TIME AND A WORD

Again, the cd remaster doesn't use the original LP cover. The famous 'headless naked girl with long legs' is reproduced inside the booklet this time, and stamped on the cd itself. Again, like the first Yes album, I bought this one on vinyl, about 1976. Unfortunately, the 'new' cover on the cd, appears to have the Yes line up from THE YES ALBUM, with Steve Howe! Not the line up that should appear here! Anyway, onto the music. The opener, "No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed", is rather unusual, in that Jon Anderson sings in a lower register than is his wont. Of course, the song itself is excellent, and the orchestra, which is used on this album liberally, adds a nice background atmosphere, coming over at times quite powerfully. the track is a Richie Havens song, but Yes do it good justice here. Not my fave track though. The second one, "Then", is a good contrast as Jon's voice immediately goes back to his normal high register. This is a nice ballad starting off with a solitary organ fading in. Then the bass and guitar interplay nicely whilst Bruford's drumming is shown off in fine style here. The orchestra weaves in and out and the whole song is almost jazzy in parts. Technically wonderful, and deceptively simple. The whole band work well together on this one. The guitar near the end is atmospheric and nicely underplayed. I love the ending to this song. Third track in and we have "Everydays". a Stephen Stills song. One of my favourites on the album this. Very laid back and sixties in style. Nice use of brushes on the drums, and nice piano to start off. The orchestra adds something haunting to this piece. Almost bluesy in style, it suits Jon's voice nicely. I find it, intentionally or not, quite romantic. A song to listen to through headphones and daydream along with! The pace in the middle of the song picks up nicely, led by the hi- hat, and the bass dominates here. The guitar sounds a little dated, but effective. Then we slow down again for the last verse. The end is, again, impressive, with a reiteration of the middle hi-hat led theme, and Mr Squire's trademark rumbling bass ending the song emphatically. Then comes "Sweet Dreams". This starts off with sixties style guitar, and is a concise and well composed little number, quite short and melodic. Nice simple organ backing it here. This is a happy little number. "The Prophet" is next, beginning what was once side two of the album. This again starts off with organ, before the orchestra leads the band in. Overall, it is the orchestra and bass that dominate here. It sounds ok, but is not my favourite track here. The organ at the end almost reminds me of Alan Price in his Animal days! "Clear Days" comes next, this one being dominated by what sounds like a chamber orchestra. Another track that is short and listenable, but nothing special. The penultimate track is "Astral Traveller". This track lacks the melody of the other numbers, but the guitar and keyboard interplay makes up for this. As was typical of those days, the stereo effect is used to great effect, wizzing through the headphones at the build up near the end. The guitar that leads the song in is worth mentioning, a nice bit of rhythm work from Peter Banks. Also his playing as the end of the song approaches. A decent effort again. Finally, we have the title track, "Time And A Word". Nicely opened with acoustic guitar, followed by keyboards, this song, like "Sweet Dreams", is the most straightforward song on the album, with verse and chorus. It's a nice song though, and Anderson sounds good on it. Overall another fine effort from the Yes boys. Hard to say if I think it is better than the debut or not. Probably more accomplished this one, but lacking the other's power. Therefore, considering them equal, I give them both three stars.