The granddaddy of progressive rock, Yes is on a very short list of 1970’s “art rock” bands that not only still survive, but have continued to produce ambitiously progressive music into the new millennium.
At various times in its thirty-five-year journey, the band has included the talents of Jon Anderson, Peter Banks, Chris Squire, Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford (the original lineup), as well as Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Alan White, Patrick Moraz, Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn (aka The Buggles), Billy Sherwood, and Igor Khoroshev. In other words, a mini-who’s who of prog rock has performed under the Yes banner.
The band’s soaring symphonic arrangements and sci fi lyrics have from the beginning characterized the genre, and despite detractors who considered them too loopy and/or too baroque, they have hung on to their signature sound, and to a surprisingly broad base of fans, who continue to hang devotedly upon their every note.
–D. Drummond