Rank the Yes epics

[Mr. Holland]

I'm sure this was done on the old site. But fun is fun. So how do you rank the Yes epics? Those songs from 15 minutes and longer?

Here's my ranking:

Gates of Delirium
Close to the Edge
Awaken
Ritual
Revealing Science of God
Endless Dream
Fly From Here Suite
Mind Drive
That, That is
The Remembering
The Ancient

[madbear]

Gates of Delirium
Close to the Edge
Revealing Science of God
The Remembering
Ritual
The Ancient
Fly From Here Suite
Mind Drive
That, That is
Endless Dream
Awaken

[Sam I Am]

Close to the Edge
Gates of Delerium

Revealing Science of God
Awaken
Ritual

Endless Dream
The Remembering
Mind Drive

Fly From Here Suite
The Ancient
That, That Is

[Ash Armstrong]

Close to the Edge
The Remembering
Gates of Delirium
Awaken
The rest of Tales
Mind Drive
That, That Is

I won't include the Fly From Here Suite, because it's an assemblage of pieces not a composed-through piece of music, at least as I hear it. I'm not overly keen on it whatever it is.

Dreamless End isn't under consideration for inclusion in my soundworld.

[Homemade Parachute]

Close to the Edge (if you need one song to show what the band, or the genre, we’re capable of…)
Gates of Delerium (like Rush’s “Cygnus X1 Book II”, slightly done in by the lyrics)
Awaken (ARW version — heresy, I know!)
Revealing Science of God
Ritual (Yesshows version)
That, That Is
Endless Dream
The Remembering (wish I could recall more of it)
The Ancient (I feel ancient by the end)
Mind Drive (stalled out)

FFH is, like Rush’s “2112” or “Fountain”, individual songs maybe related more lyrically than musically, and put on the CD as individual tracks, so that’s how I take them.

[Old Frothingslosh]

Awaken
Ritual
CTTE

[soundchaser09]

Awaken
Gates of Delirium
Close to the Edge
Ritual
Fly From Here Suite
Revealing Science of God
Endless Dream
The Remembering
Mind Drive
The Ancient
That, That is

[Soundwaveseeker]

Not sure where to place a lot of these, and as with any ranking some epix move around the list depending on mood or phase. So...

Top tier - but not necessarily in a definitive order:

The Remembering
Gates Of Delirium (Yesshows version)
Ritual (Yesshows version)
Awaken
That, That Is
The Revealing Science Of God

Lower tier:

The Ancient
Close To The Edge
Endless Dream
Mind Drive

Fly From Here suite is individual songs presented as a suite or song cycle connected by a common theme, like Rush Fountain Of Lamneth, or how Genesis originally had planned for half of Duke to be sequenced as a side-long suite (Behind The Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal/Turn It On Again/Dukes Travels/Dukes End). So I won't count FFH as a side-long song, though I love it. I would place it between the two tiers maybe.

[Elizabeth "The Phish"]

Ooh, this sounds fun so I'll obviously get on it too! Hehe.

The Top Two:
1-2 )"Endless Dream" and "The Ancient"
These two for the two top two spot and they're almost tied? Unusual, I know, but that is a normal for me. Now, if you really forced me to picked one then I'd pick "Endless Dream" because of that climax but "The Ancient" is pretty close to the it too actually. I could probs put it at the tier below with the other ones but these two stands differently than those ones for me. (And yes, they are my favourite songs of all time.)

10/10, Perfection/Masterpiece Tier:
3) "Close to the Edge"
4) 2011 "Fly From Here Suite" (Yeah, I'm including this.)
5) "Awaken"
6) "That, That Is"
7) "Mind Drive"
8) "The Gates of Delirium"
9) "The Remembering"
10) "Ritual"
11) "The Revealing Science of God"
As you can see, I do love all the epics of the band. 3 and 4 probs can get their own tier between the first two and "Awaken" but I'll just keep it like this. Absolutely love all the songs on here and I'd listen to them with pleasure if I put it on. Yes is very good at making epics, innit?

9/10, Close to Masterpiece/ Awesome Tier:
Yeah, I don't have anything here so.

8/10, Great Tier:
12) "Fly From Here: Return Trip Suite"
Yeah, this might be a bit weird to include both the 2011 and this version on the list but I'm still include it. You're probably wondering why it's this low compared to the OG. Well, it's because I find most of the changes to be for the worse, especially moving the ending of Part 1 to the reprise which destroys the flow of the song, I'd say but ehh. "Sad Night at the Airfield" is what I would've liked for the changes to be like so that's the best one. Not like I prefer it to the OG but as a change, I'd consider that to be by far the best on the song.

That's it from me, y'all. Unusual takes like always but it is what it is.

[Olorin]

Awaken
Gates of Delirium
Close to the Edge
Revealing Science of God
The Remembering
The Ancient
Ritual
That, That is
Mind Drive
Endless Dream
Fly From Here Suite

[Davy]

CTTE
Gates
Awaken
Endless Dream
Ritual
Fly From Here
Revealing
Remembering
That, That Is
The Ancient
Mind Drive

[Somis Sound]

Gates of Delirium
Close to the Edge
Revealing Science of God
The Ancient
Ritual
Fly From Here Suite
Endless Dream
Mind Drive
Awaken
The Remembering
That, That Is

[josuev80]

Already re-hashing yet another ranking thread on this site that has been around for only about a year.

https://www.yesfans.com/forum/main-forum/yesmusic-aa/13999-rank-the-yes-epix

[Soundchaser413]

Gates of Delirium
CTTE
Awaken
Ritual
RSOG
Endless Dream

Everything else

[Homemade Parachute]

Unusual takes like always but it is what it is.

What, What Is…

Unusual takes are what make the site and rankings/listings fun! Thanks for providing the comments, too: as always, it's the little things that *you* all hear that give *me* something to listen for next time around, so you're all enriching my own experience of Yes by not agreeing with me…