Yes

Artist: Yes
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075678268021
EAN: 0075678268021
ASIN: B000002J1W

Release Date: 1994-09-20

Yes

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General

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Pop Rock

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General

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Progressive Rock

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Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

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Tracks:

Beyond And Before
I See You
Yesterday And Today
Looking Around
Harold Land
Every Little Thing
Sweetness
Survival

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The Yes Album
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Customer Reviews:

Beyond and Before...well, certainly "before".......2006-10-18

This album is one of music history's almost completely forgotten chapters. In the beginning, a man with negligable instrumental talent yet a phenominal voice (Jon Anderson) met with a bassist who would eventually become, far and wide, one of the greatest in the history of the instrument (Chris Squire). After recruiting a guitarist (Peter Banks), a keyboardist (Tony Kaye), and a drummer (Bill Bruford), these two men started the band we all know and love. Yes was born.

This album has few but unmistakable instances of brilliance, and even this early on, it was quite apparent that this group--after they gained some experience--could rise to monumental heights. And they did. They just didn't do it by playing the music you will find on their debut album.

'Yes' (1969) is an odd creature. First of all, the production quality is lamentable, even for 1969. Even if music analysts might have had high hopes for Yes, certainly Atlantic records didn't. The band were obviously shoved in a backwater studio somewhere and recorded by a totally skilless sound producer. Second of all, there are two covers from the original set of eight tracks. The band, while quite capable of producing its own original material, still clutched firmly to its mother's bosom, it seems. The band at times sounds like no more than a Beatles clone, and yet, there are a few shining glimpses of something that would eventually far outstrip the scope and quality--if (unfortunately) not the popularity--of the cookie-cutter rock bands like the Beatles produced.

And that will be what I concentrate upon in this review. Normally I would do a track-by-track breakdown, but in this instance, I will comment upon just three selections, and not in order, either.

1. "Beyond and Before" - This song is the pinnacle of the more mainstream-bound brand of Yes rock. I consider it prudent because, while no aspect of this track is represented in the "Classic Period" of Yes (1971 through 1977), this particular selection shows another possible path the band could have taken. Die-hard Yes fans thank their lucky stars the band didn't imitate this song in their future escapades. Even mired within this track is the musical competency of the three core members of the band (Anderson, Squire, and Bruford), though it is not directed toward a project even approaching the magnitude of something from the Classic Period. There is something charming about this song. Charming, but nothing else.

8. "Survival" - This track reveals the arrangement skills of the band, as well as their penchant for slightly longer-form songs (they would extend this in years to come). The layered vocal harmonies are more in the vein of 1960's mainstream music than the progressive mastery the band would explore in later years, but they still demonstrate the emerging vocal prowess of the band. Most significant, however, is the experimental arrangement of this track, with a beginning section that contrasts the main song body. Furthermore, snatches of this beginning portion are slipped into the the main song body, thereby binding the two together. Still, this track suffers from extremely poor production, inexpertly performed backing vocals (this improves drastically by 'The Yes Album'), and horribly dated organ registration and a limited instrumental palate.

5. "Harold Land" - This, more than any other track on this album, indicates the direction in which Yes would head. And, in my honest opinion, had they not experimented any further and had perfected this particular style, I believe they would have been successful in a completely new way. I would not have minded listening to a band that produced work like "Harold Land." Instead, of course, the band gave us the unparalleled work they did in later years.

"Harold Land" is the most progressive track on the album. Beginning with an atrociously arranged sequence (it sounds like ghastly gameshow music), the song suddenly launches into a rush of inspired brilliance. Now where the hell was that in the beginning?! Jon Anderson comes in, with a tone that must be heard to be believed. It is in some ways more expressive than he would become in later years, more raw and emotionally charged. It's also more immediate and urgent, somehow. It's a tone I sometimes wish he would have distilled and conjured occasionally on some of the classic material. It's a one-of-a-kind element of this very brief era of the band's catalogue.

The background vocals are really, really bad. Some of this was the producer's fault, who let stuff like the teeth-gnashingly horrid foghorn tone to precipitate into the mix not once but twice in the "Going home" sequence. The vocal levels are completely random; sometimes Jon is obscured by the backing vocals, sometimes the balance is correct, and other times he's blasting. The most noticible instance of the latter is when he sings "There is no heart in Harold Land!" Here it literally sounds like he leaned about a millimeter away from the microphone when he belted out that line. All these things are sort of charming, yet much more unfortunate. This song deserved a better arrangement, and certainly better production. Where was Eddie Offord when the band needed him?

There are some generalities that apply to this album. Jon Anderson's vocals are spot-on. Even wreathed in the substandard background vocals of his bandmates, one can hear Jon's distinctive, optimistic tone lilting upon the ugly oil sea of his bandmates. Also, Squire and Bruford have occasional moments that show their singular talents on their respective instruments. In addition, there are fleeting glimpses of the compositional brilliance--most notably on "Harold Land"--the band would develop in later years. Finally, and probably most apparent, the lyrics are not the high-brow, esoteric material the band would first explore in 'The Yes Album.' Jon Anderson had not yet become the commendable poet he would be in later years and on later albums. All the material on this album is highly accessible lyrically.

Is this album anywhere near the work the band would later produce? Absolutely not. And I must judge it by the same standard by which I judge the other Yes material. And when your curve is set by the greatest album in all of music (1972's 'Close to the Edge'), somehow this debut album--though unfairly overlooked--just pales in comparison. No, 'Yes' doesn't even come close to the Classic Period of the band's canon, but is it an essential album for die-hard Yes fans to own? Absolutely! You truly have to pay homage to the phenominal bunch of talent that is Yes, and what better way to do that then by starting at the beginning and glimpsing between the fronds the rising sun that would eventually reach over the horizon in 1971, with 'The Yes Album.'

The beginnings, starting to make you feel good..........2006-05-23

Don't pick up "Yes" with an expectation of finding a "Turn of the Century" or a "Close to the Edge". This is the band's first musical effort, and one that few bands could hope for in their lifetime. Yet from day one, they struck the right chords and stretched their musical wings in many different directions. And this may be the one thing they could be blamed for in their debut album: they touch on many, many different things, sounding at times psychedelic, other times bluesy and diving deep into progressive territory with the closing "Survival" which sounds like it just as well could have been recorded during the "Yes Album" or "Fragile" sessions. The end result, however, is simply amazing. They make apparently diverging musical styles work in a fascinating way.

Their lineup differed slightly from the "classic" Anderson-Bruford-Wakeman-Howe-Squire, with Peter Banks doing guitar work and Tony Kaye (who would later return to the band) on keys. Yet, "Yes" (originally released in 1969) leaves you, just like every other album the band has recorded, with a good feeling about life at large, wanting to listen to more of this good music.

Great debut from the classic rock legends.......2004-02-15

Yes (1969.) Yes's first album.

In 1968, singer Jon Anderson met bass player Chris Squire in a club in London. Fusing their musical styles together and recruiting Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford, Yes was born. Although the band was still a far cry from the band that would go onto become classic rock legends, their stylings were nothing short of excellent. It was in 1969 that the future rock legends released their debut album, which was self-titled. How does it measure up? Read on for my review.

As previously stated, the band on this album doesn't greatly resemble the band that would go on to achieve worldwide fame. If you're looking for tunes like I've Seen All Good People and Long Distance Runaround, this isn't the right place to look. But if you're looking for classic rock with a light touch of psychedelia similar to Vanilla Fudge and Rod Evans-era Deep Purple, you've come to the right place. Beyond And Before is the opener to the classic album. It's a melodic tune with a nice backing instrumental track. Opening tracks of albums should grab the listener's attention and hold onto it, and this one does just that. I See You, the next track, is slighly slower and darker than the previous track, and it heavily emphasizes the organ. Anderson's vocals here, as well as the other band members' backing vocals are very good. Track three, Yesterday And Today, is one of the slowest and softest songs on the album. The piano is the main instrument here. Anderson's vocals fit the melodic mood perfectly. Next up we have Looking Around. This is a faster-paced track in which, once again, the organ is the main instrument. Early Deep Purple-styled rock never sounded better. The vocals here are quite memorable, as well. One of the strongest tracks on the album is Harold Land. This is a slower and more melodic track that tells the story of a man whose life was torn apart by war. This is an underrated masterpiece that should have been a bigger hit. The band even covers a Beatles song, the highly underrated Every Little Thing. The Yes version is much more organ-heavy than the Beatles original, and it features an extended instrumental opening sequence. It's no better than the Beatles original, nor is it any worse - it's equally good - although the band did change the general sound of the song drastically. As the title of Sweetness may have implied, it's another slower and melodic track. Melodic classic rock never sounded better. The album is closed out with Survival, an awkward track that explores a plethora of musical stylings - hard and soft alike. Awkward as it may be, it is still an excellent song, and a good way to finish off the album.

The 2003 version of the album does more than just give the album better sound quality - it gives you expanded liner notes and six bonus tracks - all the more reason to buy this new edition of the album! The first one of these bonus tracks is the band's cover of Everydays, a Buffalo Springfield song penned by Stephen Stills. This is "trippy" sixties rock, just what you'd expect Stills to write, and the Yes cover of this song is VERY good. You also get an earlier version of the track. The band also recorded a cover of Something's Coming, from West Side Story. Once again, you get two versions of the song. And, of course, there is Dear Father, which was originally a B-Side. This track, like the previous two, is represented in two versions here. With all the bonus tracks, the later versions are the superior ones, but they are all a very nice touch.

Overall, Yes's debut album is nothing short of excellent, and I strongly recommend it to all fans of classic rock. Just make sure you buy the 2003 edition so that you get the expanded liner notes and bonus tracks! Yes are legends of classic rock, and this little masterpiece of an album is where it all began. If you're gonna get into Yes, why not start at the beginning?

Classic.......2003-06-10

Yes was always sly about bringing in the largest crowd of music fans they could. That's why their sound is popular with both hard rock fans, and prog fans. They wrote epic, layered rock compostions, but played them with a hard rock approach. It didn't matter if you liked Genesis, or if you liked Deep Purple. Yes brought the hard rockers together with the prog rockers.

YEP!.......2002-07-01

NOT BAD FOR A DEBUT ALBUM! The sound here is rather raw for YES;
JON ANDERSON's voice sounds very strained and scratchy on a few
songs, tho' he still sounds great! CHRIS SQUIRE's bass guitar
is the lead instrument on much of this, providing the melody
for some of the songs. I really love the opening song BEYOND AND
BEFORE; this is a very powerful and heavy song, with a very
catchy bass guitar line and some very raw and electric guitar
soloing from PETER BANKS. The vocals are also outstanding on this
song and BILL BRUFORD really has a blast smashing away at his
cymbals and his snare drum! I SEE YOU is also a great tune, with
PETER BANKS longest guitar solo with YES.There's a slightly
jazzy feel to this song! YESTERDAY AND TODAY is a quiet, mellow
song and leads right into the hard rocker LOOKING AROUND, which
has some nice Hammond organ playing from TONY KAYE. HAROLD LAND
is also an enjoyable song, with a very prominent bass line from
SQUIRE. Those YES fans not familiar with their two first albums

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