I'm gonna have to throw my two cents in - as a Rick
look-alike and sound-alike for 30-odd years, there is no other human and group
who have influenced me like those guys (except maybe for Kirk, Spock,
McCoy, Scotty, and the rest of the gang) and who can still give me chills like
they do. I would KILL to experience again the sense of wonder, awe,
and delight that listening to so much of their music for the first
time brought to me. For my taste, from "From the hills we viewed the
silence of the valley" to the end bird twitters, the last few minutes of
"Close to the Edge" is the most beautiful bit of music ever written, and after
all these years still brings tears to my eyes and goosebumps to my flesh.
And then there's "And You And I." My god, how can anybody who even just
sort of likes Mellotrons not be bowled over by that song? While "Tales"
may be a bit meandering at times, it has several moments in it that are of
almost equal strength to me - from Wakeman's screaming MiniMoog solo to the end
of side one, the end of side two featuring the first Wakeman 8-voice choir
appearance in Yes, like a choir of enormous Yes angels (not counting the
little "Six Wives" excerpt and "Hallelujah Chorus" on Yessongs,) the
incredible Dante-esque fury of side three, the quiet beauty of "Nous Sommes du
Soleil" - I don't know how those can be dismissed just because they are so
exploratory. For cryin' out loud, most of the crap that was
contemporaneous to that stuff was so intellectually and artistically limp, I'm
amazed those six guys were able to do what they did on those two
albums. Yes, the two best Yes albums. And while Tormato and Going
for the One weren't the best Yes (sort of Yes-Lite for me), they still blow away
"Drama" and "Relayer" for those who want to hear the classic Yes arrangement
style. Sure, the music wasn't as carefully thought out, but by then, they
had been turned into a formula-based product instead of a
forward-thinking experimental rock band. And today? I firmly believe
there will be a Yes band fifty years from now. Yes has turned into an
entity with a life of its own, and I sincerely think Yes music will continue to
provide the leadership in the art-prog-classical influences that rock music so
benefits by. Yes will change, Yes will live. And as goes Yes, goes
the Mellotron...
Message
YES & Rick
2002-05-08 by JS