I always land this act under progressive rock, but in many ways that label doesn't fit. Acoustically driven and instrumental, the music is made up of just guitar and piano.
Yes - Open Your Eyes (Surround Sound Version) Review by Gary Hill This is in many ways a reprint of my earlier review of Open Your Eyes. As reviewed here, it does, however, reflect the changes made when the CD was remastered as the first album ever mixed for Surround Sound systems. More
Yes - Magnification Review by Gary Hill Yes' brand of progressive rock has often been dubbed "symphonic rock." The term refers to the group producing arrangements in the vein of a symphony using typical rock instrumentation. More
Yes - Yes Review by Gary Hill The self-titled debut by Yes, this 1969 album was full of psychedelic wandering and experimentation. It had some definite strong points, and did, in fact show off signs of the band that would later develop.
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Yes - The Yes Album Review by Josh Turner This marks the third album from this first class group. Its recording predates the membership of the legendary Rick Wakeman, who ultimately joined late in the tour of this album. While this might appear to be a huge drawback in the studio, the album is quite strong.
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Yes - Fragile - Remastered And Expanded Review by Gary Hill Rhino has begun a series of remasters of Yes albums, restoring the original artwork and adding bonus cuts to the discs. This is their version of one of the more classic Yes recordings, Fragile.
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Yes - Close To The Edge Review by Gary Hill This is the first Yes album that I ever heard, and although it took me several listenings to get into it (I actually hated it first time through) it completely won me over. It is truly my favorite Yes album and the disc that got me interested in the band, and in progressive rock.
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Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans Review by Gary Hill This is quite possibly the most derisive Yes album of the entire catalog. Certainly many critics panned it, but that wasn't all that unusual.
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Yes - Relayer Review by Gary Hill At first glance, Relayer resembles Close To The Edge in that it is composed of three cuts, one in the twenty-minute range, and the other two taking up about the same length of time between them.
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Yes - Friends and Relatives Review by Gary Hill Friends and Relatives is a two CD set that is a compilation of two Yes tracks from the KTA albums with solo works from the various artists. Other than the two stellar group performances, the Rick Wakeman pieces and Steve Howe`s take on Tales From Topographic Oceans stand out the most. More
Yes - Going For The One Review by Gary Hill Being an album that had Rick Wakeman rejoining the fold, this one was looked upon as a very strong and welcome release to Yes fans. Indeed, it still ranks among the favorites of many of them. More
Yes - Yesshows Review by Gary Hill When Yes broke up after the aborted Drama tour, their label released two "new" albums, Classic Yes (a compilation) and Yesshows (a live album recorded before Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman chose to take their leave of the band).
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Yes - Time and A Word Review by Gary Hill When Yes went into the studio to record their second album, the producer decided that they could benefit from an orchestral string arrangement on much of the material.
Yes - Yesterdays Review by Gary Hill This compilation is composed almost entirely of material from the first two Yes releases (Yes and Time and a Word) - the majority from the second album. As such the lineup consists of Jon Anderson, Peter Banks, Bill Bruford, Tony Kaye and Chris Squire.
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Yes - 90125 Review by Gary Hill After Yes broke up following the Drama tour, Chris Squire and Alan White (first trying to put together a group with Led Zep's Jimmy Page) hooked up with South African Trevor Rabin to begin putting together a band.
Yes - 90125 Remastered and Expanded Review by Greg Olma Yes needed to do something new to attract the music buying public. Punk and new Wave were trying their hardest to bury the classic rock sound and the older fans were moving on with their lives.
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Yes - Big Generator Review by Gary Hill Talk about contrasts - for my money, this album opens with the worst piece of drivel the band have ever produced in "Rhythm of Love". I truly despise the song and cringe when I hear it.
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Yes - Yesyears Box Set Review by Gary Hill Released during the flurry of activity surrounding the Union tour, this four CD set is a pricey, but fairly solid addition to the Yes catalog. While any compilation will undoubtedly bring up complaints as to what was included and what was not, this album presents a fairly accurate representation of the chronology of the band.
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Yes - Classic Yes Review by Gary Hill This compilation of Yes material came out at the same time as Yesshows, shortly after the break up of the band following the Drama tour. This truly does feature some classic Yes material and would represent a great first look at the band.
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Yes - Union Review by Gary Hill The great experiment - at the time of this album's recording there were essentially two versions of Yes out and making music.
Yes - Talk Review by Gary Hill After the Union tour, the Rabin (or Yes West as many dubbed it) incarnation of the band reformed to record Talk. The promo hype at the time said that it was proof positive that this lineup was capable of the more complex and powerful progressive rock creations that had been the meat and potatoes of the earlier band.
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Yes - Drama Review by Gary Hill In 1980 when Yes found themselves without their keyboardist (Rick Wakeman) and vocalist (Jon Anderson), they turned to their manager Brian Lane to see if he had any suggestions.
Yes - House of Yes-Live From The House of Blues Review by Gary Hill This two-disc set is the companion soundtrack to the new DVD of this live show recorded on Yes' The Ladder tour. There are a lot of really good performances here, but also a few complaints. More
Yes - Keys To Ascension Review by Gary Hill The majority of this 2 disc set is a series of live recordings from the three SLO concerts that Yes did in 1996. The live material is augmented by two new studio cuts. More
Yes - Keys to Ascension 2 Review by Gary Hill Keys to Ascension 2 contains live tracks from the San Luis Obispo concerts, recorded March of 1996(disc one), and 5 new studio songs(disc two). The lineup for the album is Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White. More
Yes - The Ladder Review by Gary Hill For some bands, the music industry seems to cause a paradox. In order to survive as an artist, one must have a certain degree of commercial success, but to the hardcore fans, doing so can bring forth cries of "too poppy". More
Yes - Open Your Eyes Review by Gary Hill Yes fans are pretty well divided on this album, many find it to be a sell out of Yes` musical principles, while many others find it good, but not great. There are still others who find it to be a very fine effort. More
Yes - Something`s Coming Review by Gary Hill This album is actually a compilation of Yes performances on various television and radio programs from the 1969-1970 era. The personnel on this album are Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Peter Banks, Bill Bruford and Tony Kaye. More
Yes - Yessongs Review by Gary Hill At the time that Yessongs was released, the critics were calling Yes a studio phenomenon, and saying that they could not reproduce their complex arrangements live. This release, at least partially, was meant to dispel that rumour -- and it worked. More
I’ve always liked the Magnification album quite a bit, and since the recent reissue of Open Your Eyes on vinyl was amazing, I was really looking forward to this.
Where do I begin on this review? I guess I should start by saying that I’m a Yes fanatic and I have been since I was twelve years old – and for those keeping track, that’s a long time ago.
Yes recently did a couple of tours where they performed some of their studio albums in their entirety. This live recording comes from one of those shows.
Like last year, there is a new Yes picture disc released for Record Store Day. Last year it was 90125. This year they turned their attention to Tormato.
It seems that a common occurrence these days is for different factions within a classic band to form versions of the band and go out and tour. Well, it has now become a thing with Yes.
This could land under non-prog as more of an alternative rock set. I think based on the artsy characteristic and experimental nature that it fits more in the prog zone, though.
