In the Prog Seat: Best & Worst Songs from Five Classic Yes Albums!

My picks:

The Yes Album
B: Starship Trooper
W: A Venture

Fragile
B: Heart of the Sunrise
W: Cans and Brahams

Going for the One
B: Awaken
W: Turn of the Century

Tormato
B: On the Silent Wings of Freedom
W: Circus of Heaven

Drama
B: Machine Messiah
W: White Car

30:45 Yes Roie! "Going for the One" is an amazing song!

Great show as always. Here are my picks.
If Tom sees this, I'd like to see his picks in the comment section since we didn't get all of his on the show.

The Yes Album
fav – I've Seen All Good People
least – Clap

Fragile
fav – Roundabout
least – Cans and Brahms

Going for the One
fav – Wonderous Stories
least – Going for the One

Tormato
fav – On the Silent Wings of Freedom
least – Circus of Heaven

Drama
fav – Tempus Fugit
least – White Car

Luis Nasser is awesome

As soon as I saw that Yes was going to be the band receiving the 'best/worst' song treatment, and Luis's face in the thumbnail, I KNEW I was gonna get my laugh on. He didn't disappoint me in the least – dude was going to town on those snacks; had me SCREAMING over here!

My picks:

THE YES ALBUM
Favorite: "I've Seen All Good People."
Least: "Perpetual Change."

FRAGILE
Favorite: "Roundabout." "Heart of the Sunrise" and "South Side of the Sky" are top-notch, but I've recently come to the realization that "Roundabout" is just a bit more of an addictive listen. Plus, I didn't experience the burnout factor on this track; "Long Distance Runaround" is the tune I got sick of – I heard that one a lot on the radio.

Least: "Five Per Cent for Nothing."
(Note: Excepting my choice for least favorite, I love the 'solo' pieces on Fragile, particularly Wakeman's arrangement of a part of the third movement from Brahms's 4th symphony. I've always likened it to Wendy [Walter] Carlos's keyboard interpretations of classical pieces – I don't think this would have sounded out of place in Kubrick's film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. Ever see that film? Own at least one of its two soundtracks? If so, maybe you can spot the similarities.)

GOING FOR THE ONE
Favorite: "Awaken." "Turn of the Century" is close – these two are just about tied for my #1, in all honesty.

Least: Undecided.

TORMATO
Favorite: "Release, Release."
Least: "Circus of Heaven."

DRAMA
Favorite: "Machine Messiah."
Least: "Into the Lens."

No Ken this time around?

Great episode.

This was a great All Star In The Prog Seat tonight thanks everyone.💿🎶

Patrick did not play anything on GFTO. Supposedly he composed a bit of the intro.

Go Bears!

An episode with both Scot and Luis all about Yes? This can't end well…

Anyway, I'll give my picks for each album as well as my overall thoughts for the albums themselves. While I haven't listened to any of these records in a while, I know them pretty well just from me playing all the classic Yes albums into the ground during my high school and early college years. I still love Yes and they're probably my favorite band of all time, but there's other stuff I listen to more often now just because I'm always seeking out new stuff. I apologize that this post is gonna be rather long, but I like to explain stuff in depth and I think it's important to know why we like or dislike certain things.

The Yes Album:
Best – Starship Trooper
Worst – A Venture
Arguably the first great Yes album, though I personally love the debut and Time and a Word is pretty damn good too. Steve Howe does make a big difference in the band's sound compared to Peter Banks, who just didn't have the same finesse and virtuosity that Howe does. And I believe this is the first Yes album to feature synthesizer, which is also a big addition. Picking best was easy, but I actually like every song on the album. Even the much hated I've Seen All Good People, which I think is a lovely pop song. And The Clap is a fun little showcase for Steve on acoustic guitar. A Venture just falls a little flat, and it's the song that feels the most like it could've came from the Peter Banks era. Not a bad song, but it's not on the level of Starship Trooper or Perpetual Change. Just sounds a bit dated.

Fragile:
Best – South Side of the Sky
Worst – Cans and Brahms
Probably one of the more overrated Yes albums, mainly because it has both Roundabout and Heart of the Sunrise on it. But I chose South Side of the Sky because it's one of their heaviest songs and because that chorus goes so crazy. Love the mood changes from mellow to hard hitting. Great dynamics all throughout, and Chris Squire absolutely kills it on bass. Cans and Brahms is just a little classical cover and doesn't do anything for me. Honestly, a lot of the shorter tracks could've been cut from the album and it would've been better for it.

Going for the One:
Best – Parallels
Worst – Turn of the Century
By far the most overrated Yes album of all time. I just don't get the love for this one. Yes, it has Rick Wakeman on it, but this is a clear dropoff after the jazzy space-y experimentation of Relayer. Even the epic on it is pretty lame. Parallels is a great track tho, very catchy and that big thunderous classical organ makes it for me. Worst for me is Turn of the Century because I don't remember a damn thing about it. Just not a good album.

Tormato:
Best – On the Silent Wings of Freedom
Worst – Circus of Heaven
And now what I think is the most underrated Yes album. Tormato is damn solid all throughout. Songs are a little more dense and aggressive compared to Going for the One, and Rick Wakeman has some new keyboard sounds which gives it a unique flavor. Besides my worst track, every track on here is memorable and well put together. Release, Release is almost like their take on punk rock. It's so fast and heavy for Yes, making it a real stand out. Don't Kill the Whale is a little bit funky and a lot of fun. Arriving UFO is perhaps a bit goofy, but it's the band trying something different and I still think it's a catchy and enjoyable song. And the final track is a great mini epic. Meanwhile, Circus of Heaven is totally embarrassing and might be the worst Yes song of all time. At least the worst song of the 70's era. As much as I love Jon Anderson, even I wonder what the hell he was thinking with that song.

Drama:
Best – Machine Messiah
Worst – White Car
Another album with no bad songs, and a real breath of fresh air for the band. Drama is a kickass album, as weird as the line up is. Trevor Horn really doesn't sound all that different from Jon Anderson, and his vocal style brings a bit of a new wave edge to the music of Yes. A real evolution of their sound, changing with the times while still making progressive music and having a lot of the essential Yes ingredients. Machine Messiah is one of their very best epics, dark and heavy and full of great atmosphere. Runner up for best track is Tempus Fugit, which is so much fun and full of energy. White Car is a short little interlude track, but they actually extended it live and included bits of Video Killed the Radio Star in it. So it took on a life of its own live and turned into a cool solo piano piece for Geoff Downes. Great album, and maybe one of the best 80's prog albums ever.

I think this is a great format for In the Prog Seat and you could do this for a lot of other bands. And I like that you skipped albums like Close to the Edge and Relayer with obvious picks for best songs. It makes the discussion more interesting. Pink Floyd would be a great band for this format, with albums like A Saucerful of Secrets, Dark Side of the Moon, and The Wall not having the obvious epic tracks that everyone would pick.