Yes--new music: Cut From The Stars

[GRollins]

I suppose I should have realized that this would devolve into a debate about the people playing the music, rather than the music itself. If you're going to argue about what personnel make a given band legitimate, then answer me this:

 

Was Close To The Edge recorded by Yes?

 

I gather that some people feel that the answer should be no. After all, they'd already changed guitar and keyboard players by that point. Should a band be required to change their name with every band member's departure/arrival? Every single time? There would be no continuity in the band's history. It would be well-nigh impossible, on entering a record store, to know that "No" was actually the band known as "Yes" two albums ago. Oops! Membership change! Gotta rename the band again. Now it's "Maybe." Rick Wakeman's got his own, personal, revolving door with Yes, at times practically running into himself on the way in/out. You could use up half a dictionary renaming the band with every Wakeman iteration.

 

Yes, overall, has had a bazillion members over the years. A lot of people, in particular those who discovered Yes during what I call the disco era, feel that their version of the band is the legitimate version. All those other pesky members can go pound sand. I didn't care for the music Yes did at that time, but I don't question the legitimacy of the band, per se.

 

Jeez.

 

Grey

[EricBarker]

Yes is definitely a Ship of Theseus. Furthermore, many of the band members have expressed over the years their hopes that the band outlives them. I would say it’s a little more of a nuanced question than with a big-attitude party rock band, where the personalities are central to the identity. Yes considers itself art music, composed for performance and long-term consumption, not completely unlike a symphony concert.

 

…but it’s still small-ensemble music recorded by its composers. And that means I want to see THEM play it! I’ll be happy to see good covers of Love Supreme, Teen Town, or Close to the Edge… but damn if I’d rather have seen Train, Jaco, and the original Yes boys perform them!

[Adan]

It's a strange song.  Yes, at it's most accessible, could write a good hook.  "owner of a lonely heart," for example.  

 

Hard to imagine an arena full of people singing along with "international dark star park."

 

Feels a little like the dying gasps of a once-great band.

[AnotherScott]

Just now, Adan said:

Yes, at it's most accessible, could write a good hook.  "owner of a lonely heart," for example.  

The song writers have changed just as the musicians have. Nobody who wrote anything on 90125 is in the band today. However, Howe did co-write the accessible Roundabout.

[timwat]

28 minutes ago, Adan said:

It's a strange song. 

That's my recurring reaction. I don't like the song. I don't find the composition appealing, musical, or really listenable.

 

I very much agree with Grey on the personnel thing. I find the objections about "is this Yes" somewhat misplaced...this is how the business works, fellas, and we've all accepted that from the minute Pete Best was replaced by Richard Starkey (or, to stick with the band at hand, when we accepted that Fragile was Yes with that new strange keyboard player with the cape).

 

But the song itself is the rub. That was the thing about Yes at it's best...the music itself was memorable and held up to repeated listenings. The best tracks that stick with me all share that common thing - the song itself (no matter who wrote it) holds up. And You and I, Awaken, To Be Over, Sound Chaser, South Side of the Sky, etc. And this is even true of a lot of the music on the Squire solo record, about 3 of the tunes from Story of I (Moraz), a lot of Six Wives. 

 

But those guys are also responsible for a lot of forgettable music as well (as are most recording musicians with that many releases). And no matter how expertly played prog is, if it's not a memorable, ultimately musical composition, it's eventually going to end up in my mental scrap heap of forgettable technical excess. Like many of the Liquid Tension Experiment tracks, for those familiar with those.

 

And small note: His name is Bill Bruford, and to my mind he is one of the iconic drummers of all time. Been listening to his work for decades, and his creativity and iconoclastic approach to rock drumming puts him in a category of his own, IMO. Acerbic, intelligent, cynical - but he very early accomplished what is very difficult for any musician. He established his own voice, and at his best no other drummer sounds like him, approaches complex music like him. You can tell it's Bruford on most any track he plays on. And that isn't easy with drummers. Even the short stint he did as Genesis' tour drummer...you listen to it and you can tell it's Bruford. Much less in Crimson, UK, Earthworks. 

[Mike Davis]

It’s growing on me! Jon Davison has a quirky way of phrasing rhythms and placing accents. After you listen a couple of times you start to see how it’s flowing. FWiW, I like the previous two albums a lot. 🙂 

 

 

[HammondDave]

Its sad and pathetic when a decent tribute band creates music by copying the sounds and compositional style of an iconic band for commercial reasons. How can you call the music you create a reflection of who you are when you are only copying another artist? Everything about this poorly written song seems to have one goal, and that is to sound as much as possible to the original artists. From the sounds of the vocals to the sound of the bass and drums… “How close can we sound like the original members who made Yes distinctive?”  How these cats can look at themselves in the mirror and even consider themselves “artists” is beyond my comprehension. 

[StickMan393]

36 minutes ago, HammondDave said:

Its sad and pathetic when a decent tribute band creates music by copying the sounds and compositional style of an iconic band for commercial reasons. How can you call the music you create a reflection of who you are when you are only copying another artist? Everything about this poorly written song seems to have one goal, and that is to sound as much as possible to the original artists. From the sounds of the vocals to the sound of the bass and drums… “How close can we sound like the original members who made Yes distinctive?”  How these cats can look at themselves in the mirror and even consider themselves “artists” is beyond my comprehension. 

 

Jeez. There is absolutely no creative output from these guys that could pass your judgement. Feel free not to listen.

[hurricane hugo]

First song I've liked from them since The Ladder. Like the Tormato vibes. Hope the rest of the album's this good.

[KuruPrionz]

Back in the day, I was a big Yes fan. I saw them live, twice - the Tales of Topographic Oceans tour was the second show I saw. 

At a certain point, I realized that for me, Jon Anderson's voice was annoying. I also had no idea what stories they were trying to tell with the lyrics. 

I moved on. 

 

I hear this new music and I think "Hmmm... they found somebody who sings like the singer that I do not like, and they've written more obscure, story-less drivel for him to try and sing." 

 

I'm absolutely OK with them calling the band Yes (makes it easier to avoid) and I wish them all the success in the world, truly. 

I'll continue to look elsewhere for music that I enjoy. 

[AnotherScott]

23 minutes ago, hurricane hugo said:

First song I've liked from them since The Ladder. 

 

You didn't like anything from Magnification? Those two albums are the only post-Union albums I ever went back to.

[HammondDave]

54 minutes ago, StickMan393 said:

 

Jeez. There is absolutely no creative output from these guys that could pass your judgement. Feel free not to listen.

I don’t think that there is much creativity output happening when you are trying to copy the sound of iconic artists who were, in fact, very creative. 

[D. Gauss]

i'm with Hammond Dave on this.  I saw Yes twice. Relayer tour (75?) from far away with 110,000 other people, and then front row center on Tormato tour (77?).  I don't even own those records as i'd already given up on them after the ridiculous Topographical Oceans but still went to see them.  At their best, they always had shitty non-sense hippie lyrics... so much so that it was often a point of contention within the band itself.  i.e. you sure see a lot of dylan, springsteen, lennon, etc lyrics on t-shirts, posters and coffee mugs, but never a jon anderson lyric.    

That new song sounds like a Yes parody.

[AnotherScott]

3 minutes ago, D. Gauss said:

i'd already given up on them after the ridiculous Topographical Oceans

 

I may be the only one here who likes thinks the first two "songs" (sides) of Topographic are better than Close to the Edge. (But nothing on Topographic is as good as the "other" side of the CTTE album.)

[Stokely]

Pretty impressed by the music, not so much the vocalist.  I think I'd like it better if they didn't go with a more "lite" version of Jon Anderson...not that he's a bad singer at all, but he makes Jon sound edgy, it's just a little too much "head voice sounding" for my taste.   I get that you want to be able to cover Yes songs live (if they play live) but I would prefer a bit more "oomph" to the vocals and someone more original sounding.

[ProfD]

Regardless of the effort of the musicians involved, no iteration of Yes will ever be the iconic band of yesteryear. 

 

That goes for any band playing music that only appealed to a niche audience a long time ago.

 

IMO, the remnants of Yes would be better served by splintering into different band projects.

 

Yes affiliated, adjacent and tribute bands could create a whole new grassroots music scene. 

 

Those bands could play the  music of Yes and other Prog Rock bands in addition to original material too.

 

It could be similar to the Grateful Dead launching the whole jam band movement.

[o0Ampy0o]

The splinters would not have the draw they would by using a name people know. It is already a dwindling market. Who would be in position to learn of then give a listen to anything new? Who out of that pool would purchase anything? Who would attend a concert?

 

The Little River Band was told they could not put together a worthwhile tour in the US unless they were able to use the name Little River Band. The original members are all still around and were interested.

[Iconoclast]

Musically, this is a vast improvement over their more recent offerings. I could barely listen to Fly From Here.

But there is something completely uninspiring about the dead delivery of Jon Davison. Somehow, Jon Anderson could sing completely ludicrous lines like, "We see the total mass retain" and somehow put some emotion into it.  Not to mention how, even now, listening to "Soon" almost brings tears to the eye.

I just get the vibe the Davison doesn't believe in what he's singing.

[Konnector]

I think at this point, the band should be called The Steve Howe Band and just move on. Sure, Yes members have changed over the years, but without Chris Squire and Jon Anderson leading the charge, it's just so far removed from being Yes at this point that this lineup is nothing more than a tribute band. It's kind of like if Jimmy Page threw a band together with a different vocalist, bassist and drummer and called it Led Zeppelin. Sorry....No.

[HammondDave]

Several years ago I saw AWR and they were pretty amazing. A few weeks later I saw the “Yes” band (Chris had recently passed away) and and they were awful!  There is a time when you need to just hang it up. 

[D. Gauss]

8 minutes ago, Konnector said:

It's kind of like if Jimmy Page threw a band together with a different vocalist, bassist and drummer and called it Led Zeppelin. Sorry....No.

 

Ha! that's another parody record... the Coverdale/Page record from the 90's or whenever.  Take every led zep cliche' and mix and match with hilarious results.

[Konnector]

20 minutes ago, D. Gauss said:

 

Ha! that's another parody record... the Coverdale/Page record from the 90's or whenever.  Take every led zep cliche' and mix and match with hilarious results.

Yes, it certainly was that. At least they didn't call it Led Zeppelin. 

[Mr -G-]

17 hours ago, Radagast said:

Strictly speaking you are wrong.  Who do think was the original guitarist for Yes?

I do not think I am wrong. It was Peter Banks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rggxNnZQMQ4

[D. Gauss]

not a patrick moraz fan (imo he rocketh not), so when i saw them on the relayer tour, this beatle encore was the most exciting song they did. (this version recorded the night after i saw them in philly).  with lyrics that make actual sense.  

 

 

[Iconoclast]

1 hour ago, HammondDave said:

Several years ago I saw AWR and they were pretty amazing. A few weeks later I saw the “Yes” band (Chris had recently passed away) and and they were awful!  There is a time when you need to just hang it up. 

I saw that ARW tour and loved it. There was supposed to be a record coming out of that time and for some reason it just didn't happen.

[David Emm]

Yes is just a fogey band now. I prefer Ozric Tentacles. 

[EricBarker]

7 hours ago, timwat said:

And no matter how expertly played prog is, if it's not a memorable, ultimately musical composition, it's eventually going to end up in my mental scrap heap of forgettable technical excess. Like many of the Liquid Tension Experiment tracks, for those familiar with those.

 

Ironic, because a lot of those early LTE tracks have really stuck with me over the years, even over the material from DT and other bands the guys were playing with at the time. Kindred Spirits? Universal Mind? (the piano interlude has always been one of my warmup tunes). Biaxident off the second album. Some really great hooks and thoughtful compositions, IMO.

 

The only one that sort of bothers me is "When The Water Breaks", which includes some of the finest melodic material I've ever heard, but is jumbled together in a meandering directionless form. I love prog epics, but that's a clear example of when great material is wasted by inorganically forcing it together in a clump. The first 4 minutes, alone, could have been one of the most gorgeous tracks in the history of Progrock. I kept waiting for that melodic line to come back in and tie everything together, like "Firth of Fifth", but it never did.

[Radagast]

If this new song was comparable to YES’ great songs of the past, would there still be all this bitchin’?

[timwat]

1 hour ago, EricBarker said:

 

Ironic, because a lot of those early LTE tracks have really stuck with me over the years, even over the material from DT and other bands the guys were playing with at the time. Kindred Spirits? Universal Mind? (the piano interlude has always been one of my warmup tunes). Biaxident off the second album. Some really great hooks and thoughtful compositions, IMO.

 

The only one that sort of bothers me is "When The Water Breaks", which includes some of the finest melodic material I've ever heard, but is jumbled together in a meandering directionless form. I love prog epics, but that's a clear example of when great material is wasted by inorganically forcing it together in a clump. The first 4 minutes, alone, could have been one of the most gorgeous tracks in the history of Progrock. I kept waiting for that melodic line to come back in and tie everything together, like "Firth of Fifth", but it never did.

 

RE: LTE, I would agree that no shortage of really great hooks. But to my taste (which may be different than many others), there are too many occasions where it comes off to my ears a lot like your description of Water Breaks - a great melodic hook or two and on to the solos and an overall sense of meandering without a lot of direction. Not all the pieces are long or epic...but they don't end up as memorable to me.

 

As a result, I don't listen to LTE any more. You may have a significantly different taste for them than me. I just don't really find their body of work as lasting. Maybe that means I'm not a genuine prog head anymore; I'm not really sure. There's a lot of prog that sticks with me. Song for America. All of True Stories (Sancious and Tone). Karn Evil 9. Supper's Ready. The entire UK 1st album. CTTE. But there's a lot more that doesn't.

[TommyRude]

wowow... lot of controversy here!  I kinda like the song and visuals too!  I mean, who doesn't like cactus mixed with dark skies and stars?

 

Honestly, I haven't been keeping up with Yes.  I thought when I heard this it was Chris Squire and Jon Anderson putting out a new record.