TIME AND A WORD

"Time and a word" was certainly a major step forward from Yes' eponymous first album, but was still some way from the classic status of its successors. There are occasional hints of prog in tracks such as "The prophet", which has a more complex structure than most of the songs here.

The performance still lacks the refinement we are now used to, the vocals only being roughly in tune and the harmonies at times being anything but harmonic. There are exceptions, such as the highly melodic title track, where everything seems to come together well. The song itself is a pretty straightforward piece of pop rock, but it is thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.

The band's confidence in the strength of their own material is still not absolute, as evidenced by the inclusion of two cover versions.

As with the Beatles "Let it be" album, the addition of orchestration is the cause of much debate among fans. In this case, for me it is an enhancement, although looking retrospectively it does make this sound even less like a Yes album than would otherwise be the case.

The enormously high standards set by Yes on the following albums undoubtedly make reviews such as this harsher than they would otherwise be. "Time and a word" is still a fine album with much to enjoy, just don't expect to hear a "Close to the edge" or "Yours is no disgrace".

The extended remastered CD includes "Dear Father", original mixes of two of the album tracks, plus a single version of the "The Prophet".

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