------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 26, 2004 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Long Island Press http://www.longislandpress.com/v02/i34040826/music_aside_01.asp Just Say Yes: After 35 Years, the Prog-Rock Gods are More Resonant Than Ever By Dave Gil de Rubio For the uninitiated, Yes is a kind of musical dinosaur; to the world at large, the band is known for a handful of songs embedded in classic-rock radio formats and a number of imaginative album covers. Musically speaking, the band fused the structural complexity of classical music with the hooks and harmonies of pop, all wrapped in a layer of mystical lyrics sung by an elfin-sounding frontman. But on a much larger scale, this trail-blazing English outfit has spent the past 35 years not only creating one of rock 'n' roll's most significant bodies of work ­- no less influential than Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd -­ but becoming an enduring pop-cultural landmark. And while the band has never really been given its due, perhaps now, after 35 years as a unit, it is time their legacy is recognized for what it is: one of the most important in the history of rock. It's easy to chalk up Yes' appeal to a fan base primarily composed of aging boomers with a predilection for Tolkien and marijuana. But that's hardly the extent of their reach. "The hippies are still around," concedes Yes front man Jon Anderson. "We were part of the hippie counter-culture. Then you have younger people. I actually look around and there are so many young people that come to our concerts now. From teenagers to mid-20s, and then there are 30-, 40- and 50-year olds that have been around for 30 years because it is part of their life." The band's crossover into modern-day pop culture is evidence of their broad appeal. Sarah Jessica Parker sports a Yes concert T-shirt in a Season 6 episode of Sex & the City. "Your Move," originally released on 1971's The Yes Album, was used in film trailers for 2002's Mr. Deeds and 2003's Big Fish. Avowed fan and indie-film auteur Vincent Gallo went a step further by incorporating "Heart of the Sunrise," from 1972's Fragile, into a pivotal scene of his 1998 masterpiece Buffalo '66. Jack Black name-checked Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman in a memorable scene in Richard Linklater's 2003 film, School of Rock. And Latin pop stars Shakira and Enrique Iglesias have sported Yes gear in some very high-profile television spots (Shakira in a Pepsi commercial; Iglesias on The Tonight Show). According to die-hard fans like YesWorld.com site manager Mike Tiano, the band's reach into these unlikely corners comes from a musical style that strikes a certain chord. "They're very, very original and there's no one like them," Tiano explains over the phone from his home in the Seattle. "[Yes] has a particular sound that really attracts and excites [fans]. It's the musicianship. It's the vocal harmonies. It's the sound. It's the creativity. It's the excitement that their music generates for those who get it." And those who get it are an ever-widening group, it seems. Snobby rock-criticism website Pitchforkmedia.com -­ whose rarified tastes generally run toward hipster artistes like Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective ­- has shown a grudging (and occasionally gushing) enthusiasm for Yes. In June of this year, the site published a sprawling feature penned by three different writers (Chris Dahlen, Dominique Leone and Joe Tangari) that began with the words, "Odds are you already have an opinion on Yes, and since you're reading this website, there's a good chance that your view of them isn't a favorable one." But the trio went on to carefully and respectfully dissect a major chunk of the band's catalog recently reissued by Rhino Records. At its most glowing, these particularly finicky tastemakers declared the seminal Close to the Edge to be "an essential document of just how powerful prog could be when focused." However, a good portion of the critical intelligentsia would just as soon see Yes go away. A Rolling Stone review of 1974's Relayer called the album "Pretentious balderdash no matter how you stack it." In 2002, the magazine deemed Yes a "quintessential overstuffed prog-rock band by turns pompous and prosaic." Village Voice writer and the "Dean of American Rock Critics," Robert Christgau (no stranger to pretentiousness or pomposity himself) said of 1974's Tales From Topographic Oceans, "Nice 'passages' here, as they say, but what flatulent quasisymphonies ­- the whole is definitely less than the sum of its parts, and some of the parts are pretty negligible." But for longtime friend and Yes album-cover designer Roger Dean, this kind of compositional chance-taking was and is an important element in the grand scheme of popular music. "I think now it's impossible to categorize music, and Yes really played a part in making that [happen]," says Dean. "They did basically 90 percent of the donkey work for breaking down the barriers and saying that rock 'n' roll can be about rhythm, but it can be a lot of other things too. I think Yes said, 'Follow me. Here's space to try out all kinds of stuff.'" This willingness to take creative chances seems anathema to the pre-packaged, quarterly-profits-driven rise of pop commodities like MTV and Billboard presence Ashlee Simpson. Yet Yes continues to forge ahead, selling out venues at a time when high-profile behemoths like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have been forced to cancel tours. Part of this could be attributed to boomer nostalgia (or, perhaps, elaborate Dean stage designs) but in the end, the band's desire for musical majesty is the reason why fans from bossa nova icon Astrid Gilberto to Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch continue to praise this English quintet. Ubiquitous filmmaker and rock historian Cameron Crowe contributed notes to the booklet for 2002 Yes box set In a Word, saying, "There was an utter seriousness about their quest to be truly great, always combined with a humor that flashed just below the surface." Make no mistake, the lengthy and intricate pieces featuring neo-classical movements, often about arcane subject matter, can make listening to Yes a challenging proposition. But according to Tiano, that's part of the band's appeal. "Yes brought together the instrumental virtuosity in terms of being able to evoke emotions through their instruments," explains the 50-year-old die-hard fan. "I think they've endured for so long because they've stayed true to their vision of bringing audiences exemplary musicianship and effecting melodies." But according to Yes' Anderson, the reason for the band's inexhaustible endurance is quite a bit simpler. "Bad management," says Anderson, chuckling to himself. "We've had all kinds of management, and what kept us moving was the music. Whichever way we looked at it, we had some very good times and some crazy times, but the music kept us going. I think we were very lucky in the early '70s to create a style of music that is specifically Yes music, that has survived all these years...that's what's kept us going." Yes will be appearing on Aug. 28 at Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater, Jones Beach, Wantagh. Call 516-221-1000 for more information. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com