Head to Head Monday 5/5/03 Side 2 of CTTE

[yarstruly]

Which of the 2 mini-epics (from side 2 of the original LP) is your preference?

And You And I

vs.

Siberian Khatru

[Sonoacustico]

I voted for SIberian Khatru, And You and I is absolutely beautiful, but I sort of get little tired of it over the years, althought I'm rediscovering it again. Anyway my vote for now is clear ;)

[yarstruly]

I had to go with AYAI....It just moves me every time I hear it....Siberian is great, I love to sing along with Chris on the Blue Tail...Tail Fly, etc....But AYAI is one of my ALL TIME favorite Yessongs...

[Robert Shupe]

Yes has the ability to create sheer beauty. So, sheer beauty wins out in this round.

Acoustic harmonics, elegant keys, a pace that warms the heart and soothes the soul, introspective, dreamy, and a relaxing journey over the sea to the valley. In its's spirit may we reach out to mother earth and our fellow man. And You And I, together we can accomplish what one can not. An indelible spirit of what living is put into song. It soars, it warms, it is And You And I.

Another soft creature nailed upon the colored door of time.

Robert Shupe

[Erdy1]

No contest. At least, not for me. And You and I is one of they most beatiful Yes songs of all time, and one of my favorites. Siberian Khatru is not even close. I even like AYAI more than CTTE.

Siberian Khatru is an awesome song too, though.

[PaulH]

AYAI here too.
It seems like CTTE to include many aspects of what
I love about YES music.
As Rick once said, "everything the critics hated us for, and everything the fans loved us for."

[Thoughtbecontact]

AYAI is also one of my all time favorites. It was my favorite Yessongs until Awaken came along. The bridge has to be one of the reatest instrumental passages ever, even though it is simple in structure.

[tardistraveler]

Well, Siberian Khatru captured my heart with the first transition I heard from Firebird Suite! I love And You and I as well - a hard choice, but I had to go with SK!

[BrianD]

As much as I like Siberian Khatru, this is no contest. And You And I is to me the pinacle of their mini epics

[deelovesyes]

I voted for AYAI, I really love Siberian, but AyAI, is just wonderful, It can make you smile even when your mood isn't so great.
Its got feeling.

Dee

[Dragonfly]

"Siberian Khatru" is it for me, hands down.

With “And You And I”, it was years before I really got into it. I never disliked it, but it wasn’t a favorite. Things changed one weekend in late ’95. While packing my belongings for the upcoming move-in with my partner, I had CLOSE TO THE EDGE playing. I was thinking about the changes soon to occur in my life. It was a big moment for me. I was thinking about the person to whom I’d just made this major commitment to when I heard Jon sing, “A clearer future, morning, evening, nights with you.” I nearly lost it. I’m not the emotional type so it’s rare when lyrics get to me this strong. I guess it was just the perfect combination of feelings and words colliding in my head. Since that day I’ve enjoyed a much stronger connection to “And You And I”.

I’ve had some great YesMoments on this one, too. On the OPEN YOUR EYES tour, at The Warfield in San Francisco, I was pressed up against the stage between Steve and Jon. Jon introduced the song by describing how, back when CLOSE TO THE EDGE was being recorded, engineer Eddie Offord was “rolling really big ones”, with hand gestures of a cucumber-sized doobie. (Jon knew what town he was in and how to get a big laugh. :smksml: It worked.) It was further made funny by the fact that Jon blanked on the opening lyrics! He leaned forward with his mic to his mouth, but nothing came out. His eyes bulged with a stunned look. Then he and everyone else laughed. “I’ve forgotten the lyrics!!!” he said, putting a worried hand to his head. The audience had already started singing. (We sang along to all of the songs.) “A man conceived a moment's answers to the dream.” By the end of that first sentence, Jon had taken a step back and had begun to conduct us. He continued this all the way through “All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you” by which time we were all singing at full volume. The sound was amazing. I could really hear all of the audience well from my vantage point. The voices came from behind me and through me (with my own voice) in such away that I thought I could almost see them floating like waves in the air. When Jon finally came in at “Changed only for a sight of sound, the space agreed”, the audience cheered not just for him but for ourselves. We sounded surprisingly good!

Am I correct in saying that “And You And I” has been played at every YesShow since it was first added to the set? I thought about it last year when they actually dropped “Roundabout.” That was strange. All those years of complaining that they’d wasted precious performance time by playing “Roundabout” when they could have pulled something different out of the bag, were shot down when I realized that, when they did actually drop it, I missed it! Who’d a thunk? :shrug: We all wait for the inevitable “All Good People” and “Roundabout” (and, at one time, “Owner of a Lonely Heart”), but hasn’t “And You And I” also been played at every show, too?

As for “Siberian Khatru”, it held the #2 spot in my Ultimate YesSong group along with “Parallels”, “Tempus Fugit”, “On the Silent Wings of Freedom”, and my personal favorite: “Sound Chaser”. It seemed that almost every album had at least one really amazing, Progressive track. What a talented band to come up with even one of those songs!

I liked Bill's description of “Siberian Khatru” on the YesYears rockumentary. Unlike many of their songs, this one had a great logic to it. It flowed nicely. "We had a good week that week", he said. Indeed! It's got everything I want in a good YesSong: compelling rhythm section sequences, great melodies, great harmonies, pleasantly obscure lyrics (as apposed to "maddeningly obscure"), great instrumental work and even a little "game" at the end where diehards can try to count out the “DA't”...”DA't”s and sing along :D

Dragonfly :fly:

For those who haven’t heard the tribute album, TALES FROM YESTERDAY, “Siberian Khatru” is the song that most sounds like Yes. The other songs, in true the Yes spirit, were altered from their original forms and adapted for very different sounds. Not so with “S.K.” It’s remarkably close to the original studio recording. In fact, to the inattentive (or non-fanatical) ear they could actually sound like the real thing. That is, until the covering band, Stanley Snail, goes off on a bit of a Jazz break in the middle. And very well, too, I might add. About that band name, “Stanley Snail”, “Gold stainless nail…”? “Cold Stanley Snail…”? Hmmm. Coincidence? I don’t think so.;)

“River running right on over my head…”

[Mr. Holland]

Siberian Kathru it is for me, why? Well let me answer with wat Bill Bruford said about it on the Yesyears video: "This song has got a great logic to it, it develops nicely, we had a good day that day, or a good week that week".............

[Q]

VERY close call ... used to hate "Khatru" but at some point it clicked with me ...

"And You and I" just melts me down, even after all these years ... loved Jon's bit of it that he did with only Rick behind him, on the first pass of the tour last year ...

Q