Customer Reviews

Highlights: The Very Best of Yes

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4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Yes, "Yes" is an album band and you should buy them all, but if you're looking for a single disc collection, this is pretty good. Even at just 12 tracks, it does at least include their biggest hits. "I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout", "Long Distance Runaround", and the huge hit "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" are all included. Me being a child of the 80's, I'm really glad this has "Leave It" and "Rhythm Of Love", but I wish it also had "It Can Happen" and "Love Will Find A Way". Oh well, what can you do. One thing for sure, the last three tracks sound very 80's, while the rest of course has that 70's feel to it, which I guess makes sense. Overall this is an excellent dose of classic rock, and a good sampling of classic "Yes".

I was seeking the best stuff from the 70s and early 80s. I wanted that unique sound and style that made them great. This album is all you need if you are a casual fan or not. "Starship Trooper","I've seen all good people" and "Roundabout" are supreme displays of this bands ability and far reaching songwriting and talent.

I am a big Yes fan, but this is not "the very best of Yes" as it pretends to be. I mean, where the hell is Close To The Edge? Siberian Khatru? The Ritual? The Gates of Delirium? Perpetual Change? True, most of those songs are lengthy, and couldn't realistically fit on this album, but they should at least have put Close To The Edge. Of course, the songs here are good, BUT the selection could've been a lot better. There are so many good Yes songs (and so many of them are lengthy) that a single-disc retrospective simply won't suffice. Classic Yes did a better job though, it's a decent place to start if you are new to the band. But if you really want to get all of the band's best songs in one place then get Yessongs.

Truth be told, most of the best of Yes could be had by purchasing three albums; "The Yes Album," "Fragile" and "90125." Most of the rest of the Yes catalog contains a long of overlong bloated art rock and precious little in the way of rock energy. Nevertheless, they did manage to come up with an interesting song now and again, and this album gets most of them down. Half of the tracks are from the above three above-mentioned albums (hey, they can take a hint). The best of these are "Starship Trouper," "I've Seen all Good People" and of course, "Owner of a Lonely Heart," their biggest selling single. Of the other stuff, "Survival" and "Time and a Word" are good early tracks, while the edit of "Soon" (cutting an excruciating twenty-five minute snooze into a decent four minutes) "Wonderous Stories" and the relatively rocking "Going for the One" are excellent choices. The album ends with the single "Rhythm of Love" which was the highlight of 1986's dull "Big Generator" album.

Overall, this is one of the best single disc "Best of" albums I've run across. Of course, rabid fans will want their box set, but this is plenty for most casual fans.

Yes' trademark album-length improvisation and musicianship has never made it the best choice for a one-disc greatest hits collection. For a band with the same intrigue as a court of kings, even the handful of Top 40 hits enjoyed over its first 15 years seemed like comebacks ("Leave It") or flukes ("Roundabout") . This remains true of this cobbled together 1993 collection which, at least, improves on 1981's ill-timed and titled "Classic Yes."

The set is dominated by songs either well known or catchy and short enough to fit. The band had too few hits not to include the late 80s tracks "It Can Happen" or "Love Will Find A Way." Yes fans would also miss "And You and I," (edited and released as a single from "Close To The Edge.") "Don't Kill The Whale" and others from the group's prolific 70s output. But most fans who would miss those tracks have the full original versions.

Moreover, for a band whose covers seemed to comment on the music within, the artwork seems slapdash against better annotated sets. (Atlantic couldn't have edited the perfectly fine essay from 1991's box set?) But again, hearing soaring "Yes Album" and "Fragile" harmonies back to back is a thrill after digging through Yes' sometimes murky, sometimes magnificent music to find them. And, for a band maligned for feuding and revolving door personnel, all tracks gel surprisingly well; the 70s tracks carry a bit of funk and the sparser 80s hits (including winter 1984's #1 "Owner of A Lonely Heart"), a touch of the group's revered prog rock.

"The Very Best of Yes," nowhere near a complete picture of the band, will do until Rhino (which has recently remastered and re-released several early band titles) releases a comprehensive yet affordable two-disc set updating 1992's "Yesyears."

But it is a good introduction to an ordinary music fans who are not accustomed to grand scale prog masterpieces. As it was released in 1993 when people still remember the glories of 80s great melodic rock masters. And for most of music fans Yes was part of melodic rock history represented by Asia/Survivor styled hits such as Owner of A Lonely Heart, and Love Will Find A Way. If you like 80s melodic rock superstars such as Asia, Survivor, Journey, Styx and Foreigner, it is definitely a must have because it shows progressive rock was fathers to those bands. Particularly Yes influence is immense for the development of melodic rock during late 70s. My favorites from this collection include Survival(very melodic indeed!) and I've Seen All Good People and Leave It as well as No.1 hit Owner of A Lonely Heart. Modern day prog appreciators who love Dream Theater or Transatlantic may, however, need different collections such as Classic Yes.

If you love the bombastic Yes singles that you hear on the classic rock station, but just can't get into the extended compositions on the albums, then this collection ought to do the trick for you. The hits are here; the few obscurities are well-chosen; and the duds (like from off of _Tormato_) are avoided. This stripped-down setting portrays the band's truly amazing instrumental virtuosity to all the better effect. It also testifies to their durability, tracing their career from late '60s mysticism, high baroque art-rock, to MTV pop smarts. This is only a part of Yes' career, but if the singles are the part that interest you, this is the disk to get.

When discussing the major players of progressive rock, Yes is always at the fore. In their company are Genesis, Rush, ELP and a host others, but Yes appears to be the quintessential prog band.

This 1993 compilation attempts to harness the highlights of the Yes catalogue. Thankfully, the collection is chronologically sequence and allows the listener to maneouvre through the stylistic twists and turns that the band took over the years. The earliest days present the band as symphonic rock mavens. Then, the band moves into a more primal (but no less intricate) prog rock sound that is bolstered by the keyoboard antics of Rick Wakeman. That phase ends when Wakeman departs and the band makes a few pretty songs as it declines into obscurity. Then the 80s come and these 70s rockers sell themselves to the synth-pop devil. And guess what? The results are mostly good.

This collection serves to whet the appetite of the prospective Yes fan. By buying this CD, you will be exposed to the various phases of the band's evolution. More likely than not, this will be the gateway to most of Yes' albums.

Over the years, most progressive rock bands have lost their fan base and have struggled to stay relevant. Yes is an exception. They have put so many great records out, it's hard to make a perfect hits collection. This one may be perfect, or very close. It's an excellent place to start if you are just getting to know Yes.

This collection features everything a casual Yes fan would possibly need. Starting with Survival and ending with Rhythm of Love, it's a comprehensive, 69 minute survey of Yes' career.

A real surprise and highlight is "Soon," an excerpt from the full-sided opus "Gates of Delirium" from the 1974 album "Relayer," and probably one of the best examples of Jon Anderson's powerful and emotional vocals. Also, the early hit "Time And A Word" is a real treat and a great addition to this compilation.

Bottom line: This whole disc rocks. It follows Yes from start to finish, capturing the best offerings of their ever-changing line up - - Kaye to Moraz to Wakeman; Anderson alone to Anderson and Rabin; Howe to Rabin to Howe again; Bruford to White. These are all some of the best musicians ever to plug into an amp and it's a joy to hear their best in one place.

Finally, Atlantic Records deserves credit for an excellent job of remastering these tracks. *Highly recommended!*

First of all, this is a "Greatest Hits" cd, Not a "Best of" cd. I say this because their best work, namely the epics, are not on this. What you have here is a collection of their more popular songs from 1969-87. It's safe to say that most of these songs have gotten a considerable amount of airplay, and even a complete Yes virgin will recognize two or three of these songs.

But, being a one disc album that covers almost 20 years of steady output from the band, it's bound to miss quite a bit. But you do get a sense of how the band evolved from it's late 60's British-prog roots to a more electronic pop band of the 80's.

You do miss out on the more obscure recent output from 88-present, in which they return more or less to their prog roots, but bring their more electronic poppy sound to the music.

But on the whole, this is a good cd for the casual Yes fan that only wants the hits.