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Yes - The Yes Album CD (album) cover

THE YES ALBUM

Yes

 

Symphonic Prog

4.31 | 3295 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

R-A-N-M-A
4 stars The Yes Album is one of those albums that simply just doesn't raise my passions, but whose light hearted and seemingly effortless delivery leaves me with a lasting positive impression. The succeeding five albums will see Yes release some of the most stunning music ever recorded. For this frozen moment in early 1971 though, those heights have yet to be hit and the band seems fresh and unserious in a way that isn't really felt again until Going for the One.

For all it's easy going charm, there is no knockout punch delivered on The Yes Album. You can hear the band reaching, especially on Starship Trooper, for the kind of sound they'll achieve less than a year later on Fragile, but aren't quite capable of yet. I think it can be accounted for in two ways. Firstly, Yes' song writing tends to follow an evolutionary path. An album like Fragile wouldn't be possible without these early forays on the Yes Album. The second is of course that Rick Wakeman would not be added to the band until after this album was already completed.

Still fans of the band will be enamoured. Those who respect Yes but find their later work unapproachable might find solace here. And, those who are interested in very good progressive rock album should definitely check it out. With nearly 1500, largely positive, reviews at the time of writing, I think it should be fairly clear that this is a safe bet. 4 out of 5, an excellent addition to any progressive rock music collection.

R-A-N-M-A | 4/5 |

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