Olias_01
07-09-2003, 01:32 PM
http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/steveandabe/yes.html
Came upon this by accident. I will post our members comments to him for his reaction.....I am also going to suggest he check out Gping For The One...and Close To The Edge..
YES
Fragile
Rating: 7 (library disc)
Believe it or not, in my decade or so of active record buying I never picked up a Yes record. I think it was mostly resistance to the second-stupidest name in rock and roll.
But all the other web reviewers are raving about this group, so when I saw Fragile at the library, I figured I had to check it out. And what a pleasant surprise! These guys are fantastic, with amazing instrumental work and some of the catchiest tunes this side of Ram.
”Roundabout” has an absolutely danceable guitar riff that just makes you tap your toe; it would be an excellent P. Diddy sample. And the beginning of “Heart of the Sunrise” is stunning, as the band rips through a gnarled yet tuneful riff and explodes into a cascading organ line. Harmonies throughout are excellent, avoiding the doo-wop cliches most rock groups rely on and instead going for a Bach-inspired suspended chord on most tunes. There are numerous solos, but each is tidily arranged to fit the harmonic framework of the tune and none goes on for too long. The exception is one of my pet peeves (I know you’re thinking, “You sure have plenty of those,” but I’m allergic to cats and dogs, so I’ve got to keep something around the house): when a band changes the beat drastically in the middle of a song. They do it in “South Side of the Sky”, and while the piano interlude is lovely, it still bugs the heck out of me to have my groove interrupted.
The lyrics, which seem to have been badly translated from Japanese haiku, are just right for pondering through a long hashish-fueled night. Otherwise, they’re gibberish.
Sadly, the band seems not to have had enough material to fill an LP, and they stuck on “solo” material from the band members. Three of the items recreate the sound of a person in a musical instrument store trying out a new instrument by noodling around, and multiply-overdubbed Jon Anderson sounds a lot like a pack of chihuahuas barking in your ear. “The Fish”, though, is an impressive composition, created by overdubbing all the lines of polyphonic study on the bass guitar, and it’s simply fascinating to try to pick out where one part begins and another ends.
If the rest of Yes’s albums are this good, I look forward to hearing more. They seem to deserve their reputation.
READER COMMENTS
From Zach Smith: Funny, I wouldn't think someone that likes Hall and Oates would like Yes.
Came upon this by accident. I will post our members comments to him for his reaction.....I am also going to suggest he check out Gping For The One...and Close To The Edge..
YES
Fragile
Rating: 7 (library disc)
Believe it or not, in my decade or so of active record buying I never picked up a Yes record. I think it was mostly resistance to the second-stupidest name in rock and roll.
But all the other web reviewers are raving about this group, so when I saw Fragile at the library, I figured I had to check it out. And what a pleasant surprise! These guys are fantastic, with amazing instrumental work and some of the catchiest tunes this side of Ram.
”Roundabout” has an absolutely danceable guitar riff that just makes you tap your toe; it would be an excellent P. Diddy sample. And the beginning of “Heart of the Sunrise” is stunning, as the band rips through a gnarled yet tuneful riff and explodes into a cascading organ line. Harmonies throughout are excellent, avoiding the doo-wop cliches most rock groups rely on and instead going for a Bach-inspired suspended chord on most tunes. There are numerous solos, but each is tidily arranged to fit the harmonic framework of the tune and none goes on for too long. The exception is one of my pet peeves (I know you’re thinking, “You sure have plenty of those,” but I’m allergic to cats and dogs, so I’ve got to keep something around the house): when a band changes the beat drastically in the middle of a song. They do it in “South Side of the Sky”, and while the piano interlude is lovely, it still bugs the heck out of me to have my groove interrupted.
The lyrics, which seem to have been badly translated from Japanese haiku, are just right for pondering through a long hashish-fueled night. Otherwise, they’re gibberish.
Sadly, the band seems not to have had enough material to fill an LP, and they stuck on “solo” material from the band members. Three of the items recreate the sound of a person in a musical instrument store trying out a new instrument by noodling around, and multiply-overdubbed Jon Anderson sounds a lot like a pack of chihuahuas barking in your ear. “The Fish”, though, is an impressive composition, created by overdubbing all the lines of polyphonic study on the bass guitar, and it’s simply fascinating to try to pick out where one part begins and another ends.
If the rest of Yes’s albums are this good, I look forward to hearing more. They seem to deserve their reputation.
READER COMMENTS
From Zach Smith: Funny, I wouldn't think someone that likes Hall and Oates would like Yes.