The best America cover ever! Simon & Garfunkel should be eternally grateful and humbled by this “new” masterpiece based on their own work. Yes is, simply, the greatest band in prog rock history.
Absolutely fantastic version. That's how to do a cover - make it your own. The musicality of this version is spectacularly good. RIP the great, great rhythm section.
In the same thought, me and my band are yes fans and we also tried to cover one of the prog rock legends in the world King Crimson and made it our own. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s1i_9Ickq0I.html
As covers go this is right up there. Completely transformed the song without taking away the spirit behind it. Never saw this live so delighted its been posted. Thanks.
I always loved their version of this song! I had no idea they ever did it live recently! Steve's strings are just HUGE! That's how he gets that big sound. An that Alan White, the kid's doing pretty good so I think they'll keep him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN!!!!
Saw Yes in Atlanta in 76 and then in the early 80s. Amazing these guy's sound is still so tight as a band. I remember seeing Yes Songs when it came out in the theater in the early 70's. Listening to Yes is like being close to heaven!
It was first included on a sampler for Atlantic records around 1972 and then on a compliation album called Yesterdays in 1974. Always loved the guitar solo.
Just look at the fragment between 5:23 en 5:46 and realize that we're never going to watch & feel the Heart of YES beat like this ever again... LOVE to Chris, LOVE to Jon, LOVE to whatever joy, beauty, excitement they ever gave us.
Still stunning nearly 50 years on from when I first adored Yes as a virtually unknown band at Manchester Uni. What did the camera guy have against Rick Wakeman in this video, though? - we hardly see him...
one of my favourites, and i was glad that when i hadnt seen them for years they were still playing it in the 90s.i used to roadie vwith them in 1970,but they got so big,which they deserved.id seen them from 1968 onwards,and lets hope theyre still around in some form in the future.
One day I was playing this song at home and halfway through my wife, who's from Georgia, said "Hey I didn't know you liked Southern Rock!" Based on his performance here, I always thought Steve Howe could've sat in with the Allmans or the Dregs if he'd wanted to and made fine Dixie-fried music.
The quintessence of progressive/rock. This track is like a long fantastic story never finishing, or like looking a painting with so much details than you cannot stop looking. One of the best band
Fantastic guitar solo. Steve´s technique is very clean. He didn´t abuse of distortion or fuzz, but he rocked, while others needed them to rock. Long live YES.
Their original recording of this from 197? is AMAZING, and judging from this clip, the passage of time seems to have done little to damage that energy. Fantastic.
Yes was so talented they took covers and made them better than the originals lol. Yes is very highly respected as one of the key bands in the progressive rock movement. They will never be forgotten. Great upload
Stunning....Yes is a group of exceptional talent. America is arguably the best cover ever. And what about Steve Howe's guitar playing... the guy is simply brilliant.
Bruford played on the original studio recording and single. The most interesting performance though is a 1971 recording from the set "The Word is Live" - 18 minutes long and has Tony Kaye playing Hammond. You can hear that Wakeman later took a lot of Kaye's parts and didn't change them much.
Memories are flooding back about their concerts. In the 70's they used a moving stage called "theater in the round" and toured up until the 90's. Only other band that had that kind of impact on me at concerts was Pink Floyd but being an American I only saw them once in the 70's and would have loved to see them after Marc Brickman because their Manager of lights/fx. Yes is a great concert band and this is a great song!!!
The inspiration for this version of America came from the band 1-2-3 (later CLOUDS) as recently admitted publicly by JON ANDERSON. According to Jon, Clouds was his "favourite band" (Record Collector magazine 2015). Listen to the much earlier version by 1-2-3 live at the Marquee as on RU-vid and you'll hear the clear influence. (you can also hear the influence on Bowie's performance of this song at the Concert for New York). But it's true to say that YES also were obviously fine musicians who also stretched the boundaries of late 60s Rock.
"YES," to that! I saw these guys a ZILLION times in the seventies! Whenever I'm a bit down on the current state of affairs at home here, I listen to this version by YES of the fantastic Simon and Garfunkel song, America, and dream of what it "was-----" to be free, in this once great land!
This version was actually on the album Yesterdays, a compilation of the first 2 Yes albums, so it's one of their earliest works. But not that many people know that. It pre-dates Fragile, Close To The Edge etc.
Recent quote from Jon Anderson - "Clouds were very important in those early years...I remember them performing 'Paul Simon's' America ...as you know Yes eventually performed the song, I still do today in my solo concert, those far off days were very open and exciting...."
Brilliant. Rock at it's best and shows the range of musical style of Yes. Try to drum to this one as it's the only Yes number I can get anywhere near right!
