Even without the whistles and bells that come with this expanded box set, The Yes Album occupies a special place in the band’s venerated canon. It’s a snapshot of the growing maturity of both the nascent prog scene and Yes themselves, as evocative of the era as an army greatcoat.
Originally released in 1971, it was Yes’ third album. The band’s first two records had been respected but not loved and that changed here. The Yes Album is one of those rare records where the listener can feel the wind in the performers’ hair, each member marvelling at his bandmates’ abilities and virtuosity.
Conventions and track lengths were challenged, yet there was an economy in their excess, with everything kept on point and pretty much flab-free. It’s a world away from the over-reach of Tales From Topographic Oceans, to be released just two and a half years later.
Where its two predecessors, Yes and Time And A Word, were the sound of a band seeking a sound, this was truly the start of Yes’ great adventure. New boy Steve Howe may have replaced original guitarist Peter Banks, but he slotted in perfectly with Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford and Tony Kaye.
All five had earned their spurs sweating and toiling away on the London club scene: the music they made together was the imagined sound of America’s west coast filtered through Soho and, in the case of Anderson, Accrington.
This belated 50th-anniversary edition bulks out the original release with Steven Wilson’s latest Atmos mixes, as well as his impressive, and fascinating, instrumental mixes. There’s also a disc of rarities – including edited, extended and mono versions of existing tracks.
But it’s the disc of unreleased live material that truly captures the excitement of this line-up of Yes in full flight, not least the half-dozen tracks recorded at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut in July 1971, where Yes were apparently opening for Grand Funk Railroad. The musicianship here is off the chart, testament to the connection these five travellers had.
“It’s nice to play in front of so many people, I’ll tell ya that,” says Anderson, in that inimitable Lancashire accent. “Have a good time with Grand Funk,” adds Howe, the model of English politeness.
Crowds that size would soon become commonplace for Yes, as Fragile and Close To The Edge propelled them to stardom in the US and back home. But while The Yes Album remains the gateway to something far more intricate and detailed, it stands as a celebration of the directness and magic of the band that made it at that precise point in time.
The Yes Album: Super Deluxe Edition is on sale now and released via Rhino.
