10 Heavy Yes Songs That Are Surprisingly Great
Ja doesn’t have very clear heavy songs, but there few contributions do not disappoint.
Even with the line-up changes, this band knows how to mix prog-rock, jazz-fusion and orchestra sound resulting in heavy tunes.
We’ve listed ten of Yes’s biggest hits below.
Although this song has never been played live, Jon Anderson’s vocals here are the strongest on their 2001 album Magnification.
Steve Howe opens with acoustic guitar as Larry Groupe plays his electric rhythm accompanied by the San Diego Symphony as Alan White and Chris Squire join in leading into Howe’s aggressive solo.
Without any album filler, this song is one of their most powerful tracks.
After Anderson and Wakeman left, the three members Squire, White and Howe decided to add Buggles singer Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes to their line-up in 1980.
Many fans thought the band wouldn’t get any heavier, but this song proved otherwise.
The title of the song is Latin for “time flies.” Downes explained:
“Because the tempo of the song is so fast, it was all about the title.
This is an extremely fast pace.
The Vietnam War was the inspiration for this song and the entire band was credited for writing it.
Howe said that his guitar part is one of his favorite contributions to the band.
With modern equipment they could do overdubs, which was new to Howe.
“It was a ‘studio’ solo because it was made up in different sections.
It is the closing track on the Close To The Edge album, which talks about unity between different cultures.
Anderson, wrote the lyrics and the rest of the band composed the music.
Howe told Guitar World that this song was one of their most collaborative efforts,
“That song came together with the arranging skills of the band.
Jon had the rough idea of the song, and Chris [Squire], Bill [Bruford], Rick and I would work together to get the riffs together.”
Anderson co-wrote this song with Squire and once again Howe went wild with his guitar riffs.
When the band performed it at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2003, Anderson said:
“It’s a song about mountain climbing.
It’s dangerous, but we all have to climb mountains every day.”
This song rocks as hard as almost anything else on the band’s 1970 sophomore release.
Peter Banks opens with distorted guitar riffs followed by Bruford’s kicks on the drums, and when Squire’s bass kicks in, the song has a distinctive growl that will keep any listener going until the end.
This song is from 1974’s Relayer and the sound where they mixed prog-rock with jazz-fusion as the short-lived keyboard player Patrick Moraz plays on this song.
Written by the entire band, Squire’s bass and Howe’s pedal guitar once again added flavor here.
“It’s kind of going bananas out there,” Howe said.
This is the last track on the Fragile album and one of the longest intros in rock history, as the vocals don’t come in until around 3:40 on this song.
Written by Anderson, Bruford and Squire, the song has several time signatures and a classical influence.
Anderson said it was one of his favorite Yes compositions, especially during their live performances.
Squire wrote the main riff of this song, influenced by the King Crimson track “21st Century Schizoid Man.” Squire said it was also one of his favorite Yes tracks.
Anderson told Songfacts about this Relayer’s 22-minute track:
It was at the end of the Vietnam War. We learned about the incredible destruction the Vietnamese inflicted, and for what?”
This one is sung by Trevor Horn and Squire, but still sounds totally like Yes. Geoff Downes provides a synthesizer and Squire’s bass solo here is one of his greatest works added with Alan White’s drumming among his best.
It is indeed the heaviest sound in Yes history.
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