Agreed, my favorite to play drums to.

Drama *is* my favorite Yes album. I don't accept Yes fans that don't accept Drama. Same with Genesis fans that don't accept A Trick Of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering. They cease to exist in my worldview.

@@russellszabadosaka5-pindin849 I feel the same about them and Floyd very especially

@@russellszabadosaka5-pindin849 yes, but do you accept calling all stations?

Paradoxically they don't accept because of the absence of Jon Anderson yet, if Jon had been let in on these sessions it would have been a completely different record entirely.

Indeed!

What a great experience for you. I had a very similar thing happen to me when I met Peter Gabriel

What an incredible experience/memory 👏

Cool memory, Rob!!! Was that in Indiana in America? During the 90s “Union” tour, I met Rick and Jon when I was thirty-five. I had the same reaction! Fortunately, Rick fixed me a nice drink. Way nice. He became me best mate right away. We mocked John about his pronunciation of the word “idea”, then realized I did, too. I felt bad the next day… not for the mockery of my favourite vocalist, but because of Rick’s nice drinks! That, and we had to drive 425 miles for a gig that day. It was well worth it!!! Haven’t heard from me mate since, tho!

Amazing stories I went to and saw Yes 90125 in 1983 . Probably when I became a fan. But I was more into the Who's style R&B or ledzeppelin ☆ shout-out to Gary Newman in the white corvette

I will, little Alex. 😄

Thanks for all you are doing for the Prog community!!! 👍❤️🤘

Thank you so much for dedicated and creative efforts. They are truly appreciated

Rock history from the late 60's to about the early 80's is definitely fascinating , because that was when most of the greatest music was produced . Enjoy all of your documentaries !

why is jon anderson singing annoying vocals like that of a leprechaun in my ears during the studio scenes where they are speaking?

I have to agree with you. I'm 57 years old and have listened to an extreme amount of music throughout my life. However, YES has always been my mainstay and my favorite overall. And mind you, I like many different genres of music.

Today agree !!! Fav by far

22 years

I couldn't agree more. 42 years, 22 years, 12 years, yesterday. The songs are ageless, yet they define an age of the band.

Something is wrong with people that think Drama is the best Yes album. Sorry, but that is just absurd!

I agree totally. All killer no filler.

Excellent album, after 44 years, I still play it regularly

I agree and also with the documentary. The Paris sessions do sound as if they're tired and running out of good ideas.. It sounds like they were making a Jon Anderson solo record. They lacked an edge and a drama in the music. Messiah, Does it really happen, Tempus F all had that rocking quality that the band needed, even if that ment they had to go ahead without Anderson

The Paris sessions were typically Yes, this album is so un-Yes, we've finally got to take this and accept it. 'Drama' will remain an unfinished project and their best album. As you can clearly see, I'm not a Yes lover at all, so take me for what I am, I'm not trying to be in tune with you fans so I know I'll probably upset some of yous.

@@220773 bro you might as well just say “I want attention”

It's usually trouble if you can understand Jon's lyrics clearly.

@@hpatss4966 That's what you like to think. I simply speak my heart out, for me myself first and for those who might connect with it. All the rest doesn't bother me at all, I know many people might disagree, not a problem. So there you go, lad.

Right, Close to the Edge sucks! And that singer with high pitched voice - how great that he didn't sing on that brilliant album!

I liked Drama

@@BKastrosky Okay, I'll admit it: I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or sincere.

Yeah, it's not a bad album at all - just different! (must have seemed very confusing to fans at the time though, because Anderson and Wakeman had come to be seen as essential elements of the band). It will have helped that Trevor Horn was not just a superb producer, but also a big and long-term fan of Yes - something that wasn't true of most young bands during those years! Horn is on record saying that seeing Yes (with Patrick Moraz on keys) during the Relayer tour in 1975 (probably the London Queen 's Park gig, which was filmed by the BBC and has been released on dvd since) was one of the most powerful and moving shows he went to during the entire 1970s, and I understand him - I too LOVE Relayer and its particular sound, that album was far ahead of its time and a musical triumph. :)

Totally agree , right - the bass put through a flanger . A cool organ sound , and one of the hottest arrangements ever by Yes .

Squire owned a bass guitar which had a flanger system unit build in. He used that in couple Yes songs. It was very distinctive. You couldn't miss it.

It was a Hammond J122, so far as I am aware; he didn't have a B3 until he bought my old one, previously owned by Ken Hensley, prior to the second Asia album. It can be viewed in all its tubular steel legged glory on the Asia in Asia video although, frankly, it sounds awful!

Well, it sounded great on "Tempus Fugit". :)

And thank you for the correction/elucidation.

I share the same story, with the difference that I was 12 and not 16 and I asked my aunt the LP Drama as a present for Christmas. From then on Yes were always in my life and built a sort of Soundtrack to it!

Cheers mate, I really appreciate comments like this.

I agree!! Abraços do Brasil!!!! Hugs from Brazil!!!!

The last of Howe’s peak creative period is on Drama, imho

@@aeropilot4419 Thats 100%. He never played with that intensity and power again. Shame.

@@aeropilot4419 What happened to him after that

After Drama and Asia, Howe went lounge with his sound and style, killed my heart

​@@darkcharles7472 Facts

@Randy A I like Benoit very much. I wish they'd kept him instead of Davison - his voice, while more like Horn's, sometimes has a bite or edge like Anderson's.

same here same age also was a yes fanatic

I also was at the sports arena for that tour but was 18.

ddddddddd

trrrr 13:07 13:08 😮😮😅😅😅😮

Agreed. Never would expect Yes+Buggles to mix, but the key factor is talent. Trevor Horn is a brilliant music mind.

All 5 of the same musicians regrouped for the Yes album "Fly From Here-Return Trip" something like 30 years later!

I am a camera, camera is metal indeed! LOL!

Definitely

Bless Ya Loise Rose. And Merry Christmas.

@@cjo2012 Yes, it's a rather funny picture he painted, isn't it? ;) Merry Christmas and Many Happy Returns!

I gather Anderson was working with Vangelis on the Short Stories album in early '79, before the Yes tour that year. But I also get the sense that experience shifted his whole working style and the kind of music he wanted to make. Rick seemed sympathetic, but there must also have been big personality conflicts going on. In the Dan Hedges book he refers to Steve Howe ripping into Jon at one point. I have a feeling much of their current dysfunction dates all the way back to that period.

Thats really sad. Those guys are all such heroes to me. I got to meet all five of the classic line up in 1996 at a private performance at Tower Records in Hollywood. I guess it makes me sad that they didn’t honor themselves and their deeply devoted fans enough to handle adversity better than they did back then, and again when Jon was sick a few years ago and they just moved on without him. Man those shows in SLO in ‘96 and then the tours in the early aughts with Wakeman. Priceless how we all got to recapture it together for a while, while Chris was still alive.

@@skeezix64 What's *really* tragic is that it seems a lot of the rift was because of Jon and Chris' wives not getting along. Which is really stupid considering both marriages were over by the end of the 80's.

Really?

Does it really happen? Yes! @@BKastrosky

Welcome back my frien.....

The AWBH story I read asserts that Jon and Steve did not communicate for almost a decade after the split, and that the reunion happened only because Jon talked to Rick about a joint project and Ricked talked to Bill who was working with Steve at the time, who initially had no interest in ever working with Jon again... like the state of the band today!

@@grantpenton1850 I certainly don't envy the creative process that these guys must have gone through back then. Write, record, tour...maybe get a couple weeks off here and there. Pressure from the record company to continue this cycle every year. It has to become a real grind after a while and topped off with the fact that it's the same bunch of guys their stuck with. I imagine it would be very easy, friendships aside, to get really annoyed at the others from time to time. I think Jon assumed when he left Yes, that would be the end of the band. I don't believe he considered that they may want to try it without him. It happened back in the Drama days and happened again later on when Jon was going through his health issues and was replaced by Benoit. Working with the same people all the time, each of whom have their own agenda, has to be a serious drag. You get to the point where you know how the others will respond to a question before asking it, so topics stay buried instead of being brought out into the open. There aren't a whole lot of bands that have been able to survive that without taking years off to recharge every now and then. Unfortunately, I think Jon and Steve have passed the point of no return years ago.

Im just happy to have seen Steve play

I agree. The current YES is a shame. After the 2004 tour, Jon wanted a break. Then he got sick. So, in 2008, the guys told Wakeman that they are moving on. Wakeman wanted no part of YES. Supposedly Jon & Chris reached out to each other of a possible future but, Chris passed. Jon said on Rick Beato's channel that Steve was dodging him during the '17 R&R Hall of Fame. Geddy Lee said there was a schism between ARW & Yes during the rehearsals. So, it's best Rick & Wakeman moved on. Without Chris & even Alan, it's not Yes

@@Jeff-o-Lee "Without Chris & even Alan, it's not Yes." I think it can be, though...these just aren't the musicians to capture the spirit of what Yes is. Yes isn't a sound...it's more like a philosophy of music making. There is a "something" underneath everything that defines them - an "X" factor if you will beyond just big, tight, high harmonies, rhythmic creativity, dream-like lyrics and expansive melodies and solos...there's an energy that underlies the band's best work, and I believe the right musicians could find it. Unfortunately, I feel like the current band is more of facsimile of Yes' components than the keeper of the flame that truly defines the band.

As a life long Yes fan i say go to hell Steve Howe. Yes is not Yes without Jon Anderson.

Not being a Yes fan but a Genesis one indeed I do think this will hurt you quite a lot but, man, I still think Yes' main problem has always been Steve Howe. Not Chris, not Jon. Steve Howe, to me one of the most overrated guitar players ever. Multiple licks everywhere, constantly playing and fitting in any bit of any song, getting sometimes lost in what he's doing and even (ever noticed?) missing some notes and mistaking them. He fared much better on classic and acoustic guitars. He did all that in Yes and while on 'The Yes Album' someone must have told him to play WITH the band and not as a soloist, what he was left free to do in the subsequent albums is such a shame. I can't get why Rick Wakeman could stand all this, he was constantly overshadowed by Howe. Jon Anderson seemed to like it, after all he also tends to build music non-stop losing himself into it... what Yes lacked was (as Rael here says) 'precision and control'. They never knew when it was time to stop it and turn pages... strangely enough, they succeded in doing that only on 'Tales', in my opinion, there are many more silent and sweet moments in those tunes, unlike what usually happened in Yes. When you hear this band you can lose your breath, not because it's breathtaking but simply because you just can't breathe all through this mess!!! 'Tormato' is their worst example ever. How can you really like that album? Apart from its opener, a fine song that reminds me of my dear bagpipes (I'm Scottish), the rest is unlistenable. It was good they broke up after that, it shows justice exists and this band couldn't go on playing senselessly for more and more years. Genesis were quite the opposite: measure, sense of melody, control, craftwork. And Genesis were much more direct and even forward looking than Yes. Anyway, if ever someone got rid of Jon Anderson don't point your fingers on Chris alone, he's the best Yes music writer, he could punch you straight in the eye with his aggressive tunes... try and check out what Steve Howe had in his mind... now Chris has gone, so why is Steve not considering letting Jon in again? There must be something wrong............ 'Drama' will remain a lone gem, unrepeated , probably not repeatable. Their best album by far. But I'm a Genesis man, not a Yes one, proudly.

Because Squire was the best bass player that ever lived.

Several people here have said this. With myself included. They go hand in hand.

IMHO: 1. Fragile 2. Relayer 3. The Yes Album 4. Close to the Edge 5. Drama 6. 90125 7. Tormato 8... everything else drops off from here for me with a few bright spots (Wonderous Stories, Shoot High Aim Low...

Indeed!!

It's a brilliant album.

Was at all of those shows at the Spectrum and got backstage both years. Downes endeared himself to Yes’ U.S. home base by wearing a Phillies jersey with a Fanatic doll on one of his keyboard tops, unlike Wakeman who’s keyboards were topped with bottles of Heineken before he got sober :)

I am in awe, Sir, at your affecting and articulate alliteration 🤓

@@progessiverockstories ~ ¡Muchas Gracias, Señor! Murray Christmas 🎄, Happy Chanukah, Groovy Kwanza & a Fun-Filled Festivus to you and yours! 🤘😇🤘

Cheers mate!

@@progessiverockstories thank YOU !

Oh for sure..................

I make the intro before I write a word of the script. It gives me some inspiration and focus on the long slog that then follows... I agree it’s shit-hot but then you can’t fail with that incredible ‘metal’ logo and that guitar noise!

Whilst making this doc it was Howe’s playing on ‘I am a camera’ that I was most impressed by.

@@progessiverockstories I was fortunate enough to see Steve solo twice. Both were super memories. The 1st time was Halloween night at the TLA in Philly, 2000. While walking up & down South St. prior to the gig ? I hear live KISS music, and growing louder as I walked along. Yup, unmistakenly, are blasting the sounds of the song 'Got to Choose'. There was a KISS tribute band playing a free show outdoors on Halloween night. They focused on all the early material- Deuce, Strutter, Parasite, Cold Gin, ect. What a trip.... And the second Steve Howe gig I saw was at a Yacht Club in Belmar, NJ- with an extremely noisy & rude crowd. Steve was clearly miffed as well- he politely asked the crowd why they came if they weren't going to listen. Yeah. Prior to that show ? I'd just bought the King Crimson CD of the entire Asbury Park show in '74. Asbury Park was near Belmar, so I went to the original Casino where KC played, and listened with my eyes closed with headphones on at full volume- just soaking it in & knowing I was going to see Mr. Howe immediately after. It was great. I was wasted on painkillers too- being that I was an addict at the time. Fun ? You bet.... I also saw Joe Walsh at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park too- 10 years prior. And stayed at The Empress that night, knowing that Crimson stayed there when they played there in '74. Btw- what is Fred Flintstone's fave rock band ? Of course; King Crimstone..... Sorry. 🚬😎

@@craigfazekas3923❤❤❤

I had always thought Jon Anderson was the weak link in Yes. His vocals can sound a bit weak or strained at times and his writing can be downright incomprehensible. But then I look and see brilliance from him too. I love listening to him interview. I suspect he may have been the central member of the Yes lineup that spurred "drama" amongst the band. Didn't I read one time that they called him the little Napolean?

Certainly, I am curious as to what other parts of Yes songs he had a direct influence on?

Drama pretty much marked the end of Yes. That said... I fucking LOVE Drama.

@@eyesoftheworld362 yeah... not for me. Again, I LOVED Drama. But it is not a "YES" album for me.

@@gr8dane626 It's funny right? And I'm certain my perspective is different because I didn't live through this (my first gig was the Talk tour as a kid). I see Talk as the end of the band being a legitimate risk taking endeavor making up for the attempted suicide that was Union. Subsequent Talk they sort of went into legacy mode, even though a few of those newer-ish tracks are pretty good.

@@eyesoftheworld362 Of course it can be answered. I just answered it. I didn't think I had to add that it was just my opinion. So, IMHO Yes stops at Tormato. They have no great songs or albums after that. And FWIW I can't stand Davison. He does not do it for me. No one but Anderson does. David came close. Again... just my opinion!