THE YES ALBUM

Yes

Symphonic Prog

4.31 | 3307 ratings

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MattGuitat

The album that introduced Steve Howe to the world.

Howe came in and showed how(e) good this band could be. His guitar leads this album, with Tony Kaye behaving more as a rhythm player.

Howe's influence is shown from the opening of Yours is no Disgrace. This track is a masterpiece, but actually took me a couple of listens to get. Howe's solo in the middle is brilliant. I just love how(e) he split up the guitar solo into 3 parts: Classical, Sustain, and Clean Jazz.

Clap comes next. Not bad, but kinda boring (Mood for a Day was better).

Next, we have the masterpiece of the album and possibly of Yes's career (only Close to the Edge tops it and Gates of Delirium ties it): Starship Trooper. Its just so majestic and beautiful. Life Seeker gives us those brilliant melodies, while Disillusionment adds a bit of relief. Disillusionment actually makes fun of Jon's lyrics ("Take what I say in a different way and see that this is all confusion...."). Finally, we come to the transcendent climax: Wurm. Steve said that he wrote it as the soundtrack to an acid trip, but those chords are a trip in themselves. His solo at the end is one of his best. Perfect track.

I've seen All Good People is the other classic here. The acoustic chess part is really beautiful and the rock part is actually really cool, with another amazing Howe solo. He gets to show his roots in 50s rock here.

A venture is pretty average, but it does include a nice Kaye solo at the end.

Now, for a contradiction between me and most Yes fans: I don't think Perpetual Change is all that great. Parts are good, but the section where the two rhythms play against each other is kinda sloppy. Its an average track, but not awful.

The Yes Album is the beginning of Yes's holy trinity (though I would substitute this for Relayer) and began a string of great records.

4/5-Really good record

MattGuitat | 4/5 | 2011-7-17

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