On the Road Again!

The last Yes album I bought was back in 2014 with "Heaven and Earth". I had pretty much given up on them after the clowns from the Buggles came and completely f*cked up one of the best bands ever. When Jon Anderson was sacked interest waned more. So why buy this? I heard a couple of minutes played on the radio. At least it sounded like we had turned back the clock. Aurora Tracklisting: Aurora (07:27) Turnaround Situation (05:50) Love Lies Dreaming (06:24) Countermovement (13:48) Ariadne (06:18) All Hands on Deck (03:04) Outside the Box (04:20) Emotional Intelligence (03:30) Jambustin’ (Bonus Track) (04:24) Watching the River Roll (Bonus Track) (04:42) It's a good album. Even those of us that go back to 1969 have been impressed.  Speaking about myself of course. My brother and I went to see Yes at the Royal Albert Hall in 2016. More classic stuff and pretty much the same lineup as today. We Are YES Other Yes blogs: Tales from Topographic Oceans Yessongs Close t...

The first Yes album to feature Rick Wakeman on keyboards. Back in 1972 I had begun to diversify my musical tastes.  For a while I had been into rock and for a period it had been reggae that began to be mostly on my old Dansette record player. Mine was actually blue.   Anyway this album brought me back to Yes. Mostly because of Rick. His parents lived across the road from my grans cousin Violet in NW London, still referred to as Middlesex, and he was (allegedly) going to play piano at Violet's daughter Heather's wedding. He didn't show. Is it the best prog rock album ever? It's definitely up there. Despite having it on vinyl from vack then,  I bought the cd secondhand recently. To think it's 52 years old is incredible.  Close to the Edge

Tales From Topographic Oceans. I have the original 12" vinyl stashed away that's not seen the light of day since 1999, so I bought the MP3 download from Amazon. I love the original Yes. Not so much the stuff that they turned out after the Buggles idiots joined. Although Geoff Downes, whilst no Bill Bruford, is decent enough. Imagine releasing a double album with just 4 tracks? Of course, back then you were lucky to get 20 minutes a side at 33⅓rpm. I prefer this album to Yessongs. I have that on original vinyl too! And the MP3 download.

Another album from the classic lineup of Yes. I have an original copy of the triple album on vinyl. It's stored away somewhere along with a few hundred other LP's.  None of them have seen the light of day since I moved house.  So. It's another MP3 download from Amazon. Bought at the same time as Tales from Topographic Oceans . 

It was sometime last year that my brother, Neill, asked if I wanted to go and see Yes at the Royal Albert Hall. I of course said YES! As it was a Tuesday evening I knew Claire wouldn't want to accompany me, and Neill's significant other wasn't fussed, so it was just two middle aged prog-ists that joined the audience. And we were far from the oldest rockers in the room. But not far from the youngest! There were a few young 'uns. Neill and I are pre-Buggles Yes fans and spa concert playing two albums in full plus "hits" was going to be challenging.  A couple of pints of 1730 Pale Ale and a pulled pork baguette in the Hoop and Toy pub ( http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/hoop-and-toy-kensington/c3067/menu/ ) beforehand helped. The support act was a Swedish prog rock band. Mere boys but excellent singers. In true prog style the twiddled seemingly without an end for a while... Moon Safari -  http://www.moonsafari.se/ They ended w...