THE YES ALBUM

While not yet up to the par of their later work this was definately a turning point for the young band. The addition of guitar virtuso Steven Howe also seems to have helped, as he immediately brings forth a lot of great material. Here is an album that shows the band leaving this phychadellic/pop era of the late 60s and departing into the progressive genre. Gone as well is the symphony that accompanied them on their previous work "Time and a Word", leaving us with pure Yes, and though the great Wakeman is not yet around, on this offering you hardly seem to miss him.

Starting with the excellent YOURS IS NO DISGRACE, Squire proves himself, yet again, as an increadible bass player that can whip up a catchy riff equil to that of his guitar counterparts. The rest of the song moves nicely until it seems to just fly away and replaces itself with Howe's solo endeavor CLAP (unfortunately sometimes called The Clap), which is a nice, short guitar workout recorded live, a studio version is also availible on the cd remaster of the album, but honestly, the live is much better and more energenic. STARSHIP TROOPER is a true Yes classic, starting again with that great bass player, this song progesses through it's parts until it comes to it's instumental outro, which is amazing, I must say. SEEN ALL GOOD PEOPLE is definately the most poppy song on the album, but it definately has it's charm, and A VENTURE is a bit slower, with some mellowed out story telling, but is also quite good. The next big standout, however, lies in the coda PERPETUAL CHANGE, which really forecasts where the band would be heading, and sometimes sounds like the first steps towards their later masterpiece "Close to the Edge". Again, this is a band in evolution, so the sounds to this album are quite unique and interesting.

It may not be Close to the Edge, but this is definately one of this genre's best band's best albums. All throughout it does not dissapoint or let down. 4 stars, excellent addition to any prog collection.

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