TIME AND A WORD: The Yes Story

With the big swirly typeface 1970s lettering for their band name, utopian lyrics, dreamy artworks by Roger Dean on albums like Tales from Topographic Oceans, many music lovers have been moved by classic albums like Fragile, Close to the Edge, Relayer, Going for the One, or more recent offerings like Fly From Here and Heaven & Earth. This magical book perfectly captures the spirit of progressive rock's first, biggest and best band with original interviews from Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, the late and great bassist Chris Squire and many others. The tales unfold via an exhaustive chronology designed to satisfy the most knowledgeable of Yes fans. You just might learn what 'Close to the Edge' actually means or why Alan White and Jon Anderson might be seen prowling the junkyard for car parts! Using a timeline format, the superb biographer Popoff disentangles the convoluted tale of the band's hirings and firings, their inside creations, live shows and triumphs, and studio victories as well as the occasional controversial failure such as when Anderson wanted to record 'Tales from Topographic Oceans' in the countryside so a cut-out cow was brought in. Popoff also gets the views of contemporaries such as Steve Hackett (Genesis), Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) and John Wetton (King Crimson, Asia et al) to provide a rounded view of the prog movement. Colour photos, 205pp, large softback.