best YES ever

I guess we're talking albums here, I was talking songs. I think
Tales (which I consider the whole album to be a one 4-movement
song, which isn't so true of the other Yes albums, in my hearing) is
amazing, but quite honestly, the musical material just isn't as juicy as
that of CTTE.

I mean, every minute of CTTE is a hook for me, I'm on the
edge of my seat. With Tales, it's like, ok this is a cool large form, and
there are many nice moments, but there are also long stretches that don't
do much for me: like that long guitar solo in the 3rd movement, for
example. Anyway, it's just a taste issue.

Awaken is great too, but it's a little too "new-agey", a little too...
gratuitous. I like the way that in CTTE, when the new-agey sections
come, there's just an orgasmic sense of relief...."aaaaah yesss" after all
the hard-driving hard-core stuff.

So if I had to choose one big Yes song to take to a desert
island, it'd be CTTE.

As far as CTTE being "tame", huh?

As far as the "Sibelius" thing goes, I love Sibelius 5 for the
same reason that I love CTTE: every second of the piece I'm thinking "Oh,
I love this part!! . . ." With Tales, there times when I'm thinking "OK,
I can't wait for the next section!! It's comeing right up after this
stuff!. . . " That's what I mean when I say CTTE is more "juicy" for me.
I can be "in the moment" the whole time.

And come on, where in Tales, or in Awaken, is the totally
uber-orgasmic feeling you get when the "recap" of the quasi-sonata form
of CTTE comes in?? Holy @#$%@#$%!! That part makes my blood boil. .
....even just thinking about it.

OK, enough of my expostulations!!

>
>I think of ctte, Tales and Relayer as each having artistic
>perfection in their own space. Edge is still in the world of
>rock, and is definitely the most tame of the three. Tales goes
>into Sibelius/Stravinsky space, and represents Yes at the
>absolute pinacle of their game. Relayer is an 'over the top',
>schizoid burnout. My friend thinks Tales eeks ahead of the
>others. I say Relayer. It's been a sore spot between us for
>years. :)
>

***From: Christopher Bailey******************

http://music.columbia.edu/~chris

**********************************************

>I guess we're talking albums here, I was talking songs.

For me, any good rock album is the equivalent of a sonata,
or symphony, which ought to be indivisible. Awaken is
sort of an exception, because it's so far ahead of the rest
of the album it appears on (indeed this counts against
that album -- it'd almost be better without Awaken). But
for me, ctte and Relayer are like 3-mvmt works. And you
already seem to feel this way about Tales.

>Awaken is great too, but it's a little too "new-agey", a
>little too... gratuitous.

Yep. Somehow that aspect of Tales seems more funky, colored
in a 'world' mystical way, and it seems to come off better.

Close to the Edge, with that damn green cover, is about
conceptually perfect.

> So if I had to choose one big Yes song to take to a
> desert island, it'd be CTTE.
>
> As far as CTTE being "tame", huh?

It's definitely more conventional than the others.

>And come on, where in Tales, or in Awaken, is the totally
>uber-orgasmic feeling you get when the "recap" of the
>quasi-sonata form of CTTE comes in?? Holy @#$%@#$%!! That
>part makes my blood boil.
> ....even just thinking about it.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Ok, you're right.

And You And I and To Be Over have got to be close runners-up,
though.

Back to talking albums, as amazing as the figure is, I think
Siberian Khatru sort of holds back ctte. Or maybe it's the
studio performance of it, where the tempo seems a bit forced.

Relayer definitely wins in the sound/production category,
in my book.

-Carl

i've hardly read any of the messages in these Yes
threads, but thought i should put in my vote. :)

IMO, "Close To The Edge" (the song) is the most
incredible piece of music ever done by a rock group.

(and the other two songs on the album are great too.)

when i was in college, my roommate kept trying to
turn me on to CTTE and i just couldn't get into it.

then one day, he played _Relayer_ for me, thinking
that i might like that more. "Sound Chaser" didn't
do anything for me, but i did like "To Be Over",
but then ... WOW! "The Gates Of Delirium" was
just *incredible*.

so that was it ... GOD (ha, what an acronym!) got
me hooked, and i was a Yes fan ever after.

so then, i figured since my roommate was so hot
to get me interested in CTTE, i'd give it one
more shot. that was all it took. i've been a
*huge* fan of that song ever since.

i did an analysis of CTTE back in the early 1980s,
which i really should dig out and publish some day.
i've seen other analyses of it, but none of them
ever went into quite as much depth as mine did.

that is really one amazing song!

-monz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Bailey" <cb202@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 10:45 AM
Subject: [metatuning] best YES ever

>
> I guess we're talking albums here, I was talking songs. I think
> Tales (which I consider the whole album to be a one 4-movement
> song, which isn't so true of the other Yes albums, in my hearing) is
> amazing, but quite honestly, the musical material just isn't as juicy as
> that of CTTE.
>
> I mean, every minute of CTTE is a hook for me, I'm on the
> edge of my seat. With Tales, it's like, ok this is a cool large form, and
> there are many nice moments, but there are also long stretches that don't
> do much for me: like that long guitar solo in the 3rd movement, for
> example. Anyway, it's just a taste issue.
>
> Awaken is great too, but it's a little too "new-agey", a little too...
> gratuitous. I like the way that in CTTE, when the new-agey sections
> come, there's just an orgasmic sense of relief...."aaaaah yesss" after all
> the hard-driving hard-core stuff.
>
> So if I had to choose one big Yes song to take to a desert
> island, it'd be CTTE.
>
> As far as CTTE being "tame", huh?
>
> As far as the "Sibelius" thing goes, I love Sibelius 5 for the
> same reason that I love CTTE: every second of the piece I'm thinking "Oh,
> I love this part!! . . ." With Tales, there times when I'm thinking "OK,
> I can't wait for the next section!! It's comeing right up after this
> stuff!. . . " That's what I mean when I say CTTE is more "juicy" for me.
> I can be "in the moment" the whole time.
>
> And come on, where in Tales, or in Awaken, is the totally
> uber-orgasmic feeling you get when the "recap" of the quasi-sonata form
> of CTTE comes in?? Holy @#$%@#$%!! That part makes my blood boil. .
> ....even just thinking about it.
>
> OK, enough of my expostulations!!
>
>
>
> >
> >I think of ctte, Tales and Relayer as each having artistic
> >perfection in their own space. Edge is still in the world of
> >rock, and is definitely the most tame of the three. Tales goes
> >into Sibelius/Stravinsky space, and represents Yes at the
> >absolute pinacle of their game. Relayer is an 'over the top',
> >schizoid burnout. My friend thinks Tales eeks ahead of the
> >others. I say Relayer. It's been a sore spot between us for
> >years. :)
> >
>
>
>
>
> ***From: Christopher Bailey******************
>
> http://music.columbia.edu/~chris
>
> **********************************************
>
>
>
>
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>

> when i was in college, my roommate kept trying to
> turn me on to CTTE and i just couldn't get into it.
>
> then one day, he played _Relayer_ for me, thinking
> that i might like that more. "Sound Chaser" didn't
> do anything for me, but i did like "To Be Over",
> but then ... WOW! "The Gates Of Delirium" was
> just *incredible*.
>
> so that was it ... GOD (ha, what an acronym!) got
> me hooked, and i was a Yes fan ever after.
>
> so then, i figured since my roommate was so hot
> to get me interested in CTTE, i'd give it one
> more shot. that was all it took. i've been a
> *huge* fan of that song ever since.

Wild. I had almost the reverse experience. I got
Relayer on a friend's recommendation, but just didn't
grok it. Picked up Tormato, and liked it (and still
do!). Then got ctte, and BANG! Then went back and
heard out Relayer. Then Tales, then the early stuff.

-Carl

Yes always sounded like an overly noodlely version of Crosby Stills and Nash :)
it hink you all like them cause they sang the opening of the rite of spring
and to further ruin your day :)

best rock album ever:)

Flowers of Romance- PIL- (forget the warners bros mix get the english Virgin for
the real sound). which right now sounds more relevent now than then.
totally immersed in the past (via capping off what you might say were
Morrison's concerns ) and totally looking toward the future with its use of
electronics, and mixing techniques. Being so it represents the exact middle
point of rock.

Even "Phenegan" sounds like Harry Partch.
"Hymie's Him' has some of the most original percussion writing ever. name that
meter or meters, if you can

there is alot of groups never mentioned who are far more interesting
Faust- listen to what these boys were doing even before yes and you realize
they were already behind before they got started
This Heat-

monz wrote:

> i've hardly read any of the messages in these Yes
> threads, but thought i should put in my vote. :)
>
> IMO, "Close To The Edge" (the song) is the most
> incredible piece of music ever done by a rock group.
>
> (and the other two songs on the album are great too.)
>

-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST

>I mean, every minute of CTTE is a hook for me, I'm on the
>edge of my seat. With Tales, it's like, ok this is a cool
>large form, and there are many nice moments, but there are
>also long stretches that don't do much for me:

Interestingly, there's an interview with Rick Wakeman on
notes from the edge this month in which he says one of
the things he didn't like about Tales was that the songs
were padded out to fit the limitations of LP.

-Carl