YES - Time and a Word (1970)

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   There's a time, and the time is now, and it's right for me, it's right for me, and the time is now. There's a word, and the word is love, and it's right for me, it's right for me, and the word is love..... 

Who can forget that marvellous chorus to the title track of Time and a Word!? 

When it comes to great songwriters, there's No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed. You've either got what it takes or you haven't and Jon "Christian" Anderson has got what it takes in spades! Jon may be "away with the fairies" sometimes - at least according to his YES bandmates - but Then again, that's all part and parcel of what makes him such a gifted storyteller, especially when it comes to telling epic Wonderous Stories of fantasy, mystery and imagination in the Topographic Oceans of prog. 

It was still early days for YES in 1970, where the band members were struggling to make an Everydays living and still had Sweet Dreams of stardom and when, even on Clear Days, it was hard to see The Prophet from their labours. 

Peter Banks appeared on the first two YES albums, but Time and a Word has it that during the recording of the second album, there was a Magnification of tensions within the band with so many Fragile egos at stake. In the ensuing Drama, there was Talk of Peter Banks being unhappy with many of his guitar parts being orchestrated. He was reportedly Close to the Edge of quitting the band he loved, but he was asked to leave YES anyway, leaving him free to sail the Topographic Oceans alone in The Quest for perfection, where he would ultimately become an Astral Traveller and gain the Keys to Ascension. 

 1970: Yes - Time and a Word - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kxZ_UfjS0e2GOzJV3BRZ0kONloNagZHtk

YES line-up:- Jon Anderson; Peter Banks; Bill Bruford; Tony Kaye; & Chris Squire

Track Listing

1.  No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed  (4:45)
2.  Then  (5:42)
3.  Everydays  (6:05)
4.  Sweet Dreams  (3:46)
5.  The Prophet  (6:31)
6.  Clear Days  (2:03)
7.  Astral Traveller  (5:47)
8.  Time and a Word  (4:29)

No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed - YES meets The Big Country in this epic opening number, where only YES could make a scrapyard look like an exotic location. 

Then - in which keyboard player Chris Squire gets blown over (quite literally) by the power of this song - although the windswept coastal location may have had something to do with it.

Everydays - a video in which Jon Anderson appears to be making an advert for Sun Silk shampoo and where our intrepid heroes get chased from a nunnery by an irate nun before making a not-so-fast getaway on a boat.

Astral Traveller

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 24 2023 at 05:50