The Yes Album

Album was every bit of a standard progressive rock album from the 70s. I've Seen All Good People was definitely the best track on the album. The rest of the album was very forgetable and boring to me. Overall the album to me was a 5/10 and I decided to be generous and give it 3 stars.

i probably would have to listen to this again to get a better opinion. i think a moment that stood out to me this first listen was the end of the "starship trooper" song. the use of synths(?) surprised me. i listened to 2 other Yes albums a bit ago though (close to the edge, fragile) so maybe i just forgot that they use synth in their songs.

This collection does *not* need more than one Yes album, yet here we are at #3 (of three, thankfully). Sadly, this album is closer to the slogfest of "Close to the Edge" than "Fragile", so it's not really a great experience for anyone but true prog-rock afficionados, although I always enjoy the opening minutes of the "Your move" part of "I've seen all good people" (funny how you could probably say that of most Yes songs...). Each time I saw that we had a Yes album, I kind of hopefully thought it might sound like my brother's copy of "90125"--which wasn't great, I know, but at least it had some semblance of structured, radio-friendly songs--but no luck. Three strikes and you're out, Yes!

I actually enjoyed this Yes album, which is almost a miracle. But it actually sounded pretty good.

What a slog to get through.

Very much proge. Too much proge.

Hmm. I think this is too... 70s for me. Maybe it's a prog rock thing but I can't fully get into this. It's pleasant to listen to the instruments, but the way the songs come together themselves just doesn't really work for me. It's fairly impressive but not much else for me.

It’s a big ‘Yes’ from me

Didn't realize this was 1971. Like this album. Early 70 men's bands loved the tenor harmonies...

I was prepared to dislike this album after listening recently to their fourth album, Fragile. This came out earlier the same year, and I like it much better. I don't know enough about the band to understand why the difference, and I'm not willing to re-listen to Fragile, which I only gave 2 stars, mostly out of grudging respect for their influence. This album was so much more enjoyable for me. I could hear the instruments, follow their musicality, and enjoy even some of the flowery elaborations. I still think 9 minutes is too long for most songs, hence the 4 stars.

Some attempt has been made to write interesting stuff. Some tracks are a little too long for my liking but overall a reasonable album.

This is like watching a movie from the 30s. It's the beginnings of what would become really good, but by itself it's quaint as heck. There is a lot of good prog now thanks to seeds like this, but this just isn't worth listening to now except as a curiosity.

Does this sound like an 80's workplace video soundtrack? Yes.

It insists upon itself

not bad

It's official: I don't need another prog rock album for the rest of my life.

Could they be self indulgent? YES Could they play their instruments? YES Could the come up with some great songs in the process? YES

9min songs were a bit of an overkill for me

Prog at its noodle-I-est

you know when you have a really high IQ child nephew and he loves monty python and is maybe a little hyperactive and you have to politely watch him play his keyboard and nod politely

No

You know when you hear about the military playing music during a standoff to make people surrender? It's usually something not that offensive... I can only imagine a court of human rights has outlawed Yes. F**k me - this is f**king horrible. The first song lures you into a false sense of security - not because it is good but because it is not as head meltingly awful as what come next - The Clap?! I can easily imagine this as an audio STD... And then it gets worse. Seriously, this is god awful. How can you remove the one star ranking?!

There is nothing on this album that draws me in. Musically, it's fine, but there is nothing memorable to make me want to come back and give it another listen. I've Seen All Good People starts out strong, but then it falls into being a weird disjointed song.

will need to relisten

This is fine. Here's my hot take: my favorite song here is I've Seen All Good People, but I like it better when the Your Move half and the All Good People half are split into two separate songs (same deal with Starship Trooper and its three sections) because, as a single song, it's just too long and the two halves don't fit. But anyway, I've Seen All Good People is a song I like, the rest of this is whatever. Lot of guitar noodling.

Very forgettable album. There is not a single stand-out track, the songs all blend together, and the whole tracklist is just bland. I am having a hard time understanding why this album received rave reviews.

I’ve Seen All Good People was the only standout track for me.

Akosi neviem tejto skupine prísť na chuť...

Yes – The Yes Album (1971) On Day 291, this record proved to be a refreshing, peak progressive-rock triumph. Jon Anderson's crystalline, operatic vocal performances were an immediate standout, giving the entire session an orchestral flavor that elevated the complex musicianship. While extended song lengths can sometimes risk losing momentum, every multi-part suite here kept the energy relentlessly engaging. "Yours Is No Disgrace" set a brilliant, high-octane standard right out of the gate, matched by the magnificent thematic scope of "Starship Trooper." The seamless transition on "I've Seen All Good People" moving effortlessly from delicate folk harmonies into a driving rock shuffle was pure magic, while the polyrhythmic drive of "Perpetual Change" closed the record on a soaring high. A masterclass in pacing, vocal clarity, and instrumental execution that makes lengthy compositions feel vital and exhilarating. A definitive 5/5.

Takie sobie

Pretty enjoyable overall. Really like Seen All Good People, which I've heard a number of times over the years. Sometimes the harmonizing borders on cheezy but I kinda dig the prog rock sound.

Ok… in fact… I liked it so la la…

Great as background music…

Not at all as bad as I’d anticipated. The first track holds together really well considering it’s recorded in individual sections and pasted together after the event. Other tracks sometimes meander a bit but overall quite a pleasant listen. 3

Does not butter my parsnips if I’m being honest

Another album I had to take an adderall to get through. Not a bad album but I simply cannot make it through multiple songs that are longer than 6 minutes. Season: Early Fall Favorite Song: Perpetual Change

Second Yes album in less than a month? Only one more to go 🫣 It's prog rock. It's meh. Drawn out with no clear emotional peak. Though it's interesting to see them explore electronic sounds in this album.

8.2

So Close. The replacement of Trevor Rabin by Steve Howe meant the band took a giant leap forward in technical prowess and composition. They moved from the cover song and the 3½ minute pop song into the complex world of prog rock. Howe's guitar is a wonder, Squire's bass is like a growling animal, Bruford's drumming is nimble - although his Kimf Crimson stint is where he would really shine - but the thing the album shows though is how much Wakeman was needed to launch them into the legend I saturated my ears with in my wasted youth. The songs themselves are very fine examples of prog rock, but would become monsters when Wakeman joined and took them on tour. If Close to the Edge and Roundabout are the great Prog Classics then this is like a first draft. Very fine as a starting place, but oh they places they would go.

A few moments that felt a little disjointed, but I love their sound and the totality of the album is great.

Super solid prog rock album

Loved a few of these tracks. They're pretty electric and danceable, with the longer tracks building up beautifully. Favourites: Yours Is No Disgrace I've Seen All Good People

NICE! After sludging through another 5 straight ass albums we get to something good. What Yes brings are elements of what form almost all of my favorite music... time changes, suite style song structures, challenging compositions yet melodic, INCREDIBLY talented musicians (I could fangirl over Bill Bruford all day long). That being said this is the stepping stone to a more accessible sound but it has its issues as most of their discography in that it is uneven quality wise throughout (sometimes even within the same song). This is an album that belongs on a list like this. Solid 4 stars.

Min favoritgenré är progmetal så detta borde falla mig i smaken. Det är musikaliskt väldigt intressant men det gör inget större intryck på mig. Uppskattar dock albumet mer nu efter många omlyssningar. Känns som ett album som växer ju mer man lyssnar på det, då det är väldigt mycket som händer i låtarna. Men just nu 3/5.

Zanimljiva situacija gdje volim svaku pjesmu na albumu ali je Yes imao još jedan bolji album iste godine i onda ovaj djeluje nedovoljno spektakularno u odnosu na ono apsolutno remek-djelo i neke od najboljih prog kompozicija ikad napravljenih pa moram dati manju ocjenu ipak.

Good

Contains “Seen All Good People” which is a great song, but all the other, more obscure, tracks are even better. Great deep dive into 1970s prog rock

Not my jam, sounds great for others who enjoy this but I don’t love it. 2.4

Solid

It's a good album. I actually prefer this kind of albums of pre-prog to some overly prog once. I think so. It will get a 3.8. Today. Don't have more words. Sorry

I liked it but not blown away by it (unlike a certain other YES album that i am blown away by), just a few average tracks here and there bringing it down, Clap comes to mind. Standouts are Yours Is No Disgrace and I’ve Seen All Good People.

It's neither a yes album nor a no album. It's a maybe album.

YES GOAT???!!!! HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS A BAD ALBUM

These lyrics just don't do it at all

DId not like the other Yes album as much as this one. The noodling was more interesting and not a spacy in a bad way.

Yes: this is one of my very favorite albums! While the album lacks lyrical depth and direction, the music itself is so fun. The acoustic parts in The Clap and Starship Troopers bring big smiles to my face. I’ve Seen All Good People and the rest of Starship Troopers are a treat to listen to. But the best part is in Perpetual Change towards the end, with the different melodies/rhythms coming through each ear. I think the organized chaos of this album is so enchanting, each song seems to tell a story. Perpetual Change is a great final song to the album, with the ending feel like a celebration of the album we had just heard. Not a perfect album for sure, but a 9.5/10 for me. This is the kind of album I wanted to hear more of, and this was a great end to a pretty shitty week of albums.

I love Yes, and generally speaking I love most of the beloved and acclaimed prog from this era. I think this album is obviously great, even though it's missing of my favourite things about the band-- the synths! This album is mostly keys, piano, and organ, whereas my favourite work of theirs really leans on the crazy spacey sounds. Since they hadn't yet developed this tool though, their songwriting had to be top notch. "Yours Is No Disgrace" is a whole lot of fun, a happy whirlwinding journey, with an unbelievably tight rhythm section serving as the backbone. Seriously, the bass runs are so locked in with the drums during the first movement, it's insane. "The Clap" feels like filler, but it's just kinda a neat little solo guitar piece. "Starship Trooper" is what I'm fucking talking about though. The final few minutes are just insane, no band was doing buildups like that at this time. "I've Seen All Good People" is another fun upbeat cut, and personally I LOVE "Perpetual Change". "A Venture" kind of just feels like it's there to fill time, but whatever. This album isn't perfect, but it hits so much of what I like about Prog from this era.

Good musicians, but just not a band that I connect with at all. 3 stars or C+.

High 3, low 4. The mixture of dorky and cool mixed with the prog length and change within a song makes it hard to have it make an impact. There's cool sounds in it but due to the abstract structure it's really hard to remember.

Good classic rock.

Yeahhhhh dude I love prog rock!!! You know you’re In for a great album when it’s 41 minutes with only 6 songs.

I always liked Yes. It was a little before my time and maybe that's what made it feel a bit exotic.

Yes to Yes! This band is one of my go-tos when I need some fun, upbeat music on a long run. Love all the cool meter changes and use of instruments and vocal harmonies.

Alright. Bit odd. Good music, singing lets it down to 3 stars

I went into this having not ever heard of the album let alone the band, but I am always happy to widen my music knowledge and that is why I do this album generator. I have listened to a bit of prog rock but this was definitely different and I quite liked its unconventional sound. Also “yours is no disgrace” what a song to start the album with, though I wasn’t as massive on “clap”. However “Starship trooper:Life seeker/ disillusionment” was quite good. I think two songs I particularly liked were “A venture” and “perpetual change”. Now I know I have said only a few songs but I’m not going to be boring with just a long list, I would say the album is definitely an experience, I overall enjoyed if you have ever wondered what prog rock can sound like this is definitely a great way to start. Also warning it is a long but very good album.

Genial. Eine musikalisches Abenteuer.

Yes! This was a great album! Musicianship, originality, drama, harmonies! I couldn't ask for too much more. One of my highest endorsements: I listened twice back to back ⭐⭐⭐⭐.49

I like prog rock and good deal and while yes isn't my favorite group, or even in my top 10, I did enjoy this album and plan on diving deeper into their discography to see if there's something in there I enjoy more.

Lånte Angus riffet til If You Want Blood fra Yours Is No Disgrace eller er det en tilfeldighet? Foretrekker uansett hvordan Angus brukte det; som om han så at det hadde mye større potensial enn det blir satt til verks til her. Jeg er fortsatt ikke verdens største fan av Yes sin tilnærming til prog, men Starship Tropper vinner meg gradvis over. Super nice breakdown i del b. før den seiler inn i en grasiøs seier med del c. Jeg faller av igjen på B-siden.

Absolute classic.

Not bad

Actually nice album to return to, might keep motivation up for a bit!

I saw "Prog Rock" here and thought it was going to be pure noodling. It turned out to be way more interesting than that; it was really quite varied, and although there were quite a few instrumental sections, it never came across as over-the-top. The vocals aren't my absolute favourite (they get a bit samey through the course of the whole album) but they're decent enough. The instrumentals are great (which I'd somewhat expect from prog rock), and overall I actually just really enjoyed the energy of this album. It was a fun listen. Yes/5.

Decent instrumentals but the vocals are heavily edited in a way that strips away a lot of their depth. Generally an enjoyable listen

More tuneful and enjoyable than other Yes albums I've had so far. But do not understand the live skiffle track in the middle of the prog tunes.

Yes

Long songs, not sure where to rate this, but liked it and appreciate it.

Everything thats good with 70s rock is included in here. Very solid listen 8/10 perfect for cooking

I guess I'm more familiar with the later, really proggy Yes, and wasn't expecting the honky-tonk stuff here. I dig it, but my ears don't know how to make sense of it.

Another new album to make 5 stars 🤩

This wasn’t bad. It had one song that I recognized and was otherwise a good but not particularly memorable rock thing

Progressive rock always seem like they are trying too hard to make music. This was fine but not something I would ever buy or purposely seek out to listen to.

I'm relatively unfamiliar with Yes, knowing them mostly as owners of lonely hearts. I was pretty impressed with this record from the first song, as it progressed through plenty of interesting instrumentation. The Clap, while being an impressive guitar solo, kind of spoils the momentum of the album. It should have just continued on with Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People. Those three represent the strengths of this album, while the other three are good, but less so. All in all, Yours Is No Disgrace is a 5/5 song in an otherwise good but not great record. I still feel like this is worth a light 4 -- I feel like Yes might have a 5/5 album for me if I go searching for it.

Whenever I get a prog album, I'm always worried it's going to be too over the top. I probably said the same at the start of my last Yes review. And like the last Yes album, that was not the case, as I enjoyed this quite a bit. "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "Starship Trooper" have some great moments in them, and the rest is fairly good. They could've done better with the cover art, though. The green and grimy pic isn't exactly a selling point.

i’m saying yes to the yes album

The proggies have been listening to CSN. More jams, less pretentious nonsense, though not sure why you deploy the pure filler that is The Clap as early as the second track.

The sound of Bruford and Squire is just a delight, what a team I'm a fan of Anderson's voice and melodic sensitivities, and I can definitely see the line from here to Close to the Edge

Interesting listen, I understand why it has a cult following

A sign of greatness to come

im mixed on prog rock so lets see how this is really solid start, this buildup is amazing. i like how this song is kinda broken into different sections. oh i love this last section. man this might be a perfect song. i love when longer songs can actually justify their runtime dope little acoustic fingerpicking song, reminds me of my friend derick's playing theres so many subtle textures going on that make this first song so enjoyable, and then the contrast of the next song starting off with just acoustic makes it hit so much harder when all the instruments come back in. this shits also maybe a perfect song i love both of these songs, but i wouldve loved to see the first song build into its own 7 minute song. it just felt like it didnt really get the chance to hit a true climax while it sounds very good, theres something about it that sounds slightly incomplete didnt have multiple parts but it didnt matter bc regardless it didnt feel like it took 9 minutes, just that layered i can be a bit hesitant on some prog rock albums, as i think some of their songs are just way too long for the sake of it. but i didnt feel that way with this at all. they were able too keep my interest the whole time without any overly drawn out buildups, and just constantly introducing new sounds and ideas throughout. this has been one of my favorite listens so far, im feeling an 8.5

Meandering on first listen but not unpleasant.

Classic. I've seen all good people is amazing.

Well here’s a record that I adored back when I was a super duper Yes-obsessive teen with Yes t-shirts and posters and whatnot everywhere. But bam! one day I realized I had overdone it and couldn’t stand another minute. So I quit listening to *Tales from Topographic Oceans* all the time and haven’t gone near any of it since. I love complicated music like this, so this is a fun listen. The lyrics are gibberish, though. I mean, I listen to a lot of music with gibberish lyrics, so that shouldn’t be a problem - it’s just that Jon Anderson is so *sincere* about it, which might be what finally put me off this band. But when he takes a break from singing and the rest of the band lets loose, it’s great.

Quite liked it

I liked it. Nothing much to comment, a good album. (3.7/5)

This is a very good Prog record. Very Dorky Prog Rock at that. Good thing I'm a dork. I expected it to be a little more face melty than this. Perpetual Change delivered on that. It was also more organ forward than I expected. Still good. 3

Just Genesis but without the charm

Grew on me as it went on. Not my sort of thing but not bad at all

Yes!

Surprisingly good in parts given the otherwise intensely difficult toenjoy prog