The three most underrated Yes albums

[Soundchaser413]

What in your opinion are the three most underrated Yes albums. I came up with three but I'll chime in later.

This is obviously very personal and very subjective so try to go by how you feel and not by something just because it was unpopular or something you feel only the fans like (even though that might very well be the case). If you really think CTTE or Fragile are somehow underrated then mention them. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to hear other fans' opinions on this.

[pianozach]

I think that Talk is the band's most underrated, to the point of being reviled. Personally, I think it's one of their best.

Magnification would likely be on my list as well.

A third album? Um, The Ladder?

[Soundchaser413]

Those are all good choices.

For me I'm going to go with (chronological order only):

Time And A Word
Tormato
Big Generator (it was big when it came out and spawned a few singles and radio songs but these days most people seem to hate it)

[michelforest]

I've excluded all the albums between 1971 and 1980, because they are their most admired, I think. So, my picks:

Magnification;
Time and a Word;
Fly From Here.

[Soundwaveseeker]

The main one that comes to mind is Talk. First of all, it was the follow-up to the whole celebratory Union tour experience and I'm sure some felt let down that the Union concept wasn't realized in full and that A, B or C weren't on the album, even though Wakeman was initially supposed to have been involved.

Next, it came out during the whole grunge era and like a month before Kurt Cobain ended his life. If Jon Anderson wore plaid pants on stage and sang songs about pills or about being a creep, then they may have had 3% more of a chance. The timing was off, and the album was delayed as well - it should have come out a year before it did. The name 'Talk' may have been a little lame too, considering that other names like Dialogue and History Of The Future were rumored long before the album eventually came out.

Lastly, released on a lesser label with lesser promotion, there were many who did not even know the album existed at all. They were going up against Pink Floyd's Division Bell and lost. Its release was about as non-event at the time as perhaps Marillion's Brave, released around the same time and also a commercial disappointment. But where Brave is now considered one of Marillion's best, Talk hasn't been afforded any similar reappraisal. At the time, their own Yes Magazine dismissed the album Talk with an article called 'Change They Must'. Long term fans were sour on the album, perhaps for the wrong reason.

But it is still underrated. It had the Yes spirit, if not the Yes sound people may have been expecting. But Yes is supposed to defy expectations. It's a fun and vibrant album. Sure, the technology thing was a gamble, but they dared to do it at least. Tried the digital thing, and then moved on. It's a cinematic and atmospheric album, and Endless Dream is their Awaken of the 90's.

Talk deserves a little more love. That's the main overlooked, underrated Yes album. I'll have to think of two more in a bit. But Talk is my answer for the main underrated album.

[Soundchaser413]

Talk was one of their weakest (if not the weakest) selling albums up to that point (some later ones probably sold less though) so in that sense Talk is very underrated. I'm not crazy about the production and the fact that it's practically a Trevor Rabin solo album but other than that I can see the argument for it being one of their more underrated albums. Endless Dream is certainly their most underrated epic imo.

[Enlighten]

Drama

Yesshows

OYE

[soundchaser09]

to me its

Magnification
Union
The Quest

[Ash Armstrong]

Underrated by whom? By us? By me personally? By music journalists/critics? By the band themselves? All of the above?

I suppose I'd have to cite Magnification. The timing of its release was unfortunate, and the dull cover didn't help either. When the Symphonic DVD came out, I wished they'd used the same cover art for the album, it was much more eye-catching, and brighter. Aside from the awful Don't Go (no, please do go and never let me hear you again), and forgettable and pointless Daft as a Brush and Timey-Whimey, it's a fine suite of thematically-linked songs that I return to with renewed pleasure quite frequently. I'd so hoped they'd follow it up with another orchestral album.

I'd include The Ladder as an underrated offering as well. They were sounding so good then, it's a pity it fell apart with Igor. Over 2 decades ago now, almost as long as from the debut album to the first Rabin album.

[RelayerI]

The Ladder, Magnification and Talk.

I almost said Tormato but that doesn't seem to be particularly under-appreciated on here...

[RelayerI]

I think that Talk is the band's most underrated, to the point of being reviled. Personally, I think it's one of their best.

Magnification would likely be on my list as well.

A third album? Um, The Ladder?

^ Yeah, what he said !

[Bill M]

From what I see on here, I would say the first two albums are under-appreciated.

[Ash Armstrong]

From what I see on here, I would say the first two albums are under-appreciated.

I think that's probably the case. My first hearing of any of the first two albums was when Yesterdays came out in 1975, not long before the UK spring Relayer tour. There was an ad in the tour programme for it. The first two albums started to re-appear in record shops after that, and I bought both at the same time sometime over the summer of 75. While they may not bear much in common with what came later, I like that 60s psychedelia vibe generally - the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Love, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, early Dead, etc, so I really like those two albums for that, as well as for the potential that was unleashed from the Yes Album and after.

[Mr. Holland]

The main one that comes to mind is Talk. First of all, it was the follow-up to the whole celebratory Union tour experience and I'm sure some felt let down that the Union concept wasn't realized in full and that A, B or C weren't on the album, even though Wakeman was initially supposed to have been involved.

Next, it came out during the whole grunge era and like a month before Kurt Cobain ended his life. If Jon Anderson wore plaid pants on stage and sang songs about pills or about being a creep, then they may have had 3% more of a chance. The timing was off, and the album was delayed as well - it should have come out a year before it did. The name 'Talk' may have been a little lame too, considering that other names like Dialogue and History Of The Future were rumored long before the album eventually came out.

Lastly, released on a lesser label with lesser promotion, there were many who did not even know the album existed at all. They were going up against Pink Floyd's Division Bell and lost. Its release was about as non-event at the time as perhaps Marillion's Brave, released around the same time and also a commercial disappointment. But where Brave is now considered one of Marillion's best, Talk hasn't been afforded any similar reappraisal. At the time, their own Yes Magazine dismissed the album Talk with an article called 'Change They Must'. Long term fans were sour on the album, perhaps for the wrong reason.

But it is still underrated. It had the Yes spirit, if not the Yes sound people may have been expecting. But Yes is supposed to defy expectations. It's a fun and vibrant album. Sure, the technology thing was a gamble, but they dared to do it at least. Tried the digital thing, and then moved on. It's a cinematic and atmospheric album, and Endless Dream is their Awaken of the 90's.

Talk deserves a little more love. That's the main overlooked, underrated Yes album. I'll have to think of two more in a bit. But Talk is my answer for the main underrated album.

Brilliant post!!

Talk is one of my favourite Yes albums (nr. 5), but generally speaking I think it's the most underrated one.

Nice detail, that most probably know; it was one of Alan White's favourite Yes albums. Around 2004 when he was asked in an interview, what was the most difficult/complex song, from a drumming point of view, he had played live with Yes, he named Endless Dream.

[RelayerI]

From what I see on here, I would say the first two albums are under-appreciated.

They are by me. I detest all but two tracks !