Disco de Yes: “Yesyears”

Get this box if you're serious about collecting all things Yes. Not necessarily the best compilation of Yes greatest hits there is, but definitely a very good attempt at summarizing their music by taking the listener through their different musical periods, by means of some original releases, as well as plenty of previously unreleased and demo material.

This is, in my opinion, the box I own that best succeeds at being not only a "greatest hits" type-of box, but digs into the details surrounding the big picture of a band. To round things up it comes with a very comprehensive color booklet which covers the history of the band.

Steve Howe's comment in the liner notes is a bit of Monday-morning quarterbacking that I wish he'd done when it was still "Sunday afternoon". Then I would have had something to sling back at all those know-it-alls who accused Yes of treason to rock'n'roll. You can't be called a "traitor" to a "nation" you're not a "citizen" of. All the way from "The Yes Album" (I think of "Time and a Word" and "Yes" as their apprenticeship) to "Keys To Ascension" (either volume), it's been one heluva roller coaster ride. After buying that first real Yes album for "Your Move" (that song made me think they were folk-rock), the opener "Yours Is No Disgrace" blew me away. The intro reminded me of the "Magnificent Seven" theme. It also established one of their most effective devices--take a syncopated Bruford tom riff, have Squire match it on bass--and in this song, Howe even doubles it on guitar. Contrapuntal harmonies a la Gentle Giant in "We Have Heaven". Next-generation doo-wop in "Leave It". Magnum opuses like "Close To the Edge", "Gates Of Delirium" and "Topographic Oceans". That one got SO much heat, even in my own house. My wife felt that I only had the right to so much time for listening to music--she came into the room and got in my face in the middle of side three. And the hell of it is (except in the Miller household), everyone would have avoided loads of high blood pressure if they'd only realized that it wasn't really a rock album. Why didn't you speak out back then, Steve? Oh yeah--sometimes when I put on these discs, I think of my ex. I knew that might happen, but that didn't stop me from buying this set. May they give you better memories than that.

This box set was compiled by Chris Squire with little input from the other members of Yes and, as such, is blatantly biased towards his musical contributions, including a Spinal Tap-esque version of "Amazing Grace" for solo, fuzzed-out electric bass. It's a true embarrassment.

Aside from the obligatory greatest hits like "Roundabout" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart," there are several "previously unreleased" tracks, too, but they are mostly duds (including C-grade material from the Going for the One and Tormato sessions). Squire even fades out Steve Howe's monumental steel-guitar solo on "Soon." Pure sacrilege.

Among the better material is some early material from the 90125 sessions and the superb Squire/Alan White Christmas song, "Run with the Fox." But on the whole, YesYears isn't the great Yes box set we've all been waiting for. I'd only recommend it for the hardcore Yes fan; otherwise, buy the classic albums, like Fragile, Close to the Edge, Going for the One, Drama, and 90125 (and don't miss KeyStudio--a fine recent effort).

I think this is a very good set to have, especially if you like to hear previously unreleased stuff.

I have recently taken all the unreleased tracks off this set and the new "Yes...In A Word" set and put them onto two cds.

I'm hoping Yes will one day come out with a set similar to the Beatles Anthology cds, with only alternate takes of songs we know, unreleased songs, and demos. That would be nice.

I have bought this set 3 times (I can't say why I didn't keep it the first time, probably needed the money so I traded it in.) But I always come back to it.

My favourite song on this set is "Montreux's Theme". To me, this one song makes the set worth having; I love it that much.

If you like unreleased stuff as I do, this is the one to get (if you can afford only one). If you want a "Best Of..." collection, then "In A Word" is the one.

love this box set. if you are a yes guy/gal you will too. owned it when it first came out way back when then lost the 4th disc. so, when i saw the set up for sale($11 used)again on amazon i couldnt go wrong. i received the whole box set with booklet in wonderful condition... thank you thank you thank you..........