Saturday 11 August 2012

Yesmen outside Yes: final poll

After three rounds, we moved to the final poll on the best non-Yes(/ABWH) albums featuring 3+ Yesmen. There were 119 votes:

1. Chris Squire: Fish Out of Water (w/ Bruford, Moraz): 66 (55%)
2. Rick Wakeman: The Six Wives of Henry VIII (w/ Squire, Bruford, Howe, White): 20 (17%)
3. Rick Wakeman: Criminal Record (w/ Squire, White): 12 (10%)
4= Chris Squire & Billy Sherwood: Conspiracy (w/ White): 6 (5%)
4= Symphonic Music of Yes (w/ Anderson, Bruford, Howe): 6 (5%)
6. The Buggles: Adventures in Modern Recording (w/ Horn, Downes, Squire): 5 (4%)
7. CIRCA: 2007 (w/ Sherwood, Kaye, White): 4 (3%)

A very clear result then for Fish Out of Water, perhaps the best-loved Yes-related album. Squire, I note, also plays on 4 of the top 5.

Wakeman's two solo albums with multiple Yes guests come a clear second and third. Nice to see some recognition for Criminal Record, an album which I feel gets overlooked compared to the 'official' 1975/6 solo releases. (Note all three of the tracks with Squire/White from Criminal Record and the only track on Six Wives with Squire and Howe are on the 2000 compilation, Recollections The Very Best of Rick Wakeman (1973-1979).)

We've got three more albums featuring 3+ Yesmen out in the next two months, all on Cleopatra Records: Billy Sherwood's The Prog Collective (with Squire, Wakeman, Kaye, Banks and Levin on different tracks); his Supertramp tribute Songs of the Century (with Squire and Kaye on an original track by Sherwood; Wakeman and Levin with Sherwood on "Crime of the Century"; and Downes, Kaye and Banks each on different tracks); and Nektar's Spoonful of Time, a covers album with Howe, Downes, Wakeman and Moraz on different tracks.

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