Track Listing

1. Yours Is No Disgrace
2. Clap
3. Starship Trooper
4. Life Seeker
5. Disillusion
6. Wurm
7. I've Seen All Good People
8. Your Move
9. All Good People
10. Venture
11. Perpetual Change
12. Your Move
13. Starship Trooper/Life Seeker
14. Clap

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1967 in Music
• Released on: 2003-02-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

CD Description
With THE YES ALBUM, Yes began an important new chapter in its career and defined much of what the next decade would bring. They had left behind not only their original guitarist, Peter Banks, but also the covers of 1960s tunes by the likesof the Byrds and the Beatles. The arrival of the more hard-edged Steve Howe signaled the group's ascent into full-blownprogressive-rock mode, a style whose parameters Yes helped craft with this recording. Though Rick Wakeman and his classical-influenced arsenal of keyboards had not yet come aboard, Tony Kaye's roiling Hammond organ and Chris Squire's busy bass lines perfectly interacted with Howe's idiosyncratic playing to create a uniquely fugue-like sound, as Bill Bruford's polyrhythms and Jon Anderson's angelic voice simultaneously kept things on a more abstract and ethereal plane than almost anything that had been labeled "rock" up to that point."Starship Trooper" and "Yours Is No Disgrace" would become hallmarks of prog rock and launch a thousand pale imitationsby third-string art-rockers for decades to come.

Customer Reviews

The turning point for Yes
'The Yes Album' is the first Yes album to feature a certain Steve Howe, and what a huge difference his addition to the band makes. Already a well-honed rock band, Yes still had plenty of potential to move forward, and that they most certainly did with this album. Still minus keyboard vituoso Rick Wakeman, the full 'classic' line-up was as yet incomplete, but the band were still on their way to greatest by this point.

The songs on this album are much more like the sort of stuff that you would come to expect from the band in later years. Jon Anderson had already started to fly off on major lyrical tangents by this stage, and his unique brand of quasi-sci-fi ramblings is quite evident, especially on 'Yours In No Disgrace' and 'Starship Trooper'. Not to be confused with the dodgy disco title of the same name, 'Starship Trooper' is a classic, and introduced the 'three-stage' song concept into their music. Starting with a fairly standard section, it proceeds into an impressive acoustic section that would not have been possible if not for the amazing guitar skills of Steve Howe. As the song reaches it's climax, the 'space-rock' concept takes over, and Howe comes into his own with a tour-de-force performance.

'The Clap' is a live solo piece by Howe which is truly stunning. On first listen, it sounds like atleast two guitarists are playing simultaneously, but having seen Howe perform this self-same track in the flesh, I can assure you it is not. This track above any other demonstrated that Yes had acquired a truly formidable talent. Amusingly, Howe originally titled the song simply 'Clap', but when released on vinyl it was accidentally renamed 'The Clap', and to this day it remains the only progressive rock song perceived to be about venereal disease. Luckily, it is an instrumental piece!

'I've Seen All Good People/Your Move' is probably the best known track on the album, and is a showcase for Jon Anderson's vocal ability. Starting off pretty ordinarily, the song transforms into a lively 'jam' that would be a crowdpleaser for years to come.
'A Venture' is a distinct (but welcome) oddity within the Yes back-catalogue, and is one of Jon Anderson's least perplexing lyrics. Centred around a plodding rhythm and Tony Kaye's piano, it is certainly unlike anything Yes did ever again, but is an enjoyable track nonetheless. Finally, 'Perpetual Change' is another favourite of the Yes live set (a live version appears on 'Yessongs') and is a curious mish-mash of styles, but sees each musician (especially Bill Bruford on drums) excel themselves to produce a genuine Yes classic.

The additional tracks are recent additions that you can live without, and I haven't been tempted to replace my original copy of the CD yet, but they certainly don't detract from the album in any way. A must-have for any prog rock collection.

Perpetual change brings us to the first great Yes album
"The Yes Album" was actually the third album from the group spearheaded by singer John Anderson, but represented enough significant differences from its two predecessors to constitute a new and bigger beginning for the progressive rock group. Guitarist Steve Howe had replaced Peter Banks (who had gone off to join Blodwyn Pig), the album featured only original material, and the songs now tended to be much longer tracks. The four longer tracks--"Yours Is No Disgrace," "Starship Trooper," "I've Seen All Good People," and "Perpetual Change"--are structured similarly, although each allows for considerable instrumental freedom. Usually a melodic theme is introduced by one member of the band and then echoed by the others. Science fiction concepts are combined with folk melodies and transformed into soaring showpieces for vocal and musical instruments alike. On this particular album the stand out musician is, rather surprisingly, bassist Chris Squire. Sometimes I think they made a mistake on the mix and pumped up the volume on the bass, but then it becomes clear this is by design. Howe's guitar work as well as the organ played by Tony Kaye are given their moments to shine while Bill Bruford's drumming just stays out of the way. However, the defining element of Yes is probably the vocal harmonies, with Howe and Squire blending with Anderson in the falsetto range, highlighted on "All Good People." It was this that made Yes unique from their most obvious British progressive rock counterpart Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

"All Good People" was also the group's second American single to crack the Top 40 and really became the song that introduced them to a larger listening audience. However, the best is yet to come, with the additional of Rick Wakeman as the keyboard player and Anderson's continued exploration of oblique lyrics. This is the second remastered CD version of the album and offers annotations by Yes scholar Bill Martin and a trio of bonus tracks: single edits of both "Your Move" and the "Life Seeker" segment of "Starship Trooper," and the studio version of the Steve Howe acoustic guitar solo "Clap." These are minor but welcome additions to what was already a five star album.

This really is very good!
I have had this album since 1980 and I dip into it regularly. Five of the six tracks (A Venture not included) are, without doubt, five of the best YES have ever produced. Everything sits so nicely together. The arrangements are beautifully crafted and the musicianship shines through, but remains accesible. A lot of later YES material could so easily lose the listener early on.

As an example of the best of seventies prog/art rock the tracks STARSHIP TROOPER and PERPETUAL CHANGE stand out and to my mind would be in a top ten of that genre. Steve Howe's guitar playing is outstanding and Brufords Jazz rock drumming inventive . Every time I listen to this album it always seems fresh and it puts me in a good mood. If you buy only one YES album then it must be this one. Go on!