THE YES ALBUM

Enter, Steve Howe.

-Steve Howe rant, you can skip this. I personally find Steve Howe to be the greatest progressive rock guitarist of all time. He is able to match his skills and not substitute them for compositional skills either. Steve Howe has mastered various styles of music like jazz, classical and blues. The mastery of these styles made Steve has many useful tools in his disposal, being able to apply any of these styles in Yes's varied song structures. Another presence he brought to the music is his use of other guitars that the former didn't really use, which is the acoustic guitar and pedal steel guitar, just to name a few. Steve Howe didn't change Yes per say, but he did climb right onto the ship Yes was moving in and made it to the helm right away. The best prog guitarist of all time, in my opinion.

Every song on this album is a good one, and the weak moments are all too few. This album is not a five star for me because it never had that ever-lasting appeal or the ability to make me feel like this is the most epic thing I have ever heard. None the less, I feel like this is almost as good as an album can get.

'Yours is no Disgrace' is a near 10 minute opener. The pop sensibilities in Jon Anderson's vocals just sticks with the music and for good reason, it fits. The piece keeps a simple form but the instrumentation is noticeable as being more prompt and just at the forefront.

'Clap' is a classical guitar piece by Steve Howe. I thought it was pretty nice, but just a flashy classical guitar solo, not really my thing personally.

'Starship Trooper' is a Yes classic, possible the first was a complex piece that still was able to reach a large crowd of new fans in the mainstream music scene. It features three different parts each having their own unique taste.

'I've Seen All Good People' was another great hit, but its true potential was brought out live and acoustic. The vocal harmonies that would truly be at the top if its game on later albums was started with this song.

'A Venture' seemed to be an ode to the style of early Yes, but with its new look that was brought about on the first few tracks. I little bit of blues and pop mix with some truly identifiable leads by Bill Bruford.

'Perpetual Change' was a great closer to choose. Perhaps a statement of what Yes wanted to do. This song is similar in style to 'Yours is no Disgrace' and features a classic Howe solo that presents many more to come from the man. A great Yes song, but fails in comparison to the next few gems.

This album isn't as good as the next few, but it should not be overlooked. There are quite a few really exciting tracks can pull any fan of progressive rock in. I highly recommend this album.

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