This is their best album in my opinion. Gates is outrageous and to see it live is such an experience. Last time I saw them live was at Jones Beach..When Jon sang the "Soon" part a full moon was coming right through the stage. It was beautiful. Another thing I love Roger Dean's artwork on this cover.
The older I get , the more I understand the genius of Steve Howe. He is the main songwriter of all their epics and his own virtuosity is so subtle that years back, it would all just miss me.
I feel the same way about Zappa in general - my appreciation and respect moves ever upwards with every album in Frank's arsenal I listen to even after 40ish years... it just gets better.
Well I'm not sure Howe is more important in the band then Anderson or Squire. If you listen to ABWH the magic isn't there as greatly. Squire is missing.
I recently subscribed to your channel because you are checking out such great music and I particularly enjoy witnessing the Yes journey you have taken. There are many great bands but Yes is one above the many.
Thank you for the sub. I am enjoying the journey aswell. I love discovering new music and bands. I think as I have gotten older I find myself open to listening to differnt bands I may not have listened to before
@@apocketfulofheep Understandable. The deluxe edition of Relayer has a bonus track titled Soon. I'm sure you saw that track listed while you were listening to The Gates of Delerium, so you would have thought it was a separate song. The Soon section of The Gates of Delerium was released as a single when Relayer came out.
A song that is at least as much fun the 100th time it is heard as the first time. The 22 minutes pass in no time because you are taken on a journey that captivates you all the time. For me in many parts of the song it is as if they were "painting pictures" with their instruments. The song is based on Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". There is still a lot of background information about the album on Wikipedia. Also to Patrick Moraz, who more than just replaces Rick Wakeman.
Welcome to my world dear boy. I bought this on vinyl the day it was released and played this over and over simply marvelling at it until it actually wore out. I STILL. MARVEL AT IT TO THIS DAY .
Steve is a madman on 'Gates.' Tell me, no one phrases like him. He has so many influences; couldn't even name them all. But here, you hear what no other guitarist sounded like. Oh, and the Chris Squire counterpoint is so unique. Gates is Epic!
JUST AFTER GABRIELS GENESIS .... I'M KIDDING I JUST ADORE BOTH I FIRST DISCOVERED Genesis as a teen, and right after YES WHO I SAW 4 OR 5 IN CONCERT IN PARIS I LOVE RELAYER / CLOSE TO THE EDGE/ FRAGILE/ THE YES ALBUM ALL OF THEM FROM 1969 TO 1977
do not forget Bill Bruford came as a drummer along with Phil Collins and Chester Thompson on SECONDS OUT 1977 GENESIS Concert at Palais des Sports in PARIS FRANCE
"To Be Over" is the most often overlooked (or dismissed outright) song from this album, but it fights with "Turn of the Century" for my all-time favorite Yes songs. Steve agrees.
This has been my all-time favorite Yes album since it was first released. I think it's the absolute pinnacle of their progressive creativity and that it was all downhill from there, especially when they stopped being experimental and started courting a wider audience ("Going For The One" on the Billboard charts, so to speak).
This is one of four awesome early album studio works. 'The Yes' Album', 'Fragile', "Close to the Edge' and 'Relayer'. Best to thoroughly explore these 4 early works before getting onto the others to see how they evolved their sound over the years. Since you like this song, you'll love the next two on the album! Been a fan since '71 starting with their big hit album called, The Yes Album. ✌️😎
Yes brought this song to Radio City Music Hall in NYC two nights before 9/11/01. It helped prepare our spirits for the gates of delirium unleashed soon thereafter. Heroic performances of all their best long songs, opening with Close to the Edge.
Thank you so much for all your Yes reactions, I've really enjoyed them, good luck with your channel, you got a new sub. To those who can't stomach the end "Soon" section - man, have you a heart of stone ?! To me Soon is one of the most beautiful pieces of vocal music ever recorded. But then I also like "And you and I" and the Nous Sommes Du Soleil part of Ritual...
YESSONGS, a Triple Live Album, which has Alan White on most of the songs, after being in YES for only a few weeks, is phenomenal. Alan goes crazy on the drums on the live versions, and Bill as well, but since everything is amped up as far as it can go, the ridiculous drumming fits the tempo and energy level. Yes is one of the very few bands that can take a Masterpiece, and create a "new" Masterpiece with the live version. "Yours Is No Disgrace" from YESSONGS is a perfect example of this. Sound Chaser, and To Be Over next.
Yet another top shelf prog rock effort from Yes. Gates is my favorite track on this album, over the the years I have listened to it many times through headphones in a darkened room. They were amazing at creating mental landscapes and adventures though the use of sound. A real work of art. I really wish that Yes stayed on that prog rock track they established from the The Yes Album to Relayer. Many thanks for the review and getting this song on TH-cam so a new generation can hear it.
When I listen to stuff like this or other great prog like Crimso or Genesis in my car, it saddens me to know; I am the only human being listening to that particular song at that particular moment in the entire world...When you drive around hearing the SHIT most other people are listening to, it's disheartening.
Can't wait. I love this whole album, love Close to the Edge, Fragile and The Yes Album, but Awaken is, for me, the absolute pinnacle. Agree with whoever said to also do "Side 2" of this album, too. Sound Chaser is bonkers and brilliant.
I could hear this song every day without it getting too much ;-) Now "Awaken" (Going For The One album) is missing in your collection of the "big" songs by Yes. It would also be nice if you could take a look at the "overlooked big songs" by Yes in the course of time. "Endless Dream" (1994, album Talk), "Mind Drive" (1997, album Keystudio), "That That Is" (1996, album Keystudio)
Great song; my favorite of Yes. As you noticed the musicianship is brilliant in it. The ferocious battle section of the song is probably my favorite part of it, though the beautiful ending is definitely wonderful too. And now on to "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van der Graaf Generator. An amazing 23 minutes song that at times gets even wilder than the wildest parts in "The Gates of Delirium", and that's really saying something. Great singing by Peter Hammill (my favorite singer; he also plays the piano in the song), and Guy Evans on drums, Hugh Banton on the organ and David Jackson on saxes and flute do a fantastic job too. There is one wild section where all four bang away on pianos. Robert Fripp of King Crimson guests on guitar in this track. The solo at the end is often mistaken for being a guitar solo by Fripp, but it is actually an organ solo by Hugh Banton who does a perfect imitation of Fripp in style and intonation.
@@apocketfulofheep You won't regret it. Here is a link to the song: th-cam.com/video/bDDf_SuAlBA/w-d-xo.html The song is about a Lighthouse Keeper who is becoming mad from seeing all the ship wrecks. There is one instrumental passage at the beginning where two ships collide in the fog; you can hear their foghorns, how they get closer to each other and then the collision.
Yes is amazing as always! I think you will love this 2003 live version of "And You and I" which includes a lot of Jon Anderson's sweet, melodic singing as you noted toward the end of "Gates of Delirium." Old Jon's voice has not lost one iota of its unique patina! Nor has old Steve Howe's magical guitar work, and you will see his slide guitar here, as you noted. Also a special treat, old Rick Wakeman returns to reprise his keyboard magic. We also get to see one of the last performances of the late, great Chris Squire. You might enjoy checking it out: th-cam.com/video/-jctij-uBUQ/w-d-xo.html
I rarely subscribe to a channel the first time I stumble upon it, but this is an exception. This is one of my favorite epics of all time. I even like this a bit better than Close To The Edge. Great reaction.
From 13:10 until 15:38 in this video it is all pure orgasmic music that get the hairs standing up on my arms and back of my neck. Steve Howe's guitaring is out of this world. And that misty floaty part helps you rest from the excitement. Personally, I usually stop listing to the track at 16:38 because I'm not keen on the "separate" song, "Soon".
Nothing about the song is PREDICTABLE. From the beautiful opening intro passages building up to the vocal & themes, every movement build and builds and builds to tell the perfect wartime sonically visceral tale of the struggle towards Enlightenment
Oddly enough, GOD is an idea that Jon Anderson came up with and presented to the rest of the band. His involvement might be more than apparent on the surface.
Sorry, but in my personal opinion the group here left his "spiritual way" with the pinnacle reached at "The Remembering". I believe this is more "metal" song, style is not what I expected from Yes. They made then "Turn of a Century" and "Awaken" in a way to say good bye at that kind of music. At that exact point is where my eternal admiration and gratitude to this fantastic group ends
"The Gates of Delirium" and "Close to the Edge" are the long Yes masterpieces. "Tales From Topographic Oceans" is a beautiful album, but I agree with Rick Wakeman that is was a bit overdone and pretentious.
Not your style of music, I get it. It's not for everyone, it is a difficult, dense piece to get into. I wasn't sure if I liked it the first couple of times I listened to it, but the more I heard it, the more I liked it. By about the 10th listen, it became one of my favorite songs, top ten for sure.
This is their best album in my opinion. Gates is outrageous and to see it live is such an experience. Last time I saw them live was at Jones Beach..When Jon sang the "Soon" part a full moon was coming right through the stage. It was beautiful. Another thing I love Roger Dean's artwork on this cover.
The older I get , the more I understand the genius of Steve Howe. He is the main songwriter of all their epics and his own virtuosity is so subtle that years back, it would all just miss me.
I feel the same way about Zappa in general - my appreciation and respect moves ever upwards with every album in Frank's arsenal I listen to even after 40ish years... it just gets better.
Frank is amazing. I would say Joe's Garage Act I is the best opening to an album ever not a bad song on it
YES he was a genius!!!
YEAH but what peo0le sometimes miss over the incredible Steve runs is that Chris Squire is there Just as intense every second along the journey
Well I'm not sure Howe is more important in the band then Anderson or Squire. If you listen to ABWH the magic isn't there as greatly. Squire is missing.
The whole of side 2 SOUND CHASER and TO BE OVER are just as great
Agreed. To Be Over is one of my favorite YES songs.
I recently subscribed to your channel because you are checking out such great music and I particularly enjoy witnessing the Yes journey you have taken. There are many great bands but Yes is one above the many.
Thank you for the sub. I am enjoying the journey aswell. I love discovering new music and bands. I think as I have gotten older I find myself open to listening to differnt bands I may not have listened to before
Steve Howe's steel guitar is out of this world on "Soon". Always brings a tear to my eye.
I will check it out
@@apocketfulofheep :)...You just did...:)
Omg I can't believe I just did that 🤣🤣
@@apocketfulofheep :)...
@@apocketfulofheep Understandable. The deluxe edition of Relayer has a bonus track titled Soon. I'm sure you saw that track listed while you were listening to The Gates of Delerium, so you would have thought it was a separate song. The Soon section of The Gates of Delerium was released as a single when Relayer came out.
A song that is at least as much fun the 100th time it is heard as the first time. The 22 minutes pass in no time because you are taken on a journey that captivates you all the time. For me in many parts of the song it is as if they were "painting pictures" with their instruments. The song is based on Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". There is still a lot of background information about the album on Wikipedia. Also to Patrick Moraz, who more than just replaces Rick Wakeman.
That is one thing about Yes I like is the journey they paint.
Welcome to my world dear boy. I bought this on vinyl the day it was released and played this over and over simply marvelling at it until it actually wore out. I STILL. MARVEL AT IT TO THIS DAY .
Steve is a madman on 'Gates.' Tell me, no one phrases like him. He has so many influences; couldn't even name them all. But here, you hear what no other guitarist sounded like. Oh, and the Chris Squire counterpoint is so unique. Gates is Epic!
Best prog rock song ever created!!
Best band ever!!!
JUST AFTER GABRIELS GENESIS .... I'M KIDDING I JUST ADORE BOTH I FIRST DISCOVERED Genesis as a teen, and right after YES WHO I SAW 4 OR 5 IN CONCERT IN PARIS I LOVE RELAYER / CLOSE TO THE EDGE/ FRAGILE/ THE YES ALBUM ALL OF THEM FROM 1969 TO 1977
do not forget Bill Bruford came as a drummer along with Phil Collins and Chester Thompson on SECONDS OUT 1977 GENESIS Concert at Palais des Sports in PARIS FRANCE
He watching all Yes reactions😮
Jon Anderson played this WHOLE EPIC song straight through on The Piano...Incredible...all the parts, Wowee indeed Jon !!!!!!
"Soon" is one of my favorites. So emotional.
"To Be Over" is the most often overlooked (or dismissed outright) song from this album, but it fights with "Turn of the Century" for my all-time favorite Yes songs. Steve agrees.
I will check it out
Turn of the century. Hauntingly beautiful. 45 years later, it still gets me every time.
Great solo
Thank You. Bought this vinyl when I was 16 and had just been released. Epic musical journey.
Tied with CTTE as my all-time favorite pieces of music. Truly outstanding ❤
Soon from The Gates Of Delirium is breathtaking
@@apocketfulofheep For me, the song as a whole is just brilliant. An icy crystalline Yes befitting the album cover
This has been my all-time favorite Yes album since it was first released. I think it's the absolute pinnacle of their progressive creativity and that it was all downhill from there, especially when they stopped being experimental and started courting a wider audience ("Going For The One" on the Billboard charts, so to speak).
This is one of four awesome early album studio works. 'The Yes' Album', 'Fragile', "Close to the Edge' and 'Relayer'. Best to thoroughly explore these 4 early works before getting onto the others to see how they evolved their sound over the years. Since you like this song, you'll love the next two on the album! Been a fan since '71 starting with their big hit album called, The Yes Album. ✌️😎
Yes brought this song to Radio City Music Hall in NYC two nights before 9/11/01. It helped prepare our spirits for the gates of delirium unleashed soon thereafter. Heroic performances of all their best long songs, opening with Close to the Edge.
Always get goose bumps when I hear that wolf howl!!
Thank you so much for all your Yes reactions, I've really enjoyed them, good luck with your channel, you got a new sub. To those who can't stomach the end "Soon" section - man, have you a heart of stone ?! To me Soon is one of the most beautiful pieces of vocal music ever recorded. But then I also like "And you and I" and the Nous Sommes Du Soleil part of Ritual...
Q: What did the 1955 Fender Telecaster ask for on its birthday in 1974?
A: Steve Howe (the Strats wanted David Gilmour).
YESSONGS, a Triple Live Album, which has Alan White on most of the songs, after being in YES for only a few weeks, is phenomenal. Alan goes crazy on the drums on the live versions, and
Bill as well, but since everything is amped up as far as it can go, the ridiculous drumming fits the tempo and energy level. Yes is one of the very few bands that can take a Masterpiece,
and create a "new" Masterpiece with the live version. "Yours Is No Disgrace" from YESSONGS is a perfect example of this. Sound Chaser, and To Be Over next.
Yet another top shelf prog rock effort from Yes. Gates is my favorite track on this album, over the the years I have listened to it many times through headphones in a darkened room. They were amazing at creating mental landscapes and adventures though the use of sound. A real work of art. I really wish that Yes stayed on that prog rock track they established from the The Yes Album to Relayer. Many thanks for the review and getting this song on TH-cam so a new generation can hear it.
I just listened to it this morning in my car. :-D
When I listen to stuff like this or other great prog like Crimso or Genesis in my car, it saddens me to know; I am the only human being listening to that particular song at that particular moment in the entire world...When you drive around hearing the SHIT most other people are listening to, it's disheartening.
It has to be the amazing "Awaken" next!
From Yes it will be
Can't wait. I love this whole album, love Close to the Edge, Fragile and The Yes Album, but Awaken is, for me, the absolute pinnacle. Agree with whoever said to also do "Side 2" of this album, too. Sound Chaser is bonkers and brilliant.
Thanks brother Pocketful for not being afraid of posting songs that are 15 to 20 minutes in length.. Peace brother, you have a new subscriber.
Song length has never deterred me from reacting to it. I want to do full album reaction to thick as a brick or lamb lays down on broadway
Hugs from Brazil >>>>
I could hear this song every day without it getting too much ;-) Now "Awaken" (Going For The One album) is missing in your collection of the "big" songs by Yes. It would also be nice if you could take a look at the "overlooked big songs" by Yes in the course of time. "Endless Dream" (1994, album Talk), "Mind Drive" (1997, album Keystudio), "That That Is" (1996, album Keystudio)
I will give those a listen since i am really digging Yes since I have begun listening to them
Great song; my favorite of Yes. As you noticed the musicianship is brilliant in it. The ferocious battle section of the song is probably my favorite part of it, though the beautiful ending is definitely wonderful too.
And now on to "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van der Graaf Generator. An amazing 23 minutes song that at times gets even wilder than the wildest parts in "The Gates of Delirium", and that's really saying something. Great singing by Peter Hammill (my favorite singer; he also plays the piano in the song), and Guy Evans on drums, Hugh Banton on the organ and David Jackson on saxes and flute do a fantastic job too. There is one wild section where all four bang away on pianos.
Robert Fripp of King Crimson guests on guitar in this track. The solo at the end is often mistaken for being a guitar solo by Fripp, but it is actually an organ solo by Hugh Banton who does a perfect imitation of Fripp in style and intonation.
Than you for the suggestion I will check it out
@@apocketfulofheep You won't regret it. Here is a link to the song:
th-cam.com/video/bDDf_SuAlBA/w-d-xo.html
The song is about a Lighthouse Keeper who is becoming mad from seeing all the ship wrecks. There is one instrumental passage at the beginning where two ships collide in the fog; you can hear their foghorns, how they get closer to each other and then the collision.
Yes is amazing as always! I think you will love this 2003 live version of "And You and I" which includes a lot of Jon Anderson's sweet, melodic singing as you noted toward the end of "Gates of Delirium." Old Jon's voice has not lost one iota of its unique patina! Nor has old Steve Howe's magical guitar work, and you will see his slide guitar here, as you noted. Also a special treat, old Rick Wakeman returns to reprise his keyboard magic. We also get to see one of the last performances of the late, great Chris Squire. You might enjoy checking it out: th-cam.com/video/-jctij-uBUQ/w-d-xo.html
I rarely subscribe to a channel the first time I stumble upon it, but this is an exception. This is one of my favorite epics of all time. I even like this a bit better than Close To The Edge. Great reaction.
Thank you for subscribing hope you also checked out my first time listen to closr to the edge aswell
I believe YES has 11 pieces of music that are 15+ minutes in length, just so you know : )
Can't wait to hear them all
Thought it was 12 Lightmane, but who's counting. Lol!😎
@@apocketfulofheep They are all incredible!
@@jeffschielka7845 If there's a 12th, you'd know what it is 🙂
@@Lightmane I just wanted to see your list again! Lol!😎
In the very beginning, Chris is playing CHORDS on the bass.
That is amazing
From 13:10 until 15:38 in this video it is all pure orgasmic music that get the hairs standing up on my arms and back of my neck. Steve Howe's guitaring is out of this world. And that misty floaty part helps you rest from the excitement.
Personally, I usually stop listing to the track at 16:38 because I'm not keen on the "separate" song, "Soon".
Time to go off and kill someone at 16:38, eh Jack?
@@psbarrow Defend the airbase from those godless commies, Mandrake. 🤨
Tales from topografic Oceans next?
Steve Howe uses a peddle steel guitar rather than slide. He first started using them on CTTE.
Masterpiece.
WHAT AN ALBUM MY 2 LOVED BANDS EVER GENESIS GABRIEL 1968 1977 AND YES JON ANDERSON STEVE HOWE ....
SORRY JON ANDERSON (IAN JETHRO TULL AN OTHER LEGEND)
jon
For this Masterpiece, YES chose to OUT ROCK, OUT METAL, OUT FUSION, OUT FUNK, OUT CRESCENDO & OUT EPIC BLISS...EVERYONE!!!!!
The reason Squire's bass is harder to hear in the first few minutes is because he's only playing harmonics -- it's there, just very subtle!
Nothing about the song is PREDICTABLE. From the beautiful opening intro passages building up to the vocal & themes, every movement build and builds and builds to tell the perfect wartime sonically visceral tale of the struggle towards Enlightenment
Oddly enough, GOD is an idea that Jon Anderson came up with and presented to the rest of the band. His involvement might be more than apparent on the surface.
In my opinion the best generic explanation of the endless cycle of what humans have perpetuated as reasons for war
Try Sound Chaser on the same album,
I will check it out
Sorry, but in my personal opinion the group here left his "spiritual way" with the pinnacle reached at "The Remembering". I believe this is more "metal" song, style is not what I expected from Yes. They made then "Turn of a Century" and "Awaken" in a way to say good bye at that kind of music. At that exact point is where my eternal admiration and gratitude to this fantastic group ends
"The Gates of Delirium" and "Close to the Edge" are the long Yes masterpieces. "Tales From Topographic Oceans" is a beautiful album, but I agree with Rick Wakeman that is was a bit overdone and pretentious.
a two headed coin for me, the first part is the worse song ever, but soon is the most beautiful
Not your style of music, I get it. It's not for everyone, it is a difficult, dense piece to get into. I wasn't sure if I liked it the first couple of times I listened to it, but the more I heard it, the more I liked it. By about the 10th listen, it became one of my favorite songs, top ten for sure.
@@cybore213 Same here. Only it was the second (maybe third?) time hearing it! LOL! ✌️😎