Unfortunately, Mark has been unwell this week so best wishes to him for a speedy recovery. As we couldn't record an episode, I've been delving into the archive to uncover the first Yes Tracks Through Time episode I ever did. That was back in April 2013. Wow.

Here are the show notes from way back then:

The seventy-ninth episode of the Yes Music Podcast featuring the first in a series of Yes Tracks Through Time. After the initial recording, what happened to songs live? How did different line-ups of the band alter the character of tracks – if at all?

Listen and then let me know what you think of the different approaches by contacting me via any of the different routes on the right hand side or by leaving a comment below!

Which of the three versions of Astral Traveller is the best?
Should group members leave tracks alone or add their own character?
Does the band’s approach change over time?

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

In a bumper double-feature episode (or something like that), Mark and I compare the Empire featuring Peter Banks version of Something’s Coming with the Yes studio version and we also indulge in a little bit of speculation about the forthcoming Yes album - and who doesn’t enjoy these kinds of guessing games? Well if you don’t, feel free to use the fast forward button.

 Anyway, it was a lot of fun listening to some very early Yes and what Peter Banks did when he revisited it himself in 1979. Videos of the 2 songs are available below of course.

• How similar are the 2 versions of Something's Coming?
• Does Peter Banks play it the same way he did with Yes?
• What do we have in-store from Yes' forthcoming new album?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

This week, Mark and I return to one of our favourite pastimes - listening to Yes tracks through time. We each chose 3 different live recordings of Awaken to listen to and then discuss. So it’s time to put your Roger Dean thinking caps on and see if you would have chosen the same versions as us.

• Which versions did we choose?
• Why did we chose those ones?
• Who does it best?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

This week Mark and I enjoyed discovering the many delights of the Blu-ray version of the Steven Wilson remix set of Tales from Topographic Oceans. It’s packed full of obscure and unusual versions of the songs on the album - a delight for all Yes nerds fans everywhere.

Do you have a copy of the Blu-ray version? If not, you might want to find one as explained in our chat in a few minutes' time.

• What is included on the Blu-ray?
• Does it sound good?
• Is it worth choosing Blu-ray as an audio format over DVD-A or others?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

This week Mark and I consider 6 songs that were performed live really well by lineups of Yes that didn’t record them. With the revolving door policy of the band over the decades, there was a lot to choose from so see if we came up with anything you would have chosen yourself. Of course, as usual, we’d love to hear from you some of your own suggestions, so please do add those to the show notes for this week over at yesmusicpodcast.com

• What have we chosen?
• How do songs from different lineups sound live?
• Who plays it better?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

This week I’m feeding back on my trip to Trading Boundaries to see what Dave Watkinson has put on display alongside the permanent Roger Dean exhibition there. I made a video of Dave showing me around and we both enthuse about all the amazing items.

I then had a chance to chat with Mark about what he noticed on the video - of course it’s embedded into the show notes over at YesMusicPodcast.com

• What was on display?
• Where and what is Trading Boundaries?
• What has Paul Graf sent to Kevin?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

After an important update on last week's episode, Mark and I choose 3 interesting cover versions each. They all feature Yes men past or present. If you'd like to listen to the songs before listening to us banging on about them, they are all embedded below with the original versions as well.

• Which covers did we choose?
•  
• Who is represented from Yes?
•  
• How do they stand up against the originals?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

I received an interesting email from a listener this week. She asked if anyone was aware of the connections between a song by the Italian prog group PFM and Yes’ Gates of Delirium. I’ll explain more when I go through the email with Mark a little later on.

Many thanks to the Patrons who gave their feedback on the topic and before you listen to Mark and my take, you may want to listen to the music involved. I’ve embedded the PFM and the Yes songs in the show notes so head on over to yesmusicpodcast.com and see what you think - then please do add your thoughts to the comments section on the show notes for this week.

• Did Yes copy the PFM song in Gates?
• Who are PFM anyway?
• Are there any connections between the bands?

Let us know if you agree with us!

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

Mark was back this week and we welcomed YMP listener and Patron Jon Pickles onto the show to talk about the time he was a 'tea boy' at Trident Studios in London. You'll need to listen to the interview to hear all about it but Trident was the world-renowned studio where, amongst unnumbered highlights of rock music, Yes recorded overdubs for their first album, Queen recorded their first two albums and The Beatles recorded Let It Be and other seminal songs.

Listen out for stories about Rick Wakeman, Bill Bruford, Trevor Horn and many more!

• What did Jon have to do as a 'tea boy'?
• Who did he meet and work with?
• What was it like being in Soho in those days?

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

Unfortunately, Mark was unwell this week so we wish him a speedy recovery. I'm sure he will be back with us next week.

I did manage to speak to the Yes expert Henry Potts, however, about his recent blog post. Called 'What does 2025 hold for Yes fans?' it contains, in Henry's usual style, a huge amount of detail about all sorts of live and recorded Yes and Yes-related activity that may or may not see the light of day in 2025.

As I say later on, if only half of what we talk about actually appears, it will indeed be a great year for Yes and associated artists.

Many thanks to Henry who was as cheerful and generous as always, despite only having 24hrs notice of the recording.

Henry's site is a veritable cornucopia of Yes and Yes-related information and is one of the longest-lived sources of Yes information on the internet, having been active since 2018!

http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wnyesm.htm

• What is Yes likely to do in 2025?

• What has already been announced?

• What are past Yes members up to this year?

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

It’s 2025 and Mark and I are back for another year of the Yes Music Podcast. According to an online tool, it’s 13 years 3 months 2 weeks and 6 days since I published episode 1. Wow.

This episode focuses on Drama from 1980 - released 44 years 4 months 2 weeks and 5 days ago. Despite the shock of the dramatic lineup changes (Buggles Horn and Downes replacing Anderson and Wakeman) and the resulting initial dismissal of the album by some fans, the record is now amongst the most popular of all Yes albums. So why is Drama now regarded as a great Yes album? Mark and I have come up with our 6 reasons as you will hear in a few minutes. See if you agree and let us know in the comments for this episode.

• Why can we even call this a Yes album?
• What was the impact of The Buggles?
• Does it look like a Yes album?