3 Favourite Albums and 3 Least Favourite Albums and the Reasoning Why

[soundchaser09]

A simple question- I'm very interested to find out people's picks here and especially why they feel that way.

My Favourites:

Going for the One- It is my all time favourite album because it features every aspect of Yes, great energetic pieces in the title track and Parallels, a beautiful ballad in Turn of the Century, a neat little poppy track in Wondrous Stories and of course the astonishing epic Awaken- a special shoutout to the gorgeous church organ in this song, Jon and Rick really are stars in this song. Everything about this album is brilliant and also so approachable for newcomers, I actually think it's underrated!

Close to the Edge- Arguably the perfect progressive rock album with good reason, hauntingly beautiful in parts like the middle section of Close to the Edge and And You and I. Brilliantly crafted in the opening track a minor miracle it all came together thank you Offord! Siberian Khatru is just another magical Yes rock song exactly what I listen to this band for, love the guitar keyboard interplay and nonsense lyrics towards the end.

Relayer- Musically the high point in Yes' career, Gates is majestic in its opening section then marks that contrast of chaos and order from the middle section to the angelic soon, Moraz added alot of style to the band here. Soundchaser is wild is every good way, jazzy and rocky and all the time the perfect showcase for the greatest musicians of all, the middle breakdown with Steve is amazing and I love Chris and Alan's rhythm section throughout the piece. To Be Over is just a soulful cleanser after all the craziness and serves to bring great emotion to the album's finale.

My Least Favourites:

Heaven and Earth- Now I have come to appreciate this album a little more since release but still it falls short of other records to me, I feel it starts quite poorly actually, Believe Again is largely okay but then The Game and Step Beyond do nothing to ease the listeners fears. To Ascend is a nice piece but the only other pieces that work for me are Light of the Ages and Subway Walls. Overall there's a flatness to this album.

YES- I know heresy right? But I think Yes went far beyond this debut in their output- maybe its just too 60s for my tastes. I enjoy most tracks here just fine especially Looking Around and Beyond and Before. Musically you can hear the promise of the band but I feel the songwriting overall holds it back.

Keys to Ascension 1- With this one I feel the release was botched obviously but I'm not the biggest fan of the Keys material in general, the first volume especially. Be the One comes across as a demo really, the band feel like they're reaching for something and never really get there. That That Is has a beautiful intro with Howe's guitar but the overall lyrics and arrangement do little for me, its a decent track but nothing mindblowing and the album overall does not offer much to me.


Now over to you!

[rabin105]

Shrugs are we counting ABWH if so it makes the list easier but following your format

top 3 favorites

1. Talk: as an album it never got the love or respect others in the catalogue did and since I find it hard to pick a favorite I usually pick this one. It the last new yes album I listened to with My father who sadly passed away right after the release. I rediscovered it in high school and fell in love with it again

2. close to the Edge: Ironic my second favorite album is one that I feel is most over played live... BUT it's my wife's favorite and I love the album And You And I alone is beyond amazing

3. Fly From Here: I almost want to put the Quest here but honestly this album has to remain my number 3 because it brought Me and Amanda together It was the first yes album released in my 20's and the first one I remember every step from rumors - new leaks - announcements etc

Least favorite well that is tricky I will go with the 3 albums that I would say and I am sure someone will snootily say such and such doesn't count but meh

1. Ultimate Disc 3: This is one of 2 "albums" that I think people will claim doesn't count and while I have grown to enjoy what we got I still feel almost betrayed that the classic lineup went into the studio and the best we got is a Jon solo tune a Chris Solo tune a Steve solo Tune and 2 reworkings of Fragile songs! to say I was disappointed is an understatement
2. Fly From Here Return Trip: another album I count that others don't Again i love the idea of the Drama lineup getting back together for one last hoorah but with I believe 26 minutes of music on the cutting room floor from the Drama sessions Plus the fact Horn can play bass on things like Vermillion Sands instead of giving us the album we would of gotten in 81 we get a retread that doesn't need to exist. we get one new song that frankly would of been better on From a Page. I have said multiple times what I would of preferred instead of this heck even release it through Rhino Records if they have the rights to the townhouse stuff
3. ABWH: I have tried to get into this album .. I really have and some songs are ok Brother of mine is good and Order of the Universe I like and the meeting is ok.. but the rest my god Rick's cheesy keyboards Bill's electric drums and Steve being lost in the 80's (not to mention much like Union many of his actual guitar parts were rerecorded by other musicians) just leave a mess of an album . And every time I hear some claim its the best of the 80's I re-listen to it hoping to love it.. and then half way through I am like why am i wasting my life on this. Also Teakbois is the worst song Jon has ever done.


Honorable mention in the least favorites Paris Sessions

the fact we couldnt even get an album out of those songs kind of upsets me heck half of them should of been reworked and used in Ultimate yes giving us a full album but oh well.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

Favorite:

Close To The Edge. For the reasons soundchaser09 mentioned, plus that everyone is on the top of their game here in terms of playing and singing.

CTTE was and is my no. 1, if only because I can find (small) flaws in all other Yes albums.

For 2 and 3 I can really pick any album from the main sequence, today it will be Relayer and The Yes Album. The first one as the last time Yes really ventured out into unknown territory, and the second one as the album that put them on the right track.

Least favorite:

Heaven & Earth. Bad songs, lifeless playing, terrible production values, boring cover, the list goes on.
At least there are 2,5 songs I like on it...

For 2 and 3 I’ll pick Yes for, again, reasons soundchaser09 mentioned, and... 90125. In hindsight maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought back then, but I never got over the fact that my favorite band was now making boring AOR like all the rest. That, plus how my favorite rhythm section allowed itself to be castrated on OOALH.
Ouch.

[Old Frothingslosh]

My Favorites:

The Yes Album- The album just flows flawlessly from start to finish. A giant leap forward in writing and performing from previous efforts.

Tormato- My introduction to the band back in 78. I was drawn to Release Release but just about wore out my 8-track listening to Silent Wings and Arriving UFO.

Drama- Never before had I head prog music with this much "punch" Writing is top notch and Chris, Steve and Alan are on top of their game here.

My Least Favorites:

Heaven and Earth- Album feels rushed and songs seem like leftovers, not a fan of Jon's voice on this at all.

The Quest- Just feels like a run of the mill Asia album. Ice Bridge had promise but fizzles out for me halfway through, not much else got my attention for repeated listens

Open Your Eyes- should have stayed a Conspiracy. project.

[luna65]

YES!
Big Generator - I won't go into this because someday soon I will produce something which will feature me going into this in great detail. I will not be taking questions at this time. 😜
Close To The Edge - the artistic audacity, and also the first time (IMO) this lineup was really feeling themselves in terms of their own aesthetic and thematic concerns in a truly serious fashion.
Talk - I love the ambition of this album and that cinematic feel overall. It's a joy to listen to, in an obsessive detail kind of way.

Nah.
Open Your Eyes - in some ways I feel like this is a poor imitation of the YesWest sound.
Tormato - It doesn't all hang together for me, entirely. I think it's just missing something.
Drama - Some of it is exciting and some of it just leaves me cold.

[pianozach]

Oooh. Tough decisions. I'll cheat.

4 Faves:

Talk
Tales From Topographic Oceans
Drama
Relayer

Three different lineups, three different sounds. Four different keyboardists (well, actually, five). Two different guitarists, and two different vocalists (well, actually, three). What do they have in common? Alan White and Chris Squire.

Honorable Mentions: ABWH, 90125 and Union.

3 Least Favorites:

This sucks, because it infers that these albums "suck". They do not "suck"; they're merely my least favorite albums in a group of albums that I love.

Yes
Open Your Eyes
Keys to Ascension

The debut album is a bit strange . . . I love the bass guitar sound, and the keys, and the singing (even Peter Banks), but there's an awful lot of oddball Pop here.

Open Your Eyes may as well be a different band . . . Howe and Anderson had very little creative input, and the production, to my ears at least, is a bit harsh. Great vocals though.

The first Keys To Ascension seemed like a patent rip-off to me . . . 2/3 live album, 1/3 studio, and I just can't warm up to the studio tracks much

[Homemade Parachute]

Always a great question, to not just rank things, but ask for the details and reasons (not reason*ing*, exactly), and of course lots of ways to go about this. Even the word "favourite", I mean, I can bring out the favourites, but they are also likely to be the actual least played, because a) I know the songs so well, I rarely reach for the source material, and b) there's such a wide variety of live versions to reach for, to straddle that line between familiar and new. Maybe Yessongs, as the greatest hits collection that just happens to be live? Or Symphonic Yes, which isn't even a Yes album, and was clearly a bad idea from the get go and can't amount to anything other than a cash grab/Kickstarter for Earthworks…

So, limiting myself to just the studio albums and offering exactly zero surprises, really:

1) Close to the Edge. But also, as said above, rarely actually played, but forms the backbone of the next 50 years for the band. For once (maybe the first and last time, really), as Bruford says, they got lucky, and everything about their writing, playing, and producing came together. Six live versions of CttE and eleven of AYAI in my collection, and I'll eagerly await the next… Also has the benefit of driving my kid crazy when I put it on on the way to hockey practice… "Geez, Dad, is this ever going to end…?" "Oh sweetie, this is just the *intro*, the singer hasn't even come in yet, we got 17 minutes to go…!" Priceless.

2) 90125. At the other end of the spectrum, maybe, the most successful reinvention of a band in a singular stroke I have. Sure, it wasn't supposed to *be* Yes when it was mostly written and recorded, and even if they figured it would bring in the dumptrucks full of cash, it also asked us to listen to it differently, both to hear the legacy in it, but also the newness. Forty years later and it still sounds fresh to me, like a vision of a future we're still awaiting. If I wanted to show someone what Yes was, these two albums would do it. "And You And I", "Changes", "It Can Happen", if you don't like something in there, you will not like this band, ever.

3) ABWH. Could also maybe substitute The Ladder, but I'll go with ABWH because I can still remember thinking there's no effing way this is actually happening — anyone else remember and/or miss the pre-internet rumour, speculation, and just general excitement phase of new music? — picking up this vinyl way back in ’89, opening it up, and seeing a smiling, happy band, whose joy carries over into every song, even, yes, "Teakbois", which I seem to have, well, let's just say a stronger tolerance for than almost everyone else in the northern and southern hemispheres… Just that opening to "Themes" alone, it's like hearing this massive weight come off, and an opening door of possibility…

And at the other end of the seesaw:

-1) Time and a Word. Just my least played Yes album, and so embryonic that it feels like a different band. Sure, there are hints of what's maybe to come, but a third album like this, and Yes would have been a curio that bearded, bespectacled hipsters would seek out for weird soundtrack selections.

-2) Heaven and Earth. Every time I think I might warm up to it, I listen to it, and put it away again. Really only listen to it because hey, I need something I haven't listened to 100 times, and that milestone just won't ever be reached here, no worries. Everything just feels too tentative, as if they're very politely checking each other out, and then the words, the *words*, just take me back to too many first year poetry readings. All the emotional warmth of a Rush album…

-3) Keys to Ascension 2. Yes yes, I'm in the minority in thinking this is a big downgrade from the first, but here we are, Canada. Starts (relatively) strong with Mind Drive, but then just slopes downward, and limps out at the end, thin on ideas and purpose. Not terrible, but maybe even more gratingly, inessential, and never an album I'm really in the mood for, or really look forward to hearing, but if it's there, it's there.

As a bonus, I'll include a couple albums that surprise me still:

1) Union. All right. I still just like the songs, even though there's every reason to ignore the album, from the slack input, the trashing by the band members, all the substitutes, the desperate reach for material, and but all that, it has way more songs that I enjoy than I think I should.

2) The Quest. A couple missteps in there, but for a group of 50-70 year olds, it still manages to sound not like what I expected, and I was literally surprised by the results, and mostly pleasantly so! So much so that I hope a) they can tour behind it, and really get a feel for the songs live, and then b) take that experience back into the studio and figure out the next Yes. My fear is that with so much emphasis on older material, they won't get the opportunity to define themselves as a band, or even learn from each other in the same way. But this is a great start.

3) Yes. I can totally imagine a slightly different, jazzier band coming out of this, I don't know for how long, but there's a swing to "I See You" and "Looking Around" still really enjoyable after all these years. I don't play it as much as I feel I could, in part because, yes, it doesn't really fit in with where Yes went and what they became, maybe like Rush's debut, but as an artefact from an era, it's great!

[Elizabeth "The Phish"]

Top 3 Favourite Albums of Yes:

1) Talk

This album. It just fucking hits me so hard every time I listen to it. It's probably the Yes album that I heard the most as an album even though I have heard some tracks way more than the tracks on here. But whatever, I still like the tracks on here the most. Safe to say that it's my favourite album of all time tbh. "Endless Dream" is my favourite song from the band. Actually it's a tie between another song but that one is not on this album. On this album though, Rabin comes up with like mindblowing guitar riffs. I'd honestly say that on here, he beats out pretty much any Steve Howe riff. (The word "riff" here will be really important.) Chris' bass on here sounds a bit unique compared to his other bass performances. It still pumps but it's a bit more laid back which I think works for the album wonderously. And I can gush about other things like Jon Anderson's vocals being the best, Alan White killing on the drums and other things but if I have to nitpick this album, it would be that it misses a bit of Tony Kaye on the keyboards. That's all.

2) The Ladder

I think I had the most interesting journey with this album than any other Yes album. I found it decent at the first couple listens but after a while it started irritating me. It began to really get on my nerves. From vocals to drums, everything about the album annoyed me. But after like my 12th or so listen of the album, it just clicked. I first found it decent at first when it clicked but after listening to it more and more, it slowly but surely climbed up the rankings and now, it's in my Top 3 of listens. Also I'd like to mention that my Top 3 favourites of Yes are pretty much my Top 3 oat so yeah. But where do I even begin with this one? Jon Anderson just goes so hard on the vocals and the lyrics. Chris and Alan are on full force. Igor brings the best he can on the keyboards as well. Steve and Billy are also superb on the guitars here and I just have no idea why I hated the album previously now. But I try to keep these short so yeah.

3) Tales from Topographic Oceans

Going odd with those picks, huh. Well, they're my favourites so yeah. But unlike the other two that grow on me to become my Top 2, this one was always in Top 3. Even in my first listen of it when I did the discography run on Yes but it still interested me while not really clicking me on my first listen. I was mostly curious about this track called "The Ancient". I saw that it got a lotta hate so I just decided to listen to it for a second time. And I was mindblow. After that listen the track has always been of my favourites and I'd say is the only track of Yes that can go toe-to-toe with "Endless Dream". I can gush about that song like for paragraphs but I will keep it a bit short so. The album is a bit more laid back than their previous albums and I really loved that aesthetic. It has the best Steve Howe guitar riffs and solos ever. Chris' bass is just phenomenal. Alan's drumming is like really insane for someone's first album with Yes of all bands. Jon Anderson has some of the best vocal performances he's ever done and I'd say that this is his peak in the '70s. Or the entire band's peak in the '70s really. But I said I would keep it short so let's move on to least favourites.

Bottom 3 Albums of Yes

3) Open Your Eyes

This is a weird one for me because I honestly think that it's kinda underrated. It's not a Yes that I would consider to be a favourite of mine as you can see, but it also some banger tracks. Some "banger" tracks include "Man in the Moon", title track, "Love Shine" and "Universal Garden" which are some of my favourite Yessongs. But there also songs like "Wonderlove" or "Somehow...Someday" which I would say are some of the worst material Yes has ever done which is a weird contrast. This album is mixed for me to say the least and but overall I do like it and think that the reputation it gets is kinda undeserved. But it's saying something when even of my least favourites of a band is an album I would consider myself to like. That just speaks how much I like the other albums compared to this, I guess. But let's move on to the one that I like less than this one.

2) Fly From Here: Return Trip

I guess that you can technically make the argument that this doesn't count but I like to count it as a studio album tbh. But this is also a weird one because the original is in my Top half of Yes albums but I would lie if I said that I like Trevor Horn's inclusion on here. He just sounds really rough and tired on the tracks here. His voice is mixed worse than Benoit's as well which takes away from my enjoyment of the music. And also some changes they did are really confusing. Like adding a song that was on the cutting room floor into the album that just doesn't fit the flow. The thing they did to "Sad Night at the Airfield" and the new intro to "Madman at the Screens". I just, I just don't like it. If I'm being honest, there is only one change I liked and that's the inclusion of the full version of "Hour of Need" which I'd say with the solo is so much better than the short Benoit version that appeared on the 2011 version. But I definitely don't like the Trevor full version as much as Benoit's full version either so. But at least, the music is enjoyable most of the time. Which I can't say for my least favourite album which is the next one.

1) The Quest

Yes, it's not Heaven & Earth. That one is actually a one that enjoy a lot but this one, it's an album. This album for me is just too mid. Like pretty every song except 4 songs blend together for me. And it's not a one that I enjoy listening to all that much. The 4 songs that stick out to me are "The Ice Bridge", "Future Memories", "Leave Well Alone" (Except the last section.) and a surprising one being "Mystery Tour". Outside of those tracks, I just do not like the album. Davison's performances are much worse on here than the preceding album or rest of the band is like worse too really. Maybe I will join after listens but as of now, it's easily my least favourite of the discography. But I will say at least those 4 songs save the album from being in "bad" or worse tiers for me. But that's all I have to say about the album.

Sidenote: I will take all the responsibility at any """attack""" I will get by liking Heaven & Earth liking more than The Quest.

[rabin105]

Top 3 Favourite Albums of Yes:

1) Talk

This album. It just fucking hits me so hard every time I listen to it. It's probably the Yes album that I heard the most as an album even though I have heard some tracks way more than the tracks on here. But whatever, I still like the tracks on here the most. Safe to say that it's my favourite album of all time tbh. "Endless Dream" is my favourite song from the band. Actually it's a tie between another song but that one is not on this album. On this album though, Rabin comes up with like mindblowing guitar riffs. I'd honestly say that on here, he beats out pretty much any Steve Howe riff. (The word "riff" here will be really important.) Chris' bass on here sounds a bit unique compared to his other bass performances. It still pumps but it's a bit more laid back which I think works for the album wonderously. And I can gush about other things like Jon Anderson's vocals being the best, Alan White killing on the drums and other things but if I have to nitpick this album, it would be that it misses a bit of Tony Kaye on the keyboards. That's all.

2) The Ladder

I think I had the most interesting journey with this album than any other Yes album. I found it decent at the first couple listens but after a while it started irritating me. It began to really get on my nerves. From vocals to drums, everything about the album annoyed me. But after like my 12th or so listen of the album, it just clicked. I first found it decent at first when it clicked but after listening to it more and more, it slowly but surely climbed up the rankings and now, it's in my Top 3 of listens. Also I'd like to mention that my Top 3 favourites of Yes are pretty much my Top 3 oat so yeah. But where do I even begin with this one? Jon Anderson just goes so hard on the vocals and the lyrics. Chris and Alan are on full force. Igor brings the best he can on the keyboards as well. Steve and Billy are also superb on the guitars here and I just have no idea why I hated the album previously now. But I try to keep these short so yeah.

3) Tales from Topographic Oceans

Going odd with those picks, huh. Well, they're my favourites so yeah. But unlike the other two that grow on me to become my Top 2, this one was always in Top 3. Even in my first listen of it when I did the discography run on Yes but it still interested me while not really clicking me on my first listen. I was mostly curious about this track called "The Ancient". I saw that it got a lotta hate so I just decided to listen to it for a second time. And I was mindblow. After that listen the track has always been of my favourites and I'd say is the only track of Yes that can go toe-to-toe with "Endless Dream". I can gush about that song like for paragraphs but I will keep it a bit short so. The album is a bit more laid back than their previous albums and I really loved that aesthetic. It has the best Steve Howe guitar riffs and solos ever. Chris' bass is just phenomenal. Alan's drumming is like really insane for someone's first album with Yes of all bands. Jon Anderson has some of the best vocal performances he's ever done and I'd say that this is his peak in the '70s. Or the entire band's peak in the '70s really. But I said I would keep it short so let's move on to least favourites.

Bottom 3 Albums of Yes

3) Open Your Eyes

This is a weird one for me because I honestly think that it's kinda underrated. It's not a Yes that I would consider to be a favourite of mine as you can see, but it also some banger tracks. Some "banger" tracks include "Man in the Moon", title track, "Love Shine" and "Universal Garden" which are some of my favourite Yessongs. But there also songs like "Wonderlove" or "Somehow...Someday" which I would say are some of the worst material Yes has ever done which is a weird contrast. This album is mixed for me to say the least and but overall I do like it and think that the reputation it gets is kinda undeserved. But it's saying something when even of my least favourites of a band is an album I would consider myself to like. That just speaks how much I like the other albums compared to this, I guess. But let's move on to the one that I like less than this one.

2) Fly From Here: Return Trip

I guess that you can technically make the argument that this doesn't count but I like to count it as a studio album tbh. But this is also a weird one because the original is in my Top half of Yes albums but I would lie if I said that I like Trevor Horn's inclusion on here. He just sounds really rough and tired on the tracks here. His voice is mixed worse than Benoit's as well which takes away from my enjoyment of the music. And also some changes they did are really confusing. Like adding a song that was on the cutting room floor into the album that just doesn't fit the flow. The thing they did to "Sad Night at the Airfield" and the new intro to "Madman at the Screens". I just, I just don't like it. If I'm being honest, there is only one change I liked and that's the inclusion of the full version of "Hour of Need" which I'd say with the solo is so much better than the short Benoit version that appeared on the 2011 version. But I definitely don't like the Trevor full version as much as Benoit's full version either so. But at least, the music is enjoyable most of the time. Which I can't say for my least favourite album which is the next one.

1) The Quest

Yes, it's not Heaven & Earth. That one is actually a one that enjoy a lot but this one, it's an album. This album for me is just too mid. Like pretty every song except 4 songs blend together for me. And it's not a one that I enjoy listening to all that much. The 4 songs that stick out to me are "The Ice Bridge", "Future Memories", "Leave Well Alone" (Except the last section.) and a surprising one being "Mystery Tour". Outside of those tracks, I just do not like the album. Davison's performances are much worse on here than the preceding album or rest of the band is like worse too really. Maybe I will join after listens but as of now, it's easily my least favourite of the discography. But I will say at least those 4 songs save the album from being in "bad" or worse tiers for me. But that's all I have to say about the album.

Sidenote: I will take all the responsibility at any """attack""" I will get by liking Heaven & Earth liking more than The Quest.

I wont attack you on the quest but youtr views on Talk and Return trip mirror mine so closely I am just shocked

[Roundabob]

Interesting to see the differences of opinion on this subject.

My 3 favorites today (they may be different tomorrow, but would always be from the 1970-1977 era) would be:

Tales
Close to the Edge
Fragile

My 3 least favorites are derived from being surprised that my first reaction to them was disappointment, and over time, they never really excited me as much as other Yes efforts;

Tormato
Big Generator
Open Your Eyes

I could add ABWH to the least favorite group, but I never considered it an “official” Yes album.

All of that being said, there are some really nice things on the albums I identified as least favorites. An album like Tormato released today would probably thrill me, but in 1978, following Going for the One, and its immediate predecessors, I was disappointed. That was the first time I had felt that about a new Yes album.

[Old Frothingslosh]

Nice to see Talk getting some positive attention, I think much like Tormato, as the years go by more and more seem to be warming up to it.

[Ash Armstrong]

Close to the Edge was my initiation, Tales my first Yes concert experience, and Relayer my second. Nothing was the same afterwards.

I choose to disregard the Trevor Rabin Band albums from contention.

Open Your Eyes, Heaven and Earth and The Quest I find the most disappointing.

[madbear]

Top 3:
Relayer
Topographic Oceans
Close to the Edge
[but I really want to add Drama too]
Muiscally experimental and intruiging, sustained longer works, superb musicianship etc

Least Favourite:
Tormato (just awful on every level apart from Silent Wings of Freedom)
90125 (unlistenable 80s AOR)
The Quest (ersatz MOR)
[I don't think Union is a Yes album but that's - to pt it bluntly - utter shite too]

Talk is not in my top 3 or 4 albums but is a fantastic album, so good to see that being listed too. I like Open Your Eyes and Yessongs too.

[Yesed]

CTTE
TFTO
GFTO
Those albums have the greatest musical accomplishments of Yes. imo.

H&E
The Quest
FFH
JD voice is a little off for me, Benoit is better, but those albums are too light, sterile and or generic, imo.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

Obligatory top three
Close To The Edge
Fragile
The Yes Album

For me, I just want to set those three apart because no matter how I slice it, they're in their own class. Whenever I tell myself that the stretch of eight albums TYA thru Drama are virtual equals, I end up wrong again. Unlike lots of fans, I strongly prefer the studio versions of this material especially, so I do end up spinning these albums a bunch. There's some kind of magic in these three records that make all the other records sounds like they were a chore to make, comparatively. But it feels sort of obvious and boring to cite these three, so:

Top three that aren't ^those
Tales
Tormato
Going For The One

Kind of enamored w/ Tales right now. I love the lyrics. Just so artsy and trippy and deep and wild. There's something a little difficult about it but that is a strangely good feature somehow w/Tales, like you earn your enjoyment haha. I still find it kind of impenetrable and mysterious and larger than life.

Tormato was an early buy for me, and I still feel the same as when I got it. I didn't have the full context of the catalog to ruin my impression of it, it was just like 'God, another awesome album by these guys!' I remember feeling like Yes passed some litmus test with me, with Tormato. I put it on and thought, never heard of it, no idea if it's popular or obscure or terrible or what. Maybe it will be lousy ... nope, mind blown. That was like, okay this band and I are gonna be friends. If the random albums are this good, holy smokes.

GFTO - what a strong album. Mesmerizing. The only things keeping it out of my top three are: 1. Its title track (even though I love it, its just got a couple issues! I think it's not a great song or album title for one thing) 2. Its album cover (no offense to you bum lookers and bum bum fans); 3. It's a little shrill in places. I feel similarly about Relayer, slide guitar is loud & it pierces a bit. But it's stocked with great material. Someone on here said they found Turn of the Century boring or something and I just thought you poor b*astard, I once failed to realize this song's greatness myself. I remember that!

Bottom three
From A Page - it's nice enough but it doesn't feel like it has the sophistication that a Yes record should have. I'm glad they released it the way they did, it was a great surprise at the time. The band sounds good but I just don't find much to get excited about in the songs themselves.

Heaven & Earth - The opening song is maybe my least favorite on the album, and was the single, so I had a tough first impression. Beyond that it's got a couple songs I really struggle with. I don't think it's as bad as some suggest but it's a mixed bag. I spun it enough to accept it and I'm generally okay with it. But yeah bottom three.

The Quest - It's an improvement on H&E. Needs more bass. I'm reluctant to include it in my bottom three because I do like it. It's getting plenty of heat from people so I don't want to complain about it. I just like the other Yes albums more. Over time I could see that changing ... I used to really struggle to enjoy the Talk and Keys material, but they've worn me right down to submission and I finally dig 'em. So maybe The Quest will do that.

I considered the first couple albums for bottom tier contenders, but nah they've grown on me way too much at this point. Handful of really excellent songs in there.