Yes Music Podcast

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The earliest online Yes conversations with Henry Potts - 689 Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

In a different kind of time travel this week, Mark and I welcomed Henry Potts back onto the show to talk about his recollections of the first Yes online discussions he was involved with in the early 1990s.

After I posted some photos of the Yes fanzines I have in my collection on the Patreon group, Simon Barrow suggested we speak to Henry who has always been at the vanguard of Yes fans on the internet. He shared some fascinating insights into exactly how the first systems worked and how the 'scene' morphed and developed over the decades. Of course, we'd love to hear about your own earliest online experiences of Yes fandom so please do add your comments to the show notes for this week over at YesMusicPodcast.com.

When did the concept of online discussion begin?
What were the first websites and fan forums?
How has it all changed?

6 reasons why Talk is a great Yes album - 688 Sep 12, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius

This week, Mark and I considered what makes Talk from 1994 a great Yes album. The final Yes record featuring Trevor Rabin was a tour-de-force of progressive rock in many ways but what do you think Mark and I chose as our reasons to focus on? Perhaps we chose the same aspects as you would, perhaps not. In any case, do please add your thoughts on Talk to the show notes for this week's episode over at YesMusicPodcast.com

Is this actually a great Yes album?
Does it sound like Yes?
Which musicians keep the Yes flame alive?

Deep Cuts outside Yes - 687 Sep 05, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Jeffrey Crecelius, and Ken Fuller

Mark and I spent some time this week searching through both our memory banks and our shelves of Yes-related records. We wanted to uncover and promote some lesser-known deep cuts on albums that Yes men have been involved with outside the main group.

We each came up with 3 songs you may not have heard or you may have forgotten about. We hope you enjoy revisiting them or discovering a little more of the breadth and depth of what Yes musicians have been involved with over the decades.

Of course, we would be delighted to have your own suggestions of what other deep cuts we can all benefit from hearing - leave your suggestions on the show notes for this week's episode over at YesMusicPodcast.com

Steve Howe talks about his solo re-releases PLUS 'Yes Guess Who'! - 686 Aug 29, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius

In a truly epic episode this week, I had a lovely conversation with Steve Howe about the re-release of two of his solo albums, Portraits of Bob Dylan and Natural Timbre. Then, Mark and I enjoyed goofing around asking each other to guess the Yes men being referred to in various quotations. Do play along with that yourself after listening to my great chat with Steve.

Why is Steve re-releasing these two albums now?
How do they differ in approach?
How important is Bob Dylan to music generally and to Steve?

Yes Authenticity - 685 Aug 15, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius

It was great to think a little about what might make up Yes' authenticity this week. Is it possible to define what makes the output of a band - or any kind of artistic endeavour 'authentic'? Rather than try and come up with a definition of authenticity (which is probably a loftier aim than we had time for this week), Mark and I discussed what the rather nebulous concept means to us, in the context of Yes music.

We each came up with examples of what we consider to be authentic aspects in the 50+ year history of the band and how they support our ideas of what 'authentic Yes' is.

As always, we would be fascinated to hear what you think of this concept - please leave your ideas in the comments below.

How can you tell if a band like Yes is 'being authentic'?
Is authenticity more than simply 'sounding like the same band'?
Beyond music, are there any other aspects that might contribute to a feeling of authenticity?

Yes Time Machine - Support Bands Edition - 684 Aug 08, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Jeffrey Crecelius, and Ken Fuller

This week Mark and I set off once again in our YMP Yes Time Machines, this time to visit Yes concerts that also featured fascinating support bands, or bands on the same bill that we would loved to have seen.

According to the essential Forgotten Yesterdays website, there have been 599 bands who have either supported or played alongside Yes since 1968 so there was plenty of choice for Mark and me. Before we begin, have a think which shows you didn't manage to attend and would like to go back to in a time machine to experience for yourself. I wonder if you will pick any of the occasions Mark and I did. Let us know in the comments in the show notes for this week.

Fragile Solo Songs Revisited - 683 Aug 01, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius

This week, Mark and I discussed the 'solo' songs on Fragile. Each band member contributed an individual project, some with more success than others. The style and approaches used by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe and Squire are very different and they certainly prompted an interesting discussion as you'll hear.

With Yes soon to embark on playing the whole of Fragile live for the third time, we also touched on how these songs come over live - and if it's even a good idea to include them alongside the 4 'proper' songs.

Which of the solo songs is the best?
How do they differ in approach?
Should they be played live?

Are there any short Yes epics? - 682 Jul 25, 2025

Show notes

This week Mark and I had all sorts of fun thinking about whether there are any short Yes epics - or if this idea is even possible. We set ourselves the restriction of only choosing Yes songs less than 6mins in duration so can you guess what we came up with and how we justified our choices?

It was sad to hear that Ozzy Osbourne died this week, only a few weeks after performing his last ever concert with his Black Sabbath bandmates. I can't say I was a dedicated fan of Ozzy or Sabbath but my introduction to heavy metal was when a friend of mine took me up to his room in a slightly creepy Victorian mansion and played me the self-titled album by the Birmingham band. How appropriate the setting was. I also learned to play Paranoid on the drums when I was a teenager and my younger son taught my daughter, when she was a toddler, to sing the alphabet to the riff from War Pigs. My elder son was a true fan so he was upset when we heard the news.

As you know if you've read the new Tales book or get your information from many other sources like Matthew Paine on Facebook, Rick Wakeman was a huge fan of Ozzy who he met at Morgan Studios while Yes were recording Tales. He ended up playing keys on 2 songs on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which was being recorded over the road in another Morgan studio at the time. Eventually, Ozzy returned the favour by singing on Rick's "The Return to the Center of the Earth", as pointed out by Paul Graf also on Facebook.

Our own Doug Curran interviewed Ozzy for his radio show in 1981 so do make a point of reading his reflections on that on the YMP Facebook discussion group.

Rest in Peace Ozzy.

Six reasons why 90125 is a great Yes album - 681 Jul 18, 2025

Show notes

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Jeffrey Crecelius, and Ken Fuller

This week, Mark and I returned to the show to talk about the Yes classic album, 90125 from 1983. It is clearly, we believe, a great album but what makes it a great Yes album? It wasn't originally going to be a Yes album at all and only became one at the last possible moment when Jon Anderson arrived on the scene. The band Cinema, consisting of Tony Kaye, Alan White, Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire had basically finished the record with Trevor Horn but, as you can read in full detail in Stephen Lambe's excellent book about the album, there were several reasons that band was ultimately replaced by the name and the aura of Yes.

What do you think Mark and I came up with for our 6 reasons and would you have chosen the same features? Let us know in the show notes for this week's episode.

Is this a real Yes album?
What makes it great?
Who makes it great?

The Tales book is released PLUS Adam Wildi Tales interview - 680 Jul 04, 2025

Show notes

This week I'd like to celebrate the release of my second book, Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes Album Listening Guide - a title almost as lengthy as the record itself. It's been a very long and sometimes challenging process to prepare the book for publication - much like the record itself. However, it's finally here and you can buy it from all the usual places.

If you haven't yet ordered your copy, you live outside the UK and you would like to help me out, please visit YesMusicBooks.com and order from there. There are print on demand links in the store on the site which will allow you to order copies of the book and its full colour supplement, printed at a location near where you live, avoiding shipping costs and the associated environmental impact. I also get to keep more of the proceeds from the order, rather than giving it to the big corporations. Shipping time may be a little bit longer than the online stores but the choice is up to you.

If you are in the UK please order directly from BurningShed.com and if you normally get your books from a local independent bookstore, then that is also a great option wherever you are in the world.

The book ended up being 336 pages long which is rather a surprise to me. The initial idea was to produce something shorter and simpler than the Tormato Story book - more of an actual guide, rather than an in-depth study. However, as soon as I started, it became obvious that I could resist travelling down just as many fascinating rabbit holes as last time. I did manage to uncover some previously hidden information and it was a lot of fun researching as many different aspects of this epic work of progressive rock as I could. As Prog Magazine put it in their review, "The most rewarding way to experience Tales is to dive in and become immersed. This book is the very definition of that."

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