When could have YES captured the most mystique?

[bondegezou]

It might be argued that a little less success a little less quickly might have benefited the band in terms of its creativity, stability and longevity more.

They took until their third album to chart in the US, and their fourth to break the top twenty. How much less quickly would you have liked them to go? Atlantic would have dropped them if The Yes Album hadn't sold well.

I can't imagine many Yes fans would declare in conversation with non-Yes fans that they are fans because the band had 11 platinum awards in the US, this 'proving' that they 'got it right' in some sense... Not criteria I would make use of anyway.

Sure, but there wouldn't be so many Yes fans if the band hadn't been so successful.

[bondegezou]

I dread the day on Pointless when Richard Osman reads out the pointless answers to famous 70's bands from the UK.

Richard: "And this might surprise you. Yes"
Alexander: "Who?"
Richard: "Not The Who. Yes"
Alexander: "Oh I see."
Richard: "Folks at home may remember their big hit, Owner of a lonely heart."
Alexander: "Right, you are."

Of course, that wouldn't happen, because "Owner" wasn't a big hit in the UK! (Not until the Max Graham remix.) Yes's biggest hit single in the UK, the only one to make the top twenty, was "Wonderous Stories".

[Ash Armstrong]

They took until their third album to chart in the US, and their fourth to break the top twenty. How much less quickly would you have liked them to go? Atlantic would have dropped them if The Yes Album hadn't sold well.



Sure, but there wouldn't be so many Yes fans if the band hadn't been so successful.

I was referring specifically to the peak success they enjoyed, in terms of the venues in the US tthey could fill, in the mid to late 70s. Way to much income, usually spent before they got it, on extravagant country houses, ostentatious cars, and luxury private travel. And those around them who depended on the band for their livelihoods indulged all of that. The slow-burn over the first five years or so, notwithstanding, that relatively rapid catapulting into that kind of 'success' probably screwed them up more thoroughly as a creative unit more than anything else.
As far as that generating a groundbase of fans that endures today, probably so, but that's not something I'm overly interested in. None of the Canterbury Scene bands enjoyed anything like that degree of commercial success, and they are a subset of progressive and/or folk-fusion bands that I'm at least as much of a fan of as I am if Yes, and that subset has as much of a loyal fan base still. Fewer in number certainly, and perhaps more European-centered than across the Atlantic, but very much still active, and interactive, so I wouldn't necessarily equate stadium-scale commercial success in the mid-to-late 70s in North America with enduring artistic merit. Both have that of course, in abundance, but I don't see it as directly correlative.

[bondegezou]

so I wouldn't necessarily equate stadium-scale commercial success in the mid-to-late 70s in North America with enduring artistic merit. Both have that of course, in abundance, but I don't see it as directly correlative.

I also wouldn't equate stadium-scale commercial success with enduring artistic merit. Which is why I didn't!

[Yorkshire Square]

So he became a high-end photographer, or a corrupt police officer ?

🤣🤣🤣

Yep, animal portraiture!

[luvyesmusic]

When I talk about Yes with friends (there aren't many of them) I usually make it clear I disowned Owner right from the start. Thankfully, if they are of a similar vintage to me, i.e. were teenagers in the 70s, most of them won't know Owner anyway so the issue is moot. It didn't have the ubiquity here that it did elsewhere (yes, the US is merely another 'elsewhere'), and the whole rock radio thing never caught on. It may have been played on independent (commercial) local radio stations, and may be still in this delightful modern interwebby age we're enduring, but sparingly I suspect. I'm guessing what internet radio broadcasts is probably done at random by some software rather than a person in a studio with headphones on actually choosing and playing songs in whatever playback format is currently on-trend?

As far as I can recall, it would have been early 1984, February or perhaps March, when I learned of the existence of 90125, in my then-girlfriend's bedroom (who went by the name of Janey, as it happens). Between breaking up with her previous and hooking up with me she'd moved back to her parents who, while they were fine with her smoking dope, didn't want her bonking while she was living under their roof. I digress: at some point, probably after a joint or three, probably Lebanese hash which seemed to be everywhere at the time, Yes had been mentioned by me, undoubtedly in the past tense, whereupon she announced they have a new album out, and she had it. Retrieving my jaw from her floor,I looked upon the aforesaid LP as she handed it to me. My hands didn't exactly get burned by the horrible cover design, nor did my eyes fail to see, but it was clear on first contact this was not the Yes I'd known and loved in the 1970s. When she put the platter on her matter and put the hamster in the wheel, and I heard the record for the first time, it was clear this new version of the band that liked to call itself 'Yes' and I were probably not going to get along. And so it proved, and still is, mostly.
Janey and I parted company sometime in that spring of 1984, noisily and messily, and she took up with, and immediately moved in with, my best friend. Aside from having those regrettable associations, I don't recall the 80s Yes impacting hugely on the listening landscape of our group or community... They continued to exist in a past-tense. Coincidentally, my best friend of then, by name Craig, with whom Janey took up with, loathed Yes and still does. I imagined him at the time unable to express his dislike due to the lovely Janey sitting on his face both day and night, as well as preventing, as far as she could, he and me seeing anything of each other, despite the fact that I lived mere yards away in a flat in an adjacent block.
Last I heard Janey came out as gay and was living in France.
While the 80s band that liked to call itself Yes no longer conjures up those kind of memories and associations, thank goodness, it's still the case that among the old fogies who are still breathing from then, it's not Owner that we think of when we think of Yes.

Thank you for listening, and please buy a copy of my memoirs when they're published, as I'll be dead be then ...

You are a fantastic writer, hence quoting the entire thing. You made me laugh, as well, so bonus points, and much more than one like from me.

Not to put owner down completely as it and MTv allowed a rebirth of YES, and an entire generation of fans. Brought some interest back to the "band's" tour managers, touring, associated acts, and solo projects and tours Much like the Moody Blues where the new young fans might have seen a late night commerical selling a collection of old band hits, showing one second, grainy videos, might have associated one, maybe two songs in classic rock with the band, but never owned anything in the back cateloug.

There was no Steve, and being a 70s and 80s metal head and straight male, while he had writing and production skills, Trevor Rabin didn't cut the mustard for me. One of the weakest guitar players of a popular band to be honest, as to what I like. ( 1. Steve. 2. Michael Schenker.)

However, this late to the party, never seen them before was excited for the opportunity to see at least some incarnation of the formally dead to the world band, in touring form. It was not a good experience. First thing that stood out were the 80s outfits. Something vastly different from the older pictures I had seen. New material was okay. When it came to the classics ( though I was finally happy to see Chris, Tony and Alan taking the stage as a fan who truly discovered YES when they were dead as a group ) ( Sorry, Luna, and others in advance. ) , as soon as I heard Trevor attempt his version of the classics on guitar, it about broke me/ soured me for several years. One show was enough!

Thank dog, YES and all associated acts continued, and no one paid attention to my opinion. LOL
Great thing about YES. They kept going in one form or another. A huge cateloug. And something for everyone. Too much hate for this and that, over the years, imo. Just shows, the love and passion for this band, and it's many members, and eras. Where else are you going to find that? How else would we have thenewyesfans.com. Thank you everyone, thank you, Tim Lutterbie, and thank you, John V for keeping this forum available. I love when we all type, and get together in person in celebration of a band that started over fifty years ago. Must be a bunch of loons, in a great way. :-)

[SunshipVoyager]

I really like a lot of stuff they did from 1980 onwards, but if I’m being honest with myself they could have stopped after touring Going For the One (with “Awaken” their final song) and I would be fine with it. And “mystique” protected for sure I feel...

[downbyariver]

When I talk about Yes with friends (there aren't many of them) I usually make it clear I disowned Owner right from the start. Thankfully, if they are of a similar vintage to me, i.e. were teenagers in the 70s, most of them won't know Owner anyway so the issue is moot. It didn't have the ubiquity here that it did elsewhere (yes, the US is merely another 'elsewhere'), and the whole rock radio thing never caught on. It may have been played on independent (commercial) local radio stations, and may be still in this delightful modern interwebby age we're enduring, but sparingly I suspect. I'm guessing what internet radio broadcasts is probably done at random by some software rather than a person in a studio with headphones on actually choosing and playing songs in whatever playback format is currently on-trend?

As far as I can recall, it would have been early 1984, February or perhaps March, when I learned of the existence of 90125, in my then-girlfriend's bedroom (who went by the name of Janey, as it happens). Between breaking up with her previous and hooking up with me she'd moved back to her parents who, while they were fine with her smoking dope, didn't want her bonking while she was living under their roof. I digress: at some point, probably after a joint or three, probably Lebanese hash which seemed to be everywhere at the time, Yes had been mentioned by me, undoubtedly in the past tense, whereupon she announced they have a new album out, and she had it. Retrieving my jaw from her floor,I looked upon the aforesaid LP as she handed it to me. My hands didn't exactly get burned by the horrible cover design, nor did my eyes fail to see, but it was clear on first contact this was not the Yes I'd known and loved in the 1970s. When she put the platter on her matter and put the hamster in the wheel, and I heard the record for the first time, it was clear this new version of the band that liked to call itself 'Yes' and I were probably not going to get along. And so it proved, and still is, mostly.
Janey and I parted company sometime in that spring of 1984, noisily and messily, and she took up with, and immediately moved in with, my best friend. Aside from having those regrettable associations, I don't recall the 80s Yes impacting hugely on the listening landscape of our group or community... They continued to exist in a past-tense. Coincidentally, my best friend of then, by name Craig, with whom Janey took up with, loathed Yes and still does. I imagined him at the time unable to express his dislike due to the lovely Janey sitting on his face both day and night, as well as preventing, as far as she could, he and me seeing anything of each other, despite the fact that I lived mere yards away in a flat in an adjacent block.
Last I heard Janey came out as gay and was living in France.
While the 80s band that liked to call itself Yes no longer conjures up those kind of memories and associations, thank goodness, it's still the case that among the old fogies who are still breathing from then, it's not Owner that we think of when we think of Yes.

Thank you for listening, and please buy a copy of my memoirs when they're published, as I'll be dead be then ...

I actually think I'd buy a copy of your memoirs if you wrote them (Provided there was a version I could read on my Kindle.). This was pretty good. It reminded me a little bit of Replay by Ken Grimswold, without the time travel aspects of course, and presumably reality rather than fiction. A lot of autobiographies seem to miss that the real interesting moments of people's lives are the personal details and how they felt, and being able to really put someone (the reader) in a room and in a time. Whether they actually did something broadly interesting and unusual with their lives or not may have the biggest impact on what publishers publish, and can be the hook or lack of a hook that draws or doesn't draw readers into a work, but the actual readability is less about that and more about the way the story is told IMO.

I still disagree with you about 90125, though.

[Gilly Goodness]

The BBC should commission a series set in the '70s about a young group of twenty somethings who fall in an out of love soundtracked by YES, Tull and Genesis and how the music helps them through it all starring Ben Wishaw, Sioarse Ronin, Margot Robbie and Katherine Parkinson. Guest appearance by David Walliams. As a camp record store owner.

Warm, witty, relatable. Conversations about matters of the heart and Topographic Oceans around the kitchen table.

[Ash Armstrong]

The BBC should commission a series set in the '70s about a young group of twenty somethings who fall in an out of love soundtracked by YES, Tull and Genesis and how the music helps them through it all starring Ben Wishaw, Sioarse Ronin, Margot Robbie and Katherine Parkinson. Guest appearance by David Walliams. As a camp record store owner.

Warm, witty, relatable. Conversations about matters of the heart and Topographic Oceans around the kitchen table.

There's The Rotters Club, based on the novel by Jonathan Coe, and which takes its name from the second Hatfield and the North album. Tales is mentioned and quoted from in both novel and TV adaptation. Sadly it's not available on DVD or a streaming platform at the moment.

[Ash Armstrong]

[Bill M]

I believe that if YES disbanded at an earlier time while their popularity was still peaking, their legacy would continue to grow after. Say that time was after the Close to the Edge tour, it might have been likely that one or more prominent bands that included YES alumni would surface in the near future.
In my alternate universe, I would imagine that one of these groups, consisting of at least Anderson, Howe and White would go on to produce Tales From Topographic Oceans. I wouldn’t have minded this album not being a YES album since it has struck me as their first album that leaned to being “Andersonic” (with Howe).
I’m not saying that this is the scenario that I would have preferred, but I do believe that most of the subsequent music would have found an outlet in some form regardless.

[Esthe]

I believe that if YES disbanded at an earlier time while their popularity was still peaking, their legacy would continue to grow after. Say that time was after the Close to the Edge tour, it might have been likely that one or more prominent bands that included YES alumni would surface in the near future.
In my alternate universe, I would imagine that one of these groups, consisting of at least Anderson, Howe and White would go on to produce Tales From Topographic Oceans. I wouldn’t have minded this album not being a YES album since it has struck me as their first album that leaned to being “Andersonic” (with Howe).
I’m not saying that this is the scenario that I would have preferred, but I do believe that most of the subsequent music would have found an outlet in some form regardless.

Maybe start a thread on the alternate history forum on that. I’d be interested to see how the timeline would go.

[luvyesmusic]

YES has survived punk, grunge, and that awful Poison type of so-called metal where they wore make up. That's saying something.

[Frumious B]

No matter how you rewrite history or hop from one parallel universe to another I think that, barring some kind of tragedy involving a band member, Yes would have eventually reunited in one form or another. If they had split after Tormato or Drama, even if Trevor Rabin never enters the picture, I think they still get back together with the classic lineup by the late 80s or early 90s. I’m inclined to argue that 2004 should have been the last hurrah. Fly From Here and From A Page are nice to have, but I don’t know that those records are enough to creatively justify Yes’ existence from 2008-2022.