Poll results: Desire for a new album

2010 holds the promise of a new Yes album, but the exact timetable the band have in mind remains unclear. It's been eight and a quarter years since the last new album, Magnification. The longest gap between Yes albums before was half that (between 90125 and Big Generator). So the most recent Where Are They Now? poll asked when people wanted a new album.

The results were clear: 188 out of 273 (69%) said the sooner, the better. Another 13 (5%) said the first half of 2010, while 5 (2%) said the second half of 2010. No-one picked the option after 2010.

So, that's three quarters of respondents supporting an album this year, and sooner rather than later. The main alternate view was the 39 (14%) who supported the option 'Never: they should get back Jon Anderson or disband'. That compares to the quarter of respondents in the last poll who felt this line-up shouldn't be called Yes at all.

24 (9%) went with 'Whenever they feel they're ready'. 3 voters said 'Never: they should just keep touring', and there was 1 'other' response.

The replacement poll is the first in a series looking back at the last decade. We begin asking what was your favourite new Yes piece of the decade. That there's only 15 songs to choose from probably explains the above feelings!

Poll results: Is this Yes?

Happy new year! The last few months of last year saw some strong condemnation from Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman towards the current line-up of Yes that has continued without them. I ran a poll on the site to see what you, dear readers, made of the competing claims.

Option 1 was Chris Squire's now well-known quote that "This is Yes". Option 3 was a quote from Rick in which he claims Jon "does not think it is Yes unless Rick Wakeman and himself are in that band". So that leaves an option 2 for any other views, the obvious one being that you need Anderson but not R. Wakeman.

The results... "This is Yes" got 199 votes (74%); other (e.g. Jon essential, but Rick isn't) got 38 votes (14%); Jon and Rick essential got 27 votes (10%). 3 votes put their support of the current line-up as Yes as being dependent on new material, and 1 vote was ambiguous.

So, at least those Yes fans who come to Where Are They Now? are mostly accepting that this is indeed Yes. I don't presume those votes to mean they're all happy with what has come to pass, but they're not questioning the basic use of the name. On the other hand, a significant minority remain opposed. To lose a quarter of your fan base is a difficult position for a band as they embark on a new year...