Original subtitles

The time [music] between Principality to

the sea constant trials disregard

[music]

[music]

[music]

space.

[music]

Yes. Were there at the beginning of

progressive rock? [music] They were

there before progressive rock was really

formed. Like all the great bands, they

had ambition, they had vision, they had

a musicality, they had a virtuosity.

[music]

>> They just broke all the rules. They did

anything they felt that they either

wanted to do or could do.

>> [music]

>> Classic Yes are are one of the

probably the finest British [music]

bands of that ilk.

>> They weren't kind of [music] just

rockers that went on and turned up very

loud and and played. It was very [music]

sort of thought out, very cerebral

music.

[music]

They wanted to take rock music outside

of the 3minut pop format and then they

[music] wanted to take it beyond the

sort of stuck in a hard rock format.

[music]

[music]

>> [music]

>> It was away from Beatles, away from the

Rolling Stone was still so powerful at

the time and it can be dreamy. So I'm

sure a lot of teenager at the time say

like oh wow you know it's like it's

different [music]

[music]

>> Yes. started out as John Anderson,

formerly of a band called Gum, [music]

and Chris Squab, formerly of a band

called The Simp. They came together. It

was their vision. It was their band.

Early on, [music] they had been

listening to a lot of sort of West Coast

bands from, you know, from California.

Um, lots of harmony singing, [music]

Cosby's National Young, um, The Birds.

In fact, they covered a bird's song on

the first album. I think they liked that

kind of all the harmony singing that was

going on in those West Coast bands.

[music]

take it

and [music]

[singing]

>> the first album I think like any band

you know they'd been gigging around

they'd got a record contract they'd gone

into the studio and they [music] were

experimenting they were trying to find

their feet

[music and singing]

>> it's got the harmonics that they would

use vocal harmonics that that that the

band would develop

>> the association or even the beach boys.

They were the kind of things John

Anderson had been listening to in the

60s and you can still hear that American

tambra to the harmonies that they layer

on top of the songs.

[music]

>> So the first album is quite sweet. Um

it's got a few sort of mini pop operas

survivals [music] one track. Um, so it's

actually very different to, you know,

the what's regarded as the classic Yes.

Sound. [music]

>> One of the reasons that that many of the

the the classic Prague rock band's first

albums are a little musically offkilter

to the the the rest of the their um

their catalog simply because, you know,

it's it's the first one and it's like,

well, you know, we did have this kind of

crazy idea, but can we execute it in the

studio kind of thing. Although yes was

still trying to find their ground, still

trying to find a way forward. And

progressive music as such was very much

a young genre, the first album really

did establish a style for Yes. And out

of it came particularly Pete Banks, a

guitarist of tremendous range,

tremendous enthusiasm and particularly

great vision. Peter Banks was playing

guitar in the band at that time before

Steve Hal. Um and he's very very

different guitarist kind of guitarist

[music] to Steve Hal.

um his influence is more kind of maybe

Hendrick's inspired. [music]

A couple of the group songs, [music]

Survival and Look Around did actually

become standards in the Yes Live set for

a while, but by and large the album

really failed to fulfill their vision of

what they wanted it to. They were

perhaps being too ambitious given their

inexperience in the studio and the

result was probably more [music] pop

than it was Prague.

>> I think the first album announced yes as

a band who were out of the ordinary.

This was [music] not a group that you

could categorize in the ordinary

language of of rock or [music] pop

music. They were distinctive and they

were unique.

>> [music]

>> Yes, I mean had two sort of main

reference points m sonically I guess. Um

one was the quirky time changes often

led by Chris Squire's bass playing. Um

and the other of course is John

Anderson's very distinct vocal sound.

[music]

>> [music]

>> I think John Anderson's voice is is yes.

You know, whether other band members

accept that, don't accept it, fans do,

or don't, if you really look at the

music, without [music] John Anderson's

voice, it wouldn't be yes. They would

actually have to rename themselves

something else.

Sometimes when I listen to to yes music,

if John's voice didn't come in and sing

these sort of nice melodies and

harmonies and stuff, I might get a

little bored, you know, because

musically the a lot of the changes are

so rapid sometimes you need something to

hang on to. And John's voice being so

distinctive, you know, you could hear it

off a car radio or something. Yeah,

that's definitely Yes, there's John

Anderson singing. He wasn't out of his

depth when the band started um coming up

with more and more kind of complex

musical arrangements. Um he could

incorporate the voice easily and

perfectly into those complex

arrangements and um really sort of

delivered some great works.

>> He's got perfect pitch. His delivery is

is unique. His lyrics are certainly

unique. Uh whatever you think of them,

he is one of the the most individual and

gifted frontmen in music ever.

John Anderson has an alto voice in

contrast to most [music] rock singers

who sing with a kind of rounchy tenner

voice. Um that meant that his falsetto

gives his lyrics a sort of ethereal

quality.

[music]

>> The bass chair in Yes. from the

beginning was always Chris. He played a

Rick and Becker stereo bass which was a

sort of quite a new instrument at the

time. It's got a very hard trebly twangy

sound, a very hard metallic sound. So

almost didn't sound like a bass at some

points. Um it could almost sound like a

guitar. Um Chris would also use

distortion pedals and all kinds of

effects pedals when wonderful things to

even further make the bass much more of

a featured instrument. yesterday

[music and singing]

morning.

>> He plays bass very often like a lead

guitar player. He's just got this

phenomenal [music]

style. It's a very sort of very melodic

bass playing style and very fluid. Um,

you know, he doesn't um it doesn't so

much attack his bass. It's almost kind

of like [music] caress the sounds out of

it. His musical knowledge was very good.

So, he would choose different root notes

perhaps than somebody who would just

play the chords. The bass wasn't just

sort of your average bass that would

sort of sort of mark time. They were

like flowing runs and lines that were

like almost melodies within themselves.

And again, that's like, I think, a real

secret ingredient of Yes.

>> I'm not convinced that just his bass

playing would have made that much of a

difference or an impact on how Yes

worked, didn't work, etc., etc. But his

character, his personality certainly

has. Without Chris Squire, yes would

have taken off and never really come

back down to earth. So he's very much

the earth mother as it were of the band

which allows John Anderson in particular

to go off on his sort of strange

mystical journeys always knowing [music]

that Chris Squire's back on Earth

holding him by string and at any moment

can pull him back and say [music] right

let's get back to the basics.

I wouldn't necessarily describe Tony K

as a great uh keyboard player in the

sense of a Rick Waitman or or Keith

Emerson [music] or someone like that.

He's not flamboyant. Uh but he does what

he does very well and he's more

interested in rhythm than than

necessarily in melody. So it gave the

group a very good foundation in the

early days. When Tony Kay came to Yes.

he had a strange background. He was with

a group called the Federals, who were

[music] basically your run-of-the-mill

60s beat group. And that's why he

concentrated on playing the organ. That

was the instrument that he was most easy

with. It limited Yes's sound to an

extent, which is why in the end he was

replaced by Rick Wakeakeman. But it also

gave those early tracks a real drive, a

real Hammond organ type push, which gave

them a bit of a soulful

edge, and that's something that they

never quite recaptured.

>> He anchors the sound. He's part of the

fabric of the sound and for that reason

he's often overlooked but he's a very

accomplished very competent keyboard

player and he's doing just what's

demanded from the early songs and he he

played a very large part in putting yes

on the map. Teddy K was a pianist and an

organist and that's where his forte lay

and in those areas he was particularly

inspiring and when he and Pete Banks the

guitarist combined on the first two

albums there was a tremendous sense of

surge they really did lot together in a

very exciting manner.

>> [music]

[music]

>> Bill Bruford as a drummer is one one of

the greats really. Certainly in this

progressive field. He's very uh highly

influenced with jazz. You know, he's

always he's always loved jazz. He's

always enjoyed playing. Um he's [music]

a great great drummer. Um visually very

exciting. He's very expressive. He's

[music] very conversationalist with it

with his playing. You know, he likes to

interact with other instruments. Um he

he has this buzz about his playing.

>> It's very difficult to carve a unique

signature as a drummer, more so than

almost any other instrument. You've got

a very limited pallet, a very limited

range of sounds to make your your impact

with. And for somebody like Bill

Bruofford who can actually make their

impact by the way they place the beat uh

is a huge gift. what he played was

played extremely well. Clever drumming,

which is not for everyone's taste and

certainly often not the best thing in a

rock band, but then it's debatable to

say whether yes, we're ever a rock band.

>> It was good. It was very technically

perfect, but it's to me like it just

come out of a very good school. I mean,

it was missing the the gut feeling in

it. It was too perfect sometime. I mean

Simba are beautiful but to me it's too

many role too many technical thingy you

know here and then

>> if they'd had someone who was a little

bit more of a sort of plotting drummer

it wouldn't have had the amount of fire

that the early records have. Um and I I

would put a lot of that down to to

Bill's playing.

>> Bill Bruford was 18 when he joined Yes.

Um in fact he described himself as being

[music] um an 18-year-old virgin and Yes

was his first girlfriend. [music]

She won't believe in [music]

>> Yes. had done the first album just

called Yes, on their own and they were

trying to find a style and a range in a

movement. For the second album, they'd

already decided we want to go in a

direction that is very orchestral in

style and sound. They wanted to be the

modern Stravinsky in some respects.

>> They had a little bit more courage now.

They made one record. the record [music]

company hadn't dropped them, you know,

and so their experiments were beginning

to pay off. They were starting to get a

fan base. People were coming to the

shows. It was up and running.

[music]

[music]

>> [music]

>> I know you cross the earth with every

step.

>> No opportunity necessary, no experience

needed with the Richie Haven song. I

think he'd have been surprised to hear

it start with a

hefty organ burst followed by some

[music] wild swirling strings and then

Chris Squire's zooming baseline.

>> [music]

>> So the life you lead you won't believe

the roy

[music]

they were looking at lush harmonies.

They were looking at almost vagerian

instrumentation

rising falling crescendos

diminuendos a mixture of classical and

pop music. It's the way they they they

meld

a Richie Haven song with I think it's um

the theme music to um the big country

um the old film.

>> I think that's an interesting thing.

>> This one piece will make 52 layers.

[music]

>> Watch on mobile devices or the big

screen. All for free. No [music]

subscription required.

It was uh unexpected. So I mean we were

over overcrowded with you know pop

music. It was very cheesy. I mean they

came and they make a difference to many

[music] people. You make them discover

oh it could be that way too. The problem

was [music] that they didn't quite bring

it off and the orchestra ends up

sounding as if they were trying to do

something completely [music] different.

And when the orchestra did the big

country theme, it's so out of context,

it makes you sit back and think, [music]

"What the hell are they trying to do?"

Later on on Time and the Word,

particularly with a track called Astral

Traveler, it did work a lot better. But

by that time, they'd adapted and relaxed

into using an orchestra.

>> [music]

>> Without question, time and a word was

was a a big improvement on the first

album. The band were now beginning to

find their feet musically [music]

and they were able to present a much

more mature sound. We were definitely

moving towards the classic Yes. sound.

the songs were more puffed up um and

they used uh classical orchestral

musicians to get the more pompous sound

that they were looking for. But it was

done with a sort of naivity and

innocence that really is the album's

saving grace. I think they overstretched

themselves with the second album. It had

its moments. There's a very good cover

called Everydays on on the record which

uh they did quite well. There's also

Astral Traveler and the Prophet which

really started to hone down where yes,

we're going to go in the future, but in

reality it was a patchy record. [music]

It was better technically. It was better

recording. It was it was more well

thought album. They they of the sound

you know not just the beautiful music

they of all the sound will will will get

out of the speaker. The separation

between the instrument the vocal was a

lot more prominent in up front. It was

more sensual. [music]

>> John Anderson um had started to develop

his science fiction lyrical style um

which would become more cosmic as time

went on.

I didn't think it was as good as the

debut album. Personally, it wasn't bad.

I mean, some very interesting tracks on

there, but as a as an album to listen to

today, I still prefer the debut album.

The other problem they had was that Pete

Banks was doing things that they weren't

quite happy with. Far more jazzy things,

far more extra exploratory things that

were exciting and probably the best

performances on the second album, Kate

from Pete Banks, but it was clear that

he was going in a different direction to

the band. So by the time the second

album came out, not only was Pete Banks

out of the band, he was off the cover of

the album and his replacement Steve How

was photographed there even though he

had nothing to [music] do with the

record.

One of the main men in Yes's early years

was Pete Banks, the original guitar

player, but it was literally when he was

replaced by Steve How that Yes kicked

into gear.

>> [music]

[music]

>> Steve [music] how the guitar player uh

brought lots of things to Yes. Uh first

and foremost a great technical ability

as a guitar player but a very all round

guitar player. [music] You can hear and

he's playing and and all the yes stuff,

country, bit of jazz, rock and roll, bit

of funk, bit of Hendricks going on, a

bit of classical [music] and

experimental stuff as well. Not even

jazz, just experimental sound,

soundscape stuff. [music]

He stretched their musicality to the

very limit um by his inventiveness as a

soloist also as a writer. I think he

expanded the band as well. I think

[music] once he started writing with

John Anderson that really changed sort

of shaping the sort of classic yes sound

[music]

on the yes album. It just bang there you

go it's whoa where did this all come

from kind of thing you know that album

put them on the map.

[music]

when we put our music together, it's

what I've got and what's [music] John's

got and what the other guys have got,

you know? I mean, somebody has done

this, can [music] you write the best

song in the world today, Steve? You

know, I'd say, what are you doing? You

know, I've got some stuff and some of it

is pretty good. [music] You know what I

mean? So, there's that confidence you've

got to have about yourself. So, the way

that you come to that fruition and when

the things start to marry together in

the arrangement [music] is when people

are delivering the best things they've

got.

The Yes album is the first album really

to show the full potential of the band.

There are no more covers on this album.

Instead there are six quite long complex

songs of their own [snorts]

um which have complicated arrangements

um a series of different moods all

contrived but all working towards

[music] a single aim. The day of morning

gave a smile upon your face.

[music]

Jesus

morning glory city

[music]

gent.

[music]

Yours is no [music] disgrace.

Yours is no disgrace was the real start

of Yes. It had multi-layered harmonies,

had different aspects to the music that

were very confident. It had moods in a

way. It had movements as well as moods.

And it was a lengthy piece that allowed

Yes. to stretch out.

[music]

Yours is No disgrace is a is a kind of

miniature symphony if you deconstruct

[music] it. It works at so many levels

and and it's no surprise it's become a

standard for the set over the last 30

years.

It was simple, but it was also very very

clever. And it it's a shame in some ways

[music] that bands don't try and record

tracks of that sort of minor epic

length. I think it was what 10 11

minutes. It worked so well. It had a

flow to it. It had um a bounce had

element of [music] rock, a lot of

progressive rock. Um but it had a lot of

melody in it as well.

[music]

>> It starts very sort of small and um then

within sort of a minute has got

absolutely huge. There's sort of two or

three sort of monster riffs going on

where the [music] guitar and the bass

both sort of play the riff together. And

um it's exquisite. It's very very

exciting. And um again Anson's voice

which is probably the highest he's ever

sung I think. Um it's almost

unbelievably high. Um that brings great

tension and drama to the music.

>> [music]

>> summer

[music]

music

not this great asking again [music]

technology have to do with it because

each time they came with a new album

technology was different it was getting

better plus they also knew [music]

their sound they knew more who they were

or to work together and that could be

could be heard in the music because

[music] he was getting more

sophisticated it more better arrange.

>> Finally, yes found their range and their

mark. See all good people [music] turn

their heads to stay soisfied

on my way.

See all [music] good people turn their

heads so

[music]

>> in a song like you move all good people.

It's it's a classic example of [music]

Yes's willingness to change mood, to

change tempo, to shift the song to take

us into to different areas. Uh, and it's

a very subtle approach that the band

has. The harmonies [music] on your move

are woven tightly together into various

patterns and into also different layers.

And the effect is really to produce a

sort of shimmering vocal landscape.

>> [music]

>> No

[music]

[singing] time to start time with your

time

is captured. [music]

[music]

>> The basic ingredients of this track is a

three chord trick which is [music]

E major and then A over an E root.

That's an A major. Then a B major over

an E root. [music] And back to an A

major over an E root. That's the first

section.

[music]

And on this one as well, which is really

nice, is uh the bass [music] player um

harmonizes the chords to create much

[music] more of a sort of Bach like

sequence.

Then the second section gets a little

more clever. The second section goes to

E. [music] Then it goes to an A with a

first inversion on the bass. Then it

goes to an E over a B [music]

to an A major. Then to an E with a

[music] G sharp root, then to an F sharp

minor, then an E with [music] a G sharp

root, back to an A major.

As I said, very Bach like

[music]

[music]

very typical of Yes. Uh [music] somebody

would hold a chord sequence and the

keyboard player or the bass player would

actually move around musically

underneath. So one person would [music]

would play the main structure and other

people would add and harmonize and

remove and you know create different

sort of feels by doing that. This is the

great um a great example of really of

how skillful yes are. People always

assume that there are lots of different

changes of key and time signature and

all that kind of thing. Not [music]

necessarily the case. you get the

impression that the keys have changed

and because of the the different tempos

of the song you find almost as if it's a

different uh time signature but it's

just really how Bill Bruofford again

very skillfully places his accents in

different places and gives you that

sense of a shift but a lot of yes's

music is actually like that [music]

[music]

>> this was music that they'd been seeing

and hearing if not always being able to

capture in the studio. Now all [music]

of a sudden they were doing it.

>> They'd learned I think from time of the

word they put a lot of sort of

orchestral strings on and that didn't

particularly work. It sort of was sort

of really kind of ultra pompous and

there is a pompous side to yes but in a

nice way. I think they learned well that

they were using string parts but not an

actual live orchestra. Um they were

using like keyboard strings. The problem

was yes wanted a keyboard player who was

also accomplished on synthesizer. That

was not Tony K's forte. So sadly

although he was very much prevalent on

the first three albums his time was very

much up with Yes when they moved into a

more classical oriented style. The irony

being Tony Kay came from a classical

background but it was the wrong

classical background. His grounding as a

pianist meant he was part of an

orchestra. Yes. Wanted him to be the

orchestra.

>> Mr. Rick Weightman.

[music]

>> Rick Waitman brought um a huge increase

in the [music] range of sounds available

to Yes. Whereas Tony Kay had really only

used three keyboards, [music]

um, Rick Waitman had a dozen racked

around him and they weren't just for

show either. He played them all. [music]

This really sort of heady brew of sort

of technospace rock that yes, [music]

we're kind of developing at the time.

Wakeman probably just thought, "Oh,

great. This [music] is something to get

my teeth into."

Rick Wakeakeman played with the group

called the Strobs who'd supported Yes.

quite regularly so they knew exactly

what he was capable of. He was somebody

who could play piano. If you remember

Cat Stevens Morning has broken. That was

Rick on the keyboards. He also played on

Bow's Hunky Dory. He [music] could play

organ. He also played the meatron which

was a huge instrument with tape loops a

kind of primitive sampler. He basically

was game to play anything and

everything.

[music]

>> Quickman was the keyboard man. He was he

was out of it. He were like a a man

living this dream on stage no matter

what. He just didn't care. He was coming

in the band and say here we go. I can do

that. I'm going to give you that and

voila.

>> He probably turned Yes. to a fairly

complex band anyway into even more

complex arrangements and sort of longer

more epic kind of pieces.

>> In the studio was where he really gave

yes the edge because he could link

themes and he could nip things together.

He could come up with 20 chord sequences

to use for a particular song. He was

basically sketching out a root map for

the others to follow.

Fragile is the [music] first album from

what's regarded as the classic yes

lineup of John Anderson, Chris Squire,

[music] Steve How, Rick Weightman, and

Bill Bruofford.

>> And we were very honest about the state

of the band even though we didn't

[music] say the band is fragile. We just

called the album fragile. But that was

about [music]

okay. So Bill did see it on the flight

case and kind of go why don't we call it

fragile?

>> [music]

>> I'll be around about

[music]

I think Roundabout as a song brought

together everything that Yes had been

trying to do for years. [music] There's

fantastic instrumentation in there,

wonderful vocals, um, very clever, tight

arrangement, and huge amounts of energy.

We bring all of the elements of, yes,

all of the skills in terms of

composition and playing, and we boil it

down to this 9 10 minute song, which

contains all of the great musical

hallmarks of this band. The rhythms are

big and [music] bouncy and the vocals

are fluid and melodic and it's Whitman's

keyboards [music] that act as a bridge

between the two.

>> What happens is uh when the band comes

comes in, you get this [music] really

kind of great classic rock and roll rift

coming in. Uh you got the acoustic

guitar [music] which gives it a real

lift, a real lively kind of driving vibe

to it. Um and the bass and drums are

just straight ahead. [music]

I'll be there. [music]

>> It's got all sorts of different elements

in it. It's got a bit of rock and roll.

It's got a sort of melodic vocal thing.

Uh it's got a bit of funk going on in

there. A typical track uh of Yes.

[music]

About 3 and a half minutes into the

song, you get a new new motive coming

through. you get this repetitive unison

riff uh played on the bass and the

guitars um structured in a four bar

phrase. But what what's happened is that

they've given it a new color by adding

lots of percussion. You've got shakers,

cowbells, tambourines.

>> Musically, I mean, it does what it says.

It kind of it it goes around and around.

It's it's got that kind of rhythm to it.

It's it's very satisfying song to listen

to.

>> [music]

>> Fragile is probably the first great Yes.

[music] album. There's a sense of

inspiration. Everything about that album

gelled and fitted. Roundabout song

there. Heart of the sunrise. Longd

distance runaround. All they're all

there. All these fantastic songs.

>> Longdistance Runaround is a song that's

it's only about three and a half, four

minutes in length, but it's it's very

very very well created. It's um they've

got some quite quite complex things

happening in this song which which work

very well. It initially comes in with

this guitar riff and this is a little

melody that's played in harmony between

the guitar and the keyboard. Uh and

basically what it is is it starts off

with an a [music] C arpeggio

harmonized and then it goes to a [music]

B flat major 7th chord and then it runs

up arpeggios of G back up to the C

again. So there's basically three chords

on this tune, which is your C, your B

flat major 7th, and your G.

[music]

>> [music]

[music]

>> It makes it special first of all because

of the harmonies between the guitar and

the keyboard playing it. And there's a

little bit of jazz in there as well.

Django Reinhardt

with a bit of swing to it. Sort of gypsy

swing to it. Um, and also the use of the

arpeggios running up both instruments

playing them together.

It's quite [music] unusual certainly for

the time. Uh it was called progressive

rot and it that was musically very

progressive for that period of time.

[music] And then when Bruford comes in

he gives this show tempo fast two

effect. He does this by, you know, um a

constant uh four on the on the bass drum

and he's giving all the offbeats on the

ride symbol. So that [music] that

immediately gives it that kind of show

tempo type almost comic element [music]

to this to the beginning of this song.

[music]

Long distance run around.

Long time [music]

waiting to feel.

>> Long distance runaround again has all of

the quirky musical hallmarks of yes C

major. Very straightforward key. [music]

Four beats in the bar but in the hands

of Bill Bruofford. It sounds like

something totally distinctive.

[music]

in the sunshine.

>> The only time we change key is when the

verse is introduced and we introduce the

two sharps as John Anderson begins to

sing. But uh that's all there is. But

when you hear the song, it sounds as if

we've we've been playing around with

keys and time signatures. But nothing

could really be further from the truth.

There's only one change in the whole

song. the the the age-old gag thrown at

Prague rock bands is um you know that

everything lasted four days and you know

yes we're a perfect example of a band

who could stretch out when they felt the

need. Perhaps there is an argument later

down the line that they stretched out

for the hell of it when they didn't need

to. But they could also [music] write a

complete piece of music that lasted 3

minutes. There's a sense on the

production where Anderson really is just

sold, [music] go in there, do what you

have to do, we'll build everything

around you. And this is one of the

tracks that really underlines what John

Anderson was about because yes, we're

learning to adapt their style to

Anderson. He became the lynchpin of the

[music] band, the most important member

of the band. And the rest were starting

to learn that and starting to fit in

with it. And there was no sense of

egotism. There was no sense of why

should he be the main person in the

band. They [music] knew how important

John Anderson was and they were adapting

to him.

I [music] still remember the dream

there.

I still remember [music]

you said goodbye.

>> Fragile is absolutely one of the best.

It was like it's a masterpiece is

[music] you know it's well put together

is I don't know it's well arranged it's

very well produced a great recording for

the technology at that time and you can

see it's a heart in it. It's not just

beautiful music. They put a heart in it.

You put the love of music in it. And I'm

sure people, you know, notice that

>> Fragile probably doesn't have the

consistency or the flare of Close to the

Edge. Um, it was made up of individual

compositions along with group

compositions and there are a couple of

tracks that um are below par frankly.

Um, but perhaps the most interesting

thing is that the band themselves, you

can tell, are not yet sure of how far

they can stretch themselves. And you get

the feeling that there is still more to

go, which [music] indeed there was.

[music]

>> There was more to Yes. than just the the

musicians and the music, you know. There

was uh there was a lot of teamwork

behind the scenes that brought

originality.

>> In the era before we had videos, album

sleeves were the best way for a band to

get their image, their message across to

give you something that wasn't contained

in the grooves. And when Yes. linked in

with Roger [music] Dean, they obviously

brought a new dimension to what they

were trying to portray.

[music]

>> [music]

>> As you can see behind me here, the Roger

Dean's uh artwork played a huge part in

establishing the identity for a band

like Yes. his his landscapes are on one

hand abstract and otherworldly, but at

the same time there's a there's an air

of familiarity about them. And I think

that that's struck a chord very closely

with with the music.

>> So, you know, miraculously, not only was

the music right, but the look of the

record was right, too. This this fragile

world that Roger uh had drawn for us,

you know, looked like it really looked

like something, you know, when combined

with our music and the emergence of the

beginnings of the logo started to come

out. So all of a sudden, yes, not only

had the music and the opening to to

chart in America, but also we had a look

>> cuz their first three albums, whatever

you think musically, the sleeves are

rubbish. They really were awful. This

was the first time they [music] had a

sleeve that represented where they could

be going. Roger Dean was a visionary in

the way he presented his art and also

reflected the music. They were busy,

they were interesting, they were

fascinating, but they were never

cluttered and [music] they made you want

to look at the sleeve while hearing the

music.

>> It was a piece of art. It was so well

made, so well [music] draw and I'm sure

people put it in the world just for the

picture cuz he was beautiful and it's

why he stay with Yes for so many album

because it's like for a while if you

didn't see that that that that painting

on the on the on the [music] Yes album,

it wasn't on Yes. the the uh Yes album,

Fragile

um Close to the Edge kind of trilogy W

was establishing uh the styles and the

direction of Yes. and Roger was doing

that visually.

>> The inner sleeve of the Close to the

Edge album with its endless waterfalls

constantly flowing um is almost an

essential [music] visual aid for

listening to the track.

Close [music]

[music]

to the Edge is a is a is a real epic.

It's over 18 minutes in length and is

divided into five or six different

sections. Um, initially you get this

kind of just just sounds, guitar [music]

sounds and and very quiet opening and

then suddenly it it crashes into this

what at first sounds very frantic, very

kind of hectic, all fast playing.

Everyone's playing at once, but actually

on listening to it, it's [music] not

quite as complex as it seems. The bass

guitar and the bass drum are both um

just playing on beats one and three of

the bar um which gives it a very simple,

grounded feeling. Um what Bill Bruford

is doing with his with his hands uh on

the symbols gives it the sense of

urgency. He's doing a lot of double

time, a lot of bouncing on the symbols

with his sticks.

>> There's a sense of discovery about the

track. Um as much for the band as for

the listener in terms of the shape and

the form that it took. This is complex

music being played with real gusto and

it stands the test of time

magnificently. Close to the edge was a

song that I began writing literally

about living next to the river tames you

know so but John converted that into a

song about the world if you like and

that's that I suppose that's an

indication of

artists working together is that you by

the time you've pulled a couple of ideas

you haven't got something that's twice

as good as the first idea you've got

something that's multiples

season.

[music]

>> The next section of the song is uh is

split up by um the bass and [music]

drums playing this 34 groove. Again, a

great use of 34. It's quirky,

imaginative, uh not often used by many

bands. Um, so they they have this

grounded 34 groove when over the top you

have this vocal melody which is actually

in 68. Um, but [music] it's double time

as well. So it gives it this really

great crossing over feeling between

vocals and rhythm. [music]

>> Just a great piece of music [music] to

listen to. 20 odd minutes of a mixture

of tranquility and chaos. There's lots

of uh time signatures uh where the tempo

changes and completely new tempo starts.

Uh there's lots of key changes. Um

[music] just bouncing around all over

the place, but somehow they managed to

make it a sort of a very sort of

congenial hole and sound. It sounds

actually very organic.

>> 6 minutes into the song, you get this

real twist with it because the bass and

the drums are now playing in 44. Same

tempo, but four beats in a bar. So

they've got this two bar phrase where

the bass and the drums are doing this

kind of dark funky funky sounding riff

which sounds great. [music] Then over

the top you've got this same melody that

was used before in 34 but the melody is

[music] in 68 and it keeps on going. So

what you're getting is the effect is is

overlapping phrases. The vocals are

continuing while the bass and drums

[music] ends and starts a new phrase.

Then the vocals will end halfway through

a drum and bass phrase. Um eventually it

meets at the end but it's very very

clever writing. [music]

>> It wasn't gibberish. It was them trying

to do different things. Um there was and

a lot of soundscape what we'd call

nowadays soundsscape was going on that

didn't have that name in those days. Um

I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece but I

say it's a very interesting piece of

music. Close to the edges is really is

truly a masterpiece. Um it's probably my

favorite yes song. It's um it's a real

epic, you know, it's [music] just when

you think it's maybe the end must be

close or it starts to die down a little

bit. It's way back and [music] it's a

whole new section.

>> [music]

>> About 14 minutes into the song, we've

we've just been left with this huge

organ sound. Um, sounds like, you know,

massive cathedral organ. And then it

goes into this high energy um really

[music] kind of 68 vibe that's going on.

And what you've got is the drums.

They're doing this high um kind of

urgent sounding uh drumming by he's he's

[music] using the symbols and the high

hats. Um but he's predominantly really

centering it around the snare drum. He's

he's uh doing very very quick kind of

sex tup semiquavers on the snare drum.

Um giving this constant energy running

throughout [music] the whole whole

section of this song.

[music]

By the time they were recorded um this

track, their studio [music]

technology and their studio knowledge

was was vast. They really had um they

knew what they [music] were doing. So um

there's all kinds of wizardry that goes

on

>> in some respects. Yes. Were allowing

their own ambition to outstretch what

could be achieved at the time. Their

music on Close to the Edge was ahead of

what could be done technically or

technologically right back then in the

early '7s, but it's still got its

wonderful moments. The fact is though,

you can't have something as huge as that

that lasts as long as it does that works

all the way through the edge. It's a

good song, but I don't call it a

masterpiece. It's missing something.

It's missing the gut feeling it was in

the song. It's missing the sensuality of

it. And that again maybe due to the

production he maybe went too creamy on

it.

[music]

>> When I asked Rick Wakeakeman which yes

tracks encapsulated [music] what they

were about in the early period. He said

two tracks. He said, "Awaken or close to

the edge?" Because he felt both of them

basically started [music] and finished

when the inspiration struck and when it

ended and in between times went off on

as many tangents as it [music] wanted

to, but without pushing things too far.

All three pieces of music off of um

Close to the Edge are all masterpieces.

Close to the Edge and You and I,

Siberian Carter. What I'm going to do

now is illustrate uh a little bit of a

track called Siberian Catru. And uh it's

very typical of a Steve how lick a riff.

Um and what he would do uh generally in

in a lot of Yes. songs, he he'd have a

riff that he'd repeat in different keys.

Uh and on this particular riff, although

I'm only going to play it in one key to

illustrate it, he would play it through

several parts of the song in different

keys. So the main riff for Siberian

Catra, it goes like this. [music]

[music]

So as you can see, it's a a constant

riff, a circular riff that's that's

moving round and round and round. You

can keep playing that. Then he can move

it to a different key as the song

progresses, as the tune progresses. Very

typical Steve how her riff. But what

they're doing each time with this riff,

they're trying to build it up. And uh

Bruofford um he he's he's, you know,

kind of adding semiquavers with his

symbols and his high hats and kind of

some some double pedals going on with

his bass drums. And he's he's really

kind of giving it this building driving

effect, [music] putting it into a fifth

gear, if you like each time.

>> [music]

[music]

>> Lyrically, I don't know where it's

going. I wouldn't pretend to know where

it's going lyrically. But musically,

again, it's unique. It's different. The

rhythms are are very stylish.

[music]

[music]

>> It really is John Anderson [music] going

into his Eastern Religion interest, but

it works because it's the band locking

together. [music] The band seemed very

much in phase with John Anderson on this

track. Whereas on Close to the Age, they

lost away a little bit at points. With

Siberian Catcher, that never happened.

[music]

The piece unravels [music] a series of

moves without ever really getting into

your face, but somehow you're more

impressed with their instrumental and

musical creativity than many of the

better known more egoladen pieces.

>> Some people have little time for

Siberian Katru because they don't feel

it has any great meaning to impart. But

if you ask Steve how or certainly when I

asked Steve how he reckoned that the

power of this piece and the melodic

grace of and you and I were the two

sides of the coin of what made yes what

they were seeing [music]

the flowers

[music]

[music] as

create

[music]

>> you and I starts with lots of nice

acoustics and so you'd get that sort of

warm acousticy sort of close feel to it.

Good arrangement. It [music] was a long

tune but well arranged. It would come

back to the same sort of melodies with

different chords underneath them,

different rhythms underneath them.

[music] And that's one of the things

about you and I I think that's really

important is you know I don't know if

John wrote all the melodies for the

vocals but it was a very strong [music]

melodic vocal part

[music]

[music]

with

>> [music]

[music]

>> You and I works particularly well. I

think primarily because of John

Anderson's vocals. The lyrics [music]

were good. The lyrics were clever. Um,

and it's probably the only 10 to 12

minute love song I've ever heard. Um,

and [music] admitted to reading the

hiking

>> on this track. It's it's it's Anderson

that's really shines. Um and he has a

tendency to maybe [music] um over sing

on a lot of Yes. songs. Um but on this

he's actually he holds back and it

really benefits. So there's a sort of

immediate there's sort of some drama and

tension there and when he does sort of

give it some eventually it's all the the

release comes and the tension is broken.

It's fantastic. [music]

And you and I is regarded as the

masterpiece [music] on Close to the

Edge. And it works because it has a very

simple basic melody. Everything leads

back eventually to the And you and I

refrain, which is very simple, very

softly sung by John Anderson and allows

people to join in.

>> Certainly one of the most heavenly

moments [music] in the entire Yes.

repertoire.

>> [music]

>> By this point, I think the band was so

welloiled and um you know the sort of

basic groove between sort of Bruford How

and Squires

and Weightman were so they kind of knew

what the others other guys were going to

be doing so they could sort of almost

read each other's musical minds. Now

with Bill Bruofford, having him and

Chris Squire as a rhythm section was

almost a dream, but you can't have too

much of a good thing because of the type

of drummer he was and is, it never

really gelled properly with Yes. Yes.

didn't want someone of his virtuosity.

They wanted someone a little more solid

and a little more grounded because they

wanted the other instruments to be the

orchestral performers while the drums

were solid, rooted, and always gave the

other instruments something to come back

to. And it's not really a surprise that

when Brewer did finally quit, yes, it

was to join King Crimson. For certain

that Alan White, who replaced him,

hasn't got that kind of individuality.

But then again, unless you're Cream,

which had Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and

Ginger Baker, yet another of those

signature drummers, all soloing at once,

you've got to have something that's a

bedrock. And what Alan White provided

was more a rhythmical bedrock.

Yes. recorded tales from topographic

oceans in the summer of 1973

um when [music] they were on a high

after fragile and close to the edge.

>> [music]

>> It's

>> fair to say that Tales from Topographic

Oceans is the most controversial album

that Yes. ever made. Um, [music] opinion

was divided not just among progressive

rock fans, but even among Yes.

>> I can remember both myself being

disappointed and all of my

contemporaries who were big Yes fans uh

getting the album. I had to deliver

newspapers to be able to afford it. So,

I was I was very bitter at the number of

Sunday posts I had to deliver to be able

to buy that album. And to find that it

kind of meandered. It didn't have a a

central quality. It was hard to to pick

out the the melodic highlights or the

rhythmic highlights. It was a bit of a

mush.

>> Topographic Ocean was like for me was

the album of Yes. I just love it. It was

long. It was double album and the hard

work was beautiful. The music was

beautiful and it was was I was expecting

music to become. I don't understand why

it was received so badly with with the

critic because to me was it it was a

masterpiece.

>> Why was Tales of Topographic Ocean so

badly received? Because it's a crap

album.

This is a movie.

[music]

>> I think it it works because it's

completely overblown and completely

nonsensical and utterly ludicrous. Here

you have a double album and you've got

four tracks in that double album. Each

side takes has one track and that is it.

It was ludicrous. It was such a bold

brave experiment. The band have to be

applauded. Perhaps some production

editing would have been advisable. Um

maybe uh it was everybody was

experimenting once again and seeing how

far they could [music] push the

envelope, but it wasn't very well

received because I think people felt

they'd become a bit self-indulgent.

[music]

tuneless durge that goes on over four

sides of vinyl. And what on earth are

they talking about?

The power [music]

creativity [singing]

of life.

>> John has gone through various periods in

his lyric writing. in the late 60s and

early 70s uh he was into eastern [music]

mysticism and that is clearly evident in

what he was writing. Some of it works.

Uh some of it doesn't work. Some of it

didn't make any sense at all. Some of it

was abstract. Some of it was poetic. Uh

some of it just sang well. He often used

his vocals as an instrument not just to

say the words. I think if you look at it

in that context then he was brilliant.

But like any lyricist, he's gonna have

some things which are rubbish. [music]

[music]

>> Each track has a sense sometimes is

losing its way. In fact, sometimes they

start off and you wonder, do the band

actually know what they're trying to do?

They sound like extended jam sessions

with the five [music] guys looking at

each other saying, "Uh, where are we

going with this?"

>> Legend has it that cardboard [music]

cows were standing in the studio. an

idea of John Anderson's to give a nice

pastoral ambiencece to things didn't

seem to [music] work, did it?

>> Things did start to get a little spinal

tap around this time. Uh, at one point,

John Anderson decided that he wanted

[music] to recreate the vocal sound that

he got singing in his shower at home.

[music] And so, he got the engineers at

the studio to dismantle the shower from

his house and reconstruct it in the

studio.

There were moments in each of the four

tracks which work overall. Each track

probably does fall down because there's

too much fat on it. It's an album that

makes you happy that punk turned up.

Rick Waitman, who left soon after the

album was made, uh described the [music]

album as wing through a cesspool in

order to get to a lily pad. [music]

They gave it a go. I think most of us

[music] agree that it didn't really

work. But then again, they produced

three classic albums. The critics had

enjoyed those. It was probably time for

somebody else to take the praise.

[music]

[music]

>> Once Yes. had peaked um and gone through

the hoopers. Finally, there was tales

from topographic oceans. Um, it took

them a while to come back and then the

shifts in lineup really began to take

their toll. You had Genesis on the one

side who were perhaps a warm band and

you had Emerson Lake and Palmer on the

other side who were perhaps a little

cold clinical Chile. Yes. Was somewhere

in the middle. They didn't freak you out

with their

instrumental virtuosity. nor did they go

for the down home tales that Peter

Gabriel spun. They were somewhere there

in the middle, a nice happy medium, but

I don't think by being between the hot

and the cold that they were lukewarm. I

think they had their own place there,

which thousands of people really tuned

into.

[music]

Good [music] people turn their head

on my way.

[music] People turn their head

on [music] my way.

People

on my way.

>> [music]