Yes - Your most and least favorite members...

[DEzerov]

While it's hard not to to find a progger who likes/loves Yes, the band members themselves have always claimed that whole of the band is greater than the sum of the parts...

This leads me to the topic at hand...Who are your most and least favorite members of this legendary prog consortium? Only criteria: the member has had to have been a full fledged member of the band. For example, no side guys ie. Tony Levin or Julian Colbeck...

And why are these guys faves or least liked?

I'll start...

Most Fave: Chris Squire (signature sound, great harmonies, the anchor)
Least: Steve Howe (refuses to shake hands with people)

[Rick and Roll]

Originally Posted by DEzerov

Most Fave: Chris Squire (signature sound, great harmonies, the anchor)
Least: Steve Howe (refuses to shake hands with people)

I was always a Squire fan. I used to have fun with an Anderson-ite in college, we'd go back and forth for fun. I could always pull out the "Drama" card on her

Did Howe not was his hands after peeing? Maybe he didn't want to offend you.

Don't really have a least favorite...

Most Fave: Jon Anderson (Spirituality, General "out there"edness)
Least Fave: Can't really think of one. They've all contributed something special.

[Yesspaz]

Steve said he won't shake hands because he's old, fans are really enthusiastic which means they squeeze your hand hard when they shake, and his hands are his livelyhood. If he gets his hand squeezed hard 200 times before a concert, he can't play well.



Favs: Chris, Alan, Steve as a musician, but he's pretty freaking arrogant. My favorite keyboardist is Patrick, easy. Fav personality: Rick.

Least: I hate Jon's airy-fairy-ness and lack of objectivity. He's the reason Yes isn't recording anymore. He says why record if no one buys it. Not really keen on Steve's personality - for instance, the way he treated Billy. Don't care for Bill's poshness, though he's the most articulate one.

[Thor]

I would have to say that Yes cannot be broken into who is better or best, since each member relies on the craftmanship of the others to enhance what they are doing. If you look at the writing process of Yes, it is Anderson and Howe that bring the most to the table; with Squire pulling in a third place. As for musicianship, Steve, Wakeman and Squire are the big standouts all bringing different influences to the band which gives Yes it's unique signature sound. Drumming being the foundation to build off of has been held by both Bruford and Alan very well in two totally different approaches. Yet it is Jon's "out there"edness (to quote Keithie) in his lyricism and vocals that glues all the instrumentation together. in the end, YES is one person made up of a collection of sound waves we have all come to know and love. Best band member... is YES.

Originally Posted by Thor

IBest band member... is YES.

Darn it Thor......you are SO right!!!!!

[VAXman(Admin)]

Originally Posted by DEzerov

While it's hard to to find a progger who likes/loves Yes, the band members themselves have always claimed that whole of the band is greater than the sum of the parts...

This leads me to the topic at hand...Who are your most and least favorite members of this legendary prog consortium? Only criteria: the member has had to have been a full fledged member of the band. For example, no side guys ie. Tony Levin or Julian Colbeck...

And why are these guys faves or least liked?

I'll start...

Most Fave: Chris Squire (signature sound, great harmonies, the anchor)
Least: Steve Howe (refuses to shake hands with people)

Steve Howe was extremely friendly when M and I spoke with him backstage at one of the 35th gigs. We were forewarned, however, that he is very conscious of his hands and fears them being injured if he shakes hands with the public.

It's hard to pick my fave but my least fave is Trevor Horn. Anderson's voice is YES and Horn just didn't cut it for me.

[Rick and Roll]

What Thor says is true...but you can say that about any band. I don't like the "let's make a supergroup by putting people together" discussions. It's like fantasy prog. I happen to enjoy Chris Squire's conrtibution the best. But I still like them all.

I always thought Bruford was miscast in Yes. It's been borne out in his subsequent (awesome) work.

[drgeorge]

Peter Banks is Fav over Steve. Not for playing. For smiling.
No least fav.

[DEzerov]

So glad to see so many responses from all of my Moon friends so far... i never intended to provoke any sort of negativism...i first saw Yes in 1972 and have seen them (in one incarnation or another) eight times since... I do hope to see them again.

[OverHillandDale(Admin)]

Originally Posted by DEzerov

So glad to see so many responses from all of my Moon friends so far... i never intended to provoke any sort of negativism...i first saw Yes in 1972 and have seen them (in one incarnation or another) eight times since... I do hope to see them again.

Sorry, mate - got to call you on that one. The opposite sides of a poll about a favorite member have to include the negative side. Pro/con. Good/Bad. Positive/Negative. It all goes hand in hand.

I never really saw what pleasure was derived by dwelling in the negative. And that certainly was never what Yes was ever about. It is a positive force of music, musicians, and spirituality. And many faces were reflected to help shape that total force and they each changed it into a new and ever changing incarnation of itself.

Thor said it well. Yes is the best member of Yes.

[TheFish]

I''ve seen every tour since the 'war of the worlds' stage in '76 with Moraz on keys. That was a real mind blower. The Rabin years being the least favorite. But they did have thier moments with him so it wasn't all bad by far. Talk was a pretty good album.

It is definatly all very very good.

My favorite was 'Silent wings of freedom' , A real blazer!

[jtmckinley]

Favorite Yes member: Steve Howe, but then I play guitar and have been trying to play Mood For A Day properly for some 26 years now :P.

Least favorite Yes member: Steve Howe (when he sings) hehe.

I think they're all great of course, my favorite band growing up and still one of my favorites. I don't get Jon's "new-agey-ness", but whatever, if that's what it takes for him to write the lyrics he does, good on him. I also think Squire's vox are almost as important as Jon's, they harmonize incredibly well together, and Chris' bass playing/writing is pretty unique and awesome as well. I like Bruford's playing outside Yes better than his playing with Yes, but his Yes stuff was pretty spectacular also. White's drumming is great too. I like Wakeman's Yes stuff much better than his solo work, but he's great regardless. I really like the first 2 Yes records so Banks & Kaye deserve their kudos as well. And while many will disagree, I think the Drama record is really good too and that tour was my first concert, so the ex-Buggles get a nod from me as well, Rick and Jon are a hard act to follow. My least favorite Yes era was the Rabin era, too poppy for me but I don't blame them for trying to make money. I still think Trevor is a great guitarist and musician however. I dunno, I pretty much like it all and have all the records plus a bunch of the DVDs. Yes is the quintessential prog band to me, especially the pre-90125 stuff.

[lamour]

My favorite should come as a surprise to nobody who's ever suffered through a shoutbox session with me. ;-)

Bill Bruford is easily my favorite Yes member, which was the question. I'm not sure I'd say that he was the most important or anything like that, but far and away my favorite.

"Roundabout" was my favorite song for a LONG time. I was taken aback one day in a discussion with someone else on the net (I've been on the net for a LONG time) when he mentioned that he loved the keyboard solo in "Roundabout". I'd never noticed a keyboard solo in the song until after that discussion. I was always so entranced by Bills drums in that section that I never really heard Rick's part. No, sadly, I'm not making that up.

I wouldn't say I have a least favorite Yes member, but there are quite a few that I'm sort of indifferent toward. Which isn't to say that I don't like the music Yes made while they were in the band. I just don't have much of any opinion about some of them.

[podakayne]

fav no discussion: chris, bill bru

last on list: steve, but tis not a bad thing

could do the same with Pink...doesn't make it a bad thing

[Michael]

My favorite-Steve Howe(I like the Rest but when i think of Yes the first thing that comes to my mind is Howe)
Lest Favorite-Trevor Horn/Geoff Downes.They were good but when i think of yes really they don't come to mind But horns a great producer IMHO.
But whats funny is if i had to take Just 2 Albums with me From Yes it would without a Question Be Close to the edge and Drama.

[progdirjim(Admin)]

Originally Posted by Michael

My favorite-Steve Howe(I like the Rest but when i think of Yes the first thing that comes to my mind is Howe)
Lest Favorite-Trevor Horn/Geoff Downes.They were good but when i think of yes really they don't come to mind But horns a great producer IMHO.
But whats funny is if i had to take Just 2 Albums with me From Yes it would without a Question Be Close to the edge and Drama.

That's funny as those are the two Yes albums on my ipod.

Least favorite for me: Trevor Rabin and Billy Sherwood.
Most favorite: Bruford, Howe and Wakeman.

This is strictly musically based. I haven't met any of them in person.

No good reason.

[NorCalKurt]

Originally Posted by progdirjim

That's funny as those are the two Yes albums on my ipod.

Least favorite for me: Trevor Rabin and Billy Sherwood.
Most favorite: Bruford, Howe and Wakeman.

This is strictly musically based. I haven't met any of them in person.

No good reason.

Yeah... what Jim said....