In the studio - The Yes Album

The Yes Album was also featured on this radio show. This time, the interviews are with Jon Anderson, Chris Squire and Tony Kaye.

We can hear from Jon that Yours is no Discgrace was their first very extended piece, and once they had done that, each song they did, in that time, would be divided into parts. He admits having learned this kind of structure from classical music.

Chris praises Bill Bruford: "Initially, any band is only as active, criative and as good as its drummer. (...) He was a particularly good influence on me"

Jon's opinion on what made Yes different from other 70s bands is revealing:
The idea of strong melody came from Stravinsky. He made music very avant-garde, but he retained what the others didn't, and that was the melodies. (...) He holds it all together with melody. And I never wanted to lose that. (...) I realised that, if we didn't go that way, we'd have a Mahavishnu.

But the most amusing is when Jon admits they admired, with some jealousy, the early King Crimson:
In 68, (...) we heard this band was playing called King Crimson, and we said "Ok, let's check them out, see how good they are". And they were great! (...) For about a week, we tried to get over the fact that they were better than us. (...) Very similar attitude to music, but more... well organized. And that pushed the group on, it made us work harder.


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