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Released in January 1971, the third album from Yes is now seen as a timeless rock classic which marked a step change in style & imagination from the band's competent but unremarkable first two albums. `The Yes Album' also marked the replacement of founder-member guitarist Peter Banks (who fell out with Jon Anderson over the excessive use of orchestration on the `Time & a Word' album) with the truly brilliant Steve Howe, whose compositional input, technical skills and seminal playing in no small way contributes to this album being an outstanding piece of work, and who was to become one of the defining cornerstones of the unique `Yes sound'.
Other reviews have offered excellent song-by-song commentaries of the album, so that won't be repeated here. However some general impressions stand out. First off, this band ROCKS; it's first & foremost a rock group, which plays with feel and passion. The keyboard mix pre-dates Rick Wakeman's joining by a few months so the moog makes only an occasional appearance, Tony Kaye supporting the melody principally with electric organ and piano. The overall sound is a guitar-rhythm section-vocal rock band spiced up with interesting compositional arrangements, great dynamics, vocal harmonies and some experimental pieces like `Perpetual Change'. The band finally seems to know what it's doing and where it's going, its distinctive sound beginning to emerge.
You can hear Chris Squire on this album starting for the first time to use the bass guitar as a lead instrument, where rather than simply work with the drummer to underpin the rhythm, he offers a complimentary melodic structure to the guitar & keyboards, bringing an intelligence and complexity to the music rarely found among contemporaries.
Above all, `The Yes Album' is bursting with energy. The opener `Yours is no disgrace' is one of the all-time great rockers with its distinctive tight opening bars moving into a driving riff, Kaye's organ work giving the impression of trying to constrain the energy of the rhythm section as Howe's choppy, wailing guitar offers bursts of sound as counterbalance to Anderson's equally energetic falsetto-register multi-tracked vocals.
On the `expanded & re-mastered' release you get the original album, plus as bonus tracks single versions of `Your Move' & `Life Seeker' - the first part of `Starship Trooper' - & a studio version of `The Clap', Howe's solo acoustic guitar piece (a live-audience version was included on the original `Yes Album' to spotlight the band's new guitarist). Though the better-known live `Clap' is good, many listeners will agree the studio version has the edge.
Overall `The Yes Album' though perhaps just a little bit rough at the edges and lacking the compositional complexity characteristic of subsequent `Yes' releases, showcases a tight, powerful & melodic rock band which has found its voice and distinctive style. To quote Bill Martin: "The Yes Album inaugurates `The Main Sequence', a term from astronomy for when a star begins to shine at full strength for a long period of time. The star called Yes was already there in the sky but suddenly we noticed it, and we could not look away."
After 40 years `The Yes Album' still sounds great, and is recommended unreservedly.
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in this set of products- Fragile (Super Deluxe Edition)Vinyl£6.58 deliveryGet it 10 – 28 NovUsually dispatched within 2 to 3 days
- Original Album Series (5 Pack)Audio CD£2.85 deliveryGet it as soon as Wednesday, Nov 5Only 2 left in stock.
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Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2012
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 August 2013
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2014
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2025
Top reviews from other countries
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hervé j.Reviewed in France on 14 October 2015
L'album pour bien commencer avec Yes.
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- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on 15 July 2022
The 5.1 version is like a completely different album.
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