Yes

Greatly Appreciated

YES
 
 
Yes  are an English rock band who achieved success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music.  They are distinguished by their use of mystical and cosmic lyrics, live stage sets and lengthy compositions, often with complex instrumental and vocal arrangements.  Nine of their twenty studio albums have reached the top ten in either the UK or the US charts, with two reaching the number one spot in the UK.  They have sold 13.5 million certified units in the US.  The band's current line-up since February 2012 consists of singer Jon Davison, guitarist Steve Howe, bass guitarist Chris Squire, keyboardist Geoff Downes, and drummer Alan White.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
An interesting thing about progressive rock bands is that most of them did not hit the ball out of the park with their first album, the way that King Crimson and Boston did.  As I noted in my last post, the first hit songs for Yes came on their third album, The Yes Album.  Journey didn't make any real noise on the music scene until vocalist Steve Perry joined up for the fourth album, Infinity.  The breakthrough album for StyxThe Grand Illusion was their seventh album.  Leftoverture was the album that put Kansas on the map, their fourth album.  With Trillion though, the band was never given the opportunity to develop an audience or to refine their sound. 
 
(October 2012)
 
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Twink is also renowned as a founding member of the hard psych band the Pink Fairies, along with the DeviantsMick Farren and Steve Peregrin Took, who was Marc Bolan's partner in the original Tyrannosaurus Rex band.

Besides Twink, the other bandmembers in Tomorrow – originally called the Four Plus One – included guitarist Steve Howe, which was later in YesJunior Wood; and Keith West, who was evidently the best known member of the band when their album came out.  Of note is the fact that Tomorrow was featured on the very first of the Peel Sessions by DJ John Peel on BBC Radio 1, on September 21, 1967. 

 

(July 2013)

 
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Tret Fure, a multi-talented women's music artist, has more of a hard-rock edge to her music than most of the genre's artists; she grew up in the Midwest and became a professional musician when she was 16.  Her first solo album, Tret Fure (1973) was produced by Lowell George of Little Feat; and she later toured as the opening act for several major rock bands that included Yesthe J. Geils Band and Poco

 

(January 2014)
 
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Also present at the Think Pink sessions was John (Junior) Wood on bass; Wood had been a member of one of the earliest British psychedelic bands, Tomorrow, along with Twink, future Yes guitarist Steve Howeand Keith Westwho appeared in the early rock opera masterminded by Mark Wirtz called A Teenage Opera.  West's single "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" was an instant hit when it was released in July 1967 and became part of the soundtrack of the Summer of Love

 

(March 2014/1)

 

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Future keyboard superstar Rick Wakeman was in the Strawbs in 1970 and 1971; he remained with the band for three albums but eventually left when he decided that his presence was causing both he and the Strawbs to be creatively stagnant.  Rick Wakeman joined Yes in 1971 and was with the band during their most productive period, for the albums FragileClose to the Edge, and Tales from Topographic Oceans.  Rick Wakeman started his solo career by early 1974, though he continued to play with Yes off and on over the years, including their 35th anniversary concert in 2004

 

(July 2014)

 

Last edited: April 3, 2021