Someone said that the music of Yes was “pretty embarrassing lyrically these days.” I beg to differ. This is supposed to be some recent realization? I always knew that “dreamer easy in the chair that really fits you” made absolutely no sense. Yes regards the voice as just another instrument, so the lyrics aren’t usually all that important (unless you’re listening to the songs written by the non-Anderson faction on the Union album).
This point was underlined when D—- bought a Karaoke Mate from Radio Shack. This is a device that removes the lead vocals as you play recorded music so that you can sing along with the instruments and backups. It works for stereo recordings that are mixed conventionally, with the lead vocals in the center and the accompaniments to one side or the other. It compares the left and right channels and subtracts out anything that is the same on both sides.