J-Man wrote: It's safe to say IMO that it is the best debut album ever.

Agreed. Incredibly strong debut, one of the few that have hooked me from the beginning.

Speaking of their debut and the early penchant for interesting covers, ever hear those BBC tapes from 1969?  There's a wild cover of "Something's Coming."  Don't recognize the title?  Neither did I at first, then the vocals kicked in. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu7sRdRrm_w

It's Bernstein, from West Side Story!!  Nuts stuff!  (Couldn't find Yes doing it on Youtube though, sorry.)  It isn't all perfectly executed, but it's very interesting.  They went on of course to better things, but their earliest ideas were already stellar.

And oh, by the way if you didn't know it, No Opportunity Necessary is a cover too, by Richie Havens.

American Khatru wrote: Speaking of their debut and the early penchant for interesting covers, ever hear those BBC tapes from 1969?  There's a wild cover of "Something's Coming."  Don't recognize the title?  Neither did I at first, then the vocals kicked in.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu7sRdRrm_w It's Bernstein, from West Side Story!!  Nuts stuff!  (Couldn't find Yes doing it on Youtube though, sorry.)  It isn't all perfectly executed, but it's very interesting.  They went on of course to better things, but their earliest ideas were already stellar. And oh, by the way if you didn't know it, No Opportunity Necessary is a cover too, by Richie Havens.

I've got the original single of Sweetness, with Something's Coming as its B-Side - quite rare, apparently. It's mad and thoroughly enjoyable.

Any thoughts about The Yes album? As far as I've read in this site, it seems to be very highly rated, yet it might just as well the album I like the least. The thing is, two of the three classics included here (I've Seen all Good People and Yours is no Disgrace) just aren't up to my taste, and the other classic, Starship Trooper, well, I love that song, but I prefer by far the live versions, specially the one on Keys to ascension with the extended keyboard solo by Wakeman, that's awsome.

The Yes Album is a great album but I can understand why you have reservations about it. Some of the sections do seem to go on too long, there's more repetition than usual in an average Yes epic, and the sound is choppier and less smooth than later albums. However, all those things are things that I really like about the album and what makes it unique.

SonicDeath10 wrote: The Yes Album is a great album but I can understand why you have reservations about it. Some of the sections do seem to go on too long, there's more repetition than usual in an average Yes epic, and the sound is choppier and less smooth than later albums. However, all those things are things that I really like about the album and what makes it unique.   Peter Banks was a great guitar player. I think Yes would have been a great psychadelic-jazz-hard rock band with him in it, but they didn't want to go in that direction and that's the only direction he could go in, to be honest.

Well, The Yes Album was a huge transition for them. It took them from the Yes/Time and A Word era into the CTTE/Fragile/TFTO era. Therefore, it combines their early proto-prog days with their symphonic prog eras. Personally, The Yes Album may be my favorite Yes album, but I could understand what you are saying.

American Khatru wrote: ^ Dellinger.  I hope more people chime in on the Banks thing (how he left), I don't know myself.

I think I've read Peter Banks himself saying even he didn't know why he'd been kicked out of Yes, and I've got the impression by other comentaries from him that he really took it very hard. In the site Notes from the Edge (nfte.org) are many interview with Yes member ex-members, etc, including Peter Banks.

I buy it too.  In an of course much smaller situation, I've seen this not-so-rare personality conflict some years ago.  A band "leader" with good basic ideas but flawed in some ways (little if any working knowledge of theory, idiomatic writing, etc.), I take the parts and improve them, and this the leader is excited and appreciative of it... at first, that is until they began to despise me for it.  And in my little situation I wasn't even gunning for any kind of credit.

I found out about that CD some time ago, but haven't tried to get it yet. I was interested in the lineup though, however I don't remember everyone who was suposed to be included, yet it sounded like an all-star lineup. I wouldn't be surprised that Akkerman overshadowed Peter Banks, at least in parts of the album.

^  Here's the deal right off the back of the album.

Peter Banks: el & ac gtr, ARP, mini-Moog, Fender Piano; Jan Akkerman: el gtr (left channel) 1,4,6,8,9, ac gtr 7; Ray Bennett: bass 3,4,5; Phil Collins: drums 4,5,8,9; Steve Hackett: el gtr 5; Mike Hough: drums 3; John Whetton: bass 5. 8,9 are spontaneous jams.

side A
1. Vision of the King
2. The White House Vale
3. Knights
4. Battles
5. Knights (Reprise)
6. Last Eclipse
side B
7. Beyond the Loneliest Sea
8. Stop That!
9. Get Out of My Fridge

I haven't listened to this enough times yet to determine for myself just how much "overshadowing" there is - not a priority of mine anyway (just something other reviewers said).  The left-channel thing helps, though the transfer from vinyl that I made yesterday (Logic -> Waveburner for CD -> iTunes) used a "stereo spreader" effect which seems to have played with channel placement.  I'm going to have to go back and do that again. 

Collins does take on some very up-front responsibilities.  The other famous two, Hackett and Whetton, do very little indeed; Hackett is probably doing the quite idiomatic mandolining thing, which I like, don't get me wrong; with Whetton there's no immense stand out to the bass, or maybe he did half the track only (lots of editing) - he dropped by?  (Anyway that whole area of the record rocks regardless.)  The bass duties largely fall to the able Ray Bennett, who, along with Mike Hough, was in Peter Banks and Tony Kaye's group Flash.