Music Banter - Yes: The Yes Album- 1971

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Yes The Yes Album
RMR Album Rating- 9
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Yes’ 1971 release the “The Yes Album” marks the first album in their “Main Sequence” of progressive rock albums, and it is considered by many fans to be the first true Yes album.

The term “The Main Sequence” is what Yes’ progressive rock fans refer to as Yes’ 7 consecutive albums released between 1971 and 1977. The full main sequence of albums includes “The Yes Album” and “Fragile” from 1971, “Close to the Edge” from 1972, “Yessongs” (Live) and “Tales From Topographic Oceans” from 1973, “Relayer” from 1974, and then “Going for the One” from 1977. It is important for Yes’ progressive rock fans to differentiate “The Main Sequence” from the rest of Yes’ body of work, because the rest of Yes’ albums are commonly— yet arguably— considered inferior to the albums that make up “The Main Sequence,” and Yes has covered styles other than progressive rock. For example, Yes’ 80’s output was very pop oriented, and many Yes fans don’t want to associate themselves with those albums. Personally, I think that Yes’ “Main Sequence” is their best work; however, I enjoy the two albums that preceded “The Main Sequence” albums, and I also enjoy much of Yes’ later work.

Yes had released “Yes” in 1969 and “Time and a Word” in 1970 before “The Yes Album,” and although I think “Time and a Word” clearly foreshadowed the sound that they would deliver on this album, there were three major changes that occurred between “Time and a Word” and this album. First, Peter Banks was replaced by guitar virtuoso Steve Howe. Second, Yes adopted longer and more epic song structures. Third and lastly, this album marks Jon Anderson’s shift to a more ambiguous lyrical style, which would become his lyrical trademark style on subsequent “Main Sequence” albums.

In terms of sound, “The Yes Album” is much more progressive than their previous two efforts. The songs are longer, they are more layered and complex, and all the band members are playing at a higher level than they were before, especially the newcomer Steve Howe who really helped usher in Yes’ new sound. Howe’s signature guitar style is to forcefully pick the guitar at both ends, which is not only difficult, but it also creates a very unique sound, and the sound lent itself well to Yes’ new progressive style.

The album is really structured around four epic songs. “Yours is No Disgrace,” “Starship Trooper,” I’ve Seen all Good People,” and “Perpetual Change.”

Yours is No Disgrace
“Yours is No Disgrace” is the album’s lead off track. It gets into its main musical theme right away, but it has several twists and turns, including great guitar and keyboard interplay. The penultimate section of the song is a slow acoustic section with slow vocals from Anderson. Then, the song builds up in crescendo to the final section, at which time all the instruments collide, creating the heaviest section of the song.

Starship Trooper
“Starship Trooper” is broken down into three sections labeled “Life Seeker,” “Disillusion,” and “Wurm.” “Life Seeker” starts off the song in great progressive form. The “Disillusion” section starts at about the 3-minute mark, and it is lead by a progressive blue-grass riff from Steve Howe and vocals from Anderson. The “Wurm” section starts at about 5:30 into the track, and it is a completely instrumental progressive jam that finishes the song; however, this studio version of the “Wurm” section is severely inferior to most of the live versions of it. Tony Kaye plays keys on this studio version, but once Rick Wakeman took the helm on keyboards, he drastically improved the section of the song by adding an amazing synth jam. I still love this original version of the song, but it certainly doesn’t stand up to some of the live versions out there, and “Starship Trooper” has always been a live staple at Yes shows. I think the seminal version of this song came during Yes’ “Keys to Ascension” tour in 1996, which is amazing considering that was 25-years after the song was originally released. That version of “Starship Trooper” is almost 5 minutes longer than the studio version, and Rick Wakeman’s keyboard work is simply stunning.

I’ve Seen all Good People
“I’ve Seen all Good People” is definitely the most well known song from “The Yes Album.” It is broken down into two parts. “Your Move” and “All Good People.” The first part of the song features folky acoustic guitar from Steve Howe and vocals from Anderson that create an analogy between life and chess (“Don’t surround yourself with yourself/ move on back to squares”). Then at about the halfway point, the song dynamically shifts into a very upbeat section that showcases everyone’s playing. The only lyrics of this section are the famous repetition of: “I’ve seen all good people turn their heads each day/ So satisfied I’m on my way.”

Perpetual Change
“Perpetual Change” closes the album. It is really driven by Buford’s drumming and Kaye’s keyboard work. The song presents several musical themes or verses that are broken up by great ambiguous lyrics and vocals by Jon Anderson. There’s also a 3-minute jam about a third of the way through the song, where they slowly combine all the musical verses and themes into a brilliant crescendo. “Perpetual Change” also clearly foreshadows Yes’ future sound, so it is a fitting song to close the album.

I will also mention “A Venture,” which is a short simple song, but it does a nice job of breaking up the four main epic songs. Many critics call it filler, but I really like the song, and I really like Anderson’s line about controlling the horses “with a handclap or a whisper.”

Lastly, as good as “The Yes Album” is, it was only the beginning for Yes, for after this one, they released the other six albums of the “Main Sequence,” which are some of the best progressive rock albums ever released.

"Pertutual Change" Live from "Yessongs"

"Starship Trooper" Studio Version

"Starship Trooper" Live From "Keys to Ascension"