THE YES ALBUM

This is where the story of Yes really begins for me. The early albums were about finding their feet, making their own sound, doing their own songs instead of the rewrites that they'd copped from 1-2-3 (Clouds), shaking off that influence to find their own voice.

Having said all that, I still find the music cloyingly pretentious, the lyrics often ridiculous, the themes nonsensical, yet this has to be a five-star album. Progressive Rock couldn't exist without this band. Along with ELP and King Crimson (who for me, are the first fully-formed progressive rock band) they defined the genre, and always attempted to be interesting and inventive. The playing is almost perfect, at times, faultless; the vocals are well-conceived, the harmonies clever and of the highest quality. It's the content that gets on my nerves, all the Tolkien bullshit, a lot of airy-fairy nonsense that to me, wasn't necessary, and was even unhelpful to a great group's legacy.

But I'm glad they did what they did.