Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I attempted to choose 3 Peter Banks era Yes songs each. As you’ll hear, we turned out to be thinking along similar lines but it was still a very enjoyable experience listening to the earliest days of the band and discussing what made Yes unique even at that stage.Yester…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerGeoff Bailie and some other blokeIt was lovely to welcome back onto the YMP our friend and patron, Geoff Bailie this week. Mark and I spoke to him about the recent news that Yes will be on tour with Deep Purple in the US and Canada this Summer. What do you think of that idea? Well, self-c…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIt seems like a long time since the last episode but it’s not. Anyway, it was delightful to speak to a warm and friendly unsung hero of Yes last week. As you will hear, despite being very keen to be involved, Mark wasn’t able to join in the conversation due to timing and technical issues …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerI'm publishing this episode on Good Friday so there's been no time for the usual news roundup. However, Mark and I did manage to talk about 'Talk' receiving the box set treatment.We discuss what's going to be included - and what doesn't seem to be included as well.It one of our favourite …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe were delighted to be able to speak to Jay Schellen this week about the upcoming Yes UK and Europe Tour and many other topics, particularly his relationship with the late, great Alan White. As you will hear, Jay's connections with Yes are numerous and he is a truly talented all-round mu…

This week Mark and I were due to have a conversation with Jay Schellen about the forthcoming Yes tour of the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for reasons outside our control. We will be speaking to Jay on Monday instead so I’m afraid you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for that.In the meantime in this very short episode, I …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week would have been Chris Squire’s 76th birthday. To celebrate his legacy, Mark and I chose 3 of our favourite Squire bass lines and also chatted about his signature sound and how he achieved it. Make sure you add your own selections to the comments on the show notes for this episod…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a fun time this week re-watching the ABWH Brother of Mine video and the new Mirror to the Sky one. Listen out for our thoughts in a few minutes’ time and see if you can count how many times I call the song Long Lost Brother of Mine by mistake. Also, do check out the show no…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerAfter a short break, Mark and I are back to consider what Geoff Downes was doing before being asked to rejoin Yes for the recording of Fly From Here, released in 2011, shortly before the Yes Music Podcast was established. We have been listening to the John Wetton album, Raised in Captivit…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I talked about the situation in Yes at the time Geoff Downes rejoined for Fly From Here - around 2010-11. It's a contentious time - but then again when isn't with Yes? Oliver Wakeman had to make way for the return of Downes who had worked very closely with Steve Howe i…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I had a great conversation about Yes ephemera - what do I mean by that? Well it’s stuff that would certainly have disappeared if it wasn’t for people like Steve Sullivan, Pete Whipple and Geoffrey Mason over at forgotten-yesterdays.com who collect and share all sorts o…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerAs you will hear, the title of this week’s episode is a bit misleading. Mark and I have been choosing some of our favourite slower, calmer songs or parts of songs from the extensive Yes catalogue to talk about this week. There are plenty to choose from given the remarkable ability of Yes …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week's episode is a rather visual one so you will probably want to listen after (or concurrently with) looking at the images below. Mark and I discuss some of the most instantly identifiable (for Yes fans) images which don't include the name of the band. We start off with a quiz for …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerHappy New Year to you. I hope you had a great time whatever you were celebrating in mid-winter or mid-summer or something else depending on where you are on the globe.This week, Mark and I return to the second part of our discussion around why Rick Wakeman wanted Larry Fast to help him ou…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I are once again indebted to Doug Curran for setting us off to find out more about keyboard innovator Larry Fast and his Tales from Topographic Oceans connections. As you will hear, Larry was involved in the sound of the keyboards on Tales, something I did not realise u…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a great conversation with Ian Hartley this week. As mentioned last week, Ian has produced his own 50th Anniversary box set of Tales from Topographic Oceans and we were keen to know what motivated him, how he went about it and how it fitted in with his own Yes story. If you …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I take a look at and have a chat about what Yes fan Ian Hartley has done to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tales from Topographic Oceans. A chap after our own 5%-er hearts, he has taken things very much into his own hands as you will hear. If you want to understand f…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe continue our Tales from topographic oceans obsession this week with a look at 3 very different live recordings of side 4, Ritual - Nous Sommes du Soleil. The 3 different performances are included in the show notes below. They are from Yesshows (1980) , Symphonic Live (2002) and Topogra…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIt was a delight to welcome the bass maestro Miguel Falcão back onto the YMP this week. As you would expect, he knows a lot about how Chris Squire created the bass lines for Tales from Topographic Oceans. You may have heard Miguel's bass covers of both The Ancient and The Remembering, and…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe had a great conversation with veteran music journalist Steve Rosen this week. Steve has interviewed almost all members of Yes over the decades, although they weren't always 'easy' sessions, as you will hear!Steve also spent a great deal of time with the iconic guitarist Edward Van Hale…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIn the week of the 40th anniversary of 90125, Mark and I looked at Trevor Rabin's 90124 which contains a lot of source material for the classic from 1983. 90124 appeared in 2003 on the 20th anniversary of the globally-successful Yes album and contains all of Trevor's demos of songs such a…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe 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 …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week we are back to the epic in-depth study of Tales from Topographic Oceans. We asked the ever-generous drummer of Yes tribute band Total Mass Retain Joe Cass to join us to talk about Alan White’s contribution to the classic album. You won’t be surprised to hear that Joe managed to …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe had yet another lovely conversation with a relatively unsung hero of the Yes story this week. As you’ll hear, you have probably seen Jeff Cumins’ work, even if you don’t realise it. He has a long and distinguished career as an artist and illustrator and revealed fascinating insights th…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I returned to Tales form topographic oceans to consider Steve Howe’s guitars, based on Mark’s expert knowledge and thanks to Geioff Bailie kindly sending us photos of the Steve Howe guitar collection book.After recording I also heard from Nick Kokoshis that he has assem…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerSupport the Fundraiser!After more than 12 years, we have reached episode 600! It was a delight to welcome Yes legend, Trevor Rabin, onto the show to help us celebrate the milestone. We spoke about Yes, Cinema, his new solo album, Rio, and more. Trevor was a generous and amusing guest and …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThanks to YMP Patron Doug Curran, we were able to speak to Brian Chatton this week. A friend of and collaborator with Jon Anderson since the 1960s, Brian has indeed 'Rolled with Rock Royalty' and our conversation shed light on a variety of eras of Yes and the other bands and artists Brian…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week we spoke to the generous Peter D’Amore, the longtime Yes fan who spent 7 years making his own ‘Olias’ album, an indie/Prog 2-CD project. We talk about his music, his Yes influences and many aspects of the band including the latest album and the setlist that was played on the war…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThe hugely knowledgeable Sid Smith joined us again this week to chat about the context of Tales from Topographic Oceans. Sid wrote the sleeve notes for the Steven Wilson remix of Tales which was released by Panegyric in 2016.He also wrote the remarkable book, 'In the Court of King Crimson…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerStephen Lambe joins us in a moment to talk about his updated, comprehensive Yes book as well as touching on Tales and Trevor Rabin.https://burningshed.com/store/sonicbondWhat has Stephen added to his already great Yes book?What does he think of the current state of Yes?Where can you get h…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I were joined by YMP Patron and The Prog Report’s Geoff Bailie to talk about the two new old releases from Warner/Rhino - a box set of The Yes Album and the Yessingles collection. It’s a robust conversation so stand by for that.Geoff Bailie and some other blokehttps://p…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I welcomed the knowledgeable Chris Dale back onto the show for the third time. If you haven't listened to the episodes where Chris talks about the Birotron (the infamous rarest musical instrument in the world) and the other keyboards on Tormato, then you may want to cat…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week we welcomed the ever-generous Geoff Downes onto the show. It was great to speak to the current Yes keyboard wizard about the new DBA album, Celestial Songs, as well as the recent John Wetton tribute concert and, of course, Tales from Topographic Oceans. Geoff also hinted at what…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell and Ken FullerThis week we are joined by Yes book author, Simon Barrow, to talk about the concept behind Tales From Topographic Oceans. We get into a lot of detail as you would expect and explore some pretty fascinating areas of concept music - whatever that actually is!What is a concept album?Is Tales a concept album?Do…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusThis week we are starting a new project - The Yes Album Listening Guides. Eventually this will be a series of books and I explain more with Mark in this episode.What is this new book series going to be about?What is the first album?How can I be involved?Let us know if you agre…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusMark and I really enjoyed listening to/watching Oliver's album/DVD 'Coming To Town - Live In Katowice'. We were surprised by and delighted with the performances, the writing and the production. It's a great set from a band firing on all cylinders!Is this all progressive rock?D…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusContrary to what I said last week, we are going to continue with our Why did Yes want series this week as we turn back slightly in time to Oliver Wakeman after we inadvertently got Benoit David in the wrong order last time.It was one of the most confusing periods of the band i…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusThis week Mark and I return to the second part of our 'Why did Yes want...' series and it's time to consider Mystery's album, Beneath The Veil Of Winter's Face. HIs this Prog?How did Benoit sound?Why did Yes want him based on this record?Let us know if you agree with us!Availa…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusThis week Mark and I return to our 'Why did Yes want...' series and it's time to consider Benoit David. Jon Anderson had been unwell and so the band needed to find what Chris Squire referred to as an 'understudy', presumably with the intention of Jon returning at some point.Ho…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusThis week Mark and I talk about various different approaches Yes have had to their stage design over the decades. This was partly prompted by the rumour that the band are intending to change they way in which they set up from 2024 onwards.Do let us know what Yes stage setups h…

https://youtu.be/BhsNZbhrzaoI am in Devon for half term so here’s Mark’s latest Album Series addition - Fragile.By Kevin Mulryne

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusCD set purchased 2014Is this the last part of our What did they do next series? Probably…possibly…maybe not. In any event, we are going to stop for the moment after we have talked about what Benoit David did after leaving the band due to ill health in 2012. Apart from the tragic loss of Chris Squire and t…

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusWe went deep into the weeds again this week with Master of the Master Tapes, Brian Kehew, who produced the amazing live box set, Progeny, as well as working on the bonus tracks for the Tormato and Drama Expanded and Remastered CD releases in 2004.What governed the choices when creating Progeny?Is Progeny …

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusThis we are joined by prog aficionado, writer, publisher, compère and all-round great chap, Stephen Lambe to discuss many aspects of Gordon Giltrap and Oliver Wakeman's album, Ravens and Lullabies.Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a prog album?What did Stephen Lambe have to do with the album (if anything…

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusThis week it’s the first part of our next - and presumably last…maybe…what did they do next featuring the 2011-ish departure of keyboardist and true gentleman of prog, Oliver Wakeman. Mark and I discuss how and why Oliver left the band and what he did next in collaboration with another giant of the music …

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusIt was great to speak to Gerald Bassols from Spain this week all about his amazing book, The Musical Instruments of Progressive Rock which very much does what it says on the tin. Stay tuned for that conversation.Whatare the best 'Spinal Tap' moments in his book?Did digital technology kill musical creativi…

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusSimon Barrow with his book in front of the YES 50 plaqueWhat should we expect from Yes in the coming year? Simon Barrow has some ideas as does Mark. We had a great conversation about the possibilities and our own, personal desires, partly based on the Facebook post by Daniel Krohn on the YMP Facebook page…

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusAs we begin the 11th calendar year of the show, it’s time to take a look back at 2021. Mark and I have chosen a few clips each which remind us of the range and depth of Yes topics we have covered in the past 12 months. We hope you enjoy the selection - do let us know if your favourite is or isn’t included…

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius'IT'S CHRISTMAS' as yer man sings in that song (which doesn't feature in our festive collection). Mark and I select a few prog or prog-related Christmas songs to rank in another totally pointless but fun seasonal activity.SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALLIs your favourite in our selection?What is 'proggy'?What is…

Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey CreceliusMark and I met someone who can fill in a few more gaps in the Yes story this week. We managed to track down and speak to Peter Woolliscroft who was only a short time into his studio engineering career at Advision studio in London when Yes turned up to record Tormato. He shares his recollections of the ses…