I'm going to draw fire from this, but I much prefer the work with the Trevor Rabin lineup. I liked his songs better and I like his playing style better than Howe's. My favorite Yes album is Big Generator, the second album from that era. It was also my favorite concert of theirs that I've seen.

Howe, Bruford, and Wakeman are fantastic musicians and I respect and appreciate the albums that they are involved with, but I just don't enjoy the songs as much as I do with the Rabin/White/Kaye lineup.

I also acknowledge that the Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe lineup is the "true" original Yes, and that there are people who feel as though the other lineup are impostors. That's valid, but I just like the impostors' songs better.

By the way, I'm sure I've mentioned this on the BBS before, but one of my Brushes With Greatness was to have lunch with Alan White once. It was several years ago, just after they were done with the Big Generator tour. At the time, the "Union" album (the first album where all the old members and all the new members got together) was still in the "let's talk about it" stage. It was really neat having him tell me about it, about how they were discussing the idea of bringing everyone back together to make and album and a big monster tour. And sure enough, a year later, I was watching the big rotating stage with all those great musicians on it.

Ah, memories...

PS: I also think that the best Van Halen albums were the ones with Sammy on them.

/me dons asbestos gear...