yes: classic or dud? search and destroy

HAHAHAH, more IRL stuff this, but how do you know I've frequented some of the more Poptimism/FAP meetups? Or maybe you don't and I'm misreading you. Either way sounds cool.

i know you've done Poptimism (which I haven't, really, year-end pub-crawls apart) but every so often there's a general London FAP, which is generally a miserable and entirely fruitless experience which i thoroughly dissuade you from

anyway yeah sorry for the (affectionate) name-flood, if you want it googleproofed i'll make a mod req

Yeah i changed my name to something else for a reason, not that I'm too frightened of a distant aunt finding me writing guff on Max Tundra.

considering we are mad keen max tundra fans who live in london you'd have thought the dude might bro down w/ us or at least let us watch him sequence a synth with faces of awe

looooooool mod edit makes it look like we're gettin' worked up over my claim that prog is in

which is probably not far off how it should be tbh :/ :D

Yes Reunite With Producer Trevor Horn for New Album

Quintessential prog-rockers Yes have announced that they have reunited with legendary producer Trevor Horn for their highly anticipated new album, 'Fly From Here.' The album marks the band's first studio album in ten years.

The album originated from a conversation between Horn and Yes bassist Chris Squire, who re-discovered the song 'Fly From Here' and realized that it had never been recorded in a studio. "Chris and I were talking one evening about the song 'Fly From Here' that we never recorded," explains Horn. "I said I was prepared to spend two weeks with Yes recording that song. When I arrived in America to record it, I was taken prisoner by the band and only allowed my freedom again in return for producing the whole album. It was an offer I couldn't refuse!"

'Fly From Here' retains Yes' signature brand of mysticism and large-scale compositions. The record contains plenty of the complex arrangements, beautiful harmonies, and heavy riffs the band is known for. "The new album represents the best of Yes from the '70s and the '80s with a current twist," said Squire.

Keyboardist Geoff Downes, who originally joined the band for 1980's 'Drama,' has also re-joined the band for the new album. Yes now consists of guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Downes, and lead singer Benoit David.

'Fly From Here' will be released on Frontiers Records in July 2011.

Never mind that, just show the photo:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.noisecreep.com/media/2011/03/yesrobshanahan.jpg

Who's the grandma in the middle? And what's Camilla Parker-Bowles doing there (standing behind grandma's left shoulder)?

Steve Howe - still the ugliest man in rock n' roll. Who's the youngster on the right??

Yes and the Buggles? There'll be a whole lot of whipping for sure.

"The new album represents the best of Yes from the '70s and the '80s with a current twist," said Squire.

Please tell me the "twist" is dubstep

Who's the youngster on the right?

The new singer. They recruited him from a Yes cover band.

and the floating head in the center!?

Howe really is frightful and cadaverous looking.

Thats already been posted to the "show me old me who look like lesbians" thread, right?

As cool as Steve Howe is, I wish Trevor Rabin was in the lineup this goaround too.

http://media.theonion.com/images/articles/article/835/onion_news2003_jpg_600x1000_q85.jpg

God what a shame this is. Count me out of this while I go fire up Relayer.

xpost

sounds like drama pt. ii. can't help but be a little curious

Trevor Horn needs to lay off the pies. Woah.

i've been playing 'close to the edge' a lot recently.

how is it that the bruford-era yes rhythm section is so awesome? seems like it shouldn't have been that hard for other bands to replicate driving off-beat stuff.

like getting together with your girlfriend from 150 years ago 'just for the sex', here comes the new album by YES

oh god I just posted that

and I guess that the fact that I actually want to hear this record probably makes it okay

now bringing up itunes to play 'it can happen'

you can feed the soul apart!
you reach!

why people feel guilty about listening to 40-year old rock bands but don't think twice about watching 50-year old movies or 100-year old books is beyond me

i guess most people read not watch books, but still

As per teh floatin' grandpa head in teh middle o'photo, my educated guess is - must be Nero Wolfe, surely.

It's Trevor Horn in the middle, guys.

There is good to be found in just about every genre EXCEPT 70's prog

wish I could go back in time and SB....

Alan White is a dead ringer for Douglas Adams

why people feel guilty about listening to 40-year old rock bands but don't think twice about watching 50-year old movies or 100-year old books is beyond me

I dunno if it's because they're old, I think it's because they're Yes...they weren't even cool back then, but now??

i think the world is ready for anderson bruford moraz banks

i dunno, i find ELP so much more interesting in that regard
the "Emerson, Lake and Powell" album sounds like something straight out of Spinal Tap

how is it that the bruford-era yes rhythm section is so awesome?

http://i52.tinypic.com/2rz3vp2.jpg

MAN - IN - A - WHITE - CAAAAAaaaaarrrrrr

Yes, who canceled the last three shows of their European tour in December due to the illness of lead singer Benoit David, have named Jon Davison as David's replacement for their spring tour of Australia, New Zealand and beyond.

Davison is the lead singer of Glass Hammer, a progressive rock band from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

From Yes' official website and Facebook page:

"Jon Davison will join Yes as lead vocalist for the upcoming dates in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Hawaii. Yes really appreciate Jon Davison joining them for this leg of the tour and are sure this arrangement will satisfy all Yes fans."

GOING FOR THE ONE!

at least this faux-anderson can hit the notes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am_Sszp3q54

I tend to find Anderson the most obvious thing about he band that I dislike. Wonder if I'd feel different if he had a lower voice.
Plus the band seems too busy and I' prefer them more spacious.
But still there's a couple of very interesting lps there in the early 70s, or maybe I should say the first 5 are ok if you can get over Anderson.
& the remastering from 5 years or so ago has even made him more palatable.

I saw the local uber-cover band do a night of Yes, and I was struck by two things. 1) Yes, this music is astoundingly busy and 2) Some of the complexities of the music are so conspicuous that you just know the band made it more complex on purpose to show off - "Hey, let's add another two beats before the vocals come in again!" "Let's all play in different time signatures!" - which is what makes the band so easy to dislike. I get the impression Yes more than most prog bands actually believes that more technical skill is objectively superior to less technical skill. That is, I can imagine Steve Howe (who is an incredible guitarist) searching the ranks of "Best Guitarists Ever" list, and wondering why he falls several rankings below, say, Johnny Ramone.

the answer is because those lists are all awful

and i have no idea how you could listen to early yes and arrive at the above opinion

I like the showoffy bits! Like in "Sound Chaser" where they play that main line at like six different tempos is really cool. IMO the "complex just for the sake of this being prog" is more of a Gentle Giant thing. Also, Yes tends to suck when they're NOT showing off (see: Tales)

I like (early) Yes just fine. But that's, like, two or three albums out of a hell of a lot of music. I was just struck by how insanely complicated it was. I mean, my friend in the band, a guitarist, who can literally play anything, thought it was harder than doing Steely Dan. They had to bring in a ringer for some of the guitar stuff, and the ringer didn't even need to use charts. He did it all from memory! They joked that when they did CCR he needed all the guitar parts transcribed.

Gentle Giant, btw, I always thought was more ... pastoral? A la Genesis.

maybe on their later albums, all I've heard is the early stuff which certainly has some "prog it up" moments. I don't know if the criticism really applies to Yes - I've always thought they were just a good rock band that just wrote longer, more complex tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF1yFRrVPqU&feature=related

Looks like Golum!

I probably posted this in another thread, but I once passed a venue in Philadelphia, I think it was the TLA, and on the marquee it said "Jon Anderson: Work In Progress," and I thought to myself that Jon Anderson is probably the only rock musician pompous enough to perform a "work in progress" for an audience, like as though people in the mid 2000s were so eager to hear what this genius was up to that they'd pay for a preview of an unfinished work.

I thought the singing was the weakest link in the "Roundabout" clip but it's p impressive for a 72yo dude.

I thought the drumming the the worst

anyway I posted this in the rush thread but billy sherwood posted a magnificent screed against wakeman the next morning, which even the Yes (official) FB page reposted; which is now mysteriously gone and he says his page was hacked, which is not very believable.

yah that was... weird. dude seemed so bitter. the audience loved rick and he was only up there for 3 minutes.

peeping into yesfans forum is some depressing shit. people seriously upset "this means there may not be a yes in 10-20 years out there"really dude? I'll give you, maybe, 7... but 10 years? 20? you really think they would be putting out an album and touring when some of these guys are in their 90s? Yes is over once Howe and Anderson are retired/dead. I don't want to see Yes featuring Igor Whatsit, Billy Sherwood, and Jon Davison

I don't even give Yes another decade, really... my feeling is that it'll all have folded within a decade.

But for now, I just think it's hilarious that the singer who got fired from Yes can now tour under the name Yes.

Listening to Close to the Edge this morning and the middle section of 'And You And I' still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.