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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius
This week, Mark and I considered what makes Talk from 1994 a great Yes album. The final Yes record featuring Trevor Rabin was a tour-de-force of progressive rock in many ways but what do you think Mark and I chose as our reasons to focus on? Perhaps we chose the same aspects as you would, perhaps not.
In any case, do please add your thoughts on Talk in the comments below.
- Which musicians keep the Yes flame alive?
- Is this actually a great Yes album?
- Does it sound like Yes?
Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide
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Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Wayne Hall
- Ken Fuller
- Jeffrey Crecelius
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Lind |
| Al Dell’Angelo | Lobate Scarp |
| Barry Gorsky | Mark Baggs |
| Bill Whittaker | Mark James Lang |
| Bob Martilotta | Mark Slater |
| Brian Harris | Martin Kjellberg |
| Brian Sullivan | Michael Handerhan |
| Chris Bandini | Michael O’Connor |
| Craig Estenes | Miguel Falcão |
| Dave Owen | Paul Hailes |
| David | Paul Tomei |
| David Heyden | Rachel Hadaway |
| David Pannell | Robert Nasir |
| David Watkinson | Robert Vandiver |
| Declan Logue | Ronnie Neeley |
| Dem | Scott Colombo |
| Doug Curran | Simon Barrow |
| Fergus Cubbage | Stephen Lambe |
| Fred Barringer | Steve Dill |
| Gary Betts | Steve Luzietti |
| Geoff Bailie | Steve Perry |
| Geoffrey Mason | Steve Rode |
| Guy DeRome | Steve Scott |
| Henrik Antonsson | Steven Roehr |
| Hogne Bø Pettersen | Terence Sadler |
| Todd Dudley | |
| John Cowan | John Thomson |
| John Holden | John Viola |
| Jamie McQuinn | Tim Stannard |
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9 replies on “6 reasons Talk is a great Yes album”
Talk is one of Yes finest albums as is 90125. I don’t however consider them as Yes Music. Chris Squire’s bass playing has none of his earlier flare These are in my top ten Yes records and Talk is the last thing they di worth buying/
Yes, the near absence of Squire is a shame, I agree. I imagine the reasons are complex.
When I asked Trevor Rabin about this in my interview with him when he released Rio, he denied that he had played all the bass parts on Talk, like some fans say. He said Chris was very much involved with the album. In fact, apart from Drama, I think Squire’s bass was suddenly much less in the forefront of the music from Tales and onward. The change in the Yes sound from TYA, Fragile and CttE, is huge. And it wasn’t only because of Alan’s drumming. Chris bass playing was mixed way down in the mix, compared to the earlier album. Not to mention compared to Fish out of Water.
Talk is one of my favourite albums and l was happy to hear Kevin highlight Alan White’s contribution in making this a great Yes album (the last great Yes album?). I love Alan’s playing on The Calling in particular which is both heavy and inventive. I was lucky enough to see Yes play this live in 1994 (was it really 31 years ago?) and, sadly, we are unlikely to ever hear any of this album played live again. It’s such a shame that ARW didn’t take the opportunity to play anything from Talk – The Calling would have been a great opener and I’m sure Lou Molino would have had no trouble at all playing Alan’s part.
Absolutely agree, except that you never know what lies in the future for Yes. I’m staying hopeful that we will have all sorts of unexpected surprises in the coming years- decades?
Yes featuring ARW played I Am Waiting when I saw them. It was even better live than on record. But I think that was the only one they played from Talk, which surprised me.
I wasn’t aware but am glad to hear that they did
You guys really covered the bases here; TALK is great due to effective co-writing between Jon & Trevor, heavy & creative Alan drumming, fabulous Yes choir parts, and pristine production (amazing considering the multiple computers synced together using MOTU’S Digital Performer)!
I wish Jon & the geeks would play some of these live. I heard that they did The Calling early on but it was not in the setlist rotation on the most recent tour. Andy Graziano sounds more like Trevor Rabin than Steve Howe in my opinion, so this material (as well as 90125 & BG songs) is ripe for the picking!
Following on from Mark’s comment about the live recordings, they are superb performances. It’s a pity about the sound quality though.