In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerI’m delighted to say that we are back at the helm of the good ship YMP this week. First of all I’d like to say thank you to everyone…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I listened to the edited audio of the main ‘location reports’ I made last Saturday during my trip to London to te…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideJoin me live in London tomorrow!Please join me as I broadcast live from various locations in London that are connected with Yes and/or Tales. I will be going live on Facebook at various points tomorrow afternoon - 28th September 2024.Join in via the Facebook Event: https://fb.me/e/1Xctfte4MS…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIt's time for Mark and me to expound our reactions to the new Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks album, True. I just listened to the mu…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerA couple of weeks ago, Mark and I assembled one of the most learned and erudite groups of experts the progressive world has ever see…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a great conversation with the legendary Michael Tait this week. Here is what the biography on his Mickey's Black Box …

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerUnfortunately, this is another week in which Mark and I have been unable to record a new episode. Don't worry though, next week we a…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerBefore we start, I’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in the Presale for my new book, the Tales from Topographic Oceans Lis…

In Production:Tales from Topographic OceansListening guideSign up to the e-newsletter updates for exclusive access to the PRESALE!TormatoBook.comProduced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I took a listen to some of the existing Yes songs and versions that have already been added to official reissued…

Produced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a lot of fun talking about a remarkable video suggested by Rachel Hadaway this week. From a BBC programme called Sounding Out, it features live show footage and interviews with the band from 1971, shortly after Rick Wakeman joined.It’s full of period charm, as t…

Produced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerAs always, it was a delight to welcome Yes guitarist Steve Howe back onto the show to talk about his new solo album, Guitarscape. It was a fun discussion during which Mark and I enjoyed asking some searching questions about the new record. Of course, we also slipped in a few q…

Produced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I wish Igor Khoroshev a slightly belated Happy Birthday by talking about some of his greatest moments for Yes. We have chosen our favourite 3 examples of the great keyboardist’s work with the band so keep listening and see if you agree. I’ve embedded YouTube…

Produced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIt seems like a long time since the last new episode of the YMP but it’s not really. Anyway, I am back from my trip of a lifetime to the Indian Ocean for my 30th Wedding Anniversary which was a wonderful, unforgettable experience.While I was away, I received one of the Union 3…

Produced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week I have delved into the YMP archives because my work commitments have not allowed me to record an episode with Mark.However, this means you can listen to me sounding younger, and perhaps a little more hesitant from way back in 2011. The first focus I had in the podcas…

Produced by Wayne Hall, Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I watched the video compiled and edited by Hed Gilboa and posted to the YMP Discussion group on Facebook by Doug Curran that contains all the known crowd-shot footage of Yes on the Tales Tour of the US and Canada in 1974.One mistake I made (presumably amongs…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerI’ve had no time to put together any news this week but I still managed to speak at length to Mark about both my experiences seeing Yes at Birmingham Symphony Hall. It was a wonderful experience and not just because of the quality of the concert itself.We’ve also enjoyed listening to the …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week we had a great conversation with the delightful Pete Greenwood about his recollections of the Tales Tour when it visited Manchester for two concerts in 1973. The gigs spurred Pete on to pursue his own bass playing and that eventually led to him performing all four sides of Tales…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerANderson, Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin. It’s an area we seldom look at so it was very enjoyable to examine a different aspect of the music of Yes and I definitely learned a lot from what Mark said about his choices. I’m sure you will as well. As always, we’d love to see what your suggesti…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I take our cue from the recent announcement of the Talk deluxe box set to be released at the end of this month. It contains a live recording of a 1994 concert in Canandaigua, New York (interestingly seemingly misspelt on the adverts) that includes 5 songs from the rece…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I climbed aboard our state of the art time machine to visit the past of the world’s greatest progressive rock band. We each chose 3 Yes tours we would love to be able to visit and gave each other clues to guess which ones we were thinking of. You’ll get the idea I’m su…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a great time this week thinking about interesting or unusual Yes musical textures. We both came up with 3 examples that we thought were surprising or different so do have a look below to hear the clips we are referring to and add your own examples to the comments section. Y…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I attempted to choose 3 Peter Banks era Yes songs each. As you’ll hear, we turned out to be thinking along similar lines but it was still a very enjoyable experience listening to the earliest days of the band and discussing what made Yes unique even at that stage.Yester…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerGeoff Bailie and some other blokeIt was lovely to welcome back onto the YMP our friend and patron, Geoff Bailie this week. Mark and I spoke to him about the recent news that Yes will be on tour with Deep Purple in the US and Canada this Summer. What do you think of that idea? Well, self-c…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIt seems like a long time since the last episode but it’s not. Anyway, it was delightful to speak to a warm and friendly unsung hero of Yes last week. As you will hear, despite being very keen to be involved, Mark wasn’t able to join in the conversation due to timing and technical issues …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerI'm publishing this episode on Good Friday so there's been no time for the usual news roundup. However, Mark and I did manage to talk about 'Talk' receiving the box set treatment.We discuss what's going to be included - and what doesn't seem to be included as well.It one of our favourite …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe were delighted to be able to speak to Jay Schellen this week about the upcoming Yes UK and Europe Tour and many other topics, particularly his relationship with the late, great Alan White. As you will hear, Jay's connections with Yes are numerous and he is a truly talented all-round mu…

This week Mark and I were due to have a conversation with Jay Schellen about the forthcoming Yes tour of the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for reasons outside our control. We will be speaking to Jay on Monday instead so I’m afraid you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for that.In the meantime in this very short episode, I …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week would have been Chris Squire’s 76th birthday. To celebrate his legacy, Mark and I chose 3 of our favourite Squire bass lines and also chatted about his signature sound and how he achieved it. Make sure you add your own selections to the comments on the show notes for this episod…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a fun time this week re-watching the ABWH Brother of Mine video and the new Mirror to the Sky one. Listen out for our thoughts in a few minutes’ time and see if you can count how many times I call the song Long Lost Brother of Mine by mistake. Also, do check out the show no…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerAfter a short break, Mark and I are back to consider what Geoff Downes was doing before being asked to rejoin Yes for the recording of Fly From Here, released in 2011, shortly before the Yes Music Podcast was established. We have been listening to the John Wetton album, Raised in Captivit…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I talked about the situation in Yes at the time Geoff Downes rejoined for Fly From Here - around 2010-11. It's a contentious time - but then again when isn't with Yes? Oliver Wakeman had to make way for the return of Downes who had worked very closely with Steve Howe i…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week, Mark and I had a great conversation about Yes ephemera - what do I mean by that? Well it’s stuff that would certainly have disappeared if it wasn’t for people like Steve Sullivan, Pete Whipple and Geoffrey Mason over at forgotten-yesterdays.com who collect and share all sorts o…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerAs you will hear, the title of this week’s episode is a bit misleading. Mark and I have been choosing some of our favourite slower, calmer songs or parts of songs from the extensive Yes catalogue to talk about this week. There are plenty to choose from given the remarkable ability of Yes …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week's episode is a rather visual one so you will probably want to listen after (or concurrently with) looking at the images below. Mark and I discuss some of the most instantly identifiable (for Yes fans) images which don't include the name of the band. We start off with a quiz for …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerHappy New Year to you. I hope you had a great time whatever you were celebrating in mid-winter or mid-summer or something else depending on where you are on the globe.This week, Mark and I return to the second part of our discussion around why Rick Wakeman wanted Larry Fast to help him ou…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I are once again indebted to Doug Curran for setting us off to find out more about keyboard innovator Larry Fast and his Tales from Topographic Oceans connections. As you will hear, Larry was involved in the sound of the keyboards on Tales, something I did not realise u…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerMark and I had a great conversation with Ian Hartley this week. As mentioned last week, Ian has produced his own 50th Anniversary box set of Tales from Topographic Oceans and we were keen to know what motivated him, how he went about it and how it fitted in with his own Yes story. If you …

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerThis week Mark and I take a look at and have a chat about what Yes fan Ian Hartley has done to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tales from Topographic Oceans. A chap after our own 5%-er hearts, he has taken things very much into his own hands as you will hear. If you want to understand f…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerWe continue our Tales from topographic oceans obsession this week with a look at 3 very different live recordings of side 4, Ritual - Nous Sommes du Soleil. The 3 different performances are included in the show notes below. They are from Yesshows (1980) , Symphonic Live (2002) and Topogra…

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Jeffrey Crecelius and Ken FullerIt was a delight to welcome the bass maestro Miguel Falcão back onto the YMP this week. As you would expect, he knows a lot about how Chris Squire created the bass lines for Tales from Topographic Oceans. You may have heard Miguel's bass covers of both The Ancient and The Remembering, and…