In 2020 we asked Prog readers to tell us what their favourite Yes songs were. Almost 50,000 of you voted in the poll. We compiled the results into the following top 40 list – which, we think, includes a few surprises, and of course doesn’t include consideration of the band’s 2021 album The Quest or 2023 follow-up Mirror To The Sky.
40. The Remembering (High The Memory)
Jon Anderson wanted "a calm sea of music" for side two of Tales From Topographic Oceans, according to band biographer Tim Morse. But nothing ever turned out so simple with this band. The opening passages are dreamy enough, but soon Steve Howe can’t help but disturb the peace with emotive guitar lines – and even electric sitar; and Chris Squire’s lively bass also offsets their singer’s Hindu-influenced visions and understated vocal musings, to beguiling effect.
39. The Fish
The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) is a showcase for composer Squire. The title came from his nickname – a result of his fondness for taking long baths. It’s built around a groove in 7/8, with Howe picking out the harmonics on guitar as a backdrop. Live, the track was a platform for Squire to stretch out with an extended solo, fine examples of which can be found on Yessongs and Live At Montreux.
- “We were pot-smoking hippies and Rick Wakeman was a pub guy. The angle twisted and we went off in a new direction”: The epic story of Yes and the three albums that changed the course of music
- “We’d been paying Rick Wakeman £25 a week and Yes offered him £100… We had his son Oliver with us for a while, and he left for Yes too!” Dave Cousins and the life and times of Strawbs
38. Homeworld (The Ladder)
The Ladder saw Yes working with producer Bruce Fairbairn, who brought much of the warmth and ambition of their classic 70s albums back to the music, evidenced in the grand scale of Homeworld. “Yes seem to have come round in a beautiful cycle,” says Anderson in Stuart Chambers’ Yes biography. “It’s remarkable that we’re still making music, and it’s viable music, and it’s very adventurous still. It is still, to coin a phrase, progressive.”
37. Shoot High, Aim Low
Four years separated Big Generator from 90125 and the album had a difficult gestation that saw the band switching studios, countries, and producers before it was finished. Shoot High, Aim Low is unmistakably a product of its time with a slick polished production; note the gated reverb on Alan White’s drums, a technique the became ubiquitous thanks to Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight. There’s a live performance on 2005’s The Word Is Live.
36. Mood For A Day
Howe’s one-man contribution to Fragile is a classical gas. If his signature showpiece Clap doffs its cap to his guitar hero Chet Atkins, this three-minute marvel owes more to another early idol, Andrés Segovia. Howe demonstrates some Flamenco-style strumming, and that rangy left hand of his fingers an ornate, baroque melody harking back to Bach. The penultimate song on its parent record, Mood For A Day is a tasty palate cleanser before the final course, Heart Of The Sunrise.
35. Endless Dream
Closing out the undervalued mid-90s album Talk is this three-part 15-minute epic, fruitfully recalling Yes' longer numbers of earlier times (it's effectively the title track). Trevor Rabin, who was producing, wrote the bulk of it, and both Anderson and White have since sung its praises, the former likening it to Awaken. Its shifts between busily robust and calmly chilled are consummately handled, with Squire and White reminding us why they were among rock's most dazzling rhythm sections.
34. Hold On
One of Yes’ less-heralded qualities has always been their versatility, and this is as good a reflection of it as any. Hold On manages to take the emerging AOR, FM-friendly sound of Asia, Journey, Foreigner et al and repurpose it, while also adding a gutsy rock edge echoing the increasingly dominant pop-rock sound of Bon Jovi and their ilk.
Rabin’s tidy guitar licks and way with a winning chorus are never in doubt, but Anderson and Squire’s harmonies and intricate bridge section also stamp this song with an inimitable Yes identity as the band reinvent themselves for a new era.
33. Leave It
After the incredible success of 90125’s first single Owner Of A Lonely Heart, the pressure was on to repeat the trick. Follow-up Leave It didn’t reach the same giddy heights, peaking at No.24 in the US in April ’84 – but it’s still a curious, clever piece.
Squire’s bassline (the kernel of the song) is groovy, Trevors Rabin and Horn contribute to the numerous catchy motifs and lyrics about the ‘pleasures’ of touring, and Squire joins Rabin and Anderson on those huge, Synclavier-enhanced choral harmonies. Horn’s slick production and Godley and Creme’s 18 arty, upside-down MTV videos add to the 80s charm.
32. Love Will Find A Way
The first single released from the Big Generator album, this is as good a slice of progressive pop as you’re likely to find; but, as with its parent album, not one that finds much favour with a certain section of the Yes fanbase.
Written by Rabin with Stevie Nicks in mind (the sort of thing to drive Yes’ more narrow-minded fans to utter distraction), drummer White heard the song, liked it, and pushed it forward for Yes to record. The single made No. 30 on the US Billboard chart, too. The band would never feature so high in a singles chart again.
31. Don't Kill The Whale
That Yes were at each others throats during the recording of Tormato is well documented and goes a long way to explaining why many of the Yes faithful care little for the album. This, the only single release from that LP, is certainly one of the most consistent and coherent on offer.
Largely written by Squire and Anderson, based around an environmental poem the later had penned. Rick Wakeman chimed in with sounds he conjured up on his newly acquired Polymoog, which he thought sounded like the titular animal. The single breached the UK Top 40, reaching No. 36.
