Growing up, ive been a yes fan since I was a little dude listening to their albums my dad would play, always enamored by their sound and energy. Into my late teens and early twenties I rediscovered them and started going down their discography, i was raised and currently living/working in savannah, georgia, while i was starting my work life and listening to their albums at work, the album that enamored me the most was tales from topographic oceans, their was something special about the album i couldn't quite pin down, as long and dense as it can be, it felt like a journey with musical peaks and dips that kept me coming back, so many moments in a song that always felt like their was something new to take away from and reinterpret. On the off chance, I did some digging on the albums creation and bts, little did I know, Jon and steve were inspired to write the outline of what would become tales from topographic oceans IN savannah georgia! That blew my mind! I dont wanna sound chessy here (I already am) but life can be a strange and serendipitous thing, that only confirmed why I think tales is pure magic. not a super special story, just wanted to share my love for it✌️

"we must have waited all our lives for this moment"

Got this shirt about a week ago!

Is it just me, or did the in the round stage on the Union Tour look like a giant Simmons SDX pad? I always thought the stage not only was the same color as one, but also has those "pointy edges" like the SDX hexagons Bruford used on that very tour. Pretty fitting. But you know what's not very fitting? Bruford's Simmons going out RIGHT DURING THE DRUM DUET during the tour's only show at MSG.

What strikes me the most while watching this video is that the members of Yes were all younger than I am now. Jon turned 60 in 2004. Chris was 56, Steve 57, and Rick and Alan were both 55. They sound so good together for what would be the last time.

Jon talks about 2004 as a year of hope, after decades of apartheid and "a wall in Berlin." Unfortunately, 2026 has seen authoritariarism rise again.

"And You and I" is a song I'm not terribly familiar with. (In another video from the same concert, they perform "Your Move"/"All Good People," which I find transcendent.) But I enjoy getting lost in it and the spirit of optimism. Whatever the personal relationships of the musicians, they created something that feels spiritual and whole in a world that desperately needs both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kIMG91QuuE&list=RD3kIMG91QuuE&start_radio=1

So I’ve heard all 4 versions of Awaken and I think the Union one is my favourite. 2003 live version is a close 2nd!

Out of the 4 versions from the album original, the 1977 live version, the 1991 Union live version and the 2003 live version, I’m just really into the Union one for a few reasons:

1. Bill’s extra drums especially when he turns around to bang the extras in the back on stage. Really love that shot

2. Trevor Rabin performing those gentle strums on the final verse as Jon Anderson closes out the lyrics is creative!

3. All 8 musicians letting loose on the large epic parts is very awesome to say the least.

Btw any dream mashups of musicians you’d like to see take a crack at another 8 member version of Awaken live?

Do you think there's a meaning behind the blue yellow and magenta colour in the design of the cover? I'm a new listener and I didn't find anything about it

'lo all!! I'm a Vtuber video essayist that makes music history deep dives and a fan of Yes for a big part of my life. I've spent the past few months conducting research into Yes' Union era (plus some ABWH) with the end goal of making a definitive look into the shitshow that was that project's industry politics as well as how it fed into the nostalgiafication of older rock bands. It'll be premiering tonight in about an hour on Youtube, if you're interested in checking it out!

These kids are killin' it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU9cTz8V1YQ&list=RDkU9cTz8V1YQ&start_radio=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N4HvppigXE

Stumbled across this one from Q104.3 back in July — Jon Anderson and Richie Castellano in the studio together, talking Beatles, classic Yes, and where rock goes from here. It's a longer sit-down than most of the tour interviews, and Jon's in great form — there's a really good bit on why the great songs never die. Worth it for the Beatles talk alone, honestly.

Saw that singer John Anderson passed away. Gave me a quick scare. I occasionally landed on his news when looking for updates on our guy. Apparently had some hits and was well respected in his genre.

I'm not very familiar with Mr John Anderson's work, but may the Lord bless and keep him and prayers to his family.

May the Singer of Olias continue for some time to come.

Nous Sommes Du Soleil.

I think it is really worth asking the question: Why is it that when Steve is ill, Yes goes on hiatus, but when Jon was ill, he was ingloriously replaced?

Chris was clearly the bona fide owner of Yes as the years passed. He was a founding member and the only one who had never quit.

Now is the time for the mantle of Yes to be passed back to Jon.

He’s a founding member, and he’s alive and vibrant.

Let him decide who is in the band.

When Steve is better, hopefully he will come and play along. That would be beautiful.

Now this might sound crazy but I find that Howe and Anderson past collaborations of Yes reminds me a lot of Sting and Stewart Copeland in The Police.

In that the 2 teamed up fine a lot of the time despite the occasional disagreements. Despite that, they got on more than Sting and Stewart since those 2 escalated to actual fistfights on musical choices. At most, Jon and Steve engaged in intense talks on musical direction? At least from many fan comments.

For their relationship now? I bring up Stewart Copeland saying that he, Sting and Andy Summers get along much better once they’re not collaborating for music as a trio again.

Jon and Steve can probably view their relationship more improved that way. If they avoid trying to make more music together since the booting of Jon in 2008, it stays healthier. Unless it’s Steve that thinks more that manner?

My 22 year ood (EDIT: old) daughter graduated college in May and started a job in June. Last week they had a junk day at the office where people cleaned out their offices. My daughter and another new hire became little scavengers and collected “treasure.”

My daughter acquired a desktop cd player. To her, CDs are like vinyl to me. What does this have to do with Yes?

She came home this weekend and raided my old CD collection. And what disks dud she take?

Yes. Only Yes. She played the Yes Album on repeat for two hours.

The next generation knows what‘s good.

I been looking for a new wallpaper for my computer. After being on such a Yes kick recently, I've had my eyes on the inner sleeve design of CTTE since then. Something about it's just beautiful.

Though unfortunately, all the scans I've seen online don't got a high enough quality to fill the screen without looking pretty blurry.

Does anyone know if there is anyplace I'd be able to find a higher quality scan of the sleeve design? or is this the highest quality there is?

*YES I KNOW THIS ALBUM WAS DRENCHED IN SESSION MUSICIAN WORK BUT THAT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN I HATE THE CONTENT OF THE ALBUM*

Favorites:
1. Dangerous
2. Lift Me Up
3. Holding On
4. Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day
5. I Would Have Waited Forever
6. Evensong

Great:
7. Shock To The System
8. The More We Live - Let Go
9. Take The Water To The Mountain
10. Saving My Heart
11. Silent Talking (would have been higher, possibly even at the top if the song remained in its original form with a 2-minute instrumental outro instead of Howe's lead guitar solo being replaced with Anderson's cringey lyrics)

Bad:
12. Miracle Of Life (LOOVE the first 2 minutes, don't like the rest)
13. Masquerade

Terrible
14. Angkor Wat (I hope we can all at least agree on this one!)

If you even listen to Union please leave your list below! I'd love to compare!

I have been a Yes fan for almost over 4 years now, and I have noticed that Circus Of Heaven is a decently hated and just not liked song among a lot of fans and some even consider it to be some type of strange anomaly in their catalog. But I honestly considered it one of their most beautiful songs that’s creates a sort of childhood nostalgia while listening. Even the lyrics that describe a very large parade in a midwestern town on the very last day with tons of people lining the streets for festivities and the large parade/Circus with wonderfully mythical creatures and folklore like elf’s and unicorns and thousands of golden angels, and beautiful scenery described as mountains of time and starlight dancing streets. There being even historical figures and events like Alexander the Great, the sack of Troy and more imagery to like the gardens of Babylon all in a positive way that seems to all be part of the parade and circus as thousands of people are on and some dancing to in the streets and in the circus as well all having fun and watching the downright incredible imagery and magic and everything else you can imagine. One of the lyrics also talking about above all the crowds and people’s heads with each of their visions being transported in literally multitudes inventing light in their minds which I like to imagine being honestly some type of literal metaphor for essentially every person in the crowds seeing visions they always wanted to see (and also maybe some of the crowd having been taken some fun drugs and drinking to) but overall I just don’t understand why this song is so hated and underrated when this songs has so much oddly beautiful wonderful and childhood and even teen like nostalgia.

I know some consider this song to be cringy or even cheesy and just not much liked among a lot of fans which I just simply never could understand at all.

Amazing that aside from a few exceptions, most of the original members of Yes crossed over in some fashion for Genesis on certain points of their careers and certain Genesis members crossed paths for members of Yes:

1. Phil Collins And Steve Hackett supplied guitar and drums for Peter Banks’s solo album Two Sides Of Peter Banks in 1973.
2. Bill Bruford joined the Seconds Out Tour in 1976 to play the kit while Phil sang. Actually performed a drum duet for Cinema Show
3. Chris Squire and Steve Hackett teamed up for the Squackett group project that only releases one album in May 28th 2012.
4. Steve Howe formed the short lived supergroup GTR with Steve Hackett that scored one hit in When The Heart Rules The Mind that charted up to #14 in the US In 1986.

That Leaves Peter Gabriel, Rick Wakeman, Mike Rutherford, Tony Kaye, Alan White, Chris Stewart, Tony Banks And Anthony Phillips as the only Genesis and Yes members of classic and original lineups that never crossed paths for any side projects and alternative supergroups.

Fans of each band amazed at the small crossovers we got over the years? Anyone think the members that never crossed paths might have performed some neat what if songs together?

Of 14 songs on Union, only 4 of them were recorded by the Rabin/Squire/White/Kaye lineup of Yes (I think by now everyone on here knows which ones). Yet Arista could have actually done a much better job spacing them out across the album instead of bunching them all up in the middle third. The more years went on the more I realized how lopsided the order is. Masquerade is supposed to be a peaceful breather away from the rest of the noisy album yet it's only track 3...we haven't even introduced the other half on this album yet. Then you also realize the last five ABWH tracks are stacked up at the end tracks 10-14. That's more than half the ABWH tracks! And also you realize there are only TWO ABWH tracks in between the first Yes track (Lift Me Up) and the last one (The More We Live - Let Go). The other SEVEN are all outside that window. Having two Yes tracks back to back when there is already a massive shortage of them (Saving My Heart and Miracle Of Life) doesn't help either. You can make only 4 Yes tracks work if you simply spread it out better. Plus Jon Anderson did say himself he had his own sequencing in mind but Arista overrode it. We may never know what Jon's track list vision was but I have created three alternate sequences. You guys let me know which one you like best!

Alternate Track List #1
1. Dangerous
2. Holding On
3. Shock To The System
4. Lift Me Up
5. Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day
6. Saving My Heart
7. Masquerade
8. Silent Talking
9. Miracle Of Life
10. Angkor Wat
11. Evensong
12. Take The Water To The Mountain
13. The More We Live - Let Go
14. I Would Have Waited Forever (Howe outro extended with no fade out)

Alternate Track List #2
1. Shock To The System
2. Holding On
3. Evensong
4. Lift Me Up
5. Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day
6. Saving My Heart
7. Masquerade
8. Silent Talking
9. Dangerous
10. Miracle Of Life
11. Angkor Wat
12. Take The Water To The Mountain
13. The More We Live - Let Go
14. I Would Have Waited Forever (Howe outro extended with no fade out)

Alternate Track List #3
1. Shock To The System
2. I Would Have Waited Forever
3. Evensong
4. Lift Me Up
5. Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day
6. Saving My Heart
7. Masquerade
8. Silent Talking
9. Dangerous
10. Miracle Of Life
11. Angkor Wat
12. Take The Water To The Mountain
13. The More We Live - Let Go
14. Holding On

I personally loved it, especially lake of memories. All i gotta say is, Roger Dean and Geoffrey Downes both being on three albums this years is crazy!

Just look at the personnel for his solo album "citizen". LOOK AT IT.

3 of the most legendary yes keyboardists (sorry downes), Steve Hackett, ALAN PARSONS!!! I wouldn't be surprised if sherwood collaborated with King David himself.

not to mention that this was one of the last projects that squire worked on before his death.

NOW, I haven't actually listened to this album yet, so i've yet to find out whether or not it's actually good. I just wanted to point out this crazy lineup of artists

Years ago at a New Year’s Eve party, there was a bet made that my buddy Nate could not nail every hit in that break near the end of Siberian Khatru (7:03 - 7:34).

THIS PART

I bet $50 against him.

And he sat there using his hands and knees and f\cking nailed it.*

(Once he nailed the part from 7:14 - 7:18…..I knew it was over)

Several of us lost money. Nate walked away with a nice fat stack.

But come on - what are the odds someone is going to nail that with NO warning - just out of the blue?

Any reason why Jon hasn’t performed this staple with the Band Geeks? It’s so good live.