YES

In 1969, Yes recorded their first album, Yes. Yes is not really a progressive rock album, but few of the early prog acts started off in the genre. Jethro Tull were a blues band, Genesis were a folk rock/baroque pop act, and Rush were a Led Zeppelin knock-off. In that regard, Yes's debut was closer to the sound they'd become known for than that of many other bands. It's a heavy psychedelic rock album, featuring significant jazz influences in the instrumentation and folky harmonies sung by Anderson and Squire.

Already, many of their signature sounds were in their embryonic stages. Chris Squire's bass crunched far more aggressively than almost every other contemporary band, and the aforementioned harmonized vocals gave their music a distinctive flavor. "Looking Around" in particular points to the band's future exploits. The bass is more of a lead instrument than the guitar on this song, and Tony Kaye's organ soars above it all. It's still rough around the edges, though. They'd tighten up their sound on future releases and give the songs greater structural complexity. It's obvious Yes harbored higher artistic ambitions than what was displayed here. A lot of the album is still quite poppy, and it'll likely appeal to a lot of people who enjoy late 1960s hard rock.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/03/24/deep-dive-yes/