Yes Music Podcast

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Doug Curran and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, we return to our occasional series on YesKit, this time featuring the instrument Tony Kaye used, briefly, in 1968 before he upgraded to a Hammond M100. It was the 1960s iconic keyboard, the British-made Vox Continental. The story of this revolutionary instrument is fascinating and we are indebted to the undispute...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Doug Curran and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, I have been researching one of the sets of photos that will be in the Barry Plummer book - Master of Images. It was labelled 'Roundhouse' but, as you will hear, that wasn't as straightforward a venue as I thought it was going to be. Once I get it all sorted out, I was delighted to discover that there is a crowd r...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius It's time to post our full review of the latest Yes album, Aurora. Mark and I spoke - quite a lot - about the record and our reactions to it. As you will hear, we both like it a lot and we go into depth about why. There are a couple of aspects I'm not so keen on and there is even a [Shock! Horror!] minor disagreement between...

It's been a week of huge contrasts. Aurora was released and Mark and I chat about the physical copies later in the episode but I also had the news from CLive Ayer that Yes' first manager, Roy Flynn died this week. Clive kindly agreed to come and share his recollections of Roy but before that, here are two tributes, the first from Yes' current management team and the second from Dave Watkinson: All...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius Mark and I are looking forward to talking about the new Yes album, Aurora, next week but this time, we have gone right back to the first ever Yes compilation album, Yesterdays, because we mentioned the first song on the record a couple of weeks ago, in the context of The New Age of Atlantic album. We enjoyed listening to the...

This week we welcomed bass maestro Miguel Falcão back onto the YMP, this time to talk about the bass that appears in Barry Plummer's photo set from Redan Recorders in February 1980. Chris shows off his new instrument to the camera so we have a great insight into his feelings, shortly after he received his customised Electra MPC bass. He seems rather pleased with it, as you can see in the photos I...

This week, Mark and I had a very interesting chat about collecting Yes music - different pressings, different versions, different formats. I had come up with several categories of Yes collectors and here they are: Musical completist Artist/Band Supporter Band historian Audiophile History fanatic Tactile fanatic Emotional collector So which category do you think you fit into - or perhaps you consid...

I have been away on holiday this week but Mark and I managed to pre-record this episode all about Yes Rapture - although we may stray into a 'rupture' moment as well... We each chose 3 moments that take us to a different dimension. There are many of these in Yes music, of course, but see if you can guess what we have chosen - I was certainly very surprised by more than one of Mark's choices! Of co...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius What songs spring to mind when you think about Yes Positivity? Possibly the most positive band in history, there are plenty of obvious examples of songs but which would you choose? Mark and I had a great time choosing three songs each that encapsulate that essential Yes trait. You might be surprised that our choices came fro...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, I was delighted to be able to speak to Yes' lead singer, Jon Davison, in detail about the new Yes album, Aurora. I learned many fascinating things about the record and how it was put together. Unfortunately, Mark was unable to join me for the interview but, as you will hear, we had a great conversation in response...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, we start a new series of episodes in preparation for the forthcoming book Master of Images - Barry Plummer's Yes Legacy. One of the most intriguing sets of photos shared with me by Barry shows some kind of an event in 1981 with Rick Wakeman, shortly after he left Yes. I've added a couple of the shots (heavily wate...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week we spoke to Paul K Joyce who has contributed orchestrations to the new Yes album, Aurora. This is the third Yes album he has been involved with after helping the band create the wonderful aural landscapes of The Quest and Mirror to the Sky. He tells us about how the decisions came about, how many of the songs on Au...

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 m...

Mark shares news about the forthcoming Yes album, Aurora, and runs down his own top 5 Yes live albums. Tune in and compare your own favourites!

Another stellar (how topical) episode from Mark in Kevin's absence! This week, he covers a wide variety of topics including the weather(!), his own latest Projekt Gemineye release, Jon Davison and the new Yes album and the main topic - the record pressings you must have if you count yourself as a fanatical Yes collector! https://projektgemineye.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-days-of-yesterday Mark re...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius Continuing his sterling work in Kevin's absense, Mark considers his picks for the Top 5 Yes albums since 1980. I wonder how his list will compare with yours. Let us know in the comments, as always. What post-1980 album comes out top for Mark? How does his top 5 compare with yours? Do any of his picks seem odd to you?

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius Mark considers the new version of Yes Symphonic Live, from the amazing combination of Anderson, White, Squire, Howe, Brislin and orchestra. Is the new version significantly different to the original? What are the added ingredients? Is it worth the purchase price?  

Mark continues his solo episodes in Kevin's absence. This week, he thinks about his memories associated with three Yes albums. There's also time to reflect on the recent announcement of the deluxe and expanded version of the Oliver Wakeman-led Yes album, From a Page.

In his second solo episode, Mark talks about a very small section of his extensive Rick Wakeman collection.

A Vinyl Collector compares and analyzes Time and a Word.

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week we were delighted to welcome Yes drummer Jay Schellen back on the YMP. Just like last time, we had a lovely conversation and Jay shared his thoughts about the forthcoming UK and European Fragile Tour as well as the new Yes album that is now being prepared for release in July (hopefully). It's clear from our intervi...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, Mark and I had a lot of fun on one of our Yes Guess Who quizzes. Also, as you'll hear, we veered a little off-topic in both the answer section of the quiz and in a two pence segment that was supposed to be about Yes and Yes-related Record Store Day releases, but we enjoyed a little bit of less serious chat a coupl...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, we had a great conversation with Glenn Williams, a rock writer based in Japan who I found via YMP Patron Paul Hailes. We picked Genn's brains about the music scene in Japan today and over the decades to try and find out what makes the country 'tick' and why they seem to receive special treatment from record compan...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week, Mark and I continue our mini series about solo songs that could have been Yes songs and this time it's Jon Anderson's turn. As we did last week with Steve Howe, we listened to Jon's first three solo albums - Olias of Sunhillow, Song of Seven and Animation. We chose just one song from each record that we think coul...

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius This week Mark and I began a mini series on songs that appear on Yes members' solo albums but could have been re-worked as effective Yes songs. It was interesting to listen to our first subject, Steve Howe's first 3 solo albums, Beginnings, The Steve Howe Album and Turbulence back-to-back. There are plenty of differences to...