THE YES ALBUM

I'm having a little bit of a golden age prog renaissance at the moment, tearing through the classic King Crimson, Genesis (1970 - 1975 any day now!) and Yes catalogues, as I type. Well the renaissance part isn't exactly true, I might be old enough to have been around when these boys were popular in the early 70s, but I was far too taken by T Rex, Slade, The Sweet and Bowie (just to hang on to a little credibility) et al to be bothered by all that long winded nonsense.

Strange how thing's change isn't it? Anything by T Rex is likely to give me nostalgic goosebumps and I've Lord knows how many Bowie CD'S ad LP'S racked up behind me. But to be honest they don't get a lot of play these days, although if I were pushed (and not very hard) I'd still say that Bowie is the most constant musical presence throughout my life and his flamboyance was a vast influence for me as a teenager. I even shaved my eyebrows al la Young Americans in 1975, although this didn't bring me the success I expected with girls. Strange that. (Married, two daughters, dog and mortgage, so I suppose I turned it around at some point...)

Sorry about the preamble, I can't seem to write a review without a little bit of a warm-up first. Anyway, Yes, The Yes Album. I started my Yes journey with Close to the Edge, then moved onto Fragile and played them constantly for a couple of weeks until I felt ready for Tales. All of them perhaps marginally more sophisticated and musically complex than this, but The Yes Album had a far more immediate impact. I guess it's more hook laden and guitar oriented, which plays to my sensibilities, but there's more to it than that. I've not heard the first two albums, so cant say what impact Steve Howe had or what changes his style and versatility brought, but this is his album, he's all over it and absolutely magnificent.

Yours Is No Disgrace has some great, catchy hooks and I found Jon Anderson wonderful and emotional, which surprises and pleases with equal measure. His falsetto, although ethereal and reminiscent of a bygone era, was the characteristic I least enjoyed in Yes. No longer. Chris Squire on the other hand was the first reason Yes caught my ear (Close to the Edge) and is one of the most significant and creative bass players, his dexterity and prominence throughout this album is a joy, the echo at the beginning of Starship Trooper is so spacey and surreal, setting the tone for the track perfectly.

Bill Bruford is incredible isn't he. Not splashy or showy, just incredibly economical, but one of the few musicians likely to sway me toward a purchase if his name's on the back cover. THRAK for instance. And Tony Levin, of course. Okay and Mr Fripp. But Bill Bruford is almost a guarantee of quality, the playing in Yours Is No Disgrace and All Good people is staggering and deceptive in its simplicity. I've seen All Good People is perhaps the first track that has a signature 'Yes' sound and the transition from Your Move to All Good People is just sublime...surprising and exciting. A Venture is I think far less simple to play than it may at first seem, but a great little track, starting with some eerie piano and economically wound up in just over three minutes. I love Perpetual Change, again Jon Anderson emotes beautifully, some great jazzy guitar, crazy time changes, while Tony Kaye goes around complimenting everything. This is a very talented bunch of players just beginning to hit their stride, ready to try anything, and the great thing about the 70s is that they could. And Yes did, the general consensus is that they actually got better after this, but personally, I like this the best.