Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Do talk back
User avatar
trans-chigley express
Posts: 19238
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 01:50
Location: Asia's WC

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby trans-chigley express » 21 Mar 2018, 04:41

Quaco wrote:Wow! Might be better than Yes's version! Tony is a great singer as well.


He is. He should front a Yes tribute band :D

User avatar
trans-chigley express
Posts: 19238
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 01:50
Location: Asia's WC

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby trans-chigley express » 21 Mar 2018, 08:42

robertff wrote:I See You - one of my favourites on the album, love the jazzy type guitar and the vocal on this. I knew this version before I heard the original Byrds' version - probably prefer the Yes version because of that.



.


Same here. It has a lovely jazzy feel and a sunny vibe.

Bent Fabric
Posts: 2969
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 21:38

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Bent Fabric » 21 Mar 2018, 11:36

I came to "Looking Around" (and several others from the first two records) via a 1975 compilation called Yesterdays. I must have bought it for the artwork, and for the fact that it contained "America".

So far, it and "Beyond and Before" are my favorites. There's a muscular groove to the band even this early on, and it balances nicely with the sort of "Fifth Dimension having a good trip" vocal interludes that pop up periodically. A promising start. Naturally, Squire opens the debut album hammering away at the highest note his bass can muster - marking his territory, perhaps.

User avatar
robertff
Posts: 12074
Joined: 20 Jul 2003, 06:59

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby robertff » 21 Mar 2018, 16:35

To be honest there's not a bad track on the album, this is a very good track and points the way to Time and a Word.



.

User avatar
Quaco
F R double E
Posts: 47382
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:41

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Quaco » 21 Mar 2018, 16:51

'Yesterday and Today' is really great! The others aren't bad either, though any cover of 'I See You' is always bound to fail because the original will always be better than it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

User avatar
clive gash
wannabee enfant terrible
Posts: 17219
Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 00:32
Location: down the rabbit hole

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby clive gash » 22 Mar 2018, 21:51

It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.

Diamond Dog wrote:...it quite clearly hit the target with you and your nonce...

...a multitude of innuendo and hearsay...

...I'm producing facts here...

User avatar
Quaco
F R double E
Posts: 47382
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:41

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Quaco » 22 Mar 2018, 22:36

nev gash wrote:

Cool ending and nice use of piano to make it jazzier!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

User avatar
soundchaser
Rokster & Rollster
Posts: 9243
Joined: 20 Jun 2006, 10:55

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby soundchaser » 23 Mar 2018, 09:20

Side 2, Track 1: Harold Land. A bit of an oddity, this one and I feel Jon Anderson's interest in the Western genre explains the jaunty nature of the intro. Not one of the best Yes songs, imo, but you can't fault the playing. The lyrical melody, sounds more Peter Gabriel than Jon Anderson, but still, a bit forgettable to me:


User avatar
trans-chigley express
Posts: 19238
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 01:50
Location: Asia's WC

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby trans-chigley express » 23 Mar 2018, 11:17

I love Harold Land, I don’t find it forgettable at all

User avatar
frimley_greener
Posts: 1599
Joined: 10 Apr 2010, 10:00
Location: frimley green..and it ain't easy being green...

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby frimley_greener » 24 Mar 2018, 08:41

Lucky enough to have seen this line up live at Parliament Hill Fields London just before this debut release.Although not a great Yes fan,they were faultless, and the album remains the only Yes material I deliberately expose myself to.
You wanna be a big cop in a small town? Fuck off up the model village.

User avatar
LMG
Gentleman Thug
Posts: 15834
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 15:47
Location: The Fortress Of Solitude

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby LMG » 24 Mar 2018, 09:17

Apparently one of the main musical focal points shared by Anderson and Squire on first meeting was their love for the 5th Dimension's album Magic Garden, an album of Jimmy Webb covers plus one Beatles tune. Their goal was to take this sound into a rock context - it is certainly worth giving the album a spin.

"Nothing would count as a fulfilment in a world in which literally nothing is important but self-fulfilment."

- Charles Taylor

User avatar
soundchaser
Rokster & Rollster
Posts: 9243
Joined: 20 Jun 2006, 10:55

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby soundchaser » 24 Mar 2018, 10:41

LMG wrote:Apparently one of the main musical focal points shared by Anderson and Squire on first meeting was their love for the 5th Dimension's album Magic Garden, an album of Jimmy Webb covers plus one Beatles tune. Their goal was to take this sound into a rock context - it is certainly worth giving the album a spin.



Cheers for the info, I never knew that.

Wow, you can hear the influence right away...even Steve Howe's future harmony parts.

User avatar
Charlie O.
Posts: 44848
Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 19:53
Location: In-A-Badda-La-Wadda, bay-beh

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Charlie O. » 24 Mar 2018, 17:46

LMG wrote:Apparently one of the main musical focal points shared by Anderson and Squire on first meeting was their love for the 5th Dimension's album Magic Garden, an album of Jimmy Webb covers plus one Beatles tune. Their goal was to take this sound into a rock context - it is certainly worth giving the album a spin.

I'll second that.
Image

User avatar
soundchaser
Rokster & Rollster
Posts: 9243
Joined: 20 Jun 2006, 10:55

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby soundchaser » 28 Mar 2018, 10:30

If I See You was a fantastic reimagining of a classic Byrds song, then. much as it pains me to say it, the cover of The Beatles Every Little Thing, is an abject failure. I can see what Yes were trying to do: push the boundaries, whilst paying homage to the greatest of all bands. But right from the start, it just sounds such a mess: forced and stilted. And unfortunately, try as hard as he might, the limitations of Peter Banks guitar playing are laid bare here. Jon Anderson's vocals are on the money, with some nice harmonies, but everything else is just rushed. In trying to be too clever, they lost the heart of the song And that's a real shame:


User avatar
robertff
Posts: 12074
Joined: 20 Jul 2003, 06:59

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby robertff » 28 Mar 2018, 14:36

soundchaser wrote:If I See You was a fantastic reimagining of a classic Byrds song, then. much as it pains me to say it, the cover of The Beatles Every Little Thing, is an abject failure. I can see what Yes were trying to do: push the boundaries, whilst paying homage to the greatest of all bands. But right from the start, it just sounds such a mess: forced and stilted. And unfortunately, try as hard as he might, the limitations of Peter Banks guitar playing are laid bare here. Jon Anderson's vocals are on the money, with some nice harmonies, but everything else is just rushed. In trying to be too clever, they lost the heart of the song And that's a real shame:





Sorry to disagree with you but I absolutely love their version of this song, and it is very probably my favourite on the entire album, even though it is a Beatles' cover and not a Yes original. There's nothing that can to be said that will make me change my mind, it's the song that made me want to buy the album in the first place and to keep on buying Yes albums, until I stopped.




.

User avatar
soundchaser
Rokster & Rollster
Posts: 9243
Joined: 20 Jun 2006, 10:55

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby soundchaser » 28 Mar 2018, 16:34

robertff wrote:


Sorry to disagree with you but I absolutely love their version of this song, and it is very probably my favourite on the entire album, even though it is a Beatles' cover and not a Yes original. There's nothing that can to be said that will make me change my mind, it's the song that made me want to buy the album in the first place and to keep on buying Yes albums, until I stopped.

.


Oh sure, each to their own, of course. I was thinking ahead to the cover of America, which has similar dynamics, but to my mind the band then really nailed it. Limstening now, Every Little Thing, sounds like two different songs competing with each other...it just isn’t a seemless fit.

Bent Fabric
Posts: 2969
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 21:38

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Bent Fabric » 28 Mar 2018, 20:52

I guess I must really like Banks' playing, cause this is another one where his strengths are on full display. I know I prefer Howe, but it doesn't seem to matter- there's something about the character of this band that really satisfies me.

User avatar
Tom Waits For No One
Posts: 6711
Joined: 14 Nov 2014, 08:05

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Tom Waits For No One » 28 Mar 2018, 21:44

robertff wrote:I absolutely love their version of this song


It is one of my favourite Beatles covers.
It swings.
Give a shit or be a shit.

User avatar
Quaco
F R double E
Posts: 47382
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:41

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Quaco » 28 Mar 2018, 22:02

Bent Fabric wrote:I guess I must really like Banks' playing, cause this is another one where his strengths are on full display. I know I prefer Howe, but it doesn't seem to matter- there's something about the character of this band that really satisfies me.

Banks has a great style, with some jazz but also Townshend power chords. (Somehow Howe seemed to pick up on some of it.) I would have been happy enough had he stayed with the band, much as I love Howe -- and I do.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bent Fabric
Posts: 2969
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 21:38

Re: Yes: Song By Song Thread.

Postby Bent Fabric » 28 Mar 2018, 22:05

There's a slightly impressionistic quality to his playing - possibly less nimble or fluid than Howe, but...a lot of "splashes of color" (middle/neck pickup, volume swells, blue notes) that are crucial to the sound of pre 1971 Yes.


Return to “Yakety Yak”