Music of Yes: Structure and Vision in Progressive Rock

by Bill Martin

Music of Yes examines the work of one of the most creative groups from the progressive rock period, Yes.Unlike most books on rock music, Music of Yes does not focus on personalities, but instead on musical structures, lyrical vision, and cultural and historical context. The author situates Yes within the utopian ideals of the sixties and the experimental trend in rock music initiated by the Beatles and also taken up by groups such as King Crimson. Martin demonstrates the power of Yes's romantic, utopian, "Blakean," ecological, multicultural, and feminist perspective, showing how this vision is developed through

Genres: Music

300 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Bill Martin (born 1956) is a professor of Philosophy at DePaul University whose academic work concerns Derrida, Sartre, Marxist theory, Aesthetics, and critiques of Richard Rorty. Martin has also written on progressive rock bands including Yes

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

You want some deep insights into some of the deepest rock music around? This book will satisfy. Touching on the musical, structural and metaphysical, it offers interesting insights to the complex works of the gold standard of progressive rock: Yes.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review written December 3, 2013:

A few years ago, I read a book titled Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes. While that book focused on the history of Yes and contained quotes from interviews with band members, this book analyzes the music itself and its context throughout the history of the band, with minimal quotes from other sources appearing here and there.

Bill Martin does not hide the fact that he is biased towards the era to which he refers as "the main sequence," which covers the period from The Yes Album (1971) to Going for the One (1977). In just 35 pages, Part 1 covers the first two Yes albums, Yes (1969) and Time and a Word (1970). Part two covers six Yes albums in around 150 pages. This appears to be justifiable. However, Part 3 covers six studio albums, from Tormato (1978) to Talk (1994) in just around 50 pages. To add insult to injury, analyzations of the Yessongs live album, the Yessongs video, and four solo albums are included in the brief section that is Part 3, making it appear rushed (this is Yes and not Rush, after all). In Martin's analysis of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989), there is no mention of the songs "Fist of Fire," "The Meeting," "Quartet," or "Let's Pretend." There is also no mention of "Holding On," "Take the Water to the Mountain," or "Give & Take" during the discussion of Union (1991).

I also noticed that Martin mistakenly wrote that Patrick Moraz's solo album i (1976) was released after he had been released after Moraz had left Yes when it was actually released before he left Yes. Another error appears near the end of the book, where "A Venture" is listed as "Adventure." Martin also appears to have some sort of phobia over songs that he believes are too "soft" or "sentimental."

I do agree with some of the views provided by him, such as the suggestion that the tracking order of Close to the Edge (1972) would sound better in reverse. If I could, I would give this book a 3.5.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the music of Yes, but for the most part, this is not a book that does much to help me understand it better. There are some good insights into the longer pieces of music (Tales, Relayer, CTTE). I give it three stars for these parts.

[Mon C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do you get when a Philosophy major/professor and bassist decides to write a 272-page book? Just gibberish!
www.yesworld.com

[Martin Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

El mejor análisis de YES que he leído! Concienzudo, bien fundamentado, con muchas fuentes. Absolutamente recomendable para el fan serio de YES y del rock progresivo.