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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken Fuller
We took a break from Tales from Topographic Oceans this week to consider what Yes were up to in the 1980s. Across just four albums (if you are happy to call ABWH a Yes album), Yes music was somewhat different to what had come before.
You are probably aware that our friends and YMP Patrons Stephen Lambe and Dave Watkinson wrote a whole book about Yes in the 1980s so don’t forget to check that out if you don’t already have a copy – it’s currently available for a reduced price at Burning Shed (see below).
Mark and I choose our favourite songs from each of these four albums and consider what makes the Yes music of the 1980s great.
- Are all the 80s records similar?
- How would you define the Yes music of this decade?
- Why isn’t there more of it?
Let us know if you agree with us!
On sale for a reduced price at Burning Shed!
https://burningshed.com/stephen-lambe_david-watkinson_yes-in-the-1980s_book
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Yes – The Tormato Story
Available now!
YMP Patrons:
Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Ken Fuller
- Jeffrey Crecelius
Patrons:
| Jim Morrison | Jon Pickles | Declan Logue |
| Gary Betts | Alan Begg | Michael Handerhan |
| Barry Gorsky | Steve Perry | Doug Curran |
| Martin Kjellberg | Todd Dudley | Rachel Hadaway |
| Lind | Paul Hailes | Craig Estenes |
| Mark James Lang | Steve Rode | David |
| Bob Martilotta | John Holden | Stephen Lambe |
| Dem | Fred Barringer | Scott Colombo |
| Chris Bandini | David Heyden | John Thomson |
| Mark Baggs | John Cowan | John Parry |
| Dave Owen | Simon Barrow | Steve Scott |
| Terence Sadler | Steve Dill | Robert Nasir |
| Fergus Cubbage | William Hayes | Geoff Bailie |
| Steven Roehr | Lobate Scarp | Geoffrey Mason |
| David Watkinson | Tim Stannard | Robert Vandiver |
| Brian Sullivan | David Pannell | Jamie McQuinn |
| Miguel Falcão | Paul Tomei | Michael O’Connor |
| Brian Harris | Hogne Bø Pettersen | Guy DeRome |
Our (not really) new Facebook YMP Discussion Group is open to anyone to join but I’ll be adding rules and joining requirements when I have time (one day…). 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.
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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
5 replies on “Yes – Best of the 80s – 604”
I consider the 1980s to be “The Age of Buggles” for Yes, since all four albums had the input of at least one Buggle: Both were on DRAMA, with Trevor Horn’s production on 90125 and BIG GENERATOR, and Geoff Downes’ song-writing on ABWH.
A most enjoyable episode! I very much agree with Kevin about Tempus Fugit (I love the way they work the band name into the song, which they never dared to do before) and with Mark about Owner of a Lonely Heart (which despite almost too much airplay really is a great, well-constructed song when you listen to it afresh). As to Big Generator, I must plunk for Almost Like Love if for no other reason than that great line about a Shakespeare revolution – we could use that right about now, eh?
Here is your Kit Kat commercial:
Fun episode! I’d like to pose this question to everyone: is the ABWH album best defined as 1) a YES album sans Chris Squire or 2) a Jon Anderson solo album with YES session musicians? I tend to come down on the side of #2 due to the way the album was put together–Jon had written songs (most of which are on the cheesy side as stated in the podcast) and went around to the lads asking for their input. Then, of course, the famous sessions in Montserrat sans Steve Howe, etc. One of my fav songs on the record is perhaps the cheesiest of all: Quartet. You can’t get any cheesier than working all of those YES song titles into the lyrics, LOL! Of course, even the drum sounds are cheesy on this album, but we love it anyway!
Hello there Kevin and Mark,
I’ve been thinking about the “Yes in the 80’s” podcast topic from last week, and here is my take for a selection from each album :
Drama – Into The Lens
90125 – Our Song
Big Generator – I’m Running
ABWH – Brother Of Mine
I’d also like to see a full album release of 80’s Rabin-era live material, and think it’s time that 9012LIV –The Solos became simply 9012LIVE–The Concert. An expanded reissue would be most welcome and is certainly long overdue.
Cheers fellows