Help me find more songs like Roundabout by Yes
February 24, 2015 10:56 AM Subscribe
Title says it all - I'm looking for songs similar in feel to Roundabout by Yes. It's so much fun! Help me out here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M for the uninitiated. And yes, I have been watching Jojo :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M for the uninitiated. And yes, I have been watching Jojo :P
Best answer: Circumstances by Rush comes to mind. YYZ as well.
posted by STFUDonnie at 11:08 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by STFUDonnie at 11:08 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Three words: Green. Eyed. Lady. (one more word: Sugarloaf. Later to be known as Jerry Corbetta and Sugarloaf for the vocalist/keyboarder who dominated the band)
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Not sure but: To Cry You a Song ?
posted by Splunge at 11:20 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Splunge at 11:20 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I always thought Electric Light Orchestra had a similar, high production vibe.
Of their many great songs, Do Ya is probably the closest to what you want.
I'm also pretty partial to Todd Rundgren, We Gotta Get You a Woman.
Gentle Giant? On Reflection, you need to get about a minute and a half into it.
If I think of more, I'll come back.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:43 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Of their many great songs, Do Ya is probably the closest to what you want.
I'm also pretty partial to Todd Rundgren, We Gotta Get You a Woman.
Gentle Giant? On Reflection, you need to get about a minute and a half into it.
If I think of more, I'll come back.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:43 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: A lot of Yes purists dislike the new-wavy Drama album (featuring Trevor Horn & Geoff Downes), but Tempus Fugit is a really fun song that has Chris Squire's awesome bass work front & center like on Roundabout.
posted by gimli at 12:05 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gimli at 12:05 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Maybe some mid-career King Crimson, like the albums Starless and Bible Black or Discipline? Also artists like Emerson Lake and Palmer, maybe Talking Heads' Fear of Music or Remain in Light? Someone above mentioned Rundgren, but from his work I'd suggest stuff like Initiation, A Wizard a True Star, or even Healing rather than his early albums, personally, if you're looking for a prog-rock-y combo of exuberance and virtuosity (or the 1974 and 1975 Utopia albums).
posted by aught at 12:27 PM on February 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by aught at 12:27 PM on February 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Looking for specific songs similar in style to Roundabout, here's another vintage Yes-ery... "Yours Is No Disgrace"
Moody Blues had some upbeat progressive rock songs in the early '70s, like "Question" and the self-effacing "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock & Roll Band)". Their later ('80s) material was often compared to ELO (which I didn't consider flattering), but "The Voice" had a more old-school prog-rock style.
And one of my favorites was the first album of the later-known-for-cheesy-rock-ballads Ambrosia, with "Nice Nice Very Nice" (with lyrics that were a previously published poem by Kurt Vonnegut), "Time Waits For No One" and "Mama Frog" (this L.A. based band was trying SO HARD to emulate the Brit Prog Rock bands they threw a reading of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" into the middle of it). Okay, maybe a little too pretentious (after all, Roundabout was a pop hit), but still VERY guilty pleasure-ish for me.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:43 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Moody Blues had some upbeat progressive rock songs in the early '70s, like "Question" and the self-effacing "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock & Roll Band)". Their later ('80s) material was often compared to ELO (which I didn't consider flattering), but "The Voice" had a more old-school prog-rock style.
And one of my favorites was the first album of the later-known-for-cheesy-rock-ballads Ambrosia, with "Nice Nice Very Nice" (with lyrics that were a previously published poem by Kurt Vonnegut), "Time Waits For No One" and "Mama Frog" (this L.A. based band was trying SO HARD to emulate the Brit Prog Rock bands they threw a reading of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" into the middle of it). Okay, maybe a little too pretentious (after all, Roundabout was a pop hit), but still VERY guilty pleasure-ish for me.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:43 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
If that does you, then there's the first three Gabriel albums too...
posted by bonehead at 1:56 PM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
If that does you, then there's the first three Gabriel albums too...
posted by bonehead at 1:56 PM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Bassist Chris Squire did a solo album in 1975. Silently Falling is Roundabouty in terms of high energy, arc, and changes in chord, tempo and meter.
Yes's Going for the One (title, Parallels, Awaken) and even Tormato (Release, Release) also have some gems.
posted by kurumi at 3:27 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yes's Going for the One (title, Parallels, Awaken) and even Tormato (Release, Release) also have some gems.
posted by kurumi at 3:27 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Have you heard And you and I from their next album, Close to the Edge?
(My first husband and I briefly considered using this during our wedding ceremony. Fortunately, when we came down we also came to our senses and we chose Shower the People and Our House.)
posted by she's not there at 4:50 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
(My first husband and I briefly considered using this during our wedding ceremony. Fortunately, when we came down we also came to our senses and we chose Shower the People and Our House.)
posted by she's not there at 4:50 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Have you listened to any of Jon & Vangelis - which features vocals by Jon Anderson from Yes?
posted by clarkstonian at 5:33 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by clarkstonian at 5:33 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Of course, back in the day, Yes's main rival for the title of Kings of Prog Rock were Emerson, Lake & Palmer, whose 'epic masterwork' was "Karn Evil 9", a 29-minute piece of which 4 minutes and 40 seconds were the fun part... "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends..." (If you want to immerse yourself with the whole thing, including the six-minute quasi-classical piano part in the middle, here.)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:58 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:58 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
And of you like the quasi-classical piano sort of thing, Yes's on-and-off keyboardist, Rick Wakeman (who was with them on Fragile), had a solo career, epitomized by The Six Wives of Henry the VIII.
posted by rtimmel at 2:49 PM on February 25, 2015
posted by rtimmel at 2:49 PM on February 25, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
Yes's "Long Distance Runaround" is torn from the same cloth...
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:04 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]