know what's on it.

Earl:yesbird:

[David Zygo]

Like this Earth...Fragile
DZ

fail safe now!

[Earl Grey]

Just thought of this...

I tend to forget all about the new 'YES:In A Word' boxed set.

I LOVE the Dean work on this one! The verdant hills just dripping with moss and lush vegetation... the tiny humans on horses, gaving out over the edge of that monocline...
All the right stuff is there, on 'In A Word': and I LOVE the job Roger did on it! Talk about a complete package! It's always a pleasure to bring the boxed set with me, wherever I go: it's the quintessential YES experience for me, and much is due to Roger Dean's imput on the project!

Hope they give the cover of the new album to Dean! He's expensive, but OH so worth it!

Earl:yesbird:

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Roger Dean did the logo for the NEARFEST that is happening in June in Philly. His work will be present as they spoke of a "gallery". Makes me want to take the hike up there just to see his work. The imagination of this man! Take a look at his website and stroll through his gallery. Amazing!

[tardistraveler]

For me, it's a tossup - Tales probably first, and Yessongs 4 (the space scene) a close second. But all are fabulous!

I remember in the mid-70's seeing the ad for Roger Dean's book Views in Melody Maker. Took the ad to a number of book stores - finally found one that would import it from England - took forever! The day it came in I had just had wisdom teeth pulled - left the dentist - picked up my book at the bookstore - and went home to devour it under the influence of pain pills!

[Jackaranda]

A promo I saw on VH1 Classic had the Yessongs cover on it, in fact the whole gatefold. It was part of a montage for a station promo, but that was very cool seeing that....

[Joedude]

I can't decide if Tales or Drama is my favorite Dean cover. Help me!!

[BrianD]

Originally posted by Joedude
I can't decide if Tales or Drama is my favorite Dean cover. Help me!!

I think Tales - it is more closely associated with the music than Drama. Also, do you realise that the original artwork is now valued at about a million US dollars!!!! And I think its available to be bought at the San Francisco Art Exchange - anybody got any spare cash?

[Martin Riley]

Relayer is my favourite Yes/Dean cover, but I love Sea of Light by Uriah Heep as well

[Earl Grey]

Originally posted by BrianD


I think Tales - it is more closely associated with the music than Drama. Also, do you realise that the original artwork is now valued at about a million US dollars!!!! And I think its available to be bought at the San Francisco Art Exchange - anybody got any spare cash?

If I were rich, I'd own that right now!

Earl

[tardistraveler]

I'd love to just see the original Tales cover!

But, I do have the original poster from the Tales tour in 74. Has survived well all these years. Also have the one from the Relayer tour, and others purchased during the 70's at poster shops.

Now that I'm moved into my new house, I'm going to frame them and hang them. I'll have a Yes room!

[Kevin Still]

The simplicity of the Close to the Edge cover does it for me.
The cover deceives the magic it contains.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

I'm with you on that Kevin. The color fade is excellent.

My DREAM: to observe Roger for a day. Oh my.

I also like the original logo. At the time, that style of pop art was quite prevelent but now, it's coming back into it's own and having withstood the test of time, I still jump when I see it.

[RobAdams]

Favorite DEAN cover art...TOP 8 :

1 TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS
2 RELAYER
3 ABWH
4 ALPHA - Asia
5 CLASSIC YES
6 YESTERDAYS
7 THE MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY -Uriah Heep
8 FRAGILE

Special mention:

DRAMA
OSBISA
OCTOPUS - Gentle Giant

[Insane Teacher]

I think Tales, Relayer, Drama, and In A Word, Yes. I love the inside sleeve of Close to the Edge. I love the House of Blues dragonfly and the Yesshows Bird. I love the other covers too, but these are my favorites.

[illusion]

They are all good. The only one that I care less for than the others is Fragile - perhaps because the classic Yes logo isn't there.

I really can't decide.

[arrel]

Yesshows

[Earl Grey]

Originally posted by Kevin Still
The simplicity of the Close to the Edge cover does it for me.
The cover deceives the magic it contains.

CTTE is the perfect YES album to me: the continuity is just there, all the way around. CTTE is such a green, living world...
The simplicity of the green fade-out on the front perfectly captured the tone and mood of the music inside.
This was also the first time we ever saw the YES logo: it warrented the spotlight here: anything else would have overshadowed it. I remember following the lines of the logo the first time I ever saw it: it was a bit like a mobius strip: a perpetual figure eight of an image: which again, reflected the music of YES so well.

The gatefold inner sleeve was evocative of the overflowing abundance of YES's music. I lose myself in those cascading waterfalls and swirling mists. I love how the road in the foreground becomes a bridge connecting the greater world to the outpouring of things...

The artwork from 'YES:In A Word' looks like it could be in the same general area of Yesworld, don't you think?
I think of all of these paintings as images from the same planet: The 'Yesworld', of course!

An amazing album, from cover to finish.
Hey, I live there.
You can find me sitting atop a giant mushroom-shaped butte just upstream of the cascades. I live in one of the coral-like tunnels which wind through the mushroom: the walls draped with tapestries and silk banners: the floors covered in the finest of persian rugs... the front door never locked, the lintil dripping with moss and verdance. A waterfall just outside the picture window which gazes out at the edge of things.

No water shortages here!
And certainly no shortage of wonder.
Come on by sometime, I'll make you strong tea, hook you up with a hookah, and we'll talk about cabbages and kings...

;) Earl Grey:yesbird:

[yessongs72]

I'm sitting here, thinking,lol about this question. It's really hard to pick a favorite,but if I must it's......Hmmmm ok.
1.Tales
1.Relayer
1.Close To The Edge
I really love Roger Dean artwork and I wonder how amny we have never seen??

[BrianD]

I only got this boxed set yesterday - haven't really had a chance to listen to it yet but the cover art work is fantastic. This is Roger Dean at his best. As Earl says, this is truly the world of Yes.

[todd de sunhillow]

Well, Roger Dean had a very important role in YES...
My favs are:
Yes Shows
Drama
Tales
ABWH
Union
Fragile
In A word
Relayer

Aside from Yes:
Asia
Asia alpha
Asia Astra
Asia Aura
Tales from yesterday
Night Wing's"my kingdome come"
The Steve Howe Album
Dave Greenslade"cactus choir"
Osibisa
Osibisa"woyaya"
And other from uriah heep's(forgot the title)

:cheers:
todd de sunhillow:D

[Earl Grey]

Brian: how did the Dean interview go? Did you ask him my question?

Earlieburl:yesbird:

[yarstruly]

I'd have to go with Yessongs.....

Outside of YES, I like the 1st Asia album cover...a buddy of mine had aposter of that back in the day...

[BrianD]

Earl - Roger Dean spoke with us on teleconference for about half an hour. He spoke about his work with the band, other design work (he actually prepared a design for Darling Harbour in Sydney in the mid 80s but the consortium fell apart), recent cover designs for other groups (Birdsong of the Mesozoic), his plans for his Sydney exhibition in September, about how the Views DVD is unauthorised by him & some anecdotes about Yes. He is very unpretentious, easy going, and wanting to please. We have teed up another teleconference with him I'll ask your question then (I didn't get your question about thew interiors of his architectural structures on the covers till after the teleconference).

[illusion]

Originally posted by BrianD
...about how the Views DVD is unauthorised by him...

Could you explain more (perhaps in a different thread?)

[BrianD]

I have mentioned it in the Views DVD thread but essentially this product used images that, in Roger Dean's opinion, he had not consented to be used. There may be further action on it.

[star-x]

Hi all!

Further to the YESFANZ chat with Roger. It was nice to be a part of it - though, as I write, i can't remember what I asked him.

One question - for the know-it-alls ;)

There was mention of Roger's cat walking across some of the "Yessongs" artwork while he was working on it - thereby becoming a contributor/fellow artist.

I've got the cover out now, but can't see any signs. Help?

[BrianD]

Hi Star-x

Its on the cities picture. Look at the clouds - you will see paw prints in there - quite obvious when you know they are there.

[R'tanys]

ABWH is my favorite cover of Roger's.

[Earl Grey]

Welcome Star-x!
Hope you post often here! Any DEAN fan is a friend to me!
I have a nice litho of RELAYER on my wall, signed by Jon...
Actually, there's DEAN stuff all over the house... I'm being taken-over by mushrooms, coral-castles and snakes and cats and and and... You get the picture. Pitiful, eh?

Feel at home here! Glad you found us.

EArl:yesbird:

[donner]

I'd have to go with Relayer as the fave.

Followed closely by Yesshows (I love snow) and Drama.

[Martin Riley]

Originally posted by todd de sunhillow

And other from uriah heep's(forgot the title)

:cheers:
todd de sunhillow:D

Demons and Wizards
Magician's Birthday
Sea of Light

[PastPresentMover]

Tales

[Robert Shupe]

For me it has always been Yessongs. For those who do not have th LP it may be hard to understand. It has five fantastic pieces that show a story if you will.

To me the sequence goes as follows:
(Sorry I do not have titles.)

1) The Space Picture On the back cover. The space piece on the back reminds me of the "Fragile " world pieces being taken to a new world to start anew with a fresh life. You know kind of like how Perpetual Change was given a new life in the live performance.

2) First Foldout - (From the front)
This is the one that show the Fragile pieces landing on the new world to take root. It shows a lot of water and the fish. There is certainly a feeling of a new creation. A reinvention if you will like Yes strives to do.

3) Second Foldout - (From the front)
There is certainly a "Close to the edge" feel here. We see the vegetation and mammal life as the growth of life continues. A flowing of the waterfalls enhances natures music as live perfomances are where music lives on.

4) Front Cover
We see architechture in cooperation with nature. A sharing of resources rather than a domination. You see a path, bridge connections, and a ramp up. Evidence of man but once again in cooperation with nature. Our life is a path that will lead up to a greater good but only when we learn to connect with others.


5) Back Foldout
Take the same front cover picture and add the girl and the flying machine. Man has a new home and a new beginning and the future lies ahead. Dreams and progress must find a balance so that nature will not reach a Fragile state again. Love the girl whose face you can not see. I mean what is she thinking. The possibilites are endless.

The series is almost like a cycle of life. The question becomes will our behavior enhance or harm our very nature and environment that sustains us.

Art provides individual interpretation and that is mine.

I guess in plain Texas English "Ya'll know this album and cover just plain rock. You might as well just kick back and relax as yer fixin to be blown away."

I have never seen the cat prints until today thanks to this thread. Thank you star-x and BrianD.

Outside of Yes. The Asia sea creature is just plain cool but I also like the Alpha cover with the eye themes.

Full circle here as my first post ever was about the Yessongs cover.

Robert Shupe

[Earl Grey]

You are so correct Robert. I wish they would put out the original cover, the way it was... on a boxed set or something (If they added tracks to yessongs perhaps...). You have to see the original LP cover to get the effect. The tiny CD cases have never done Dean justice!

[tardistraveler]

Yes, I love the Yessongs cover. Unfortunately, the vinyl version belonged to my ex, and I no longer have a copy!