u/SpecialActive9091

I got into Yes - to my embarrassment - just a year ago, in my late 30s (and yes, I am a prog rock fan). Loved Tull, Floyd, Crimson and etc. for years, but Rush and Yes I could never get into. I knew there must be something in it, but I wasn't getting it. I finally got it, and here's few takes I wanted to share:

1. AI helped me - I described my favorite albums to ChatGPT asking how should I approach Yes. It told me to start with "Drama". It was a great advice as I really liked it and it opened me up for "Going for the One" and then the earlier stuff.
2. Some of the "epic" Yes songs suffer a bit from lack of focus/ideas - e.g. Awaken. The 1st half of this song is probably the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. The middle section is intriguing and captivating. Then they get to the ending and it really is un-satisfactory. Sometimes they want to do too much, take too much time on the LP and they simply don't have enough engaging ideas to keep the same level of excitement for 20 mins. I still like the song overall very, very much, but sounds to me like they lacked the ideas for a grand finale - they did better with "Gates of Delirium" and the perfect example would be something like "Ommadawn part 1" by Oldfield. This may sound crazy, but even "Mirror to the Sky" I think is more "tight" and well-structured as a song.
3. Speaking of "MTTS" -> having listened to most of their albums now (I still have the 90s albums to go through, but first attempts were very disappointing) I must say that "Aurora" and "MTTS" are absolutely awesome. Putting nostalgia for the 70s sound aside, this is among the best music they ever made. I had a hard time accepting Davison's falsetto, but once I got over that hump and listened to these albums multiple times I must admit they are excellent, well-written, tight, engaging, atmospheric and in my top6 of all their albums (with Fragile, GFTO, Drama, CTTE). Btw, while as a whole this album is not as good, the Fly from Here suite is also among their best long pieces I heard.

Hello,

I am looking for edifying youtube channels/podcasts (could be off-youtube too) which are charismatic/continuationist in their theology. The topics can be anything from theology, to church life and issues, history etc. Just looking for good biblically-based content, and not anything related to prosperity, word of faith, NAR or megachurch charismatics. Any recommendations?

Ok, here me out. IMO the Ezrin-era albums are some of the best DP albums ever made. I think people rank them low because of nostalgia they have towards older albums (and I get it, I was raised on In Rock and Machine Head) . But its clear that material-wise, production-wise and skills-wise they are in their 2nd golden era. Now, here's my point:

I am considering going to see DP in my country. But I worry about setlist. If it was material from last 4 records (+ the AWESOME new single) + Smoke on the Water (for fans to sing mostly) and maybe Lazy, then fine, I would pay even double. It would be an amazing show. But despite making this top-level material for over a decade now (since NOW What!?) for some reason when preparing for the tour they still say: "Hmm... how about we let Ian murder Highway Star another 500 times?". He should be banned from singing 70s and 80s songs (and 90s too actually). If it was the band that tours rarely I could understand the argument that "fans in such-and-such country never heard the classics" but at this point every country on earth heard Highway Star, Into the Fire, When a Blind Man Cries etc. about a milion times.

It bothers me. In 70s and 80s when they released a new album they would play half of it live at least. Now we get awesome records and the tour is still same old songs. That's a waste. I would pay DOUBLE if they played a set like:

1. Arrogant Boy

2. Bit on the Side

3. Pictures of You

4. Aprez Vous

5. The Power of the Moon

6. All the time in the world

7. Show Me

8. Time for Bedlam

9. Throw My Bones

10. One Night in Vegas or All I Got is You

11. The Surprising

12. Vincent Price

13. Lazy Sod

14. Lazy

15. Smoke On The Water

16. Space Truckin