Yes - Yes

Released - July 1969

Genre - Progressive Rock

Producer - Paul Clay

Selected Personnel - Jon Anderson (Vocals); Peter Banks (Guitar); Chris Squire (Bass); Tony Kaye (Organ/Piano); Bill Bruford (Drums)

Standout Track - Yesterday And Today

For reasons that I now couldn't begin to put my finger on, I resisted Yes for a very long time. During my three years at uni I used to proclaim myself as a "fan of all prog except Yes and Genesis," though quite why I decided to draw such arbitrary lines is beyond me now. At the time, the only Yes I had listened to was "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" (which, perversely, I absolutely loved, but I defended myself by claiming that "it's totally different to everything else they ever did") and the first three minutes of "Close To The Edge," which I gave up on before it got to the bit where it actually becomes good. So, truthfully, I had no idea what I was talking about, but perhaps I liked the idea of giving out the image of being some kind of discerning prog conoisseur. I think I initially claimed that Yes represented the indulgent, pompous, meandering side of prog that I found tedious, but the truth is, that of all the big early 70s prog bands, Yes were perhaps the band with the keenest ear for a memorable tune, certainly when compared to the nightmare sounds of King Crimson or the improvised fusion jams of Focus, both of which I was hugely enamoured with at the time. After I moved to London, however, a friend of mine who had carefully nurtured my love of prog during my time at uni, went away to India for three months and left me with a copy of The Yes Album (different to this, their self-titled debut) and instructions to get into Yes while he was away. By the time he came back, I was a full convert and wouldn't hesitate to rank them now as one of my favourite bands.

So they're a band with a reputation that precedes them, who are often written off as pompous and indulgent, and certainly their whole host of twenty-minute songs from the peak of their popularity would seem superficially to support that reputation, but no band has been able to pull off pompous self-indulgence quite as tunefully and memorably and with as much incredible musical talent as Yes. Their debut album, however, was a considerable distance from the prog excess they would come to be remembered for. Vocalist Jon Anderson and bassist Chris Squire had initially befriended one another through a mutual love of close harmony singing and the folk music of Simon & Garfunkel, and there is a sense here that this is the result of a band that sprang from folk rock and then sprang in a radical new direction. For the first few months of their existence, Yes played covers of songs by the Beatles and the Byrds (hence the inclusion of the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and the Byrds' "I See You" here), until they saw King Crimson live in 1969, at which point they suddenly realised what was happening in music around them and realised what they needed to do to keep up with the competition.

So it is that the songs on their debut album are close to being psychedelic folk rock songs, but then, almost as an afterthought, reinvented and radicalised by injecting a lurid, jaw-dropping hard-rock makeover to them. That blistering opening one-note guitar riff to "Beyond And Before" sets the tone, with Chris Squire's thundering bass anchoring the song, while the frenzied psychedelic guitar twangs and keyboard swirls ornamenting the Byrds' fairly straightforward folk song "I See You" serve as further examples of just where this band was headed. It's nowhere near as distinctively progressive as Crimson's debut a few months later, but it has a stronger hold on melody and catchy musicality, even if that means it never delivers something quite as jaw-droppingly phenomenal as "21st Century Schizoid Man." What it does deliver, however, is an enchanting little gem of a song that ranks among the most beautiful songs ever written, entitled "Yesterday And Today." That something so incredibly lovely could have sprung from the minds of Yes is an eternal surprise, and it's the song's admirable restraint that really makes it stand out. Jon Anderson's fragile voice sings plaintively over the soft, milky piano of Tony Kaye and the lightly strummed guitar of Peter Banks. It's a remarkable breath of fresh air that takes you completely unawares before reverting to business as usual with the frenetic keyboard arpeggios and thudding bass of "Looking Around."

The second half of the album contains less memorable material, with the likes of "Harold Land" beginning to feel like a repetition of the same successful formula, but the album is short enough that nothing really outstays its welcome, and it just about manages to remain fresh and exciting right to the last notes of "Survival." As for the band themselves, there's a real sense listening to this that here is a group of people who really know how to play off each other and have total control over their own contributions. Jon Anderson has one of the most memorable voices in prog, able to be both sweetly vulnerable and shrilly declamatory, and Peter Banks is so bold and colourful a guitarist that one almost wishes he'd lasted longer with the band, though at least his replacement was the brilliant Steve Howe. But what really defines this band's sound, and would go on to continue defining it throughout their career given his status as the only constant member, is the earth-shuddering bass of Chris Squire, who is simply among the very best bassists in the history of rock. His assured tone keeps everything here anchored with a surety and a rhythmic groove that would go on to be one of the band's key features.

Yes's debut wasn't the seismic event that King Crimson's debut ended up being, but it garnered enough positive reception and turned enough curious heads that the band felt encouraged to continue down the path they'd set for themselves, which would soon see them crowned one of the foremost bands in this new musical territory. Their immediate next move would see them attempting to augment their sound with a full orchestra, with mixed results, but it did move them that one step closer towards creating their first true masterpiece soon after.

Track Listing:

1. Beyond And Before (Chris Squire & Clive Bailey)

2. I See You (Jim McGuinn & David Crosby)

3. Yesterday And Today (Jon Anderson)

4. Looking Around (Jon Anderson & Chris Squire)

5. Harold Land (Jon Anderson; Bill Bruford & Chris Squire)

6. Every Little Thing (John Lennon & Paul McCartney)

7. Sweetness (Jon Anderson; Clive Bailey & Chris Squire)

8. Survival (Jon Anderson)