Your completely subjective non-technical approach is interesting.

My opinion may be unpopular but I think 90125 is an amazing album. Leave it is a nice, catchy song, Owner of a lonely heart is a great song and IMO Changes is absolutely fantastic.

You think Yes with 19 albums is a lot...try doing a worst to best of Zappa.

My top 5 1- Close To The Edge 2- Relayer 3- Fragile 4- The Yes Album 5- Tales From Topographic Oceans

1 - Tales From Topographic Oceans 2 - Fragile 3 - Relayer 4 - Close To The Edge 5 - The Yes Album My top 5

Magnification above Fragile and Relayer? The mind reels.

I was reading Frank Herbert's "Dune" when Tale from Topographic Oceans came out. Every time I hear a TFTO piece, it casts images from the book. In my mind they were made for each other.

To me the best Yes album is (by far) Relayer. Love Close To The Edge, TFTO, Fragile and GFTO.

Wow. 90125 and Big Generator were two of my favorite albums, probably due to my age, 56, because they were a part of my musical "rebirth" in the late 80's along with Metallica and Anthrax, for example. Trevor Rabin rocks! You have given me an entirely fresh and exciting point of view. I am going to listen to these in your order and I will update this comment (or make a new one) at that time. I am definitely becoming an aficionado of "smaller" KZfaq channels such as yours. I love how you provide specific details of your own personal experience in your commentary so we can all enjoy your "opinion" without judgement.

Always wondered how Chris Squire got that fabulous bass tone that no one else had, but now I know...He was playing with strings made of 'Derilium'....

It makes me happy to hear Tales from Topographic Oceans get this much love.

Tales From Topographic Oceans is a masterpiece beyond masterpieces

The album on his right (our left) side is Olias of Sunhillow from Jon Anderson.

90125 was such an important album for me and for millions of others, I probably would have never known of Yes ever. The Owner of a Lonely Heart video was the first time I had ever heard of Yes, and it was amazing to hear it! The production, nothing had ever sounded so futuristic and fresh as that! It sounds like it could be released today.

The Yes Album is my favorite

Great video---really enjoyed your list, not in total agreement but that's part of the fun, right? Fun video, well done!

Bless you for being such a positive music lover. I gave up on Yes after "Topographic Oceans" but you make me want to try it again.

I have to say I was ready to fight when I first saw the title of this - but after watching I have no real arguments. Well done, my personal tastes may shift a few albums up or down a spot or two but this is a really good assessment of decades of work, and you did it in 20 minutes. You’ve motivated me to give another listen to some albums I’ve passed by. What a great band. Thanks!

I thoroughly enjoyed this video since I'm a big fan of Yes. Very good content, and thank you for taking the time to tell about these albums!!!

I am a massive Yes fan but you are talking about albums I have never heard of let alone heard here and there. Thanks for the overview !

90125 at #17??? Are you high?

“I can feel no sense of measure”...........in your review.

I can't believe your rankings align with mine exactly. I've been a Yes fan since I was an early teen, first seeing them on the Relayer tour and subsequently about 40 or 50 more times. Good job!

Glad to hear you enjoy Magnification so much. It's for sure in my top 5 Yes albums.

WOW! I disagree SO MUCH with you! But nice vid :)

Inspired by your slightly approximate renditions of some Yes titles, I've come up with this food-themed shortlist: Going for the Bun Close to the Fridge Portato Onion Tomato Revealing the Science of Cod (unit for a Catering course?) Wonderloaf (track from Open Your Eyes) Cans and Beans And of course, I forgot.... Fish P.s. I've since found out that Rick Wakeman calls Union, "Onion" already, because it makes him cry.

Great share Notes. We definitely agree on number one. A great sound trip. Thanks again for a very enjoyable share. By the way, have you done a Jethro Tull worst to best? I would enjoy hearing your thoughts. Well met.

Nice job! I enjoyed hearing your personal appreciations of Yes's studio albums. I myself would have definitely had 90125 in the top 5. I'm glad "Close to the Edge" was your number one- it's my ultimate favorite as well. I'm also glad you like "Relayer," as it's an excellent album that tends to be overlooked by many fans.

My Top Ten 1. Close to the Edge 2. Fragile 3. The Yes album 4. Relayer 5. Tales From Topographic Oceans (not a big fan of Giants under the Sun) 6. Going for the One 7.Time and a word 8. Drama 9. Yes 10. Tormato

The Remembering.... great song, don't think it gets enough recognition!

Like your review of Yes albums a lot. I subscribed and will enjoy your thoughtful take on whatever.....! Thanks! BTW Relayer is on my DID list and has been for years.

I'm gonna give you props, I'm in agreement with a lot of it. Close to the edge other then Pink Floyd's Wish you were here my favorite album put on vinyl. Good job, fella!

Wow, I love 90125. An excellent transition into the 80's for the band.

The Yes Album is my favorite mainly because of Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People.

Was *waiting* for you to say Astral Traveler! That song, through headphones, in the 1980s, sent me tumbling down the Prog rabbit hole. Good review.

Excellent summary, intelligent, points I overlooked too, thanks!

One of my favorite moments is that weird guitar solo that opens "The Ancient" It is SO solemn and cerimonial, but also deep, intimate, delicate and, a feature that defines one of their best skills as composers, surprising that thrills me ever since I decided to give it a second (or fiftieth-second chance after almost 10 years of chances) hahhahaha nice review

Its Gates of Delirium, not Derilium; and Relayer should be ranked higher.

The moment you had "close to the edge" as the number one i subscribed. Still got the album sitting on my turntable.

Nicely put together, though I was surprised by the placement of some of the "later" albums. Still, I appreciate the effort to prioritize and describe the reasons for the list. Definitely worth a listen!

Quite an interesting list you have there. As someone said, no two Yes fans would have the exact same list, yet I was still surprised at how low you put 90125. But each to their own, I guess. I was glad you gave Magnification such a good review - it's a really solid album. Going for the One would be top of my list, Tormato would be a lot higher, Union (well, half of it) would be a bit higher, and Drama would be considerably lower. But all in all, a very interesting list that I really enjoyed listening to 👍

Nice list -- but I truly love 90125. I know you weren't reviewing the expanded releases, but that is one that is truly worth getting, IMO. By the way, I love Magnification, too -- and think it was VERY underrated, and VERY overlooked. That said, well...this album was released on September 10, 2001, so...you can kinda see the reason why, at least in part, that it has been lost to the ages.

Huge yes fan here cant wait man

Thanks... very interesting process. I'd have probably put the Yes Album first because I find Starship Trooper so overwhelming and Relayer second because Gates of Delirium is so wonderful. Well done on taking so much care. As a life-long Yes fan, born in 1960, I was too quick to dismiss the later work and I will definitely have a closer look at Magnification and Drama... and Tales (it's been a while!)

Love Close to the edge studio, but live these three tracks capture the raw power that we all know and love.

Relayer is rated too low I feel like. I love this album. Patrick Moraz's influence especially in "war" (the second bit in gates of delirium) and the entirety of sound chaser. The crazy kind of odd beat timing that later resolves itself seems to be a trend. I love it so much. I would probably rate that at number one. I feel like soon is a bit repetitive, and the first bit of gates takes a bit to get going, but you know what, its all worth it.

Glad to see you rated Drama so highly. I love that album and the story around it. Surprised you didn't give a mention to Into the Lens, which was a Buggles tune that Trevor and Geoff brought to the band, their version was released later as I Am a Camera.

Good video, man, I like your "gut feeling"-approach. We have different tastes, though (my no 1 pick would be The Yes Album, followed by Fragile). One question: what recodring equipment did you use in that video (mic and recorder)? Also, song in the end?

Changes is an amazing song

"Keys to 'Assertion'" was bad enough, but "Gates of 'Derillium'"? "Cans and 'Brams'"? "Giants Under the 'Sea""? "Siberian kxhtrtrruhhchhxxx"?!? (Hint: The correct pronunciation is SUNG IN THE SONG) Your video has a hundred obvious cuts so I know you edited it - so why the hell didn't you fix the pronunciation??

Very "Close to the Edge" but I have "Topographic Oceans" as my 1 and "Close to the Edge" as number 2. Love your summation and most enjoyable. Your number 18 was my number 18 as well so great minds think alike. As "Awaken" is one of my favourite tracks, I had "Going For The One" high as well. Good luck and all the best .... Richard.

i'm sorry , gates of what? by the way relayer is top 5 easy. magnification over relayer?

The best song by Yes (one of the greatest of all time in any band) is Awaken. Hands down.

I was really hoping you'd have relayer on or near the top, it's my favourite yes album and the gates of delirium is one of the very very best prog rock songs ever, the middle section with the battle going on between guitar and keyboards is just so so good, it's god tier prog, and below magnification? Come on now

Thanks for doing this video. I"m a original Yes fan-saw them open for Black Sabbath in 1972 (I think). I stopped following them after Tormato, but after listening to your personal reviews, I'll check out some of the later works.

❤ just seeing this and as fan since the 70s as a teens, I must agree with your most of your analysis. Glad you put MAG high up. RELAYER, TALES with CTTE are my all time YES Trinity.

20. Heaven and Earth 19. Talk 18. Open Your Eyes 17. 90125 16. Big Generator 15. Fly From Here 14. Yes 13. Union 12. The Ladder 11. Time And a Word 10. Magnfication 9. Tormato 8. Tales From Topographic Oceans 7. Drama 6. The Yes Album 5. Going for the One 4. Fragile 3. Relayer 2. Keystudio 1. Close to the Edge Although, ironically and justifiably, my favorite song is "Shoot High, Aim Low" on one of their worst albums!

We see eye to eye on a lot of this, especially #1. I understand why you didn't include ABWH, even though it was a great album. I loved how ABWH's management called them "Classic Yes" and the 90125 band "Diet Yes". Anyway, my top five would be: 1) Close to the Edge 2) Fragile 3) Going For the One 4) The Yes Album 5) Relayer

Interesting review! Was it ever updated with the Quest and Mirror to the Sky?

I’m kind of upset by how quickly he glossed over Going for the One, without even mentioning Awaken. That is a masterpiece!

I consider myself a strong Yes fan, but each album they produced has some songs I don't particularly like. Like, I almost gag over them. Like most of you, I could very easily give you my top 10 Howe-era songs, and my top 10 Rabin-era songs. These two groups shouldn't be compared. They stand on their own. For every Starship Trooper, there's City of Love. For every Close to the Edge, there's Endless Dream. And for every Yours Is No Disgrace there's Shoot High Aim Low. All different, all incredible, all incomparable (in many ways)

If you're not including it here, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the ABWH album at some point in a future video. Great list though.... By and large my list would roughly look like yours. The two biggest differences is that (while I do enjoy the album) Magnification would be several albums lower, and Relayer much higher... In fact Relayer would take my #1 spot. It is, in my honest opinion, one of the greatest prog rock albums of all time, "The Gates of Delirium" is what I would consider the best prog rock "epic" of all time. But that's me.

Close to The Edge is edited together and created in the studio. They had to learn how to play it live. But a great work of art nonetheless.

Great video!

Great video man! Maybe you could do Worst to Best for Rush. They have got a quite a discography so it would be interesting to see where you would rank these albums:)

Pretty hard to top Close To The Edge. Quite an achievement. I'm not even a huge Yes fan, but seriously…how does a band even THINK of something like that.?! Just mind blowing in both imagination and execution.

Great video. I love INTO THE LENS from Drama.

Thank you for putting Olias of Sunhillow in the back ground. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. Never without a copy.

Excellent list. You gave a good argument for each album. Of course not every Yes fan is going to agree. Here is a short list of Yes albums that I think should be in the top 5 Tales from Topographic Oceans Relayer Fragile Close to the edge 90125 I also love the Yessongs Even though it didn't qualify for the list. I really enjoy Rick Wakeman part on the album.

I'm a 1970s SNOB... yet I can admit MOST of the material on 90215 is KILLER. "Changes", "It Can Happen", etc! UNION is absolutely worthless. TALK also has a LOT of cool sounds / great melodies etc. It seems like you are biased for 1970s and are not being FAIR.

Hi. I'm a new follower of your channel. I'm from Brazil. You forgot to mention the best song on the Magnification album. In The Presence Of. Maybe one of the best of Yes. I agreed with almost everything you said. But I liked it a lot.

I agree with you, with a couple exceptions, of course, but having not met any real YES fans personally throughout my life I must ask, do you listen to the YESSONGS versions of Yours Is No Disgrace, Perpetual Change, Siberian Khatru, Heart Of The Sunrise, and Starship Trooper more so than the recorded versions? Close To The Edge, Roundabout, And You And I, I prefer the original recorded versions.

My faves from Yes are : 1- Yes debut album 2- Relayer 3 -Fragile 4- Drama

Talk is second worst?!?! This video is a total fail.

I’m so happy you love TFTO as much as I do. That entire 1st LP is perfection and makes it my favorite yes album on those 2 20min epics alone. Yes, I also don’t love side 3 as much as the other sides, but this album deserves more praise. The Revealing Science of God and The Remembering are low key up there with the Supper’s Ready’s and Close to the Edges of the world of prog.

Pretty good list, great to hear someone likes tales from topographic oceans as much as I do. Talk and drama could have been higher tho.

Thank you for the List. Ranking is such a subjective exercise. I have many disagreements with your analysis, but it doesn't matter. Our criteria will be different, apples and oranges. The band was in a different mind set for every album and different players with different objectives. The only (almost) constant is the message of "Yes." What is the message and how well was the message communicated? My favorite song, for the message, is To Be Over - "After All, Your Soul Will Still Surrender. After All, Don't Doubt Your Part, Be Ready To Be Loved." That is the essence of Yes. That is on Relayer, so that is the best album, for me. Among other things, the song Awaken says, "Oh Closely Guided Plan , Awaken In Our Heart." So, Going For The One is #2. And You And I says, "There'll Be No Mutant Enemy We Shall Certify . Political Ends, As Sad Remains, Will Die." Which is a concise statement to look beyond others' corrupt action and thought; Don't waste your time because it won't last. So, Close To The Edge is #3 for me. I've seen Jon Anderson many times, live and on recordings. I marvel at his consistency and the joy he projects. Something to strive for . . .

1. Close To The Edge 2. Fragile 3. The Yes Album 4. Going For The One 5. Relayer 6. Tales From Topographic Oceans 7. Drama (underrated as hell) 8. 90125 (a good album for what it is - pop) 9. Yes 10. Time And A Word 11. Magnification 12. The Ladder 13. Fly From Here 14. Tormato 15. Big Generator 16. Talk 17. Union 18. Open Your Eyes 19. Heaven & Earth

Excellent video and informative. I lost track of Yes after Tormato, so a number of albums you mention here I haven't listened to and know nothing about. I didn't realize each member had written at least a song on Fragile, which does tell more about each member. Good warm up. Now go and review Frank Zappa's discography,

A very enjoyable listen. I watched it all the way through with baited breath to see we agreed on the best ever album by the band. And guess what - we do! I won't spoil it for others but there could only be that answer really. Other than that I would drop number 2 to 4. Otherwise pretty well spot on. Well done.

I could go either way on Close to the Edge, and Topographic Oceans. I think what puts Oceans on the top for me, comes from seeing them perform Ritual on their Yes Symphonic Live DVR. That is the most unbelievably great live performance of a piece of music, that I have ever seen. I say that even though I have seen them live in person, on four occasions.

1. Close to the Edge (a no-brainer objectively) 2. Relayer (subjectively- I love that album)

Okay,.... Bravo for not sticking "Tales... " in the basement, though I believe #2 is a bit high. And I'm shocked by your comments on specific tracks because I feel the same way. Such a dismissed and overlooked work. A bit overblown and stretched too far in places, but worthy of praise nonetheless. Thank you for the work you put in here,.. even with the mistakes. Lol

Question: At the end you say "Siberian Khatru" starts off one of your favorite live recordings. Which one? Yessongs?

Nice list, but wrt Relayer @11:50 & @12:17, I believe it's "Gates of de-LEER-e-um", not "Gates of de-RILL-e-um". My all-time favorite YES piece.

For me, #1 is Topographic Oceans. "The Ancient" was my favorite track when I first heard it, but later on I got to like all of them just as much. The ultimate "adventurer" album because it takes you so many places.

Talk is actually REALLY good, and deserved to be higher. I do, though, appreciate your angst in deciding between two such colossal works as Tales and Edge. Beginning with the entrance of Sir Wakeman ( :-) ) into the band, they went on an ascendancy for a few albums, but then had to dial it down when Wakeman left. Don't get me wrong; I LOVED what Patrick did with the keys on Delirium (NOT Derilium; PLEASE), but it was a real break from the Wakeman trajectory. Then, of course, we got a little bit of both from Going for the One. One of my favorite songs in the entire repertoire is Onward. It provides a rare peak into the faith of Master Squire, who, many forget, came up in church and was a member of the choir at St. Andrews. I know! I know! Many will loudly complain, "That was to his wife, not to some imaginary sky fairy!" But he divorced that wife.

Ah, so fun to hear your rankings of the Yes discography. I was 17 years old when introduced to Close to the Edge and was blown away by this then new album. I had been, at that time, really connecting with Nature in exploring some caverns and sandstone cliff valleys in Western Kentucky. The beginning of the title track transported me to a closer experience of those places. I had stood literally close to the edge of these cliffs, heard the multitudes of birds in the trees and the sound of waterfalls and experienced the echoing drips in the caves, and now I was hearing it in this immense composition, a rock symphony with movements and resolution from cacophony to harmony. My life was changed because of Close to The Edge and Yes. I saw the tour concert not long after, then the Tales tour, then the Relayer tour. Ive seen them six times in all. They are unbelievably good in concert, especially when Eddie Offord was managing the soundboards in the 70's. Thanks again, man!

I see your it’s always sunny dvd. I also love 90125- how can you not like Changes?

My top 5 5. Time and a word 4. Relayer 3. Fragile 2. Close to the edge 1. The yes album Union sacked, but the tour was phenomenal.

I do these sort of videos myself for my channel... do you find they attract a lot of haters who cannot grasp that you're just expressing an opinion?

Okay that was worth watching. I'm 66 so I go back a long way with Yes - to the first album in fact. Close to the Edge is #1 for me and a masterpiece I agree. It's not easy trying to rank a band's catalog but you did a fair job of it. Yes is easily my favorite group after all these years and that covers a lot of bands.

Rush or ELP next?

1. Close to the Edge 2. Relayer (would have been 1st if not for Sound Chaser) 3. Tales from Topographic Oceans (Could have been first if they wouldn't have filled it with endless garbage music just to fit into the 4 sides of vinil..) 4. Fragile 5. Yes Album All the others don't make it to the list, Although Going for the One and Time and a Word have some ok songs.. Even Steve Howe said that Awaken was the very last piece that he and Jon wrote together that had this magic of their cooperative writing that started in Fragile.. I thinks Roundabout is the most representative yes song, and To Be Over is their most beautiful and only flawless, seamless one..

Tales From Topographic oceans pra mim é uma verdadeira obra prima do Yes, excelente vídeo.

Good job. And I agree with your top 3...

Relayer isn't in the top 3. why should I continue watching.

I cannot differentiate between Fragile and Close to the edge and Tales However, and you and I is somewhere else isn't it. Nice to hear that someone else loves YES. Now do Gentle Giant..........................

Thank you for putting going for the one so high... it gets overlooked but besides the mediocre parallels it's an absolutely incredible album

I appreciate that you put magnification@ number 5 I also love that album