TIME AND A WORD

I had heard most of these tracks on compilations before buying this so I came into this album quite aware of the greatness of it's best tracks but I desired to hear the lesser known tracks to decide for myself whether this album warrants a five star rating as many have awarded it here. I consider Yes to be my all time favourite prog band so I was quite disappointed with this album.

I am not convinced of the full rating for a number of reasons, the most important of which is the stand out tracks that are excellent are the ones that appear on all the compilation albums. The other tracks feel more like throwaways than anything else in comparison to the brilliant quintessential albums Fragile, Close to the Edge, The Yes Album and Tales of Topographic Oceans.

The first track 'No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed' is a wonderful stand out opener and features orchestral arrangements and incredible vocals packed into less than 5 minutes. 'Then', and 'Everydays', are nice additions but quite forgettable, and not up to the usual Yes standard. 'Sweet Dreams' is one of the gems I had heard before, as is 'Astral Traveller'. They are classics, masterfully produced with musical virtuosity and incredible precision time signatures. 'The Prophet' is a progressive 6 and a half minute mini epic with some stand out guitar and keyboard.

'Clear Days' is another of the throwaways and not as innovative as the other tracks. 'Time and a Word' is another of the classics and a must for Yes and prog fans - pure genius.

So what do we have? 4 brilliant tracks - found on lots of compilations, 1 awesome track that grows on you and 3 throwaways that are forgettable and inconsistent with the usual excellent Yes standard.

I would only buy this if you are a completist or you see it cheap. I am not going to mention the bonus tracks as I only have the original album, however they may be enough to warrant a purchase, though I seriously doubt it.

3 stars for the brilliant tracks is the highest I am willing to go with this.