During my early days of high school, I found myself completely fascinated by Yes as got into English prog rock from the ’70s. While I’d heard their radio friendly “old” songs on the local classic rock station, what got me hooked was hearing their new record 90125 that went into heavy rotation on MTV in the Fall of 1983. Every hour Martha Quinn would introduce “Owner Of A Lonely Heart.” Then I got lucky and found a copy of Yessongs in the used bin at School Kids Records. This was a triple record set turned out had all the choice cuts of their hot streak of The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge. Unlike the tracks they played on the radio and MTV, Yes’ greatest songs we long. “Close to the Edge” takes up the entire side of the album. This led to me tracking down more of their albums (although mostly in used bins in hopes of finding fun bonus things like the booklet that came inside the early Fragile pressings). Very quickly I noticed that every record seemed to have a shift in members. I’d hear strange rumors about why members left and a few came back. Yes Their Definitive Fully Authorized Story is a massive documentary with the members discussing the band, the music and how they came and went.
The big thing with Yes is that they’re a bit mercenary when it comes to members of the band. This gets shown early when the band decided after their first two records to part ways with guitarist Peter Banks. He’s replaced with Steve Howe who brings a whole bunch of different new guitar sounds with vast collection of stringed instruments. Steve Howe explains he was looking for a new band since he had a new baby and needed steady work. He truly elevates the sound and we get the revolutionary The Yes Album. This album had “Starship Troopers,” “Yours Is No Disgrace,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” and “Perpetual Change.” You’d think they’d be happy with their lineup after finally striking success. Except more change was about to happen. They dump Tony Kaye mainly because he wanted to stick with his Hammond Organ. In comes keyboard virtuoso Rick Wakeman. Tony Kaye does not contribute to the documentary. There’s talk about what Chris Squire did to recruit the synth keyboardist with a classical background. This new addition pays off immediately as they create the Fragile album. They quickly write “Roundabout” in the studio. Steve Howe talks about how they went to Atlantic offices in New York to demand the label promote the album. The label did a radio edit by basically fading down the song after the 3-minute mark. This worked to make the song a hit. Roger Dean is also brought in to do the album artwork for Fragile and create the iconic band logo with his fantastical style. His artwork was ripped off for James Cameron’s Avatar. Next up was the Close to the Edge album that had three songs total including an entire record side for the title song. Drummer Bill Bruford talks about making the record and then decides to leave Yes joining King Crimson. Why? Because he wanted to play more darker music without formal song structure. It was strange since success had shown up for Yes. Bill explained he did well from his royalties on the big three Yes albums so he didn’t sacrifice much to pursue his musical desires. Alan White was brought in right before the giant tour that led to Yessongs. White played with John Lennon on “Imagine.” This led to the rest of the band accepting him. Howe felt White was different from Bruford, he caught on quick. The band members explain how Tales From Topographic Oceans was created since they had a double record with one song per side of the album. Recording sessions were too much for Rick Wakeman and he split to focus more on his solo career. His solo albums had already sold millions around the world. This led to Patrick Moraz (future member of the Moody Blues) taking over the keyboards on Relayer which was a single record with only three tracks. This led to stadium dates with Peter Frampton opening up. There’s talk about how the bands spent a lot of cash which kept them on the road a lot to keep paying for their mansions and exotic cars. The problem around this time was the arrival of punk with songs that were two minutes long instead of 25 minutes. Yes weren’t as cool as they seemed in the early ’70s. This reflected with a change in attitude within the band. Rick Moraz left and Wakeman returned because the band was going to make shorter tracks on Going For The One. They get into the Tormato album that turned into a major cut-out bin smash (that’s where I bought my copy at a Building #19 outside of Boston). A disco roller-skating nightmare killed their follow up record. This led to another change which somewhat broke up the band as Wakeman and Jon Anderson split. Instead of calling it a day, Howe, Squire and White joined forces with the Buggles’ Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes for the Drama record. Squire wanted them to mix up their sound. Roger Dean returned to create their cover art. They had presold a massive sold-out tour of America which went weird when fans didn’t know that Jon Anderson had left. This was a time before the internet when word didn’t get out so easily. America was cool with it. But their English tour got nasty. Trevor talks about being the new voice of Yes. Doing a long tour worked his vocals hard. Howe and Downes split to form Asia with prog rocker John Wetton (King Crimson) and Carl Palmer (Emerson Lake and Palmer). Howe and Downes give us a mini-Asia documentary. We hear about Squire and White meeting Trevor Rabin who had moved to England from South Africa. The film skips over their trio explorations with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. The project with Rabin was going to be called Cinema since he wrote most of the songs. But eventually they morphed into Yes with the return of Jon Anderson and original keyboardist Tony Kaye. This is how 90125 came together. I saw them on the second leg of their tour at the Greensboro Coliseum with the opening act being a Bugs Bunny cartoon. There’s a bit of creative tension between Rabin and Jon Anderson over the band’s creative direction. Eventually Anderson splits the band after years of touring and not so successful follow up album. What Anderson does is form a new band with Rick Wakeman, Bill Bruford and Steve Howe. This leads to lawsuits between Chris Squire’s Yes and Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe. Eventually the two bands join forces for an album Union and a tour with all 8 members on stage doing Yes classic tunes. Eventually Rabin drops out to focus on movie scores after giving Steven Seagal a guitar lesson and being offered The Glimmer Man. Rabin talks about this in an archival interview. This leads to Anderson, Squire, Wakeman, Howe and White joining up for the Keys To Asension album and live tours in 1996. Although there were still some personal changes and more albums. The documentary wraps up with the band’s 35th anniversary tour.
While this is a nearly three-and-a-half-hour documentary, there’s enough drama in the band to justify the length. You will keep up with the wildness of the musical chair musicians. There are not many musical moments in the documentary, yet the film kept my attention with interviews. While this seems put together by the band as a glorification; the end is rather crushing. Bill Bruford and others explain what they think of the recent version of Yes that’s on the road. There’s a sense that they have become a cover band with original members. The part where they complain about not even being nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is no longer true. They were inducted in 2017 after the passing of Chris Squire.
Yes is still touring with Steve Howe and Geoff Downes as the key members. Jon Anderson tours with another band that plays the music of Yes. Rick Wakeman is currently on an American tour plays a lot of his solo work.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. Most of the documentary are the members being interviewed. There is plenty of vintage footage from concerts. The Audio is The movie is subtitled.
Trailer (3:09) previews the magic of Yes and the numerous band members over the decades.
Cardinal Releasing presents Yes Their Definitive Fully Authorized Story. Directed by Jon Brewer. Featuring Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Roger Dean, Trevor Horn and Alan White. Running Time: 205 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: January 16, 2026.
