Yes - Yessongs (1973) (@256)

Now, normally this should had been posted yesterday, before the Oscars, but it was a very busy weekend, so what the heck... The reason of this upload is the obvious inspiration that James Cameron has drawn from the landscapes of Roger Dean. Dean is an artist that dominated the album cover design of a significant part of the progressive scene of the 70's. His extraterrestrial, eerie drawings fit perfectly with the classical inspired, complex compositions of the genre; Yes in particular found in his art the best accompaniment to their music. Their triple live album uploaded here offers three (!) gatefolds all of which could be blueprints of Avatar.












I also found some blue-skinned children in the back cover of Yesterdays!











The same topic is explored beautifully here, by putting side by side the floating islands of Dean (as presented in the front cover of the album An Evening of Yes Music Plus) and of Avatar's as well as the arched rock formations which Dean presented first in the cover art of Yes' Keys to Ascension. A good idea is also expressed here; like the Dark-Side-Of-The-Moon-soundtrack-of-the-Wizard-of-Oz, it would be interesting to try to sync up Yessongs with Avatar. Finally, the meaning of all drawings of Yessongs, and their connection with past and future works of Dean is explained here.


Roger Dean's Floating Islands

review link: here

download link: here (part1) and here (part2)