@@richardweinstein8339 I was wondering if Squire’s playing was so fat, jumpy and dense that he was a bit difficult for a drummer to track as the other member of the rhythm section.
So many incredible rhythm sections came from this era. Bonham and Jones. Butler and Ward. Squire and Bruford. Fraser and Kirke. Waters and Mason. Baker and Bruce…
@@BenjWarrant it was largely Jon Anderson who smoked Kaye out because he wanted more orchestral sound and Kaye wasn't too keen to aquire e.g a mellotron but preferred the Hammond organ plus occasional piano. In his memoires Bill Bruford stated that he felt uneasy because Kaye had not done anything wrong and that they are getting someone else to play drums.
I love how Rick Wakeman said Jon Anderson is the one person who’s trying to save this planet while living on another. Perpetual Change is a great one and The Clap has Steve doing some amazing guitar work. The whole album is amazing.
This is one of the best rock albums of all time. Yours Is No Disgrace, Starship Trooper, The Clap, I've Seen All Good People, and Perpetual Change. I remember being absolutely in love with this album in Jr. High.
According to Rolling Stone Magazine, it was the addition of Steve Howe that allowed YES to find its true identity. I don't think anyone expected what YES was going to sound like in concert. Just about every song in their extensive catalog was overhauled and enhanced for playing live on stage. Many bands find it difficult to reproduce on stage what they recorded in the studio. For Yes, it was entirely different. Their music soared to unimaginable heights on stage, a reflection of their musicianship, as each band member proved to be a master of his own craft. They simply blew audiences away. According to Rick Wakeman, "new fans of YES were born at live shows." The point here is while "Yours is No Disgrace" was a ground breaking studio recording, the way this song, and all of their songs were played live is why YES became so popular in the 1970s, and continued for decades.
Such a fantastic song! Steve Howe’s debut with the band set the standard for guitarists for decades. He is my all-time favorite. Thanks for reacting to this classic, Doug.
He definitely wasn’t the standard. I think his phrasing is way beyond anyone is that era. His music is timeless. Not that his contemporaries were bad, but goodness gracious…..
@@e_knees8816 I didn’t phrase it very well….meant that he set a standard that none of his contemporaries could measure up to. ‘Timeless’ is definitely accurate.
Steve Howe has been my favorite guitarist for decades. His style encompasses so many aspects of lead and rhythm - jazz, rock, classical....He is also very willing and able to take the lead or support in a heartbeat. Very differently but Richie Blackmore can also do this and once told Jon Lord that guitar and keyboard should complement each other and not compete. Steve very much understands this. In my opinion the two best guitarists on the planet, though very different.
I love the heaviness of Steve Howe's guitars in the live version, but arrangement-wise, I much prefer this one. Also prefer Bruford's drumming here as opposed to White's, and I like Squire's approach to the bass in this version as well.
Definitely great albums! Much more Beatlesesque. I quite enjoy them both; including their cover of Richie Havens's No Opportunity Necessary No Experience Needed.
Id never heard of Yes before a friend dropped the stylus on this track on this album, I was 13 and it hadnt been out long.The first few bars of this, and I was hooked. ----- For life As it turned out..🎉
Watching Steve is an exspirence. He takes the guitar to a whole different dimension. Not to say that some of the greats dont make their axe sing, but Steve, it's like listening to a choir. Watching him live is an exspirence like none other. Magical is an understatement.
The seismic shift in musical direction between their first two albums and the Yes album just shows what a tour de force that Steve Howe was and how important his contributions were to Yes becoming the quintessential progressive rock band.
I'm sure someone has mentioned it, but there is one more major track from this album. Perpetual Change. It's absolutely brilliant! Definitely gives this song a run for the money! Jon's vocals are powerful on that track. Regarding Starship Trooper, the studio version will always hold a special place in my heart due to Bill's amazing cymbal work during Wurm. Neither he nor Alan played it the same live; not even touring as ABWH. However, the live versions with Steve and Rick playing dueling solos are fantastic! Those solos make it so that I don't miss Bill's original cymbal work as much. Keep it coming, Doug! Love your stuff!
On YT you'll find the live version of Starship Trooper from Wembley, London 1978. I was there and it STILL sounds fantastic. By far the best version imo. They also included Perpetual Change in the set (the whole thing is available on YT).
I'm a musician and was in high school when this came out. Some of my peers (musicians who could actually play) put the record on and told me that I had to hear this new band. This was the first track and I was just floored and they were all smiling at me. In short order we all had the album and were writing out riffs we had figured out (before we had internet to show you everything.) The same thing happened with The first Chicago album, ELP, King Crimson, Return to Forever... and many more. Those were good times for us.
You are so fortunate to have been at the right age at the right time. I feel like I was born too late. If only my mom had accepted her first marriage proposal, in '53... As it was, she married in '63. I came along on the heels of Beatlemania; just in time to be lumped in with Gen X. Musically, I will always be a Boomer.
@@GrizrazRex "You are so fortunate ..." There are always positives and negatives. I wouldn't obsess too much with it; just enjoy what you can when & where you are. The finish line comes closer every day, so don't wast time on the trivial matters. -Just my 2 cents.
This was an incredible showpiece for Steve Howe and Yes was later fond of using this song and the following track, Starship Troopers, as concert closers.
Throughout my journey in music, and lifelong love of understanding and playing music, I have heard so many musicians say Yes was the band that made them want to quit playing. They would say that their masterful writing and complex songs seemed “impossible”. For me, it made me say, “ I want to do THAT!” It made me dive deep into how to make music like that! Truly masterful and magical!!! Yes is the TRUTH!
Yes is in my top 5 all time favorite bands. Maybe in my top 3. Yours Is No Disgrace is a great example why! Amazing, unique, fascinating and beautiful. I can say that about most of their songs.
August 1971, road trip from New Jersey to California before senior year of high school. Unknown year Vista Cruiser (borrowed from the instigators parents) equipped with only an AM radio. Keep in mind that we were on the New York side of Jersey and listened to WNEW 102.7 and WPLJ 95.5. AM radio was top 40, "Uncle Albert" and "Maggie May' stand out, but there were many more repeated over and over. Leaving Denver, the AM station we found played an Allman Brothers track from "Live At The Fillmore" (for the life of me don't remember which one) , but played "Yours Is No Disgrace" right after. 3 of the 4 of us where in a band and this song just blew us all away. Hard to imagine that was 51 years ago.Thanks for your reaction, on point as always.
A true masterpiece. One of the first truly Prog songs to define the genre. The Yes Album is one of the game changers in Rock. As far as Yes's first album goes, it's fine, though it sounds a bit dated, what with its late '60s Psychedelic Rock sound. It's still better than the other Psychedelic Rock out there at the time. However, it was Yes's second album, Time And A Word, and the album's popular title track, along with the terrific songs, "Then" and "Astral Traveler," among others, that set the band on its own, unique course, which then led to The Yes Album and Fragile, both being released in the same year. And they were off to the races.
I think of the first two albums as being heavily influenced by the Beatles, as was just about everybody. People sometimes forget about the Beatles because they were so dominant. For instance, does any one ever say "the Bs were the most important psychedelic band"? That so underrates their influence that it is almost ludicrous.
I think Time and a Word is like the Rosetta Stone to Jon's lyrics. He uses ideas seen here (including a blending of Sci-Fi and Spiritualism) throughout the rest of his career.
Realizing I would most likely never be able to be at this level, and as a mater of fact I sold thousands of dollars of top line equipment and got married. The single biggest regret of my life, so now I'll never really know.
@@neile2001 I agree but while that is brilliant it is not as consistent as The Yes Album. To me, they really flew with the Wetton / Bruford (him again!) Line-up.
Time and A Word is an interesting album, they recorded with a full orchestra and wound up with some nice tracks - No Opportunity Necessary No Experience Needed, Astral Traveller, and the title track are all worth checking out
Bill's drumming in this is phenomenal. He leaves lots of space and has a much jazzier approach. Another track from this LP (as others have stated) is Perpetual Change, which has much more studio trickery.
If you want to get a good sampling without spending a ton of money on the front end, get Keys to Ascension 1 & 2. The bonus is that you get some studio tracks too that are quite good. Honestly, I would they had released Keys to Ascension as a studio album (they did later calling it Keystudio) and the live stuff as Live in San Luis Obispo.
Yes does this with a lot of songs where they sing the same words to different melodies and beats, exploring the musical universe and at the end, they exhibit the ultimate version of the words/music.
My mom once was seated next to Bill Bruford on a plane flight from Florida to California. She found him quite lovely and had a great conversation with him. She also got me his autograph.
When the guitar takes off at 8:30, I Iove the way the bass line repeats the same pattern with subtle differences, Chris never playing the same thing twice. Such a rock number played live, this dream rhythm section pushing Steve to give his best.
As a Patreon member, I'm glad you enjoyed this song, Doug. It's my favorite song from Yes and one of my favorite rock songs of all time! The instrumentation, composition, vocals, and production make this a near perfect rock song as you're going to get, IMO. It also has my favorite bass riff of all time from the late, great Chris Squire. Almost the whole album has really great songs on it and I consider the Yes Album to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time! Thanks for the excellent review!
I was lucky enough to be a current working musician when this song came out. It very quickly became an ambition of mine as the bass player, along with the guitarist of our band to work this through until we were able to play it live. It took a few months to do but we got there and quite regularly played it as part of our set. We were an east London band playing regularly in north London when a lovely moment occurred at a London show audition we attended. A band from south London told us that they had heard of us because we were known to play YIND and our live rendition was reputed to be very close to the Yes original. I don’t know what ‘making it’ really means but on that day I felt that we had done just that. To have our efforts appreciated by fellow musicians meant a great deal to me, and still does. A great song by ‘the’ greatest band and I got to play it goodness knows how many times. What a joy and a privilege to play Chris Squire’s immortal bass part while singing Jon Anderson’s marvellous vocal. Akin to rubbing one’s tum, patting oneself on the head and reciting the intricacies of quantum theory all at the same same in my very humble opinion!😊 Of course, you need one hell of a guitar player to play those fluid Steve Howe lines. We were blessed in that respect too. We had one hell of a guitar player!!
As someone who does not read sheet music, and doesn’t have much understanding of music theory, I can say for the last 30 some of years of listening to this band, their music, especially in this particular lineup is absolute magic.
So much fun to watch you hear this for the first time. Your constant surprise reminded me of how unconventional this song was, and still is. I've heard it so many times that it's part of the soundtrack of my life, and I've drummed along with it enough that its odd structure doesn't take me by surprise anymore. Watching you react reminded me what a crazy song it is! Also, there's one more song from The Yes Album that you should hear, and that's "Perpetual Change". There's a reason that they chose that one to finish the album. Thanks, Doug, as always, for your expertise, and your humor.
In many ways The YES ALbum is a favorite of mine, but that could be that I remember it when it first came out and it was nothing that I, or anyone else , had ever heard -- compositionally and as far as the way everyone played. Nobody sounds like Squire, or Bruford, or Howe, or Anderson. And as much as Wakeman added later on, I kinda dig the rock organ of Kaye. This was over a half a century ago folks!!!
From The Yes Album to Relayer, Yes recorded some of the most incredible music ever. I am shocked how much of the best music came from that 5-year period. Yes, ELP, Genesis recorded their best stuff in the first half of that decade. Not to forget Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Those five are my perennial favorites. I doubt anyone will ever rise to that level. Prog is gone. All we have is great records by dinosaurs. The fossil record is here, but they are all extinct.
Doug, now that you are familiar with the triumvirate of Yes albums (Yes Album, Fragile and CTTE), you simply MUST delve into Yessongs. These are the essential tracks performed exquisitely LIVE by the classic line-up (including some tracks with Bruford and some with Alan White (RIP)).
Great video Doug. Bits of this still take me back to the first instant I heard it, on Sounding Out (BBC early’72). I was flabbergasted, at age 13 and walked around in a kind of daze for the rest of the day. I tried to explain to my brother that I thought I’d just heard the future of rock music. I was partly right, looking back, though that particular revelation was only to last another 4 years. It changed my life to some extent. Probably their greatest achievement IMO.
The guy turning the knob back and forth was wonderful producer/engineer Eddy Offord, who produced several great Yes albums, as well as Rory Gallagher, ELP, Andy Pratt, 311 (interestingly in the early 90s), etc.
Steve How and Chris Squire were just unbelievable on these albums. I had the pleasure of seeing Steve with his son in a little church theatre twice in Kingston, Ontario and his own music is mostly folksy and a bit classical. True fact: a guitar magazine (Guitar) rated Steve Howe "best guitarist" many years in a row and rather than retire the list, they decided to add an "all time best" listing to give other people an opportunity to play. Steve played in multiple bands, including Asia.
the song means through immense terror and cruelty on this earth, we carry on, we never stop, we live our lives all connected and all together until we die. Our children continue the song, though nothing is our particular fault, we participate in the big story, ours is the disgrace, even though it's not *my* disgrace, or *your* disgrace. The war is our fault, the earth, as it stands, is our fault. But it's not your fault, man. You gotta keep on living. I gotta keep on living. We'll meet again on the other side :) Good Yes shit, yeah?
Hello Doug. You just have to listen to the song 'Epitaph' sung by Greg Lake in 1969 at the album 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by King Crimson. The song is a masterpiece with the great voice of Greg Lake, but the lyrics are terryfying and still give me tears on my chins and complete silence for a least one hour. I would be very happy to hear your reaction and analysing of this fantastic song. Remember: King Crimson was the first prog-rock band in the world. So...
Chris Squire and Bill Bruford.
The best rhythm section in prog.
Too bad they couldn't stand each other...
Massive egos
@@richardweinstein8339 I was wondering if Squire’s playing was so fat, jumpy and dense that he was a bit difficult for a drummer to track as the other member of the rhythm section.
You’re right, but I loved Alan too
@@HughCorbyCruick nothing is too difficult for bill!
Man and boy I have listened to this piece for 52 years now and never get tired of it. Still fresh and ground breaking. Amazing.
Listening to the bass in this song you can see why Geddy Lee is so enamored by Yes.
The bass is just fantastic.
...that is really what I think. Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?
Funny indeed dude ! Cool cool joke. Love it. @@dhfenske
The late Chris Squire..R I P phenominal !
Chris Squire was the best. Never forgotten ❤️
Indeed, RIP Fish 🙏🏼🐟
It’s been said that he drove the bus that took all the other bass players to school.
Second best, perhaps.
So many incredible rhythm sections came from this era. Bonham and Jones. Butler and Ward. Squire and Bruford. Fraser and Kirke. Waters and Mason. Baker and Bruce…
Steve Howe's first song with the band! What a way to introduce yourself eh?
I remember as a teen he won the guitar player poll every year ... and IMO he is STILL under-rated!
@@txa1265 he won by t 5 times (in a row? I can't remember) so they retired him from contention
Partly resulted in Rick Wakeman joining the band, as Tony Kaye didn't think he had the chops to partner Steve.
This song was a group effort, to be a nitpick.
@@BenjWarrant it was largely Jon Anderson who smoked Kaye out because he wanted more orchestral sound and Kaye wasn't too keen to aquire e.g a mellotron
but preferred the Hammond organ plus occasional piano. In his memoires Bill Bruford stated that he felt uneasy because Kaye had not done anything wrong and that they are getting someone else to play drums.
I love how Rick Wakeman said Jon Anderson is the one person who’s trying to save this planet while living on another. Perpetual Change is a great one and The Clap has Steve doing some amazing guitar work. The whole album is amazing.
The Steve Howe piece. I think it's just called 'Clap'..........I think the Clap is something else!
@@miketonner3094 Listed as 'The Clap' on the album but in fact it was meant to be 'Clap' referring to his son Dylan who was just a baby at the time.
@@miketonner3094 Steve introduces it with "Now here's a song called The Clap"
@@miketonner3094 🤣
it is CLAP...on Yessongs ,Jon introduces it as "The Clap" ...that's why everyone fucks it up @@miketonner3094
Simply a masterwork of progressive rock. A half century old and it still sounds way ahead of it's time.
"South Side of the Sky" from Fragile would be a great deeper cut to check out.
Doug did the entire Fragile album on his Patreon.
ABSOLUTELY. That mid-section alone would make a long-form video.
This is one of the best rock albums of all time. Yours Is No Disgrace, Starship Trooper, The Clap, I've Seen All Good People, and Perpetual Change. I remember being absolutely in love with this album in Jr. High.
According to Rolling Stone Magazine, it was the addition of Steve Howe that allowed YES to find its true identity. I don't think anyone expected what YES was going to sound like in concert. Just about every song in their extensive catalog was overhauled and enhanced for playing live on stage. Many bands find it difficult to reproduce on stage what they recorded in the studio. For Yes, it was entirely different. Their music soared to unimaginable heights on stage, a reflection of their musicianship, as each band member proved to be a master of his own craft. They simply blew audiences away. According to Rick Wakeman, "new fans of YES were born at live shows." The point here is while "Yours is No Disgrace" was a ground breaking studio recording, the way this song, and all of their songs were played live is why YES became so popular in the 1970s, and continued for decades.
Such a fantastic song! Steve Howe’s debut with the band set the standard for guitarists for decades. He is my all-time favorite. Thanks for reacting to this classic, Doug.
He definitely wasn’t the standard. I think his phrasing is way beyond anyone is that era. His music is timeless. Not that his contemporaries were bad, but goodness gracious…..
@@e_knees8816 I didn’t phrase it very well….meant that he set a standard that none of his contemporaries could measure up to. ‘Timeless’ is definitely accurate.
@@dkfotog I knew what you meant.🙄
Steve Howe has been my favorite guitarist for decades. His style encompasses so many aspects of lead and rhythm - jazz, rock, classical....He is also very willing and able to take the lead or support in a heartbeat. Very differently but Richie Blackmore can also do this and once told Jon Lord that guitar and keyboard should complement each other and not compete. Steve very much understands this. In my opinion the two best guitarists on the planet, though very different.
The greatest band of them all. 👍👍❤️❤️😜😜
This is one of my absolute favorite albums, and when I made a playlist of prog rock for a teenage coworker, this and Perpetual Change were both on it.
Good for you! I have found that a lot of teens (I am a retired high school teacher) really like Prog if you get them to actually listen to it.
"Perpetual Change" is a big favourite of mine
Perpetual Change is the big hidden gem of this album, and along with South side of the sky, some of the most underrated yes songs from the classic era
@@musicminute2004 I loved that ARW used it in their 2017 tour. It's a gem of a song. As is South Side...
@@lesblatnyak5947 You mean it's been sampled a lot? Didn't know that. Interesting.
The Yessongs live version is just SO chuffing brilliant!!!
I love the heaviness of Steve Howe's guitars in the live version, but arrangement-wise, I much prefer this one. Also prefer Bruford's drumming here as opposed to White's, and I like Squire's approach to the bass in this version as well.
you're right, really love the intro !
I LOVE the live one specifically because Steve's improv in the middle is kick ass
ALL their stuff is best live.
You are right. Side 6 of Yessongs blows it out of the park. But so many Yes song were done better live.
The first two Yes albums contain some of my favorite songs. Well worth listening to.
Definitely great albums! Much more Beatlesesque. I quite enjoy them both; including their cover of Richie Havens's No Opportunity Necessary No Experience Needed.
@@DavidLazarus and their other amazing cover in i see you !
I absolutely love Time and a Word. On some days more than Close to the Edge and the likes, because it still has the spirit and charm of the sixties
@@hansgerhard7364 Spot on! There is also a rawness to the sound, coupled with experimentation and optimism. Love the first 2 albums.
Very cool song and album. Steve Howe goes from clean guitar to acoustic, to a distorted jazz tone and then more rock tone flawlessly.
You can hear quite a lot of the same stylistic approach that Howe used on Topographic Oceans, in his volume pedal swells.
Id never heard of Yes before a friend dropped the stylus on this track on this album, I was 13 and it hadnt been out long.The first few bars of this, and I was hooked. ----- For life As it turned out..🎉
Watching Steve is an exspirence. He takes the guitar to a whole different dimension. Not to say that some of the greats dont make their axe sing, but Steve, it's like listening to a choir. Watching him live is an exspirence like none other. Magical is an understatement.
The seismic shift in musical direction between their first two albums and the Yes album just shows what a tour de force that Steve Howe was and how important his contributions were to Yes becoming the quintessential progressive rock band.
Then Fragile. Then Close to the Edge... in less than 2 years.
I'm sure someone has mentioned it, but there is one more major track from this album. Perpetual Change. It's absolutely brilliant! Definitely gives this song a run for the money! Jon's vocals are powerful on that track.
Regarding Starship Trooper, the studio version will always hold a special place in my heart due to Bill's amazing cymbal work during Wurm. Neither he nor Alan played it the same live; not even touring as ABWH. However, the live versions with Steve and Rick playing dueling solos are fantastic! Those solos make it so that I don't miss Bill's original cymbal work as much.
Keep it coming, Doug! Love your stuff!
On YT you'll find the live version of Starship Trooper from Wembley, London 1978. I was there and it STILL sounds fantastic. By far the best version imo. They also included Perpetual Change in the set (the whole thing is available on YT).
@@ezioauditore3128 - I think I have that recording. I'll have to check my archives.
the Starship from 2001 Symphonic tour with Tom Brislin on keys is another favorite version of mine. Tom's Wurm solo is phenomenal
Yes is the type of band that will take you places
Interesting to see Yes do more diversity in one song than other bands do in entire albums.
MORE YES!! Woohoo!
I'm a musician and was in high school when this came out. Some of my peers (musicians who could actually play) put the record on and told me that I had to hear this new band. This was the first track and I was just floored and they were all smiling at me. In short order we all had the album and were writing out riffs we had figured out (before we had internet to show you everything.) The same thing happened with The first Chicago album, ELP, King Crimson, Return to Forever... and many more. Those were good times for us.
You are so fortunate to have been at the right age at the right time. I feel like I was born too late. If only my mom had accepted her first marriage proposal, in '53...
As it was, she married in '63. I came along on the heels of Beatlemania; just in time to be lumped in with Gen X. Musically, I will always be a Boomer.
@@GrizrazRex "You are so fortunate ..."
There are always positives and negatives. I wouldn't obsess too much with it; just enjoy what you can when & where you are. The finish line comes closer every day, so don't wast time on the trivial matters. -Just my 2 cents.
Best band, ever. Period.
This was an incredible showpiece for Steve Howe and Yes was later fond of using this song and the following track, Starship Troopers, as concert closers.
Throughout my journey in music, and lifelong love of understanding and playing music, I have heard so many musicians say Yes was the band that made them want to quit playing. They would say that their masterful writing and complex songs seemed “impossible”. For me, it made me say, “ I want to do THAT!” It made me dive deep into how to make music like that! Truly masterful and magical!!! Yes is the TRUTH!
We love you Doug! Sorry UA-cam had been such a pain lately. Keep it up man!
Love this whole album
Timeless music. Exists outside of time.
Might be my favorite Yes song. It never fails to fire me up when I hear it. The driving rhythm! Chris' killer bass tone!! What a song.
Yes album , fragile and close to the edge , nothing to chose between them , all exemplary .
Yes is in my top 5 all time favorite bands. Maybe in my top 3. Yours Is No Disgrace is a great example why! Amazing, unique, fascinating and beautiful. I can say that about most of their songs.
Tony Kaye's Hammond really makes the song..
Oh boy, I love this song so much. It gets better after multiple listens. This one just starts playing in my head quite often!
Loved your Reaction Doug 😀
Perpetual change is another great track from the yes album .🎼
August 1971, road trip from New Jersey to California before senior year of high school. Unknown year Vista Cruiser (borrowed from the instigators parents) equipped with only an AM radio. Keep in mind that we were on the New York side of Jersey and listened to WNEW 102.7 and WPLJ 95.5. AM radio was top 40, "Uncle Albert" and "Maggie May' stand out, but there were many more repeated over and over. Leaving Denver, the AM station we found played an Allman Brothers track from "Live At The Fillmore" (for the life of me don't remember which one) , but played "Yours Is No Disgrace" right after. 3 of the 4 of us where in a band and this song just blew us all away. Hard to imagine that was 51 years ago.Thanks for your reaction, on point as always.
What an incredible experience and memory! Love it! Having gone cross-country myself (mid 70s) from NY to California, I can relate.
While I think the first two albums are underrated, this is definitely the album where Yes became YES!
A true masterpiece. One of the first truly Prog songs to define the genre. The Yes Album is one of the game changers in Rock.
As far as Yes's first album goes, it's fine, though it sounds a bit dated, what with its late '60s Psychedelic Rock sound. It's still better than the other Psychedelic Rock out there at the time.
However, it was Yes's second album, Time And A Word, and the album's popular title track, along with the terrific songs, "Then" and "Astral Traveler," among others, that set the band on its own, unique course, which then led to The Yes Album and Fragile, both being released in the same year. And they were off to the races.
I think of the first two albums as being heavily influenced by the Beatles, as was just about everybody. People sometimes forget about the Beatles because they were so dominant. For instance, does any one ever say "the Bs were the most important psychedelic band"? That so underrates their influence that it is almost ludicrous.
Howe praises the Time and a Word album and he wasn't even on it.
I think Time and a Word is like the Rosetta Stone to Jon's lyrics. He uses ideas seen here (including a blending of Sci-Fi and Spiritualism) throughout the rest of his career.
This is the album that probably caused other musicians to want to give up. Nobody could touch their musicianship.
I love King Crimson but it would be a couple more years before they hit their peak.
Rush gave it a go and you can see how yes influenced them.
Realizing I would most likely never be able to be at this level, and as a mater of fact I sold thousands of dollars of top line equipment and got married. The single biggest regret of my life, so now I'll never really know.
@@grahamnunn8998 In The Court of the Crimson King was in 1969.
@@neile2001 I agree but while that is brilliant it is not as consistent as The Yes Album. To me, they really flew with the Wetton / Bruford (him again!) Line-up.
YES YES YES. As many have said, now you need to listen to the Yessongs version!!!! Thanks for bringing us more Yes!
I heard this iconic multi layered intro over 50 years ago. I fell in love with it immediately and I’m still in love with it.
It's funny to see the reaction of music lovers, to something you grew up with and really took for granted
A true landmark song and album. It still sounds great 50 years later!
Great to hear your obvious love of the greatest band on the planet.
"Yes" always felt like the big brothers of "Genesis" to me. Now 50 years later I have this revelation by first listening to "Yours is no Disgrace". 🎉
I LOVE Tony Kaye's gritty, heavy, distorted organ on this record.
My first introduction to Yes and to the bass of Chris Squire. Aged 17. Changed things forever.
Good God YES is magnificent 💚
Got to love Chris Squire.
Bass is as gritty as gritty can be.
Pure prog rock of the era. Love it!
Time and A Word is an interesting album, they recorded with a full orchestra and wound up with some nice tracks - No Opportunity Necessary No Experience Needed, Astral Traveller, and the title track are all worth checking out
Agreed, it’s a great Album
"Then" and "Sweet Dreams" as well.
Wonderful ! Hugs from Brazil 🎉
Bill's drumming in this is phenomenal. He leaves lots of space and has a much jazzier approach. Another track from this LP (as others have stated) is Perpetual Change, which has much more studio trickery.
It’s my first time listening to Yes. Always enjoy a 10+ minute video, definitely gonna check them out after this!!
If you want to get a good sampling without spending a ton of money on the front end, get Keys to Ascension 1 & 2. The bonus is that you get some studio tracks too that are quite good. Honestly, I would they had released Keys to Ascension as a studio album (they did later calling it Keystudio) and the live stuff as Live in San Luis Obispo.
Just listen to the Fragile album. Enjoy.
Was the first Yes song I ever heard. About 45 years ago. Still amazes me.
That bass!
Yes does this with a lot of songs where they sing the same words to different melodies and beats, exploring the musical universe and at the end, they exhibit the ultimate version of the words/music.
My mom once was seated next to Bill Bruford on a plane flight from Florida to California. She found him quite lovely and had a great conversation with him. She also got me his autograph.
I'm stumped by the fact that your mother recognised Bill Bruford. Mine wouldn't even recognise a full drum kit if you threw the bass drum at her.
@@renderizer01I guess none of our moms are as cool as his..Lol
@@Tom-ok2rh Nah, definitely not.
When the guitar takes off at 8:30, I Iove the way the bass line repeats the same pattern with subtle differences, Chris never playing the same thing twice. Such a rock number played live, this dream rhythm section pushing Steve to give his best.
Yes. Wonderful band !!!
As a Patreon member, I'm glad you enjoyed this song, Doug. It's my favorite song from Yes and one of my favorite rock songs of all time! The instrumentation, composition, vocals, and production make this a near perfect rock song as you're going to get, IMO. It also has my favorite bass riff of all time from the late, great Chris Squire. Almost the whole album has really great songs on it and I consider the Yes Album to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time! Thanks for the excellent review!
I was lucky enough to be a current working musician when this song came out. It very quickly became an ambition of mine as the bass player, along with the guitarist of our band to work this through until we were able to play it live. It took a few months to do but we got there and quite regularly played it as part of our set. We were an east London band playing regularly in north London when a lovely moment occurred at a London show audition we attended. A band from south London told us that they had heard of us because we were known to play YIND and our live rendition was reputed to be very close to the Yes original. I don’t know what ‘making it’ really means but on that day I felt that we had done just that. To have our efforts appreciated by fellow musicians meant a great deal to me, and still does. A great song by ‘the’ greatest band and I got to play it goodness knows how many times. What a joy and a privilege to play Chris Squire’s immortal bass part while singing Jon Anderson’s marvellous vocal. Akin to rubbing one’s tum, patting oneself on the head and reciting the intricacies of quantum theory all at the same same in my very humble opinion!😊 Of course, you need one hell of a guitar player to play those fluid Steve Howe lines. We were blessed in that respect too. We had one hell of a guitar player!!
since i was 16teen i loved what yes did. i love it still. these are the gates of delirium.
Great!!!! Thanks for sharing this, Doug!
Excellent, thanks for the reaction.
As someone who does not read sheet music, and doesn’t have much understanding of music theory, I can say for the last 30 some of years of listening to this band, their music, especially in this particular lineup is absolute magic.
So much fun to watch you hear this for the first time. Your constant surprise reminded me of how unconventional this song was, and still is. I've heard it so many times that it's part of the soundtrack of my life, and I've drummed along with it enough that its odd structure doesn't take me by surprise anymore. Watching you react reminded me what a crazy song it is! Also, there's one more song from The Yes Album that you should hear, and that's "Perpetual Change". There's a reason that they chose that one to finish the album. Thanks, Doug, as always, for your expertise, and your humor.
In many ways The YES ALbum is a favorite of mine, but that could be that I remember it when it first came out and it was nothing that I, or anyone else , had ever heard -- compositionally and as far as the way everyone played. Nobody sounds like Squire, or Bruford, or Howe, or Anderson. And as much as Wakeman added later on, I kinda dig the rock organ of Kaye. This was over a half a century ago folks!!!
"Jon what are you talking about?"
I've uttered those same words listening to so many Yes songs lmao.
From The Yes Album to Relayer, Yes recorded some of the most incredible music ever. I am shocked how much of the best music came from that 5-year period. Yes, ELP, Genesis recorded their best stuff in the first half of that decade. Not to forget Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Those five are my perennial favorites. I doubt anyone will ever rise to that level. Prog is gone. All we have is great records by dinosaurs. The fossil record is here, but they are all extinct.
Listen to Perpetual Change live from Yessongs. Steve Howe's guitar work is something to be heard. Makes it seem effortless, but is shear skill.
Wonderful...
An album, and song that had a great influence on my musical sensibilities and my perceptions of the world - continuing on the last fifty or so years.
Incredible, magic band!
Doug, now that you are familiar with the triumvirate of Yes albums (Yes Album, Fragile and CTTE), you simply MUST delve into Yessongs. These are the essential tracks performed exquisitely LIVE by the classic line-up (including some tracks with Bruford and some with Alan White (RIP)).
And relayer.
Great video Doug.
Bits of this still take me back to the first instant I heard it, on Sounding Out (BBC early’72). I was flabbergasted, at age 13 and walked around in a kind of daze for the rest of the day. I tried to explain to my brother that I thought I’d just heard the future of rock music. I was partly right, looking back, though that particular revelation was only to last another 4 years.
It changed my life to some extent.
Probably their greatest achievement IMO.
The guy turning the knob back and forth was wonderful producer/engineer Eddy Offord, who produced several great Yes albums, as well as Rory Gallagher, ELP, Andy Pratt, 311 (interestingly in the early 90s), etc.
Of the three addictions that I went cold turkey on my addiction to Yes music will never cease😊
I'd forgotten how sublime this track is!
Up there with some of the most awesome tunes of that decade. Classic/Rock fusion
Steve How and Chris Squire were just unbelievable on these albums. I had the pleasure of seeing Steve with his son in a little church theatre twice in Kingston, Ontario and his own music is mostly folksy and a bit classical. True fact: a guitar magazine (Guitar) rated Steve Howe "best guitarist" many years in a row and rather than retire the list, they decided to add an "all time best" listing to give other people an opportunity to play. Steve played in multiple bands, including Asia.
I love the concise metallic spitballs Steve throws in this song.
First song that got me in to YES, and it still kicks ass every time I listen to it!
My favorite Yes song, huge right from the beginning
the song means through immense terror and cruelty on this earth, we carry on, we never stop, we live our lives all connected and all together until we die. Our children continue the song, though nothing is our particular fault, we participate in the big story, ours is the disgrace, even though it's not *my* disgrace, or *your* disgrace. The war is our fault, the earth, as it stands, is our fault. But it's not your fault, man. You gotta keep on living. I gotta keep on living. We'll meet again on the other side :)
Good Yes shit, yeah?
Great reactions Doug.. I felt the same way hearing Yes back in the 70s for the first time..in middle school!!
The two first albums are also worth a listening. I love them.
An absolute masterpiece
There were hints of what was to come in their first two albums. One of my favorites from "Time and a Word" was "Astral Traveller".
Mine was "Looking Around". Nice tune.
I liked all three of the songs above!!
Astral Traveler drives so hard. It’s one of my favorite early songs by Chris.
This is the first Yes song I heard. It blew my mind: it took my brain bits out and they settled in a different place. So utterly different.
One of my all time favorite albums. Came out when I was in HS, still listening today...
Masterpiece, one of my favs.
Great reaction Dr. Doug...have loved this album since it first came out and still remains one of my all-time favorites any genre!!!
“Perpetual Change”, Doug. That would complete ‘The Yes Album’ for you.
Time and a Word worth a listen just to see the change. I love both albums equally. Keep posting.
Don’t forget “Going For The One” too. 😊
Hello Doug. You just have to listen to the song 'Epitaph' sung by Greg Lake in 1969 at the album 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by King Crimson. The song is a masterpiece with the great voice of Greg Lake, but the lyrics are terryfying and still give me tears on my chins and complete silence for a least one hour. I would be very happy to hear your reaction and analysing of this fantastic song. Remember: King Crimson was the first prog-rock band in the world. So...