YES

Yes debut album is miles ahead of their peers Genesis album. One reason being the age - these lads were more mature and they played together for a longer time. We have a very solid 60's oriented album with touches of psychedelia, hard-rock, harmony vocals and a few sonic trademarks of the band - harmony vocals by Anderson/Squire, high-pitched and aggressive bass guitar playing, Hammond/piano leanings by Kaye and precise drumming by Bruford.

It's true that there aren't many virtuoso moments but the band sounds cohesive, tight, yet a bit adventureous thanks to some instrumental moments like the jazzy "I see you". Compositional abilities are placed on the same height as playing abilities. "Yesterday and today" is a nice pastoral piece with chord sequences that would be repeated on later albums. The most hit potential had "Looking around" with churning Hammond and very 60's sounding guitar. I usually don't like cover songs but the Yes version of not-so-known "Every Little Thing" by the Beatles presents an interesting choice that provides enough sophistication even to a progressive rock fan. "Survival" shows first signs of epicness in the composition - quite instrumental parts, sung conventional part and dynamic playing.

A very decent start of one of the best progressive rock bands, but let's be honest nothing can match the King Crimson debut album ;-)