What's the best Yes album?

[sonicnerd23]

The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge. Golden trio right there.

Of course, Going for the One is also great.

[Sayburr]

I am a little weird when it comes to my Yes albums. See, when I was a youngman I would find albums with covers that would appeal to me and I would buy the albums, often based on nothing but the album cover.

My first ever Yes album was Tormato. That was my very first Yes album and to me it is still my favorite. Most people hate it, though. I bought it in '79

To be even weirder, my second favorite is Drama which came out in '80.

Then I started checking back catalog...

My personal Top albums are

Tormato
Drama
Fragile
90125
The Yes Album
Close to the Edge
...

To this day, I still can not get into "Tales..."

[JukeBoxHero]

Fragile is one of my fave as it was the first Yes album I heard. Over time I got every album and have listened all of them over and over.

Best? I would say Close To the Edge pips Fragile. Both brilliant albums.

No one has mentioned any later albums. I know most fans are critical over the late 80's and 90's stuff, but another Yes album I love is Key Studio.

So, my top 5
1. Close to the edge
2. Fragile
3. Key Studio
4. The Yes album
5. Big Generator

Hey, why you bump the thread? Anyway I do enjoy later Yes I just haven't gotten any of the later stuff yet.

Sayburr:I still don't see why people hate on Drama. Sure it didn't have Jon Anderson, but I would rank it very highly in the top five zone.(Great progressive rock going on there).

[classicrockdude]

The Yes album is my favorite

[a21schizoidman]

To this day, I still can not get into "Tales..."

wow, a Sayburr sighting in HoR!!!


and about Tales...

[Lango32]

'Yessongs' may well be the best live album ever recorded. I own all the Yes albums and whilst I believe 'Close to the Edge' to be the best studio album 'Yessongs' might well prove to be the best overall representation of their work. Several of the tracks on 'Yessongs' are performed better live than on the original albums as they are looser and more penetrating with the atmosphere of the crowd adding an extra edge without distracting from the power of the performance (which live albums often do). So in answer to the original question I would say:
1) Yessongs
2) Close to the Edge
3) The Yes Album
4) Fragile

[progmeister]

I can't believe that there's been a discussion about the best Yes album spanning three pages and there's not one single mention of 'Relayer'!!! Big generator - yes; Relayer - no. Eh?? Having said that, I'm not sure that 'Relayer' is my absolute favourite Yes album, but it's certainly in the top three or four. For my money 'The Yes album', 'Fragile', 'Close to the Edge' and 'Relayer' are all so close, it's probably pointless to try and choose between them.

[jawillroy]

Close to the Edge.

[progmeister]

Aye, probably. OK, you've twisted my arm -- 'Close to the edge' it is!

[Backbeat60-62]

The Yes debut album is pretty fantastic for when it came out! Also check out music the band Chicago had going for them around the time of the first Yes album.