Yes are one of the worlds leading and longest-surviving progressive rock bands. They are probably best described as "the musicians' musicians" since very many of the more contemporary successful artists cite Yes or certain members of Yes as major influences on their style and career or as one of their favourite bands.
Never interested in commercial singles they nevertheless forged their way into the annals of rock
music history by, at the height of their fame, being the biggest rock
band in the world during the 1973-1977 period. Most Yes fans regard
Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe and either
Alan White or Bill Bruford as the "classic"
line-up and their finest albums are "The Yes Album", "Fragile", "Close to the Edge", "Relayer" and "Going For The One" (from the 70's), "90125" and "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe" (from the 80's), and "The
Ladder" (from the 90's), with their last recording "Magnification" (recorded in late 2001) being one of their finest recordings. They have sold approaching 40 million albums and in the past 15 years relied upon touring to generate income with the unfortunate decline in album sales despite "The
Ladder" and "Magnification", their last two studio albums, being
right up there among their absolute best. Poor marketing and problems with their record labels, along with the fact that "Magnification" was released on 9/11 have meant that a wider, newer audience were not made aware of the quality of these newer recordings. The
band benefit from probably one of the most loyal and significantly-sized fan bases in the world however, and they can still easily sell out major arenas, as witnessed during their last tour in
2004. Although presently on
hiatus, it is likely that they will record a new album and tour in 2008 to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
