Let’s take a trip back in 2002. It is Spring Break of that year and I was a Sophomore in High School at the time. I remember my mom taking me to Soundwaves and picking up two albums; Iggy & The Stooges’ Raw Power and Yes’ third studio album The Yes Album. I was nearly delving my toes in the water with the genre of progressive rock. I heard about Yes on Classic Rock 93.7 The Arrow KKRW many years ago. Hearing songs like ‘Roundabout’, ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’, ‘Changes’, ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’, and ‘Long Distance Runaround / The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)’.
I was completely spellbound hearing these tracks along with Rush, Pink Floyd, and ELP. To me, this was searching for unknown treasures of what was real good music at the time. Now it’s been nearly 22 years since I bought the album. Even though it came out in 1971, I still have time to go back and revisit the album during my High School and College years.
Now in a 3-CD / 1 Blu-Ray set, The Yes Album is in its Super Deluxe form thanks to Rhino Records. It includes the original album, the 2014 Steven Wilson remix which was originally released on the Panegyric label, features his dolby atmos mix of the album on Blu-Ray (the atmos mix wasn’t featured as I was writing this review), live recordings from Sweden and New Haven from January 21st 1971 to July 24th, 1971, followed by alternate takes, instrumentals, and the full mono mix of the album in all of its glory.
Before we delve into the set, let’s take a trip back in time on what was happening with Yes during that time frame. At the beginning of the 1970s, when progressive rock was in its golden years, the band were at a crossroads. They had released their first two studio albums; their sole self-titled debut in 1969 to Time and a Word in 1970. Both albums didn’t do that well.
Even though they got some recognition, it was time for a change. Peter Banks who was unhappy of the way the band had used an orchestra for the second album, decided to leave the band on April 18th, 1970 and form his own band Flash. This was three months before Time and a Word had come out.
According to the liner notes by Sid Smith in the 2014 reissue of The Yes Album, Bruford describes how everything was coming at rapid speed. “Everything was in a state of change. It was so fast and nobody was settled. You gave it your best, but it was a fast-moving world and you have to give more than your best. So, Peter was a guitarist which is fine, but Steve Howe was Chet Atkins, Jim Hall, Scotty Moore, a folk player, a country picker – he could bring more to the party.”
Steve Howe was not only fresh from bands such as The Syndicats, Tomorrow, and Bodast, but he was also a session musician. He worked with Mark Wirtz on Keith West’s single ‘Excerpt from a Teenage Opera’, and at the time he toured as one of P.P. Arnold’s backing band during the Delaney and Bonnie tour.
So, in June of that year, he became a member of Yes after a try out session with the group in Fulham. Once Howe became a part of the band, everything started to click, right there and then.
From the moment the Bonanza-like themes of ‘Yours is No Disgrace’ begins, which has a powerful acoustic guitar section in the alternate mix and more brass-like patterns between Howe and Kaye. The moment when Anderson and Squire share vocals with each other, you are on this incredible roller-coaster ride as Chris’ thunderous bass lines from his Rickenbacker, Howe’s classical-folky picking, Bruford’s speed demon drum work, and Kaye’s blaring fanfare organ styles. The Mono version beats out both Steven’s mixes and the original album in a true volcanic eruption.
But it’s Steven’s 2014 mix of the 9-minute epic of ‘Starship Trooper’ that holds up. I can hear Squire’s bass coming in front with Howe’s incredible effects by making his guitar sound like a concerto for strings for a brief moment at the 1 minute and 43 second mark as he follows Anderson’s angelic vocals by reaching the mountain top in their own custom way as he reflects the beauty and knowledge across the horizontal landscapes.
We also have to give credit to Colin Goldring of Gnidrolog for playing the recorders on the first part of ‘Your Move’ on ‘I’ve Seen All Good People.’ He makes it joyous and very romantic in its folky-esque beauty. When Colin comes in with his instrument, he makes sure that Jon has his back from the moment the beats of the bass drums, harmonising vocals, and moving on back to squares starts to dwell in.
The live version from Gothenberg, despite its rough quality at the Konserthuset, is where it becomes a powder-keg moment as the final section of the suite with ‘All Good People’ starts to kick as Howe channels his Atkins-sque textures whilst Kaye and Bruford follow him with shuffling arrangements to get audiences on their feet and clap along to the beat.
Now we get to ‘A Venture.’ With Kaye’s haunted piano introduction, Howe’s medieval jazz textures features a walking beat between Bruford’s bass drums and Squire doing a nod to Thelonious Monk’s arrangements before the temperature starts to build up.
I can imagine Rush were listening to this track and paid homage to their heroes during the Fly By Night sessions when the late, great Neil Peart joined the band to replace John Rutsey. But this is where the rhythm section starts to get even good. Squire, Bruford, and Kaye are very much like jazz musicians playing the instrumental background in the final section before fading off into the night with Howe’s wah-wah exercise.
The live version of ‘Perpetual Change’ from the New Haven concert sounds very powerful and beats the studio version like a massive tidal wave, coming at you. Howe is at his rising peak playing these incredible changes from his Gibson ES-175. He isn’t playing these hard-rock like licks, but scaling the charts like crazy as his bandmates give him the proper chance to make him go carte blanche in the climax.
There are early beginnings of what Yes were going to do which were sort of early beginnings of Close to the Edge before sailing to unknown lands in a waltzy beat. Call-and-response motif, Bruford laying down the law on his drum kit before going into this ramming speed routine to follow both Squire and Howe as he takes centre stage on his kit at the Yale Bowl to unbelievable results.
When I think of Bruford’s solo section at the venue, I think of Buddy Rich, Spike Jones, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham rolled into one. It’s the way of how Bruford goes in like a mad scientist, creating these insane experiences by bringing them to life at New Haven.
You can hear the audience cheering Bruford on to keep going before the band closes it off to a massive roar of applause. 1971, that was an amazing year when prog-rock was at its best. When you look back in that time period, so many bands were releasing great albums. Take a look at that year, there was; Genesis’ Nursery Cryme, Pink Floyd’s Meddle, Mahavishnu Orchestra’s explosive debut with The Inner Mounting Flame, Egg’s The Polite Force, Nektar’s Journey to the Centre of the Eye, Van der Graaf Generator’s maddening terror with Pawn Hearts, Gentle Giant’s Acquiring the Taste, and Yes’ follow-up to The Yes Album, their groundbreaking magnum opus Fragile.
And the rest as they say is history. While I’m not a massive Yes aficionado, The Yes Album is quite a trip down memory lane as the band were finally getting the recognition they deserve. There’s not a single bad track on this album. And this super deluxe release is all of the ingredients that you need to understand on why Yes were ahead of their time.
If you’re very new to their music, then this album, Close to the Edge, and Fragile are beginners to get you ready for the adventure that awaits you. And the truth is, it’s more exciting than ever!
And as Cameron Crowe describes in the 2002 box set In A Word: Yes (1969-), “Their music still matters, year in and year out. Whatever trend was in vogue, you could always find Yes on any radio dial”.
