YES

After listening top Genesis first record from 1969 I continued to Yes first record from the same year and the differencies are remarkable. If Genesis started weak, this is a strong debut lp. Ok, Yes didn't sound like Close to the Edge yet, but they were already progressive and symphonic. What's perhaps even better than later Yes is that the vocals are very coherent. There is a lot of harmony singing here and they do it great. At this time Yes featured Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Tony Kaye and Peter Banks.

They opened with "Beyond and before" a progressive hard rock song with a strong melodical power. The melodies remind me of of Beatles. The keyboards are sweat. Next song "I see you" is calmer and very jazzy and psychedelic. It shows the progressive 60s. "Yesterday and today" is much more simple and could have been on Genesis to Revelation. "Looking around" is also a rock song with nice organ and harmonies and shows how skillful the musicians were. "Harold Land" is the best song, oh it's amazing and very symphonic. A beautiful melody which grows and has both calmer and more powerful moments. This is real Yes music. Next song is as good as last song: the Beatles cover "Every little thing" is another side of early Yes. The intro is experimental and exciting, then comes the riff from Bealtes' "Day tripper" and then the riff/melody from "Every little thing" starts. This is a perfect cover, totally different but still an honest tribute to the earlier masters of Beatles. "Sweetness" is more of a pop song and the closer "Surviving" is an interesting piece. It starts energetic and becomes acoustic. Good vocals and elegant mellotron work of Kaye.

Yes I know Yes could do even better, but with this debut it's not weird at all they could. Today's match between the debuts of the giants of prog has come to end and the winner is Yes. Recommended!