Yes: The Yes Album

The Yes Album

Best song: Perpetual Change

Worst song: A Venture

Overall grade: 6

Two years ago, Yes were writing cute pop songs and playing Paul McCartney covers. They released two albums which can only be recommended as curiosities (with the exception of the standout title track of ‘Time and a Word’, which has to be the definitive hippie song), muddled through with a mediocre guitarist and used an orchestra to try to hide the fact that their songwriting wasn’t quite up to par. Then, completely out of the blue, they release… this.

See, they fired that mediocre guitarist (Peter Banks) and hired Steve Howe in his place, and all of a sudden the band just clicked (except for Tony Banks on keyboards, but we’ll get to that) and they found that they had this magical ability to write songs that are complicated and accessible in equal measure, and they were all talented enough instrumentally to pull them off effortlessly.

This record is the start of progressive Yes, but while they were still rough around the edges. We start off with ‘Yours Is No Disgrace’, one of the few Yes songs where their opponents who say ‘Jon Anderson just sings gibberish!’ are probably right. It’s still a great song though; Bill Bruford has a thrilling drum part and there are few more beautiful vocal melodies around.

Then ‘The Clap’ comes, a brief acoustic guitar showcase by Steve Howe – he was new to the band, and he already got a solo! That’s democracy. It’s a highly enjoyable demonstration of his talent and serves as a bridge between the two epics on the side. The second of these is ‘Starship Trooper’, a great three-part song where every part builds and expands on the one before it. It’s different to everything else on here, in that it’s less classical and jazz influenced, and much closer to space rock.

Side 2 begins with ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’, which I hear still gets played on the radio, but sadly none that I listen to. What I like about this one is the way, in the second part, Jon Anderson uses his voice as just another instrument, blending in with the guitar and bass and keyboards – you could almost consider it an instrumental. And I also love the a cappella harmony that opens up the ‘Your Move’ part. It makes me shiver.

‘A Venture’ tries to be the Side 2 equivalent of ‘The Clap’, but it doesn’t work, because it’s too much of a song. It feels like it could have been developed and extended into something more like the others, but instead it’s a little rushed, more of a rough draft. But it does bring us nicely to ‘Perpetual Change’, which is a SERIOUSLY underrated song. Most people see it as the weakest epic on the album, but that’s a lie – it’s magical. Featuring two dynamic guitar solos, a rockin’ Squire riff, the most cohesive band work yet and a generally nostalgic feel, it’s hard to believe while listening to this version that it was even better live.

I think everyone should be forced to sit down and listen to a Yes record at least once a month. Their music is good for the soul.