The Yes Album

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The Yes Album
The Yes Album cover
Studio album by Yes
Released February 19, 1971
Recorded October - November 1970
Genre Progressive rock
Length 41:44
Label Atlantic Records
Producer(s) Yes and Eddie Offord
Professional reviews
Yes chronology
Time and a Word
(1970)		 The Yes Album
(1971)		 Fragile
(1971)


The Yes Album is the third album by British progressive rock band Yes. The first release to feature longtime guitarist Steve Howe, the album was released on Atlantic Records in February 1971 in the UK, a month later in the United States. This was the album that finally set Yes' career alight, with the album reaching #4 in the UK and, eventually, #40 in the U.S., where it was a platinum seller. In addition to being the first album to feature Steve Howe, this was also the last Yes album for over twelve years to feature Tony Kaye until his return in 1983's 90125.

The Yes Album set the stage for the band's route to superstardom with Fragile and Close to the Edge. This was their first commercial success and, reportedly, it had to be or Atlantic was going to cut them loose.

Contents

[edit] Features

Many features for which Yes became known are demonstrated for the first time on The Yes Album:

  • The "democratic" balance of the band — with each member making his own significant contribution — is seen here for the first time.
  • Steve Howe appeared with the band for the first time and played a very prominent role throughout. His solo acoustic tune, Clap (forever renamed "The Clap" by Anderson's mis-introduction on the live track) has always been a concert favourite of the band and their fans.

The Yes Album is generally considered a classic 1970s rock album and a highlight of the band's long career. The songs "Starship Trooper" and "I've Seen All Good People" are still staples of classic rock radio. In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 86 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Yours Is No Disgrace" (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire/Steve Howe/Tony Kaye/Bill Bruford) – 9:41
  2. "Clap" (Steve Howe) – 3:17
  3. "Starship Trooper" – 9:34
    1. "Life Seeker" (Jon Anderson)
    2. "Disillusion" (Chris Squire)
    3. "Würm" (Steve Howe)
  4. "I've Seen All Good People" – 6:56
    1. "Your Move" (Jon Anderson)
    2. "All Good People" (Chris Squire)
  5. "A Venture" (Jon Anderson) – 3:18
  6. "Perpetual Change" (Jon Anderson/Chris Squire) – 8:54

The Yes Album (Atlantic 2400 101) reached #7 in the UK. It also reached #40 in the U.S. during a chart stay of 50 weeks.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Reissues

  • 1988 - Atlantic - CD
  • 1994 - Atlantic - CD (Remastered)
  • 2001 - JPN Limited Edition - ???
  • 2003 - Rhino - CD (Remastered with bonus Tracks )

[edit] Rhino reissue

The Yes Album was remastered and reissued in 2003 by Rhino Records with several bonus tracks, including a studio version of "Clap." The original LP and CD version of The Yes Album refer to the song as "The Clap," given Jon Anderson's erroneous introduction of the song on the original release. The Rhino reissue clears this matter up and correctly refers to the song as "Clap" on the traycard, as Steve Howe intended.

[edit] Trivia

  • The album cover shows Tony Kaye with his foot in a cast; this was due to a car accident shortly before which had broken it.
  • Jon Anderson is credited as John Anderson on the album. Shortly afterwards he dropped the "h" from his frst name, and on subsequent albums is credited as "Jon".
  • Steve Howe's solo piece on track 2 was given its name because when he initially played it, his infant son Dylan began clapping along. In live performances, notably the Yessongs video, he dedicates the song to Dylan.
  • The Würm part of Starship Trooper is a continuous cadenza of chords (|G-Eb|C|) played by ensemble and repeated adlib: firstly accompaniment electric guitar and bass guitar on the right stereo channel, then acoustic guitar and drums from middle channel, then organ and effects from left channel, then starts the guitar solo, that's swapping from side to side. For almost a minute at the beginning (whole piece lasts about 3 minutes and half), the left channel is completely silent.
  • "Würm" originally evolved from a song called "Nether Street" by Steve Howe's earlier group Bodast.
  • In many parts of the song Clap, Steve Howe uses an open-string guitar chord method to achieve an airy effect, resulting in a sound wherein the listener might believe that the song is being played as a guitar duet.
  • The spacey, electronic-sounding guitar effect in Starship Trooper was achieved via a flanger, a device that was relatively new at the time of the recording.
  • Their first keyboard player, Tony Kaye, preferred the simple Hammond B-3 and piano over the "new" (at the time) Moog synthesizers that Anderson was interested in using. This became a cause of contention within the band and had an influence on the line-up change, bringing in Rick Wakeman from the Strawbs and his array of electronic keyboards.
  • The particular signature synthesizer sound during Patrick Moraz's tenure (perhaps most notably on Relayer) is due to the fact that Wakeman had leaned towards the Moog, whereas Moraz preferred ARP synthesizers. Moraz added to the texture of his sound with copious use of the note-bending wheel on the ARP keyboard. Moreover, Moog had a patented band-pass filter causing a much different sound than the ARP.

[edit] Sources

Yes
Jon Anderson | Chris Squire | Steve Howe | Rick Wakeman | Alan White
Peter Banks | Tony Kaye | Bill Bruford | Patrick Moraz | Geoff Downes | Trevor Horn | Trevor Rabin | Billy Sherwood | Igor Khoroshev
Discography
Studio albums: Yes | Time and a Word | The Yes Album | Fragile | Close to the Edge | Tales from Topographic Oceans | Relayer | Going for the One | Tormato | Drama | 90125 | Big Generator | Union | Talk | Open Your Eyes | The Ladder | Magnification
Live albums: Yessongs | Yesshows | 9012Live: The Solos | Keys to Ascension | Keys to Ascension 2 | House of Yes: Live from House of Blues
Compilations: Yesterdays | Classic Yes | Yesstory | The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection
Remix albums: Yes Remixes
Box sets: Yesyears | In a Word: Yes (1969 - ) | The Word is Live | Essentially Yes
Related Articles
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
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