Sunday, April 13, 2014

Yes' First Album

Yes without Jon Anderson, for me is not "Yes anymore". This is my personal opinion, everyone has their own judgement. "New Yes" is not bad at all, moreover with Geoff Downess in it. It's powerful but not good enough. A song without singer, never be the same.................

Herewith the story of making its album from Wikipedia :

Composition

Steve Howe appeared with the band for the first time and played a prominent role throughout. The band explored longer songs with "Yours Is No Disgrace", "Starship Trooper", and "Perpetual Change".
Tony Kaye preferred the Hammond organ and piano over the new Moog synthesisers 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 — and his array of electronic keyboards — from Strawbs in 1971.
Howe's solo acoustic tune, "Clap" (wrongly written as "The Clap" in some editions), was heavily influenced by the Davey Graham track 'Fingerbuster'. The piece was written to celebrate the birth of Howe's son Dylan.[1] "Clap" was recorded live at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 17 July 1970.
The spacey, electronic-sounding guitar effect in "Starship Trooper" was achieved by a flanger, a device that was relatively new at the time of recording. Anderson claimed to have written the first two sections of "Starship Trooper" alone, though the "Disillusion" movement (which evolved from an earlier song "For Everyone", heard on Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969–1970 and The Word Is Live) is credited to Chris Squire.
The "Würm" section of "Starship Trooper" is a continuous cadenza of chords (G-Eb-C) played by ensemble and repeated adlib. First there is electric guitar on the right stereo channel; then acoustic guitar, bass pedals and drums from middle channel; then organ and bass guitar, with tremolo and distortion, from left channel. After this the guitar solo papears and swaps from side to side. The whole piece lasts about three and a half minutes. "Würm" originally evolved from a song called "Nether Street" by Howe's earlier group, Bodast.[2] While "Wurm" (without the umlaut over the "u") is an Old English word for "dragon" (worm, wurm, wyrm), the Würm is a river in Germany which gave its name to an ice age in geology.

Sleeve design

The inside of the album's gatefold sleeve shows Kaye playing a Hammond organ. He is also shown on the front cover with his foot in a plaster cast - he had been in a car accident shortly before the picture was taken. Anderson is credited as "John Anderson" on the album but he soon after dropped the "h" from his first name.

Release

The Yes Album was released in the UK on 19 February 1971. It was a commercial and critical success and was the band's breakthrough album, peaking at number 4 in the UK[3] and number 40 in the US.[4] It has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over one million copies.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[5]
Robert Christgau B− [6]
Pitchfork (8.1/10) [7]
Rolling Stone (positive) [8]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[9]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide 5/5 stars[10]
Sputnik Music 4/5 stars[11]
Rush singer and bassist Geddy Lee included The Yes Album among his favourite albums in an interview with The Quietus' Mick Middles.[12]
In 1997 Classic Rock magazine placed the album at number 97 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever. In 2000 Q magazine placed the album at number 86 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

Reissues

  • 1988 – Atlantic – CD
  • 1994 – Atlantic – CD (Remastered)
  • 2003 – Rhino – LP & CD (Remastered with bonus Tracks )
  • 2010 – MFSL – CD (Sourced from the original master tapes)[13]
  • 2014 - Panegyric - CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray combo packs (mixed in original and new stereo mixes, as well as 5.1 surround sound)
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 incorrectly refer to the song as "The Clap". The Rhino reissue refers to the song as "Clap" on the traycard, as Steve Howe intended. Steven Wilson formerly of Porcupine Tree has done a new stereo mix and a 5.1 surround sound mix and will be available as CD/DVD & CD/BD. It is due for release on 21 April 2014, with bonus tracks including a studio version of "Clap", an extended version of "A Venture", and an alternate version of the album with live tracks, single edits, and an extended mix. The Blu-ray version will also feature an instrumental version of the album.

Track listing

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Yours Is No Disgrace"   Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, Bill Bruford 9:41
2. "Clap"   Howe 3:17
3. "Starship Trooper"
  • I. "Life Seeker"
  • II. "Disillusion"
  • III. "Würm"  
 Anderson, Howe, Squire 9:25
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "I've Seen All Good People"
  • I. "Your Move"
  • II. "All Good People"  
 Anderson, Squire 6:56
2. "A Venture"   Anderson 3:18
3. "Perpetual Change"   Anderson, Squire 8:54
2003 remaster bonus tracks
No. Title Writer(s) Length
7. "I've Seen All Good People: Your Move (Single Version)"   Anderson 3:00
8. "Starship Trooper: Life Seeker (Single Version)"   Anderson 3:28
9. "Clap (Studio Version)"   Howe 4:02

Personnel

Yes[14]
Additional musicians
Production
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