The Yes Album
Yes
1971
Album Summary
The Yes Album is the third studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 19 February 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was the band's first album to feature guitarist Steve Howe, who replaced Peter Banks in 1970, as well as their last to feature keyboardist Tony Kaye until 1983's 90125. The album was the first by the band not to feature any cover versions of songs. The band spent mid-1970 writing and rehearsing new material at a farmhouse at Romansleigh, Devon, and the new songs were recorded at Advision Studios in London in the autumn. While the album retained close harmony singing, Kaye's Hammond organ, and Chris Squire's melodic bass, as heard on earlier releases, the new material also covered further styles including jazz piano, funk, and acoustic music. All of the band members contributed ideas, and tracks were extended in length to allow music to develop. Howe contributed a variety of guitar styles, including a Portuguese guitar, and recorded the solo acoustic guitar piece "Clap", live at the Lyceum Theatre, London. The album was a critical success and a major commercial breakthrough for Yes, who had been at risk of being dropped by Atlantic due to the commercial failures of their first two albums. It reached number 4 in the United Kingdom and number 40 in the United States, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for surpassing one million copies. The album has been reissued on CD several times, and was given a Blu-ray release in 2014 remixed by Steven Wilson.
WikipediaI'm punk innit so this sort of shit brings me out in hives, and it doesn't even have Rick Wakeman and his capes on it.
Some grown ass white men have Dungeons & Dragons; I have classic Yes albums. Finally something I actually own! If this album is on the list in place of “Close to the Edge” that’s a shame, but I’ll take what I can get. Steve Howe is on my guitar Mt. Rushmore.
This is and has everything I love about so-called rock music: power.. melody.. mystery...great musicianship... catchy riffs... majestic yet accessible. Don't let the 4 rather long songs put you off if you've not experienced this before, and it may take some time to sink in but it's best listened either in headphones or fully immersed stereo - and loud! Starship Troopers is my personal favourite here but each track stands out for different reasons. Chris Squire's growly bass and band vocal harmonies are specifically individual standouts throughout. 9/10. 5 stars.
Yes has always been a great band to mellow out to and enjoy. I am enjoying these moments of discovery.
Fantastic! Already listened twice and will definitely be in regular circulation. Note: this is an album that is best listened to cover to cover.
A brilliant prog album that showcases Yes at their peak. It shows them moving away from making a regular album with 8 songs on it to having 6 songs where some are extended epics and others are quick and easy. Listened to this one before and it’s still easy to lose yourself in
Great stuff, I love they mix the bass hot. Great musicianship, solid guitar fills and solos.
An amazing introduction into progressive rock. I really enjoy the bass in the tracks because of how clear it is. There's nothing really else to say other than that it's one of the greatest albums of all time. Highlights: 1, 3, 4, and 6.
I really like a lot of prog rock and prog metal, and I know yes is a big part of that, but I've never been able to really get into them in the past. This album was better than expected, but the song I recognized 'all good people' was definitely the low point IMO. There were good instrumentals throughout and i found myself enjoying a lot of it, but feeling embarrassed by other cheesy pieces. It's a 3.5 that I will begrudgingly rank up to a 4 because I gotta back up prog as a genre.
The Yes Album is 'ok'. It is not bad, and there are some catchy moments where it is enjoyable as an afterthought, and then that is it: an afterthought that might slowly creep into your humming lexicon over years of exposure. It has that classic rock appeal in 2021 that would make this ideal for any rotation in some place like a garage or shared workspace. The music is benign, to put it nicely, and the vocals are easily ignored. It is prog-rock after all, and the whole ignore-me-while-I-am-over-here-doing-my-own-thing just bleeds from this album. So this listener will do just that, not even curious enough to wonder what it is that is being missed here.
The opening to Yours Is No Disgrace is such a jam. I'm less sold on the vocals to be totally honest, but everything in between is fantastic. I'm also enjoying the bass lines a lot. The more of the song I hear though, the less the vocals throw me off. But still, the guitar work >>> vocals in this track. The Clap is a nice breather after Yours Is No Disgrace. Starship Trooper is really funky, and I always appreciate a song with movements. The second movement is fantastic, I love the guitar in it. No thoughts, head empty, just vibes. I've Seen All Good People has some FUN organ work. One of my favorite instruments, honestly. Again, vocals aren't selling me, but the instrumental behind the track is amazing. The opening to Perpetual Change is AMAZING. I love love love it. Overall, this was a fun album, with a lot of insanely cool instrumental work that was hampered in my opinion by the vocals. If it was purely an instrumental album, I would have loved it so much more.
This album takes me right back to my childhood. Yes was my dad's favorite band so almost all of these songs felt familiar. I never realized how much Southern influence there is in Yes's music until today's listen. I always just put them in the "prog" bucket and moved on but there's a lot of solid, southern, 70s groove here. It's fun. It's interesting. It's a little cheesy but that's alright. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Is it timeless? Not even close. Hence the 4 stars.
A lot more psychedelic than i expected. Lots of nice picky accoustic stuff like Leo Kotke then goes to space-age psych. Not sure it works together as a coherent album, but whatever... it was an enjoyable listen.
This album is the epitome of Yes: oddly long songs that are only connected through the key and some sporadic lyrics. The rhythms and sounds make each song feel like a road trip through the mountains, and even though I don't like how lengthy they are, I can appreciate it. Favorite track: The Clap
The album starts with a loud declaration of 1971 sounds - Hammond organ, Rickenbacker bass, then a burst of beedly-beedly guitar playing and finally the banked harmonies of Jon Anderson. Some very nice and intricate guitar work on The Clap. And next is the full experience of Yes making progressive rock on Starship Trooper. I find the whole album very bitty - very well-executed, but so many disparate ideas cut and shunted together. I can hear definite Beatles echos in here, especially on Perpetual Change
Yes is one of those bands you either connect with or you don’t. They’re incredibly talented and their music doesn’t really have any flaws per se. The most you can ding them for is a little self-indulgence (ahem, "Perpetual Change"), which is true of a lot of bands of their genre/era. Short and sweet review, this album is really good, but I didn't connect with it as much as I did with Close to the Edge. It includes two of the all-time great, must-hear tracks from the band, “I've Seen All Good People” and “Starship Trooper.” The inclusion of the live instrumental "The Clap" was a weird choice that I don’t think served the overall album very well. Fave Songs: I've Seen All Good People, Starship Trooper, Yours is No Disgrace, A Venture
Instrumentally, Yes are a fine group and this is displayed on the album via lengthy suites, featuring plenty of guitar and keyboard interplay. Vocally, they're a bit iffy, there's some nice harmonies, but I feel they lack a strong lead singer for the material. Jon Anderson sounds like he would be better off singing in a pop group. I quite enjoyed 'Your Move', which is the first part of 'I've Seen All Good People' plus the solo Portuguese guitar instrumental 'Clap' (recorded live) displays the technical prowess of guitarist Steve Howe. Overall it's well above average, but there are better prog albums. That is quite a cool album cover though.
A Yes album, even The Yes Album, doesn't feel like a Yes album unless Rik Wakeman and Roger Dean is involved. Now, that's piffle. This is clearly a Yes album, it sounds exactly like Yes, the songs are firmly in the Yes scool of lyricism and thematics, and whereas Roger has become inseparable from Yes, Rick Wakeman's been in and out of them more often than the crew of HMS Queen Elizabeth with your mum. Now, I am not a Yes fan, I subscribe to the standard that Yes were bloated and bizarrely inane, despite the grandiosity of their lyrical and musical conceits. I understand that the fans consider Starship Trooper one of their monuments, and I acknowledge that the last movement of it has a proper driving frug. And that occasional frug is the best of Yes. However, between each instance of frug there's about 15 minutes of quite boring, quite charmless noodling. But how would a band like Yes grasp the aesthetic of less being more? They're Yes, not the Ramones.
I guess my take on Yes hasn't changed much from what I listended to "Close to the Edge". The band is clearly talented, the production is over the top good, and there is no doubt that the band has a huge following and has influenced countless other bands and artists. For whatever reason, I personally just can't connect with the music. It feels showboaty and a bit sterile. There were moments in the latter half of "Yours is No Disgrace" and "Starship Trooper", where I picked up on something, but the whole vibe still feels like it's at an arm's length. Another review wrote that it was like rush, but boring, and I think that sums it up perfectly.
The energy of this album jumps all around the place. I can hear its influence in the synth-pop that happened in the decades to come and even a bit of 90s alt folk rock. I wasn't especially grabbed by this album but I respect its craftmanship.
I am not a fan of prog, not a fan. Did not hat e this as much as I expected; The B3 keyboards of Tony Kaye is far less pretentious and widdly-widdly than the subsequent synthesizer overkill of Rick Wakeman. New boy Steve Howe hasn't gone full prog yet, either. This still sounds like a rock band, as opposed the the over-arranged clever-clogs, full blown progressive of the 70s that was right around the corner. As with all prog albums, moments of rock and roll appear, only to be lost in a swamp of tedium. All talk and no bloody trousers. Even Classic Rock magazine thinks this album is not up to par (but could have been., and they _like_ this stuff. According to wikipedia, they were on the verge of being dropped by their label, but avoided this by using an opportunity to manipulate the charts to goose the release until it got its own sales legs. prog: it's the emperors new music.
This fills me with dread. Again, I will try to shed any preconceptions before listening, but my impression of Yes is great cover art, terrible 10 minute prog noodling. And with that, I am met by 10 minutes of noodling in 'Yours is No Disgrace'. Imagine the worst excesses of Pink Floyd, but without the oddball charm of Syd Barrett's era, or the arthouse fury of Roger Waters' era. Essentially, David Gilmour's Floyd. Yuck. Then there's a noodly acoustic thing. It's innofensive but pointless. Now we're getting into serious prog with Starship Trooper, which has three sections listed. It's not based on Robert Heinlein's novel to the best of my knowledge, and therefore has nothing interesting about it. I've Seen All Good People also has three movements (said in the bowel sense of the word) but is shorter and marginally less painful. The middle of it sounds like Status Quo, and I would rather listen to Status Quo than this, and that is saying something. Something interesting happened at the start of Perpetual Change, but in keeping with the name it ended after 20 seconds. Then it went back to the same tired musician's music as it had before. Apparently this album's success stemmed from a postal strike meaning that only London chart returns could be processed in the week of its release, artificially inflating it's chart position. This makes sense of a lot of this for me. You can see why a lot of people hate Prog. I don't - Floyd, Hawkwind, Rush and Caravan bloody rule. This sort of noodly awfulness is why people hate Prog.
Uno de los pocos discos de progresivo de los grandes bandas del progresivo normie que se puede escuchar. Buenísimo.
Kicking off the trilogy of albums where Yes were at their most powerful creatively, The Yes Album is a classic of prog rock. A perfect balance of bass, keyboards, guitar and drums, with insane hippie vocals and some fantastic harmonising bringing it all together. The mammoth opener Yours Is No Disgrace is a sign of things to come, with Yes laying the ground work for their future prog epics. A fantastic song in its own right, it lets all the members shine, especially Howe and Anderson. The ending section of Starship Trooper is one of my favourite pieces of music, with the whole band building towards musical ecstasy. The dueling guitar solos at the end are a highlight The fantastic harmonising I mentioned really shines through on I've Seen All Good People, with Anderson, Squire and Howe nailing the three-part harmony. My only real issue with the album is all but 2 of the tracks fading out instead of working out a "proper" ending, but it's not really much of a detraction.
I really enjoyed this album. I’m not terribly familiar with Yes but I’m glad I gave this a listen. There is a lot of jazz and classical influence and the album is structured into several mini-suites that challenge the rock form.
Gefällt mir echt gut. Kam mir nach dem ersten Durchhören etwas richtungslos vor, daher gleich noch mal gehört. Nee, ist einfach nur ideenreich, seehr geil.
Ótimo disco! Chamou-me atenção, principalmente, as faixas "Your is no disgrace", "I've seen all good people" e "Perpetual change".
Yes is one of my all-time favorite bands. I don't know how many times I have listened to this album before, and I have listened to individual tracks from the album at least a dozen times more than I've listened to the album as a whole. "Yours is No Disgrace" is a great way to start off the album. Bill Bruford (drums) and Chris Squire (bass) lay down a foundation and provide a propelling force through the whole song. There are great examples of what Steve Howe (guitar), Tony Kaye (keyboards), and Jon Anderson (vocals) bring to the mix. There is a reason that all 5 members get song writing credit for the first track. Most of the album fits in the same mood. Steve Howe's instrumental "Clap" feels out of place between "Yours is No Disgrace" and "Starship Trooper". "A Venture" is a little weak as well, but none of the songs are bad. The rest of the album is great. I will listen to this album again.
Yes, that’s the name of the band. Listen to Roundabout. It will blow the classical music out your butt!
Sure, I could try to be objective here. So many criticisms could fairly be levelled at Yes and all they represent: excessive, bloated prog with overly academic philosophising. In albums like this one, there’s often more focus on showing off instrumentally than concise songwriting, and don’t even get me started on those outfits. Could any music be less cool than this? The fact is, “The Yes Album” has long been one of my favourite albums of all time. In my teenage years, the band had already started to look like the mythical creatures they might have sang about. Prog still lived in a dark and secret place, vanquished from the mainstream, and hearing this band for the first time felt like unlocking a whole new language. When I listen now, I still get a kick out of the intro to “Yours Is No Disgrace”, with the whole band giving it their all. The perfectly paced “Wurm” sequence at the end of “Starship Trooper”: one of the best build-ups in rock. The harmonies and countermelodies used in “I’ve Seen All Good People”, enough to give the Beatles a run for their money. The thrilling instrumental break in “Perpetual Change” when we get two totally different recordings overlapping, panned hard left and right before the main hook returns. Any gripes people could have with prog rock are executed so well here, with such energy and enthusiasm that it’s hard not to just enjoy the ride. What’s more, “The Yes Album” captures the band in their more accessible early stages. It’s pre-Rick Wakeman and his myriad of keyboard solos, when the rot started to truly set in. While there might be many instrumental passages here, all of them hang on to some choppiness. It’s easier to be breathlessly swept along, rather than constantly checking the time and getting sick of the noodling. Chris Squire’s trebly bass is deliciously high in the mix, forming one of Yes’s many hallmark sounds. Guitarist Steve Howe had only just joined the band and does incredible work, from the duelling guitars at the climax of “Starship Trooper” to live acoustic showcase “Clap”. I’ve written this review as an unapologetic classic prog fan. I’m long past the point of trying to get anyone else into Yes, but I’ll snap up any opportunity to talk about why I love them.
Rating this album low would be like saying you don't like music, there is just so much variety throughout. Phenomenal performance and tight, especially for Prog.
Great album and the first of the classic trilogy of albums. From 3 part harmonies to blistering solos and bombastic bass lines this album doesn't disappoint. Rick Wakeman joins on the next album and the band really takes off.
It’s not even 7.30 am yet and this album has had me in tears three times already ! It’s hugely emotionally nostalgic for me as we played it all the time when we were first going out with each other. Yes is my favourite supergroup, even over Pink Floyd and so for these reasons and more it has to have 5* and I will continue playing it for the rest of the day !
Yes Bai Verging on the ultimate in prog rock, beautifully composed if maybe not quite as refined their next two iconic albums. There's not a single low point on the album, each of the songs exist in their own sci-fi-esque world, little vignettes into the fantasy world of Yes. The mastery each member of the band has over their instruments can only be admired, but all this feeds into a feeling I've had about Yes and other hyper precise music; that is only ever adds up to the the exact sum of its parts. Never transcending to the sublime, a ceiling of intricately planned excellence. No album has had a deeper disconnect between the album art and the feeling the music inside inspires. And there you're standing, Saying we have the whole world in our hands, When all you'll see, Deep inside the world's controlling you and me 4.5/5
Amazing!!! The range shown on this album is nothing short of spectacular. Absolutely loved listening to this. Favorite track: Yours is No Disgrace
The first 'proper' album that I ever bought. Absolute stone cold classic and in the top 3 of all Yes releases in my opinion along with Yessongs and controversially for many, Relayer. Steve Howe's guitar playing - superb. Chris Squire's bass likewise. Just also love Tony Kaye's keys as well. Again, in my opinion the best keyboard player they ever had, which says a lot given that Wakeman and Moraz are extra special too. Nothing sweeter than Anderson's voice, and this is when Yes lyrics were still mainly of this planet. Mustn't forget Bruford too, a top quality drummer.
Fantastic. What a band, what a sound, such great writing and performance by everyone.
Quite beautiful. Great musicianship. Great bass tones, crystal acoustic guitar clarity for some reason. Also keys and synth sounds are also on point. These combined with the artistic rhythms and vocal harmonies are something that Yes definitely had down in this ear of the band. It's a safe 5 stars whilst not being my favourite of theirs.
Guitar virtuoso Steve Howe enters the fold, and at last Yes finally begin to understand what they’re capable of. Unorthodox arrangements and bewildering lyrics, Jon Anderson’s ethereal voice, Chris Squire’s delicate bass, Bill Bruford’s jazz-tinged drumming, Howe’s commanding guitar-all combine for a true prog masterpiece, and the start of a truly epic run for Yes.
This is the album where Yes became Yes. Sure, it wasn't until the next album that Rick Wakeman cemented the "Classic Yes" lineup, but this album is absolute prog rock perfection. The two previous albums suggested what Yes was going to become, but this album found the missing ingredient with the addition of Steve Howe. Not a weak track on the album. The first four tracks are simply amazing: Yours is No Disgrace rocks. It's about the Vietnam war, but you would probably never guess only by listening to the typical Yes-obtuse lyrics. The fantastic opening riff punches so much harder live, but sounds great here also. The song takes you on a journey of different styles, all fantastic. Then we hear Steve Howe's excellent imitation of Chet Atkins in Clap (as he says, "not THE Clap, thank you very much"). Then one of the absolute Yes greats: Starship Trooper. Man, those guitars - Steve Howe just tears through this song. The last part (Wurm) absolutely takes you into space - every member of the band is on the top of their game in this song (and let's take a moment to acknowledge Tony Kaye - kicked to the curb after this album but did an admirable job here). Of all the songs on the album, this one most shows where Yes was heading from here. I've Seen All Good People is a classic rock radio staple and has so many great moments: The first section has some of the best harmonies in a rock song and then you have to give tons of respect to the jam section at the end. A Venture is the weakest track IMO - not bad, but it has a lot to measure up to on this album. Finally, Perpetual Change is a solid track. It probably took me longer to get into this one than others, but nothing can compare to the first four tracks on this album. Absolutely perfect album and an easy 5.
I remember the first time I heard this album. I bought the CD and put it on a boom box in my bedroom, hanging out with my girlfriend. It was the first Yes album I bought, and I only knew the 80s Yes sound that was played on MTV and pop radio when I was a kid. I already knew that I liked progressive music from the Pink Floyd and Rush albums that I was into, but this took it to a whole new level. Steve Howe became one of my favorite guitarists and that was mainly due to the impact of this album. It is and always had been my favorite Yes album. Chris Squire's bass line on “Yours is No Disgrace” still fills me with awe even decades after I’ve first heard it. The intense solo that keeps switching channels at the end of “Starship Trooper” used to get blasted in the car almost daily as well as the crazy speaker shifting solo in "Yours is No Disgrace" . This is another easy 5-star album. I probably didn’t even need to listen to it again because it’s etched in my brain but of course I did.
This is the start of Yes' classic run. The stuff that everyone who is even a casual fan knows starts here. "I've Seen All Good People," "Starship Trooper," "Yours Is No Disgrace" ... these are concert staples that would pretty much be in the bands' live setlists even now. I have heard them so many times in so many different line-ups, but this is the first group, the line-up that gave us these songs. I liked Peter Banks in the previous two albums, Time and a Word is really great. But The Yes Album is definitely brought up a level with Steve Howe. His guitar work is all over the place (but in a good way). I think the only things I dislike about the album are: 1) the ending to "I've Seen All Good People." It always feels like the record player is running out of battery power. Real lack of energy there. 2) "A Venture" fade out. The song itself is... okay, but the fade-out always made me wonder what happens if the song continued. But then, when you do get to hear the extended piece, it was probably good that they faded out after all. 3) Starship Trooper - the opening portion of Wurm always feels repetitive to me. Kaye's keyboard work could have been so much more. Live versions with Wakeman really show what this piece could have been in the studio. It's a shame here. So really, it's the ending of songs the band seemed to have a problem with. Something they would tighten up on their next album. But as it is, I'm nitpicking, because I would still listen to this album pretty much all of the time. I do get a little tired of "I've Seen All Good People," only because it was played on the radio WAY too much. Live versions work better for me, really. Still, a damn good album.
I don’t think we talk enough about how brilliant Yes is/was. Their harmonies are insane and the way they use their various instruments just blow me away every time.
This is my favorite Yes album, largely due to Starship Trooper, or more specifically, part C: Wurm. Might be my favorite 3 chord progression in all of rock. Steve Howe is a severely underrated guitarist. The thing that really gives Yes their signature sound though, are those super melodic basslines from Chris Squire. Love how they foreground it in the mix. Gives them a really dynamic, three dimensional sound.
Another great album from Yes. I've seem all good people is probably their beat known and most popular song from this time period. But every song on this album is prog rock at its finest. Starship trooper, perpetual change, and yours is no disgrace are great songs. The clap shows off Steve Howe's guitar skills. Great album overall.
Really good, some great guitar work on the less well known tracks. Loved it
While worse than their other album, it's still above average and warrants a 4, although it's closer to a 3.5 than a 4
Another good album by Yes. Not as ambitious as the Edge but I enjoyed the use of the Portuguese guitar and the more traditional rock elements.
Prog gets dumped on all the time, and Yes is one of the bands held up as its worst criminals. However, this album shows that Yes' songwriting could be really tight, melodic and dare I say it, catchy. One of the most unfairly maligned bands. Great album, this. Now, if we're talking ELP albums or any of the Yes-men's solo efforts, yeah, those are rancid by and large.
Solo conocía un par de canciones previamente, pero me ha encantado. Le falta algo para llegará 5 estrellas, pero es genial
Pues sí lo disfruté.. Pero como con todo el prog, me conflictua que a pesar de que se supone que es innovador, no se siente así, es música demasiado bien hecha a ratos que pierde algo de encanto. Anyway, la que más me gustó the clap