A group for all the fans of the Progressive Rock/Classic Rock band YES

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Yes kicked around unsuccessfully for a couple of years before releasing their breakthrough 1971 record. But from the very start they epitomized the prog rock movement, with a combination of vast technical proficiency, frustrating lyrical shallowness, and boundless egotism - Genesis and Pink Floyd failed on the first count, although King Crimson and ELP were similar in many ways. I've always found them to be a bit over the top, but there's still a lot of pleasant pop balladeering to be found on their early records, mostly courtesy of singer/songwriter Jon Anderson. In fact, the vocal combination of Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, and other band members gave them better harmonies than any other major prog rock act. And their concept albums and lengthy live jams earned them a huge fan following and massive commercial success.
The Yes discography would be fairly straightforward if it weren't for the band's incessant personnel changes, with only Anderson and Squire being nearly constant elements (Yes and Crimson traded or nearly traded band members several times). By the late 1980s this resulted in two full bands of Yes veterans touring and recording simultaneously - since Squire had rights to the "Yes" title, the alternative, but more classic Yes lineup of Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford and Howe had to work under their own names. To make matters even more confusing, the classic Yes lineup reunited to cut yet another live record in 1996, and a different lineup with Wakeman replaced by a new player is touring right now.

A major sidelight to the Yes story is the solo career of Rick Wakeman, who vied with Keith Emerson for the title of hottest 70s prog rock keyboard player, and sold almost as many records as Yes did during his mid-70s commercial peak. The master of keyboard-focused instrumental concept albums, he continued to put out numerous solo records even when his career fell into obscurity. I've listed only his 70s records and 80s vocal records because I have no plans to review his voluminous 80s and 90s New Age and ambient music catalogue. Bill Bruford has had a long, independent career as off-and-on drummer for King Crimson and as a solo artist, and I have reviewed some of his solo work on our Crimson page. I have listed Chris Squire's only solo album; there are also quite a few solo albums by Howe and Anderson, none of which I have; and I wouldn't be surprised if other Yes members recorded solo albums as well (Rabin? Kaye?).

There's a large Yes web site with plenty of gossip, albums covers, fanzines, historical info, etc. It's got a good text-only discography, but a better organized HTML discography is available elsewhere. There's also a graphics-heavy, but informative commercial Rick Wakeman site, which Wakeman himself has a heavy hand in. (JA)

Lineup:

Jon Anderson (vocals), Peter Banks (guitar), Bill Bruford (drums), Tony Kaye (keyboards), Chris Squire (bass, vocals). Banks replaced by Steve Howe (guitar, vocals), 1970. Kaye replaced by Rick Wakeman (keyboards), late 1971. Bruford left to join King Crimson, replaced by Alan White (drums), 1972. Wakeman replaced by Patrick Moraz (keyboards), 1974, returned to replace Moraz, 1976, quit again along with Anderson and replaced by Geoff Downes (keyboards), early 1980. Trevor Horn (bass, vocals) appeared on one album track and toured with the group, 1980. Band collapsed, late 1980, reformed with Anderson, Kaye, Squire, White, and Trevor Rabin, 1983. Anderson quit again, 1990, joined again, 1994.