Tim Pierce just dropped this video on TR and 90125. He gives a lot of love to the two Trevor’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nOiFZYla5E
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Well, yeah, we all knew that the band was dead.
The short version: Anderson and Wakey left after Tormato, and the line-up with Horn didn't get accepted as they'd hoped, even though Drama was a fabulous album. Between fans being jerks about "No Jon No Yes", and that Horn's voice wasn't ever really suited to sing the Yes catalog properly, the band imploded. So Howe left too, leaving Squire and White somewhat homeless.
The sessions with Page went nowhere, but they were paired up with Rabin, and created their new band Cinema. The material was mainly Rabin's, but then Horn, then Anderson got involved, and Yes was reborn. Eddie Jobson became a Yes footnote. -
The story with “Owner…” is that Horn heard Rabin’s keyboard heavy demo, hated the verses (“you don’t want to go dancing” etc.) but latched onto the hook and the chorus as the basis for what evolved into the final track. However, we also have an acoustic Rabin demo which features that familiar “move yourself” verse melody, sans lyrics, and seems much more directly in line with the final song to me. So I wonder at what point in the process they went back to the acoustic demo. Or is it possible that the acoustic demo is misdated and was actually done during the Cinema/90125 sessions with Rabin testing out new verse ideas after Horn’s input? What we don’t have is a pre Anderson, Cinema version of “Owner…” as a missing link between the demos and the finished product.
“Well ain’t life grand when you finally hit it?”-David Lee RothComment
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The story is Trevor Horn did a fab job on Drama, before Trevor Rabin screwed Yes up for several years, turning them into an awful MOR band. TheTalk album saw them recovering somewhat, and then thankfully Trevor 2 left and Yes started to sound like Yes again, although they never scaled the heights of their 70s albums again.Comment
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It's funny how we all see the same thing differently. Rabin recharged Yes. The 90125 album is a classic. The 90125 and BG tours rocked. Full houses. Standing ovations. Kaye knocked them dead. The band was tight.Originally posted by madbear View Post
Talk was a financial disaster.. There was about 1200 people at the show I saw. Squire appeared to be hung over and irritable.
Drama was a good album but Squire's instability and inability to manage his affairs meant he always needed money. Consequently, never ending touring burning out the lead singer.Comment
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Yes, indeed. For me 90125 and BG are unlistenable albums. Talk certainly didnt attract punters to gigs, I agree, but I like it as an album! Glad we agree about Drama.. and I know nothing about Squire's budgeting or lifestyle.Originally posted by alex peters View PostComment
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Drama has grown in me thru the years even though at the time it was a serious miscalculation on the bands part in going out with Horn. Anderson wanted a break after 10 years of non stop touring and albums. Squire had none of that and put in Horn. Squire heard it from the fans. Alot of abuse during that tour directed at Squire by fans when they took their seats and did the intro music and then WTF no AndersonOriginally posted by madbear View PostComment
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Originally posted by madbear View Post
And I see it differently. I think TfTO, Relayer, Drama, 90125, and Talk are the Top 5 Yes Albums (not necessarily in that order), with Fragile and CttE tied for 6th place. I'm also fond of Magnification, although it's a fairly flawed album.Comment
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How can you be fond of Magnification if it is flawed?Originally posted by pianozach View PostComment
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That is a very… interesting ranking, of which I would like to hear more. I know some people are tired of the endless ranking threads, but I always enjoy hearing what other people are hearing in the albums, either a broad stroke or a fine detail, that makes them appreciate things. Hopefully I'm never too hold to hear a new thing in album I've grown up with, you know?Originally posted by pianozach View PostComment
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It's funny, but many of my favorite Yes albums are ones with a "new" member, like Drama (Downes and Horn), TfTO (White), Relayer (Moraz), 90125 (Rabin), and Fragile (Wakeman).Originally posted by Homemade Parachute View Post
But Talk is always in my Top Three. I think it's a masterpiece, compositionally AND production-wise. I don't hear that "digital" or "harsh" sound that critics say turns them off about it. And I think Rabin was a terrific vocalist, and managed to take Yes to another level. Way better than Asia when it comes to mainstream Pop Prog. That said, while I love Talk and 90125, I don't have the same "love" for Big Generator. The same with OYE, which always sounded as though it truly wanted to be BG2: that had "new" member Sherwood as its guiding force, although he'd been a touring musician for the Talk tour, so perhaps he wasn't "new" after all.
The first Yes album I heard was Fragile, and I was blown away by it. My jaw hit the floor hearing Roundabout for the first time; the bass OMG, and then the Hammond solo. Every track was impressive.
After that I followed them through CttE, TFtO, and Yessongs, and by the time I heard TYA, I felt that Wakeman was the factor that made most of TYA irrelevant. Don't get me wrong, TYA is a fine album, but the lack of the mini-moog and flashy keyboard stuff resulted in it having less of an impact on me than the subsequent albums through Relayer.
I have an issue with CttE, and it's Siberian Khatru, which IS clever, but ends up being a bit repetitive with that one guitar riff. I also love me some great time signature changes, but they are the same time signature changes throughout the song. But the first two tracks are stellar.
As a Classical music afficionado, TfTO resonated strongly with me for its epic proportions; a multi-movement piece with themes, development, cohesiveness (how Steve would insert riffs and themes in multiple movements, for instance). The keyboard sound washes, the bass-dominant Ritual . . . .
Relayer was insanely good from start to finish. Moraz' contributions are vastly underrated. Steve, Alan, and Chris were on fire.
The two albums between Relayer and Drama seemed odd. You know, I never thought TfTO or Relayer sounded pretentious, but to me GFtO did sound like they were taking themselves too seriously, while seemingly attempting to pander to a Top 40 hit mentality. I liked Tormato, but found it imperfect is many minor ways. I love the harmonized Rickenbacker, and OtSWoF is insanely good.
Drama was some excellent heavier Yes, and somewhat a return to a band that could produce mini-epics effortlessly.
90125 and Talk are excellent. Love Rabin's contributions.Last edited by pianozach; 10-31-2022, 07:55 AM.Comment
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Nothing funny there at all; Yes is one of those bands where a lot of new members actually get some room to change things up and make a real difference, unlike maybe Jethro Tull or some version of King Crimson where, much as I love them, a direction is already set, and a new person is largely filling some shoes. Sometimes in Yes too, but as you say, these new people really opened up avenues of sound.Originally posted by pianozach View Post
Big Generator may succumb to too much of "let's do that again", whether from the band or management or both, but for me, 90125 and Talk are two of those albums where the whole really is greater than the sum of the parts, and BG is one where the whole is exactly the sum of those parts, albeit a pretty big sum!Originally posted by pianozach View Post
I think that's interesting, as the *order* you hear the albums in can have such a great impact on your overall perception of patterns, innovation, and hindsight as to where it's going. For me, it was 90125 first, then Yessongs, and by the time I got to TYA, the Yessongs versions were already entrenched in my mind, so I mostly prefer the live versions, and see the album as laying down the writing and structure more than the performance.Originally posted by pianozach View Post
Yeah, to use Jon's bus analogy, on some albums, Tormato being one, there often seem to be too many drivers, while on Drama, it sounds like they're all on the same map indeed, and eager to get there, hence the foot on the gas pedal all the way down.Originally posted by pianozach View Post
Thanks for the elaborations!
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Interesting conversation. I agree with Homemade Parachute, that the order you heard albums first in, say the way you got to know your Yes, makes a lot of difference. Also in which decade probably you got to know them.
Being from '73, I never 'lived ' through the album releases in the 70s. I didn't grow and develop one on one with the band, as some of you did. I got to know Yes around 1985, through Fragile, CTTE, Relayer, which a dad of a friend owned, and 90125 which the older brother of another friend owned, simultaneously. Then right after that, a music teacher lend me Drama. So for me it was completely natural that Yes was this chameleon that often changed its colours and had a revolving door of musicians. That colours my perspective quite differently than someone who grew up with Yes in the 70s I reckon.
My favourite 10 albums from Yes reflect that diversity.
01) Close to the Edge
02) Relayer
03) The Yes Album
04) Fragile
05) Talk
06) Drama
07) Going for the One
08) Big Generator
09) 90125
10) Tales from Topographic Oceans
The Talk album I love, and that’s quite a strange story. When it was released I had heard a single version of The Calling on the radio. But apparently I wasn't ready for the album, because after listening to it about twice I put it away. I just couldn't get into it. I didn't listen to it for around 6-7 years. Then I decided to give it one more try and on first spin, I couldn't understand anymore why I couldn't get into it earlier, because I loved what I heard then. And still do.
I think Trevor Rabin was great in Yes and was a driving factor for many years and without him Yes would have imploded in the 80s.Comment
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