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Summary: Yes Stories in my Words
Review: After reading this book I found out the ins and outs on how this super group thought, rehersed, and worked. The music they made over the years has inspired many and will continue to do so for years to come. This book will help set the record straight on many questions that the less than knowledgable Yes fans might have. It is a must for Yes fans around the world and goes hand in hand with the YesStories video from 1991. This book will tell you all you need to know about each album and how it came about and each member who contributed to it, their likes and dislikes about the recording sessions, and their favorite tracks, as well as their musical history. It was a pleasure to read.
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Summary: No other Yes book takes you Closer to the Edge!!!!!!!!
Review: After reading this, I now understand what Yes is all about! They are the quintessential band of all time! I seriously believe nobody can over top them! They are pure geniuses! Tim Morse has a lot to be proud of for this book, from every last page to the meeting of the band members! Great job!
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Summary: Easy to read, a handy reference guide to the band
Review: Are the members of this 34-year-old progressive rock band quotable? For the most part, yes -- especially when you consult about a hundred sources. That's what author and fan Tim Morse did for the first bui (of sorts) in 15 years of a group that created such rock classics as Owner Of A Lonely Heart and Roundabout. Of course, while all this was happening the band went through enough members (12 by the time this was published, two more since then) to fill a bus. And it was the pretentious, convoluted sound of groups like Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer that spawned the punk rock movement. But never mind that. Yes is still together and now fans can find out what members thought of successful albums like Fragile and 90125, as well a such stinkers as Union and Tormato. To his credit, Morse managed to interview all but four members as well as long-time producer Eddie Offord. Magazines, videos, radio shows and the Internet filled in for the rest. And he's conveniently organized the book by album, adding chapters of quotes about life on the road as well as members assessing each other. This makes it easy to skip around and read small chunks at a time. You'll find yourself gravitating toward the Morse interviews rather than earlier quotes, since by 1996 (when Yesstories was published) members had the gift of hindsight and weren't so interested in promoting their albums or each other. Indeed, that's how we find out that drummer Bill Bruford was glad he didn't have to work with bassist Christ Squire on the 1989 Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe project, and actually hated the 1991 Union album. Then there's the fun of members contradicting each other. For example, the classic Roundabout is credited to vocalist Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe. But in a Morse interview, ousted guitarist Peter Banks claimed to be responsible for the song's main riff. There are some truly banal quotes in Yesstories too, but you'll find so much good stuff you'll barely notice them. Buy this and Chris Welch's Close To The Edge: The Story of Yes and you pretty much have the band's history covered.
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Summary: Just wanted to clarify
Review: First of all, I would like to say that I haven't read the book, so my five star rating is just giving the book the benefit of the doubt. This rating system is unreliable anyway, because the only people making ratings are people who are fans of the music, book, or whatever it is that is being rated.
I was prompted to write this by something Mr. King said in his review. He referred to the album Tormato being a stinker. It is not. It is one of Yes' finest works. Union is not a stinker either, though not great. Talk and Big Generator are the stinkers in the Yes discography. Did anyone find this review helpful?
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Summary: Documents the recordings, but not much else
Review: For the serious Yes fan, Morse presents an amalgam of quotes from the dozen-odd guys who were at one time or another members of the seminal progressive rock band. The book is heavily slanted towards discussion of the recorded legacy, up through and including the then-current release, "Talk". All in all it's a fast, easy read, but it's clearly more for hard-core fans than for casual listeners.
The biggest shortcoming of this book is the band-mates' unwillingness to talk about themselves and each other, and the fact that Morse does nothing to fill in those gaps. For example, the band starts getting together on page 8. That means each of the musicians gets about 2 paragraphs to give us his life story up to the point where he joins the band, and with that trace some of his musical influences. Later in the book, there's a chapter that describes life "On The Road": 12 pages. There's almost no mention of their families or their relationships or their interests outside of music, political concerns, religious beliefs, sexual exploits, etc... This is the sanitized version of Yes - perhaps this book was primarily directed towards young teens. Certainly they're not saying anything they wouldn't want their own kids to know. In any case, don't expect to come away from this book feeling you know these guys personally.
What they are willing to talk about is the recorded legacy of the band, and that's where this book really shines. Every single album is commented on by all of its participants, and some non-participants as well, usually track by track, providing a set of differing and often conflicting viewpoints on each recording in the catalogue. Of course that doesn't mean that all will now be revealed. Nobody ever discusses the lyrics except Jon Anderson, and what he has to say about them is frequently no less cryptic than the lines themselves. So if you were hoping for a line by line analysis of the song lyrics, this book will give you very little. No, the most common topic for discussion is: who wrote which parts of each of the songs. In fact, Patrick Moraz warns readers not to believe the credits on the albums - certainly there's a greater difference of opinion about this single topic than any other. But soon enough this petty squabbling gets tiresome, and ultimately meaningless, since we can never know the truth. Meanwhile, we do get a pretty fair view of the kaleidoscopic personnel changes that were this band's hallmark, and a pretty good feel for how difficult, and indeed how unpleasant it must have been to be a part of this exceptional band.
If you like to sit around with your friends and discuss which Yes album is your favorite, this will be an invaluable source book, but if you're looking for a literary treatment, or musicological analysis, or details of the band members' private lives, you should look elsewhere. A band this good deserves better.
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Summary: A Really Good Book
Review: I bought and read this book quite a while ago, but I came out knowing more about this band like no other. It really brought to light a lot of things I didn't know about Yes. Recommended.
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Summary: The book is a great insight into the members of Yes.
Review: I learned alot about Yes and what it is like to be a band and span so much time and so many different styles and changes
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Summary: Quite Good
Review: It's interesting, informative, and concise. New interviews and research make this volume well worth a read to any Yes fan.
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Summary: Yes Speak
Review: Just a friendly review of Tim Morse's book "Yes - In Their Own Words". As a very dedicated and devote Yes fan, I found parts of the book very enlightening - especially detailing the early day as Yes began to come into their own during the early to mid 70's. I did find member's passages wanting for more explanation. Case in point... Alan White's quotes throughout the book always implied his need or desire to validate his contribution and worth to the band. Core narrative centered on him telling us that he wrote this lyric or that lyric, or that a musical idea of his was the basis of whole Yes piece. Perhaps Mr. Morse saw a pattern emerging and felt compelled to indulge Mr. White and center of this stream of thought. Bruford's quotes are filled with cynicism and sarcasm. If you've ever heard him speak when talking about his stint with Yes you get a sense that there was more pain than joy being in the band. As for the more lucid and insightful passages, Howe, Rabin and Wakeman were as direct and forthright as they could be. For Anderson, his train of thought is similar to the style and tone of his lyrics...your sometimes left with ' what did he just say, or mean with that comment.' The book gets tedious at times, but it does make for quick reading. A "worth-it buy" if you hankering for Yes members words of wisdom.
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Summary: Excellent, Essential Item for Yes Fans
Review: The title of Tim Morse's _Yesstories: Yes In Their Own Words_ says it all - this is a collection of quotes and accounts from band members and associates detailing every phase of Yes' career up until SLO. There's not much to say about this book other than the fact that it is ESSENTIAL for any fan of Yes that is interested about how certain songs came about, how band members met one another, what band members think about each other, and many other insights into what it means to be Yes. I have several books about Yes, and this is by far the most enjoyable to read. Five years after I first read it, I often find myself going back to it. Fan of Yes? Then buy it. Now.
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