Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Remastering of Essential Yes Album, January 26, 2003
Yes is arguably the best of not most well-known progessive rock band. Audiophiles and progressive rock fans especially appreciate the best sound possible on this complex music. This newly remastered (by Bill Inglot and Rhino) version of "The Yes Album" greatly improves upon the the original cd release of this set which I already owned. The biggest difference for me is the greater clarity of Bill Bruford's drumming and Steve Howe's adept guitar work. The harmony vocals are also more noticeable. The album itself one of the group's best is almost a greatest hits collection. I think every song except "A Venture" has remained in the group's concert set even to this day. This proved to be Tony Kaye's last album with the band for a long time but his organ playing is good on this set. He apparently left or was forced out because he resisted using some of the newer synthesizer technology which was becoming available at this time. With this set the band finally achieved their goal of playing complex arrangements but utilizing catchy and memorable harmonies which remain in your head long after the song is finished. Songs such as "Yours Is No Disgrace", "Starship Trooper" and "I've Seen All Good People" prove this point and the latter two were issued in edited form as single versions included here as bonus tracks. The other main reason for puchasing the set is the inclusion of the unissued studio version of "Clap" which is Steve Howe's acoustic guitar picking tour de force. The song appears of the album in an energetic live version but the studio version is not only longer but also clearer in sound. If you do not already have this album pick it up immediately especially considering the improvement in sound quality and the addition of three bonus tracks. Another plus is the detailed booklet included with great pictures, song lyrics and details about the album sessions. Great job Rhino! I can't wait for the next batch of remasters!
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perpetual change brings us to the first great Yes album, September 6, 2003
"The Yes Album" was actually the third album from the group spearheaded by singer John Anderson, but represented enough significant differences from its two predecessors to constitute a new and bigger beginning for the progressive rock group. Guitarist Steve Howe had replaced Peter Banks (who had gone off to join Blodwyn Pig), the album featured only original material, and the songs now tended to be much longer tracks. The four longer tracks--"Yours Is No Disgrace," "Starship Trooper," "I've Seen All Good People," and "Perpetual Change"--are structured similarly, although each allows for considerable instrumental freedom. Usually a melodic theme is introduced by one member of the band and then echoed by the others. Science fiction concepts are combined with folk melodies and transformed into soaring showpieces for vocal and musical instruments alike. On this particular album the stand out musician is, rather surprisingly, bassist Chris Squire. Sometimes I think they made a mistake on the mix and pumped up the volume on the bass, but then it becomes clear this is by design. Howe's guitar work as well as the organ played by Tony Kaye are given their moments to shine while Bill Bruford's drumming just stays out of the way. However, the defining element of Yes is probably the vocal harmonies, with Howe and Squire blending with Anderson in the falsetto range, highlighted on "All Good People." It was this that made Yes unique from their most obvious British progressive rock counterpart Emerson, Lake & Palmer. "All Good People" was also the group's second American single to crack the Top 40 and really became the song that introduced them to a larger listening audience. However, the best is yet to come, with the additional of Rick Wakeman as the keyboard player and Anderson's continued exploration of oblique lyrics. This is the second remastered CD version of the album and offers annotations by Yes scholar Bill Martin and a trio of bonus tracks: single edits of both "Your Move" and the "Life Seeker" segment of "Starship Trooper," and the studio version of the Steve Howe acoustic guitar solo "Clap." These are minor but welcome additions to what was already a five star album.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE Yes Album, January 3, 2009
The Yes Album was the breakthrough third recording that established the band. The Yes album marks the introduction of the extended works that characterized the Yes sound through the seventies and eighties and also highlights the coming and going of key band members who contributed to that sound. The Yes Album marked the arrival of guitarist Steve Howe and the departure of keyboardist Tony Kaye (to be replaced by the more synthesiser oriented Rick Wakeman during their most successful period).
"Yours Is No Disgrace" kicks off the set with a classic chopping riff from Steve Howe and a stirring organ from Kaye, reminiscent of western movie soundtracks. Bass player Chris Squire and drummer Bill Bruford (later of King Crimson and others) add energy and pace to keep the piece moving through its interesting twists and turns allowing keyboards and guitar to interplay with vocals.
The lyric, sung by Jon Anderson, is most definitely a hang over from the sixties ("Yesterday a morning came, a smile upon your face. Caesars Palace, morning glory, city human race. On a sailing ship to nowhere leaving any place. If the summer change to winter, yours is no disgrace."). 40 years later, I still love that imagery, although to be honest, I have little idea what it is all about. You love or hate the ethereal, sometimes choirboy, quality of Jon Andersons voice, and if you love it, he could be singing a shopping list for all that matters.
A live version of "Clap" is a fun interlude. It is a ragtime like piece - popular in the UK folk circuit at the time - allowing Steve Howe to demonstrate his guitar virtuosity. Although this may seem to be a filler, it sets up the next track beautifully with a similar acoustic guitar section to bridge "Life seeker" and "Disillusion".
"Starship Trooper" is composed of three pieces. Andersons "Life Seeker" again features Kayes stirring organ, Squires "Disillusion", with aforementioned guitar, and Howes "Wurm" which is basically a riff building up to a crescendo which works wonderfully at full volume. Budding guitarists can work the "Wurm" riff out by sliding a C chord up and down the fretboard - you are on your own as far as the stratospheric guitar solo goes.
"I've Seen All Good People" opens up what was originally side two of the vinyl recording. Made up of separate parts by Anderson and Squire, the second part "All good People" works as an introduction to "Your Move". This will be my last dig at Yes lyrics, but "Your Move" appears to be a treatise on love and chess ... "don't surround your self with yourself, move on back to squares. Send an instant karma to me, initial it with loving care, yourself..." opines Anderson. A beautiful song nonetheless - with a recorder and organ adding depth to what would have otherwise been just pleasant. "All Good People" crashes in with the powerful rhythm section, augmented by the organ, driving the vocal and guitar lines.
"A Venture" once again provides an interlude between the longer tracks, this time allowing the bass and guitar to work together in what would become a signature sound of Yes - Chris Squires percussive bass snap and Steve Howes squealing guitar. A jazzy piano solo ends the track.
"Perpetual Change" again features the characteristic guitar bass sound in this Anderson/Squire composition, that partnership also to become a central feature of future recordings. As a single piece rather than an amalgam of separately composed tunes, "Perpetual Change" flows more smoothly and is a more satisfying piece - presaging the longer works of future recordings, not least "Tales From Topographic Oceans".
Clocking in at about 45 minutes, this was the standard length of a recording made for vinyl. There are other re-issues and remasters that include two singles ("Life Seeker" and "Your Move") excerpted from extended tracks and a studio version of "(The) Clap" but you are really not getting much more than this original.
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