I dig Rush and Yes, and take shit from Freddie about it.
Drew, I\'d stick with older Rush but all albums have their moments/tracks I skip over. The new live DVD is good, lotsa older material. The 3-disc live album "Different Stages" is a good starting point: has a \'93 show, a \'94 or \'95 show and a show from the \'70s which is my favorite of the 3. Rush was the first big concert I ever saw back in 1993 (I think I was 12) and I saw them open their last tour in Hartford in 2002 which happened to be my 21st b-day. Great shows!! Rush have more structued compositions and do jam out on them but you can\'t really expect massive improv and/or straying from the original form for 25 mins like you\'d get from say Phish. It\'s really pointless to even compare Rush to bands like that anyway. Both Rush and Yes use a more classical approach in terms of composition.
Yes is a cool band. I saw them 3 times, and all were excellent especially the last one with Rick Wakeman on keys. I\'d get the \'Fragile\' album, \'Close to the Edge\', and \'The Yes Album\' for starters. They jam out a little more comparable to a "jamband" than Rush.
BTW- be wary of most releases of both bands in the \'80s. YUCK!!