Yessongs (1973)

The sixth album from Yes, and the first live album, was Yessongs, featuring material from the Fragile and Close To The Edge Tours. Alan White plays drums on most of the tracks, but Bill Bruford can be heard on Perpetual Change and Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus). The album was originally released as a three LP set. The album reached #7 in the UK and #12 in the US, and was certified gold in 1974 by the RIAA, and platinum in 1998.

Eddie Offord was in charge of sound, leaving recording to Geoff Haslam and Mike Dunn. Mixing and editing was done at Advision by Offord and the band. Offord was determined to achieve the best sound possible and used recordings from two separate venues for the two parts of "I've Seen All Good People". Rick Wakeman's keyboard solo was similarly treated. Album art was by Roger Dean.
index.php

Yessongs.
The Swiss Army Knife of album covers.
The artwork for Yessongs marked the first time that Roger Dean used an airbrush. Up until then he used automobile aerosol cans.
006.jpg

007.jpg

008.jpg


It's difficult to see, but there's a bit of an Easter Egg in the painting for the cover. Seems Roger did his spray painting with the canvas on the floor. One of his cats walked across the wet paint and left some paw prints. Roger tried unsuccessfully to mask them as clouds.
009.jpg


It's much easier to see in the version in Deans book, Views.
012.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the Roger Dean stuff, Frank (@Delmarva). I knew you had the book and I'm pleased you shared the images. Dean's art is almost as much a part of music history as the music itself. Interesting "The Who" references. I'm sure there are more relationships between The Who and Yes than Rick Wakeman's involvement with Tommy and Lisztomania. People throw around the term "rock gods" with liberal abandon, but the members of Yes truly deserve that title and have been involved with many projects over the years. That's partly why I started this thread in the first place; to detail as much as I could about the band in a single place, that would give fans a chance to voice their thoughts and memories.

I pointed out in the lead post that I'd stick to a strictly chronological order of events. That limitation is on me; no one else. Whatever your memories of Yes, feel free to pitch them in, whether they are from 1968 or 2018.
 
Thanks for the Roger Dean stuff, Frank (@Delmarva). I knew you had the book and I'm pleased you shared the images. Dean's art is almost as much a part of music history as the music itself. Interesting "The Who" references. I'm sure there are more relationships between The Who and Yes than Rick Wakeman's involvement with Tommy and Lisztomania. People throw around the term "rock gods" with liberal abandon, but the members of Yes truly deserve that title and have been involved with many projects over the years. That's partly why I started this thread in the first place; to detail as much as I could about the band in a single place, that would give fans a chance to voice their thoughts and memories.

I pointed out in the lead post that I'd stick to a strictly chronological order of events. That limitation is on me; no one else. Whatever your memories of Yes, feel free to pitch them in, whether they are from 1968 or 2018.
I will add references from the books wherever appropriate. Need to go back and find some relevant to Fragile.

For me, Yes without Roger Dean's art wouldn't be the same music, which I know is utterly ridiculous, but in my opinion his art truly adds to the experience.
010.jpg

Yes I keep them in record album poly sleeves and store then with the vinyl. :rflmao:
 
Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two

A 14 disk box set, also available as a "Highlights" set of 3 LPs or 2 CDs. The YESWORLD website has an extensive write-up about the discovery of recordings from '72 and is linked below. This set appears to have been issued in 2015, but I think it fits better here, given the band's lineup for these performances.

YES_Progeny_CD_Box_Cover.jpg

Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two is a 14-disc set that holds every note from all seven shows, recorded in the fall of 1972 as the band’s tour jumped from Canada to North Carolina, and then from Georgia to Tennessee, before their last stop in New York at the Nassau Coliseum on November 20th. This comprehensive set comes in a cigarette-style flip top box with new artwork by Roger Dean. - YESWORLD
 
Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973)

THe 6th studio album from Yes clearly showed that the band had established their position as one of the top bands of the time. Pre-orders propelled the album to gold in the UK and it reached #1 in the UK album chart; #6 in the US. It was the band's first double album, and has received some criticism as a result. Rick Wakeman declared that there was too much music for one LP and not enough for two, resulting in an excessive amount of filler material. He became bored during the writing and spent much time playing darts and drinking in the local pub, and visited Black Sabbath, who were also recording at the studio, playing for them on "Sabbra Cadabra". He refused to accept money for his contribution, so Black Sabbath paid him in beer.

The idea for the album came from Jon Anderson, after reading the book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, which he received as a gift from Jamie Muir of King Crimson.

To make points with music, you have to be helpful to one another and definitely not set up barriers. To work towards a very harmonious sort of sound is the law of the land with this band, and I think it was broken on a few occasions…A time finally came when I decided that my weight should be heard. It was a time when I felt the music was suffering because of this… inner conflict. - Jon Anderson

Jon worked with Steve Howe to convince the rest of the band that Tales From Topographic Oceans should go ahead, but tensions were clearly high throughout the writing and recording process. Anderson and Wakeman wanted to record the album "in the country", while Squire and Howe wanted to remain in London. Alan White had no preference. The album was eventually recorded at Morgan Studios in Willesden, London. The studio was decorated with countryside images, bales of straw and the like, presumably for the comfort of those who had wanted to escape to the country. Production was once again by Eddie Offord and album art was by Roger Dean.

At the end of the subsequent tour, Rick Wakeman left the band.

Talesfrom-Topographic-Oceans.jpg

Track Listing:

Side one

1. "THE REVEALING SCIENCE OF GOD (Dance of the Dawn)" 20:25

Side two

1. "THE REMEMBERING (High the Memory)" 20:38

Side three

1. "THE ANCIENT (Giants Under the Sun)" 18:35

Side four

1. "RITUAL (Nous Sommes du Soleil)" 21:37

Lyrics by Jon Anderson and Steve Howe
Music written and arranged by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Alan White

Further reading at YESWORLD
 
Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973)

THe 6th studio album from Yes clearly showed that the band had established their position as one of the top bands of the time. Pre-orders propelled the album to gold in the UK and it reached #1 in the UK album chart; #6 in the US. It was the band's first double album, and has received some criticism as a result. Rick Wakeman declared that there was too much music for one LP and not enough for two, resulting in an excessive amount of filler material. He became bored during the writing and spent much time playing darts and drinking in the local pub, and visited Black Sabbath, who were also recording at the studio, playing for them on "Sabbra Cadabra". He refused to accept money for his contribution, so Black Sabbath paid him in beer.

The idea for the album came from Jon Anderson, after reading the book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, which he received as a gift from Jamie Muir of King Crimson.

Jon worked with Steve Howe to convince the rest of the band that Tales From Topographic Oceans should go ahead, but tensions were clearly high throughout the writing and recording process. Anderson and Wakeman wanted to record the album "in the country", while Squire and Howe wanted to remain in London. Alan White had no preference. The album was eventually recorded at Morgan Studios in Willesden, London. The studio was decorated with countryside images, bales of straw and the like, presumably for the comfort of those who had wanted to escape to the country. Production was once again by Eddie Offord and album art was by Roger Dean.

At the end of the subsequent tour, Rick Wakeman left the band.

index.php
Took me until this year to finally buy TFTO. It was always that weird Yes album to me that I'd never heard very much. I'm happy to say that it's arguably their finest effort. I prefer CTTE and Relayer, but TFTO is growing on me more and more with every listen. The music is far less accessible to the casual listener than anything before or after. It requires a certain amount of effort on the listeners part, but the rewards are huge.

In my opinion the artwork IS Roger Dean's finest effort for Yes. I was doing some reading on it today. If one looks at the sky and the horizon you can see Fragile and Close To The Edge in the starry sky and green gradient horizon.
001.jpg


Here's Roger Dean's early outline of his concept for the cover.
img199.jpg


The Mayan Temple in the far distance was a suggestion of Jon Anderson's. The monkey from the Nazca Plains in Peru was Alan White's suggestion.
The rocks were inspired by postcards of famous British rock formations at The Last Rocks at Lands End, Brimham Rocks and the Logan Rock at Treen.


 
Thanks for all of the interest shown in this thread so far.

A huge thank you to Frank (@Delmarva) for the images and background on the Roger Dean artwork. Your participation is turning the thread into more than I believed it could be.

With the (temporary, as it turned out) departure of Rick Wakeman from Yes, we will be having a look at his replacement, Patrick Moraz, before turning attention to the next album - Relayer.

As always, please feel free to pitch in with comments, memories, criticisms and suggestions. One thing I didn't immediately realize when I was doing the Rush thread is that there would be interest from people who weren't exactly fanatical about the band, so I prefaced each album with the cover art, figuring that would be enough. @hjames suggested titling each album post with the name of the album, so I've continued that great idea here. If there's anything that I can do to add to the posts, please let me know. I'm quite happy to go back and edit.

@Slick Willie That's a great point. Perhaps people who are discovering the music for the first time want to hear it as though it was produced today, but for those of us who pretty well know every note and have for years, perhaps "better" is just different.
 
Last edited:
An artist's view on Roger Dean's TFTO cover.
Deep analysis.
http://www.scottmcd.net/artanalysis/?p=337
Interesting that the writer starts out with a nod towards James Cameron's movie Avatar,
I know that Dean had a lawsuit against this film for copywrite/intellectual content infringements.

I read about that, Frank. The lawsuit was thrown out. Funny thing is that when I saw Avatar, I wondered whether Roger Dean had been employed on set design. IMO, the visuals had his stamp all over them.
 
Yes, I believe the judges ruling was that you can't patent or copywrite artistic vison.
I wonder if Roger Dean ever took Rodney Matthews to court?
Used to have this poster of Rodney's "Ice Spirit" on my wall. Wish I still had it.


Matthews is a contemporary of Dean's and has been doing album illustrations since 1965, but his art never looked like Dean's until the mid to late '70's.
He did a lot of Nazareth and Magnum album covers. Perhaps even more prolific than Dean himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Matthews
https://www.google.com/search?q=rod...9PjbAhWJzlkKHST8A84Q_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=963
 
Anyone jumping on the new Wilson remix Yes box set coming out in a few days? Or heard any of the ones already released?

On the fence myself, not sure how I feel about redoing music so dear to me.

This is available on HDTracks. I'm considering purchasing this as I don't have TFTO, or Relayer on digital media. The Steve Wilson remixes that I heard I've liked.

-Dave
 
Sorry to jump ahead, but I'm just so proud of myself...I made it through this in one setting!!! Yay me!!!
Seems every decade or so, I give it another try, this time just last week. Time before that was when the digipack CD was released, IIRC.
I've had this copy for 5+ years, cleaned it, but this was it's maiden voyage. I'll save my ramblings for when we get to it.
TFTO - Yes
BB-EX x 1/DD-EX x 3 press.
faCc6oH.jpg


Ahh yes, Topographic Oceans. The best that I can find to say is that the artwork and packaging make this a must own on vinyl. Just wonderful!
Gotta' say, I've had issues with it since it was released,
After the two that came before, I was very excited for this one...and two LP's ….twice as much Yes to get lost in thought I.
IIRC, I gave it three attempts before putting it away and only putting it on every few years to try again. It just seems to collapse under it's own weight, meandering without a true sense of purpose or direction. I am left with, unlike previous albums, no ear worms. It just seems like a blur.:(
Sure the first side and a half are nice, but I usually don't stop there....I keep plodding onward.
So, I will put it away for a few more years and try again later!
Did I mention the artwork....it's great!!! :)
 
Back
Top Bottom