Yes are the archetypal 1970s progressive rock group. Playing powerful and adventurous music when it was briefly part of the mainstream, the band thrilled millions with their iconic albums and epic live shows. Records like Fragile and Close To The Edge helped define an era, and although the band dissolved at the end of the decade, Yes emerged once again with 90125, a streamlined, modern sound in the 1980s and a US number one hit single in 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'. Now in their sixth decade, the band continues to release albums and play live into the new millennium, despite numerous, sometimes controversial, lineup changes.
Revised and expanded from the author's single-volume edition first published in 2018, this first of two books looks at each of Yes's studio albums between their debut in 1968 and the controversial Union album and tour, highlighting the many high points and the rarer missteps, and focusing on the changes in band dynamics that led to varied - but always interesting - music. In addition to a complete re-evaluation of those seminal early albums, it includes a more detailed review of the live performances recorded during this period, making this the most comprehensive examination of the music created during those 23 years yet written.
Stephen Lambe is an author, publisher and journalist. In addition to having written three books about Yes, he writes regularly for Prog magazine and has interviewed many current and ex-members of the band, including Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood, Rick Wakeman, Oliver Wakeman, Tony Kaye and Trevor Rabin. His first live concert - of many hundreds - was Yes at Wembley Arena in 1978. He lives in Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, UK.