Library Rock's Backpages

Yes

Yes

93 articles

Free articles

Yes: Fragile

Review by Richard Cromelin, Rolling Stone, 16 March 1972

THE SURE AND STEADY pace at which Yes has progressed through their four albums seems to suit them just fine, and in Fragile the fruit ...

Yes: Dinosaurs

Interview by Roy Trakin, Creem, February 1988

"YES, WE ARE five individuals. That's what makes it what it is, how good it is and as complicated as it is. Each of us ...

Audio interviews

Yes' Jon Anderson (1997)

Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 November 1997

The ethereal Voice of Prog on life pre-Yes, the changes of personnel in the band, and the various break-ups and reformations that have taken place over the years.

File format: mp3; file size: 31.2mb, interview length: 34' 07" sound quality: * (phoner)

List of articles in the library

By date | By writer | Most recently added

Goodbye To The Cream

Live Review by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 7 December 1968

THE CREAM delivered all that was expected of them, and a little more, at their final, farewell-type Albert Hall concert last week. Of course, the ...

Yes to Yes

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 January 1969

THIS IS the time of year when pop journalists start surveying the scene for groups or singles likely to make an impression in the coming ...

The Rolling Stones, Plastic Ono Band et al: New Singles

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 5 July 1969

ROLLING STONES: 'Honky Tonk Women'/'You Can't Always Get What You Want' (Decca). An important single for the Stones, but a disappointment for us . ...

Yes: Yes (Atlantic 588 190)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 18 July 1969

WRITING REVIEWS of records made by people I'm happy to regard as good friends, always makes me feel a little guilty. What if my opinions ...

Yes: Yes (Atlantic)

Review by Mark Williams, Rolling Stone, 26 July 1969

THE BRITISH END of the Atlantic Recording Company's operations rarely signs up this country's groups and when it does, they have to be exceedingly good ...

Yes: Yes

Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, 3 October 1969

MAYBE HIDDEN away in the offices of Atlantic Records right now is an evil genius publicity man who is trying to devise a monstrous hype ...

Swiss Rolling And Rocking With Yes

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 6 December 1969

CHRIS WELCH reporting, with a little Alp from his friends ...

Yes: Time And A Word (Atlantic)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 1970

IT'S NICE to have those great Yes arrangements like ‘Then’, ‘The Prophet’ and ‘Astral Traveller’ on record at last. One of the great playing bands, ...

The Keef Hartley Band, Richie Havens, East of Eden, Yes: Olympia, Paris

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 17 January 1970

Handling the French ...

Mott The Hoople, Atomic Rooster, Free, Yes: Lanchester Arts Festival, Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970

A MASS of gently struggling sons of Coventry and outlying parts politely tripped over each other in the seatless main hall at Lanchester Festival on ...

The Nice, Yes: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 14 February 1970

IT WAS an emotional as well as a musical triumph when the Nice took London's Festival Hall by storm on Saturday. A feeling built up ...

Yes: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 28 March 1970

LAST SATURDAY saw the solo debut by what must surely be one of the next major concert attractions in this country... Yes. Before a capacity ...

Yes: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 9 April 1970

IT HAS BEEN many months since I've seen YES and the consequent starvation of tight British progressive rock music par excellence left me eagerly awaiting ...

Black Sabbath, Yes: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 July 1970

WITH CHAMPAGNE in hand, Herr Klook re-emerged before a capacity crowd to present his new series of Friday night scenes at the Lyceum. ...

Yes, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heap: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 25 July 1970

YES MADE their comeback at the Lyceum on Friday, but what should have been a great occasion turned out to be rather mediocre. ...

Yes: Time And A Word (Atlantic stereo, 2400.006; 42s. 6d.)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970

YES, IT'S SUPERB! ...

A Drop of Vintage Yes

Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 31 October 1970

YES MADE the notional newspapers last week on the strength of their signing with Hemdale. They've been worthy of acclaim, however, during the past year ...

Iron Butterfly, Yes: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

WHAT AN incredible rave-up when Yes and Iron Butterfly took off at the Albert Hall, London, on Monday. Apart from an audience who seemed to ...

Yes and Iron Butterfly: Allies of Rock

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

Chris Welch with Yes and Iron Butterfly in Holland ...

Yes move into the gap left by Nice

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971

SOME CHEERFUL dullard in his misguided wisdom recently asked Yes, (quote) ..."When are you chaps going to happen?" To which he was promptly and most ...

Yes: The Yes Album (Atlantic)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 13 February 1971

Yes, yes, yes ...

Yes: From groups' group to people's band

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971

"THEY OUGHT to play Frank Zappa's 'Peaches En Regalia' on Two-Way Family Favourites instead of constantly churning out 'Land Of Hope And Glory', because it ...

Yes Mustn't Sit On Their Backsides

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 April 1971

REAL PROS, the ones who last, take a little longer than "overnight" before they find mass appeal. In the case of Yes it was three ...

Yes: The Yes Album (Atlantic 240 001)

Review by Nick Jones, Cream, June 1971

MIRACULOUSLY avoiding the hairy, heavy rock clichés in which so many lesser bands bash along senselessly for hours, Yes have, with their third try, put ...

Yes: Making It Last

Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, December 1971

BRITISH MUSIC now seems to have a quality of holding onto its stars, and it’s maybe only once a year that anyone manages to surface ...

Yes: The Squire Of Notting Hill Gate

Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, 15 January 1972

...talks to David Hughes ...

Ready, Eddie? An Interview with Eddie Offord

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972

EDDIE OFFORD SITS in his penthouse flat, way above the traffic that thunders down the Vauxhall Bridge Road past Victoria. ...

Black Sabbath, Yes: The Forum, Inglewood CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1972

Black Sabbath and Yes in Concert at Forum ...

The Great Yes Technique Debate

Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Rolling Stone, 30 March 1972

London — "I tell you this much," said the studio doorman, "it’s been a real eye-opener working here. See, my generation don’t really appreciate how ...

Yes: Yes are Well and Grooving

Profile and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 27 May 1972

IN THE basement of Una Billings School of Dancing, Shepherd's Bush, London, Yes are bouncing ideas off each other for a new album. Jon Anderson, ...

Yes: Confessions Of a Musical Idiot

Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972

JON ANDERSON OF YES TALKS TO TONY NORMAN ...

Yes on Edge

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972

Will they burn out, or blast through the time barrier? ...

Yes: Close To The Edge (Atlantic)

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972

Meaningless magnificence from Yes? ...

Yes: Close To The Edge

Review by Richard Cromelin, Rolling Stone, 9 November 1972

WITH Close to the Edge, their fifth album, Yes have formed a coherent musical language from the elements that have been kicked around by progressive ...

Yes: A Story of Chinese Scriptures and Vegetable Eaters

Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 2 June 1973

STEVE HOWE... ENGLAND IS STILL BEST ...

Yes: Yessongs (Atlantic)

Review by Jon Tiven, Rolling Stone, 7 June 1973

YES SUFFERS from having too many diverse talents for one group to handle. The differing musical styles of the five musicians cannot easily be integrated ...

Yes: Keep 'Em Yessing

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 August 1973

"YES ARE LIKE an amoeba. Now an amoeba works on the principle of..do you know, I've no idea how it f***** works!" Jon Anderson grinned, ...

Yes: Yes Men On Top

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 29 September 1973

FLUSHED from their success in the MM Pop Poll, the all-star musicians of Yes held a remarkable summit conference this week. Gathered round the board ...

Yes: Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 1 December 1973

CHANTING VOICES lead us into 'The Revealing Science Of God', and the marathon Yes epic that has occupied so much of their time throughout the ...

Yes: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 1 December 1973

A DISTURBING night for a Yes fan at London's Rainbow, when the group unveiled their new work Tales From Topographic Oceans. For despite, the applause ...

Yes

Essay by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, February 1974

IF IT HADN'T been for Sgt Pepper, Paramhansa Yogananda would never have become part of the rock tradition. ...

Yes: Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic K80001)

Review by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, February 1974

IF YOU TEND to wonder if the critics (with the noble exception of Bob Shelton) were right and this double album is the bummer they ...

Yes: Yes Please!

Profile and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 February 1974

AS YES PLAY one of the most prestigious concerts in their career, at Madison Square Garden, New York, this week both their British and American ...

Yes: America roars YES!

Report by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 2 March 1974

Rick Wakeman said it: the MM's Yes concert at Madison Square Garden was the best yet. ...

Rick Wakeman: British Groups Have Gone Over The Top

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 13 April 1974

The American tour was the last of the long ones ...

Yes, 5,000 Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong!

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 27 April 1974

"I HEAR we're playing the next gig in My-Rand," said Rick Wakeman, leaning heavily on the bar in the George Cinque Hotel. ...

Rick Wakeman: Quitting Was An Obvious Move

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 29 June 1974

A SQUEAL of tyres, a cloud of dust and Rick Wakeman and wife Ros, drew to a halt outside the "Valiant Trooper," an excellent boozer, ...

Rick Wakeman: Why I Said No To Yes

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 29 June 1974

RICK WAKEMAN has a grand design afoot that could result in one of the most extraordinary, epic concerts in ye history of popular music. ...

Yes Take a Break

Report and Interview by Anne Moore, Music Scene, July 1974

NOT THAT there seems much chance of their being forgotten, what with the success of Tales From Topographic Oceans and everyone's current enthusiasm for Rick ...

Yes: I'm Not Jumping Into Wakeman's Boots…It Will Be Different

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 17 August 1974

"THE TEXTURES are so rich...and they work so fast..." Patrick Moraz slipped a sidelong glance across the top of an amphitheatre of keyboards, a mixture ...

Yes: Quick Draw Chris

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 28 September 1974

CHRIS SQUIRE is like one of those old time marshals who casually patrol the toughest towns in the West. He's ten feet tall, slow movin', ...

Letter from Britain: Something Might Happen

Report by Ian MacDonald, Creem, November 1974

SITUATION UNCHANGED. Still hanging on in here, waiting for something to happen. (Wait — was that a heart-grazing lobe-grinder of a new single from Mick, ...

"A Rearranged Yes Says 'No' To Standing Still"

Interview by Ron Ross, Circus, December 1974

JON ANDERSON'S normally composed features clouded, as the mouthpiece for Yes, rock's foremost progressive quintet, recalled with a shudder his first case of critical cold-shoulder. ...

Yes: Relayer (Atlantic)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 December 1974

Chris Squire (bass guitar), Jon Anderson (vocals), Patrick Moraz (keyboards), Steve Howe (guitar), Alan White (drums), Produced by Yes and Eddie Offord. Recorded on Eddie ...

Yes Battles The Skeptics With Relayer

Profile and Interview by Stephen Demorest, Circus, February 1975

Stabilized by their Swiss replacement for the seemingly indispensible Rick Wakeman, a nervy Yes have cracked into yet another album of epic proportions. Will Relayer ...

Yes: Yesterdays (Atlantic)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 8 March 1975

Recordings between 1969-1971 including material from Yes and Time And A Word. ...

Chris Squire - Interview

Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975

I'M HUNTING THROUGH the cartridges in the glove compartment of Chris Squire's '63 Rolls Royce as we head out of Liverpool towards the M62 and ...

Yes

Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975

There is no mention of brown rice on this page. Persian rugs and health food in general? Well, OK...yeah, but not in any harmful quantity. ...

Yes: Relayer and Yesterdays

Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 19 June 1975

WITH THEIR LAST five albums (including Relayer) reaching Top Five status, Yes are central to the new British Invasion. ...

Yes: When We're Perfect, We'll Stop

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 September 1975

"IT'S BEEN a marvellous year for us, and hopefully it will get even better in 1976, but although we aim for perfection, I hope we ...

Alan White: Can A White Man Sing.....?

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976

"NOW TELL ME honestly, what did you really expect when you came to meet me?" The disarming question is posed as yet another Yes album ...

Yes, Peter Frampton, Gary Wright: JFK Stadium, Philadelphia

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 26 June 1976

PHILADELPHIA: As rocket shells burst overhead and mortars roared only feet away, a lone Englishman with a dapper moustache smiled with delight as he stood ...

Yes: The Biggest Gig In The Entire History Of The World

Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 June 1976

Bicentennialand and rock's favourite vegetarians take Phil Sutcliffe by storm. ...

Yes, Peter Frampton, Gentle Giant, Gary Wright: Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 19 July 1976

Yes, Frampton in Rock Concert ...

10cc, Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, ELO et al: Split Ends

Overview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 4 December 1976

SOME come, others go, but the name lives on for ever...10cc set no precedent by splitting in half last week, but the decision by Graham ...

Yes: Going For The One

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 July 1977

GO ON, GUESS how the first Yes album for three years begins. I tell you, you haven't got a hope. ...

Yes: Credibility Regained (Or: Rich Superstars Make Good Album sensation!)

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 16 July 1977

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: this feature does not contain any references to "punk’ or ‘new wave" ...

Chris Squire: Yes, it's Great to be Home

Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 15 October 1977

BEING BASS player with the best rock band in the world has its rewards. ...

Yes in New York: Swings And Roundabouts

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978

"EXCUSE me, but what are you writing?" I'm just making notes about the concert and I'm trying to listen to the piano player. ...

Yes: Tormato

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978

"RELEASE, Release!" is one of the most significant chants on this happy musical event. It is the hook-line on the fastest, funkiest, piece of rock ...

Yes: Tormato

Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978

YES, YES, YES — BUT SO WHAT? ...

Yes: Tormato

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 16 September 1978

I UNDERSTAND it has remained OK to like Genesis (which I don't) but it's not OK to like Yes (which I do though no longer ...

Yes Please

Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 23 September 1978

"THEN YOU'LL wanna smoke some of this," said the New York taxi driver as he offered me a joint of grass. I'd just told him ...

Yes: The Band That Punks Say Is A "No"

Interview by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 28 September 1980

Question: Do you imagine it impossible to sum up in a single word all that rock's third generation, that is, the punks and their new ...

Trevor Horn: Clever Trevor!

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982

TREVOR HORN IS A ROARING SUCCESS. HE WAS BUGGLES, PLAYED WITH YES, GAVE DOLLAR THEIR HITS AND HAS NOW PRODUCED ABC AND THEIR DEBUT LP, ...

Yes: Yesterday and Today

Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 26 November 1983

Phil Bell gives the nod to the reformed, revitalised Yes ...

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe: Mission Improbable

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 1989

They’ve survived countless changes of fashion, years of critical contempt, musical and personal differences de luxe. For legal reasons they can’t even call themselves Yes. ...

Roger Dean

Essay by Johnny Black, Q, November 1989

Any self-respecting Yes album used to feel naked without a fantasy cover by artist Roger Dean. It seems only fitting, then, that he has done ...

Yes: Union  

Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, 13 June 1991

UNION, A REUNION of most of the people who used to sing and play instruments for Yes, is an eclectic miscarriage that almost isn't even ...

The Moment: 25 Years of Rock Photography

Book Excerpt by Jill Furmanovsky, 'The Moment' (Paper Tiger), 1995

A Beatles fan MY FIRST ROCK picture, taken circa 1967 on an instamatic camera, was of Paul McCartney with two of my school friends outside his ...

Yes: Hello Atlantis!

Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, February 1997

They're back, and this time they're organic... Dave Rimmer hops on board the Yes reunion special ...

Yes live at Los Angles Universal Amphitheater

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, February 1998

IT'S ALWAYS seemed a tragic waste of snottiness that some safety-pinned '70s punk combo never thought to take the early, pre-Roger Dean Yes logo – ...

Yes: Live At Manchester Apollo

Live Review by John McCready, The Independent, February 1998

LIKE ALICE Cooper, who I saw late last year playing the same game, it's interesting to note that former forces of the 1970s are bowing ...

Yes: Open Your Eyes

Review and Interview by Kit Aiken, Uncut, February 1999

TO ANYONE growing up through the punk era, Yes were the ultimate enemy. In those primitive cool days, laser shows, flowing locks, portentous mysticism, flamboyant ...

Chris Squire on 40 Years of Prog Life

Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 4 February 2009

PROG-ROCK KINGS Yes are known for their intricate and multi-movement songs, ethereal lyrics and harmonies, and fantasy-fuelled album-cover art (mostly by Roger Dean, who also ...

Yes: Fly From Here/Jon Anderson: Survival And Other Stories

Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, September 2011

Cruelly replaced by a tribute-band replica, Jon Anderson manages to conjure more magic than his former Yes colleagues. ...

Interview: Trevor Horn

Interview by Simon Price, The Stool Pigeon, 2 February 2012

"That coldness; that precision": Simon Price meets the man who invented the '80s ...

In The Mood: The Favourite Albums Of Rush's Geddy Lee

Guide by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 29 June 2012

Mick Middles speaks to Rush bassist and singer Geddy Lee about his favourite albums of all times... and finds surprises amidst the classic of the ...

Yes, prog rock makes a comeback

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, 17 September 2017

THEY'RE NOT called Yes. ...

Yes: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Richard English, Rock's Backpages, June 2022

THIS TOUR IS appropriately called "Close to the Edge". Alan White, drummer, who was due to perform, toppled over the edge on 26th May and ...

see also Jon Anderson

see also Asia

see also Bill Bruford

see also Flash

see also Steve Howe

see also Patrick Moraz

see also Tomorrow

see also Rick Wakeman

see also Alan White

see also Trevor Rabin

see also Syn, The

see also Mabel Greer's Toyshop

RSS

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE