l-r Scott Higham, Dan Nelson, Oliver Day, Hayley Griffiths, Oliver Wakeman and Arthur Wakeman
Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Doug Curran and Jeffrey Crecelius
Mark and I were preparing to enjoy another round of our Yes Guess Who game this week. Unfortunately, Mark was ill and couldn’t join me to record. Happily he is home now and on the mend. So I decided to change this episode into a version of the quiz you can join in with yourself. I even have an actual prize to give away. I have a ‘spare’ copy of the expanded From A Page album on CD which could be yours if you can answer my somewhat obscure and devious Guess Who questions. To continue our celebration of the first 15 years of the YMP, I have come up with 15 dastardly questions, the answers to which are all Yes musicians. If you would like to have the chance to win the fabulous prize (and I may well add in some lovely YMP goodies as well), please send your 15 answers by email to YMP Towers – that’s show@yesmusicpodcast.com in time for us to do the draw on next week’s episode.
Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide
Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius
Kevin is back! He and Mark bang on at length about the recent Oliver Wakeman concert with his band at Worcester, the remastered and expanded From A Page album and the first single from the new Yes album, Aurora.
My thanks to everyone who has wished me well, including Brian Breen, Chris Berry and Gary Betts and his wife and most importantly Mark, who has kept the wheels turning at YMP Towers brilliantly.
There are also some thoughts from Daniel and Amanda about the new From A Page, especially the inclusion of the song, Aliens and do check out the show notes for a video of our own Geoff Bailie discussing the new Yes single with his Prog Report compatriots.
How was the Oliver Wakeman band?
What’s new about the expanded From A Page?
What do we think of the new Yes single?
The back entrance to the venueFront entranceMerchandise stall being set upThe view from the soundboardOliver’s keyboard rigDrums ready to rockOliver sighted before the showOliver in preparation modeHayley GriffithsOliver entertaining with storiesA raconteur – chip off the old blockThe set listl-r Scott Higham, Dan Nelson, Oliver Day, Hayley Griffiths, Oliver Wakeman and Arthur WakemanOliver signing items for fans
YES announce 24th studio album
‘Aurora’;
launch video for title track
10th April 2026: YES, who is Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen, are proud to announce their 24th studio album ‘Aurora’ will be released on the 12th June 2026 via InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. As Howe explains: “Making this record was joyful, a chance to play, explore and give everything to the music. It’s always been about collaboration, somebody can write a song, but until everybody puts their contribution in it isn’t really a Yes song. We’re not trying to echo the past; we’re carrying the spirit of Yes forward and turning it into something new”.
The band are also launching the first single from the album, and you can watch the beautiful animated video for the title track, created by Matt Hutchings (Greg Lake, Oasis, Iron Maiden), here: https://youtu.be/ETEGJTM6plw
‘Aurora’ will be available as a Limited Deluxe 180g Light Green 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook & Poster, as well as a Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook, both featuring the stunning artwork of Roger Dean and Freya Dean, as well as a bonus disc of instrumentals, and a blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit stereo mixes (by Curtis Schwartz). The album is also available as a Gatefold 180g 2LP + LP-booklet, Special Edition CD Digipak & as Digital Album.
When Yes first began sketching out ideas for what would become ‘Aurora’, the process was loose and exploratory. There was no preconceived concept at the start, just a collection of musical fragments that gradually began to find one another and take form. Among these early sketches was a piece titled “Aurora,” and it quickly became clear that the name carried certain gravity. It suggested light, emergence, and a sense of vastness, qualities that resonated deeply with the band. Jon Davison remembers how “the title immediately resonated with Steve Howe and sparked visual inspiration for artist Roger Dean, setting a conceptual tone that would guide the project.”
Work on ‘Aurora’ began almost as soon as the ‘Classic Tales of Yes’ tour ended in 2024. The idea of a new album surfaced quickly and with the label’s encouragement, the band had the time to develop material organically. Rather than gathering in a single studio for months, they embraced a modern workflow; ideas were born in home studios, shaped independently, and then woven together through constant collaboration. Downes and Howe often acted as the central creative axis, with Howe, as producer, serving as the point through which all ideas eventually flowed.
Across ‘Aurora’, each track carries its own character. Some echo the classic Yes approach, others push into new territory, but together they form a cohesive whole that honours the band’s heritage while embracing forward motion. With their 24th studio album, Yes demonstrate not just longevity, but a sustained curiosity, a desire to keep exploring, keep refining and keep discovering their capacity to create.
Enrich your Prog year with iconic images of Yes in the 1970s, taken by the legendary rock photographer, Barry Plummer.
Enjoy 12 beautiful colour and black and white photographs of Yes in the studio and live, capturing the essence of the world’s greatest progressive rock band. With this limited-edition calendar on your wall throughout 2026, you’ll agree that Barry Plummer is, indeed, the Master of Images!
(A flat shipping fee will be added at checkout depending on your location.)
Enrich your Prog year with iconic images of Yes in the 1970s, taken by the legendary rock photographer, Barry Plummer.
Enjoy 12 beautiful colour and black and white photographs of Yes in the studio and live, capturing the essence of the world’s greatest progressive rock band. With this limited-edition calendar on your wall throughout 2026, you’ll agree that Barry Plummer is, indeed, the Master of Images!
(A flat shipping fee will be added at checkout depending on your location.)
This week, Mark and I considered the Yes music of the new Millennium – 25 years after it began. In this time, the band have produced just 5 studio albums and 1 EP:
Magnification
Fly From Here
From a Page (EP)
Heaven and Earth
The Quest
Mirror to the Sky
However, there are plenty of examples of great Yes music to enjoy and Mark and I chose 3 examples each.
What did we choose?
Anything from Heaven and Earth?
Did we get it ‘right’?
See if you agree with us and let us know by leaving a comment below.
Produced by Ken Fuller, Wayne Halland Jeffrey Crecelius
This week, Mark and I consider the question of what would happen if Yes were restricted to only playing music from Open Your Eyes to The Quest in a concert. Imagine that. Well, we did. Listen out for our ideas and add your own to the show notes for this week.
What would you choose?
Can a sensible setlist be constructed?
How would it fit together?
Take a listen to the episode and then let us know what you think below!
Here are all the albums we had to work with!
Facebook has just changed how pages work which means that I’ve had to establish a new place for us to post and discuss Yes-related happenings. It’s a new group entitled, rather creatively, YMP Discussion Group. For the moment it’s open to anyone to join but I’ll be adding rules and joining requirements when I have time. One of the advantages of the new format is that all members of the group have the same ability to post content, so it’s a bit more egalitarian, or somesuch. Please do search for the group and join in.
If you haven’t already done so, please sign up at tormatobook.com to the email newsletter. I’ve already shared 3 updates on the progress of the forthcoming book, TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE? (not the final title) complete with short extracts from some of the chapters. If you sign up now, for free, you can have access to the newsletters you’ve missed. It really helps to know people are looking forward to reading the culmination of my decades of Tormato obsession.
Not final artwork or title – just me messing about with one of Jeremy North’s photos
If you are still listening to the podcast on the website, please consider subscribing so you don’t risk missing anything:
Theme music
The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from: archive.org
