Yes

Yes were one of the leading groups of progressive rock in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were also one of the first, having been formed in 1968. From the beginning they stood out for the technical ability of the components: singer Jon Anderson, veteran of blues clubs with a crystalline and emphatic diction, guitarist Peter Banks, bassist Chris Squire (who had played in the psychedelic band Syn), drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Tony Kaye.

The self-titled album Yes (Atlantic, 1969) featured this exceptional quintet dealing with a mixture of instrumental passages of classical music (influenced by Nice), folk and pop melodies, multi-part vocal harmonies (influenced by Crosby Stills & Nash) and some hints of jazz, all in the name of a glacial performance. The subsequent Time And A Word (1970) even made use of the symphony orchestra. Sweet Dreams heralds their major season.

In 1971 Banks was replaced by guitarist Steve Howe (fresh from the psychedelic season of Tomorrow). Thanks to him, The Yes Album (1971) has an even more classical setting, evident in the Yours Is No Disgrace suite , propelled by powerful organ and bass riffs, and in the guitar solo of The Clap . I've Seen All Good People was their first hit, a distillation of English and Californian vocal harmonies (with strong echoes of Crosby Stills Nash & Young), also enhanced by Howe's swirling guitar games. The other two extended tracks, Starship Trooper and Perpetual Change, expand those intuitions into grandiloquent soundscapes: the first guesses a enthralling sequence of melodic variations, while the second, although starting from an even more catchy theme, degenerates into a drawn rhythm and blues. Yes had found the compromise between the experimental sound of bands like Nice and Pink Floyd and the chart sound of Merseybeat. Theirs were long and articulate compositions, but they also appealed to less sophisticated ears. In fact, Yes had invented not only a new genre but also a new audience of rock music.

The Yes super-group was then joined by Rick Wakeman from the Strawbs (replacing Kaye), further elevating the virtuosity quotient. His flickering keyboards dominate Fragile (1971). The mini-suites of South Side of The Sky (eight minutes) and Heart of The Sunrise (ten minutes), at the same time enthralling and melodious, austere and mystical, symphonic and Franciscan, boast a complex and compact rhythm that blends classical, blues, jazz and funk. Roundabout (another eight minutes) is the most exemplary condensation of their art: Howe's classical chimes, Wakeman's sparkling eddies, Squire's obsessive bellow, Bruford's robust tempo changes, west-coast vocal harmonies ". Long Distance Runaround concentrates that massive talent quotient into a cocktail lounge ballad. The Fish is Chris Squire's most famous bass solo. Colorful and extroverted, able to oscillate between hallucinogenic amazement and folk ballad, disputed between romantic pianism and a futuristic effect, and driven as much by hard-rock grit as by dance syncopation, the sound of Yes had become a frigid classic of the classics.

Yes reached the pinnacle of preciousness with the three suites of Close To The Edge (1972). The 18-minute Close To The Edge is a fluid melodic and rhythmic fantasy that incorporates the Gothic medievalism of King Crimson, the orchestral psychedelia of Pink Floyd, the folk ballad, the more baroque jazz-rock and the a cappella style of vocal groups, but above all the irrepressible virtuosity of the four instrumentalists. And You And I is equally acrobatic and fairytale. Howe's velvety touches, Anderson's vocal muzak, Wakeman's evocative visions, Squire's vigorous bass, and Bruford's jazz-psychedelic rhythms come together in an engaging example of art-rock, sunny and diatonic. In the presence of so much mastery, Siberian Khatruit's almost a joke. The music of this album, inspired by a pretext cosmic, baroque, religious, affected humanism, blends pictorial impressionism and symphonic-choral classicism in a sophisticated and polished work of art.

Yessongs (1973) is a triple live album that serves as a perfect summary of the group's major career. Bruford left the band, replaced by Alan White, and the myth was taking over the music.

Yes's music was sometimes excessive and often pedantic, but undoubtedly always visionary. Anderson's mystical fairy tales and Wakeman's monumental cathedral tones give the ultimate definition of "visionary music" in the four-sided suite of Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973). The Revealing Science of God is the most fluid and lively, and Ritual has something of Schumann's melodic fantasies, while The Remembering is perhaps too cold and "heavy", like a Brahms symphony played by a group of bureaucrats. The Ancientit is one of the most experimental compositions of the group. The album was the quintessence of everything that Yes had proposed in previous years. The problem was that there were less and less poetry, and more philosophy without beauty.

Wakeman too left the group and was replaced by Patrick Moraz, who prefers synthesizers over organ. Howe's guitar (even more than Anderson's singing) then became the center of gravity of the group. Relayer (1974) continued to offer high-class progressive-rock spread across the distance of convoluted suites, but with a higher jazz quotient. Gates of Delirium (twenty-two minutes) finds an elegant compromise between Moraz's electronics and Howe's classicism. The cacophonic Sound Chaser and the loud To Be Over seem more approximate, as if they had been improvised in the studio.

Rick Wakeman, the child prodigy of electronic keyboards, then launched a prolific solo career, beginning with a trilogy of orchestral suites dedicated to historical or legendary subjects: The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (A&M, 1973), Journey To The Center Of The Earth (A&M, 1974), and Myths And Legends Of King Arthur (A&M, 1975), performed in London in an ice rink by a ninety-piece orchestra and choir, accompanied by a troupe of skaters. Each piece in Six Wives is a sequence of keyboard metamorphoses. Catherine Of Aragon alternates baroque fugues at breakneck speed with synthesizer and choir melodies worthy of an adagio. Catherine Howard features pyrotechnic ragtime and a spectacular finale. The most captivating piece is Anne Of Cleves, whose jazzy, Caribbean-inspired romp is dotted with breathtaking quadrilles. Solemn and majestic, Jane Seymour evokes sacred music.
During the 1970s, Wakeman�s compositional megalomania seemed limitless. The mediocre sci-fi concept album No Earthly Connections (A&M, 1976) was followed by the more commercial Criminal Record (A&M, 1977), by far the artist�s first �human� record, and the more striking Rhapsodies (A&M, 1979). 1984 (Charisma, 1981), based on Orwell�s book, was his last old-fashioned concept album, after which Wakeman abandoned self-indulgent symphonic rock in favor of a more contemplative and meditative music, influenced by his religious conversion. Thus followed Silent Nights, The Gospels, The Family Album, New Age Collection, programmatic titles that speak for themselves. Meanwhile, he also composed numerous film scores.
In the 1990s, Wakeman completed the piano trilogy that began with Country Airs (Night Airs and Sea Airs being the other two parts).
The �electronic� trilogy consists of Aspirant Sunrise, Aspirant Sunshadows, and Aspirant Sunset, played with the utmost programmatic relaxation. Heritage Suite (1993) and Preludes to a Century (2000) are the best piano albums of the following decade.

For years, Jon Anderson had the honor of collaborating with Vangelis. His first solo album was Olias Of Sunhillow (Atlantic, 1976), which remains his best�or at least his most daring. Anderson plays all the instruments on it (synthesizer, harp, guitar, and exotic percussion) in addition to singing, and he infuses it with a spirituality ahead of its time. Tracks like Moon Ra (13 minutes) and Qoquaq En Transic (seven minutes) are shamanic ceremonies, while pieces like Solid Space, Ocean Song, and Dance Of Ranyart merge ethnography, impressionism, and transcendent meditation.
Unfortunately, his solo albums are numerous but often mediocre, and almost all can be classified as new age music: Song Of Seven (Atlantic, 1980), Animation (1983), Three Ships (1985), In The City Of Angels (1988), Deseo (Windham Hill, 1994), Change We Must (1994). However, Anderson surprised everyone with the angelic music of Angels Embrace (Higher Octave, 1995), in which he drew on Vangelis�s orchestral scores and visionary grandeur. The choir floating in the soft electronic textures of New Eire Land, the forest sounds inhabiting the harmonic labyrinths of Naturemusic, and the classical-lullaby style of Midnight Cello (reminiscent of baroque adagios) redeem the sung tracks, which remain his weak point.

Meanwhile, Chris Squire recorded Fish Out Of Water (Atlantic, 1975), which would remain his only solo album, and Steve Howe began a much less prolific solo career with Beginnings (Atlantic, 1975) and The Steve Howe Album (1979). It was only in the 1990s that Howe took his solo work seriously, releasing Turbulence (1991), The Grand Scheme Of Things (1993), Not Necessarily Acoustic (1994), Mothballs (1994), Homebrew (1996), Quantum Guitars (1998), Pulling Strings (1999), Natural Timbre (2001), Homebrew 1 & 2 (2002), Skyline (2002), Elements (2003), and Spectrum (2005), featuring Tony Levin on bass.

Drummer Bill Bruford, by far the most accomplished member of Yes, also played with King Crimson. His first solo album, Feels Good To Me (Polydor, December 1977), featured a deluxe lineup with Dave Stewart (keyboards), Allan Holdsworth (guitar), Annette Peacock (vocals), and Jeff Berlin (bass). The group delivered the tour de force of Beelzebub, the baroque jazz-rock of Either End Of August, the new age music of Springtime In Siberia, the catchy Back To The Beginning, and a small vocal jazz masterpiece by Peacock, Seems Like A Lifetime Ago (with Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn). All these elements converge in the grand finale Goodbye To The Past. This album remains his masterpiece. Still with the help of Stewart, Berlin, and Holdsworth, Bruford recorded the instrumental One Of A Kind (EG, 1979), featuring Hell's Bells, Fainting In Coils, and the two suites One Of A Kind and The Sahara Snow (reminiscent of Cream). Stewart began to dominate both composition and performance (Forever Until Sunday, Travels With Myself And Someone Else, The Abingdon Chasp), which influenced Holdsworth's guitar. The Bruford Tapes (1980) is a live album. Master Strokes (EG, 1986) is an anthology of this early period. Gradually Going Tornado (1980), still with Stewart on keyboards, includes two of Bruford�s most ambitious tracks: Q.E.D. and Land's End, though overall it is a much lesser album. After returning to King Crimson, Bruford recorded two albums in collaboration with Patrick Moraz: Music For Piano and Drums (1983), containing the jams Living Space and Any Suggestions, and Flags (1985), an inferior album marred by prog-rock pomp. He then formed a jazz-rock combo, Earthworks (electronic percussion and two horns). The soft, hypnotic sound of Earthworks (EditionsEG, 1987) blends Keith Jarrett�s acoustic romanticism with Brian Eno�s electronics (Pressure, Emotional Shirt). This debut was followed by Dig (EG, 1989), in the same style but perhaps better coordinated, and All Heaven Broke Loose (EG, 1991), much more free-form and experimental (even acid-jazz in Splashing Out and funk in Nerve). Meanwhile, Bruford also played on the excellent Cloud About Mercury (ECM, 1987) and Door X (Windham Hill, 1990) by jazz guitarist David Torn, and on The Spice Of Life (Gramavision, 1987) and The Spice Of Life Too (Gramavision, 1988) by guitarist Kazumi Watanabe. Bruford later reunited with Yes and seemed content for a few years with that �retirement� from progressive rock. The first sign of restlessness was If Summer Had Its Ghosts (DGM, 1997), recorded as a trio with jazz guitarist Ralph Towner and jazz bassist Eddie Gomez (notable is the title track). Bruford and Tony Levin, the rhythm section of King Crimson, accompanied by David Torn on guitar and Chris Botti on trumpet, then formed Upper Extremities (DGM, 1998), including Original Sin, from which the live album Blue Nights (DGM, 1999) was also released.

A new (acoustic) edition of the Earthworks recorded albums that were increasingly rooted in mainstream jazz (and farther removed from electronica), such as A Part And Yet Apart (DGM, 1999), containing The Emperor's New Clothes and Dewey-eyed Then Dancing, the double live Footloose & Fancy Free (DGM, 2000), The Sound Of Surprise (DGM, 2001), perhaps the best of the bunch (with the three-part suite The Wooden Man Sings, Triplicity, Cloud Cockoo Land), and the live Random Acts of Happiness (Summerfold, 2004).

Earthworks Underground Orchestra (2006) is a live performance in which a ten-piece ensemble interprets Earthworks classics. Every Step a Dance (2004) and In two Minds (2008) are collaborations between Bruford and Dutch keyboardist Michiel Borstlap, reminiscent of his collaborations with Patrick Moraz. Bruford called it quits in 2009 and released two career retrospectives: The Winterfold Collection 1978-86 (2009) and The Summerfold Collection 1987-2008 (2009).

Wakeman returned to Yes for Going For The One (1977), that contains Turn Of The Century, Wonderous Stories and the 15-minute Awaken. Tormato (1978), on the other hand, is flat and bland, despite the hit Don't Kill The Whale. The format of Yes' compositions had changed dramatically, retreating from the super-human suite to the pop song.

In 1980 Anderson and Wakeman left Yes to pursue their solo careers and the Buggles (Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes) joined Yes on Drama (1980). Howe and Downes then formed Asia.

Anderson, Kaye and Squire reformed Yes, with Trevor Horn in the role of producer, and released 90125 (1983), an album of sophisticated dance music which yielded one of their best-sellers, Owner Of A Lonely Heart, one of muzak's quintessential themes. Big Generator (1987) comprised mostly material written by guitarist Trevor Rabin. Then Yes split in two: Squire, Kaye and Rabin kept the name Yes, while the others recorded Anderson Bruford Howe Wakeman (1989). The two groups reunited on Union (1991), with Lift Me Up, Talk (1994), and Open Your Eyes (1997). These are probably the worst albums of their career, merely "selling" their name.
The Ladder (1999) features new keyboardist Igor Khoroshev and two nine-minute compositions, Homework and New Language, that somehow restore Yes' prestige.

Magnification (2001) features Anderson, Howe, Squire, White and was perhaps their best album in 14 years.

Skin and Wire (2009), a collaboration with the piano sextet Pianocircus, offers compositions by Colin Riley.

A new edition of Yes with Squire, Howe, White, Geoff Downes and vocalist Benoit David recorded Fly From Here (2011), whose six-movement suite Fly From Here is just six songs stuck together with the same title. The material was mostly composed by Trevor Horn and Downes for the Buggles.

Heaven & Earth (2014) featured new singer Jon Davison.

Chris Squire died in 2015 at 67.

Jon Anderson returned with Invention of Knowledge (2015) a collaboration with Roine Stolt of the Flower Kings, and then formed a trio with Wakeman and Trevor Rabin.

Alan White died in 2022.