TIME AND A WORD

I've been acquainted with this album for many years, about 18, and I just don't get bored with it, and it originally came out with a different cover - a kind of surreal, black & white 'stretched naked body into a room with a checkered floor' picture (and I treasure it - the LP, not the naked body), and not with the lame band photo including Steve Howe, who wasn't even in Yes at this stage. Whilst 'Close to the Edge' is a masterpiece, I have overplayed it and I just don't get the thrills out of it anymore. This album, 'Time and a Word', is still such an exciting listen, from the grinding Hammond play from Tony Kaye, featured prominently throughout, Chris Squire's rattling Rickenbacker bass, very up-front in the mix, Bruford is more confident and quite tricky with his drumkit, there's even some 'acidic' guitar playing from Peter Banks, and Jon Anderson is, well, Jon Anderson - a great vocalist. Incorporating a small orchestra to extend the sonic pallette, each song works well, even the cover-versions they make their own. Starting with a Ritchie Havens track, 'No Opportunity Necessary...' they give the full symphonic treatment, with psychedelic leanings, even incoporating a theme from (I think) 'Big Country'. Stephen Stills' 'Everydays' is given an orchestral, jazzy workout with a thundering middle section - a total knockout. 'The Prophet' is the semi-lengthy epic of the album, opening with a fantastic Hammond solo of incredible depth, morphing into an intense passage where the band lets loose for a bit, then simmers down to Squire's playful bass-lines and Jon sings away. Still, the tracks 'Then' and 'Astral Traveller' are awesome, vaguely similar in structure to each other, they demonstrate great use of dynamics, with some full-on band/orchestra interplay and quiet passages where Banks utilises volume swells to perfection ('Then'), to a phenomenal, slow building mid-section of the complex 'Astral Traveller'. 'Clear Days' is a weaker track, featuring Jon backed with the orchestra, and 'Sweet Dreams' is an enjoyable pop-song with an uplifting riff. The title-track is the perfect closing to the album with it's anthemic and majestic chorus. 4.5 stars.