THE YES ALBUM

"The Yes Album", for me at least, is hard to describe. There is not a single bad song on the album, yet only two of the songs ("Yours is No Disgrace"; "Starship Trooper"; maybe "Perpetual Change") are essential to a Yes fan's collection. "Starship Trooper"'s spacey theme always becomes weaved into my brain after listening, and "Yours is No Disgrace" is just a wonderful, quite possibly underrated song. The other songs just aren't as memorable to me, such as "The Clap", which is a nice acoustic tune, but seems a bit too minimalistic for Yes. "I've Seen All Good People" starts off with interesting lyrics about a chess game ("Your Move"), but Jon Anderson begins to repeat the "All Good People" lyrics from the intro of the song, and ends up just being annoying (Everything else is wonderful, however). "A Venture" is a good but short tune, yet not as good as later Yes work. "Perpetual Change" is an excellent closer, but it falls short from the standards set by "Yours" and "Starship".

Overall, it is a great album to listen too, but only half is essential. I would recommend it for anyone who has already listened to Fragile and Close to the Edge, and is waiting to learn the next Yes offering their ears should digest.