CR’s Social Club
Every week we choose a classic album – some obscure, some well known – and share knowledge and opinion. Listen and debate with us at: http://bit.do/aotw. Have your say on the history of rock, one album at a time… and you might just see yourself in print.
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The Yes Album Yes (1971) WHAT YOU SAID
John Wilson: I really like this album, and it gets better every time I hear it in its entirety. Usually I listen to half the album in other ways, such as a live album or my own playlist mixes, but hearing it all together makes for a great relaxing experience. The album’s artwork isn’t one of my favourite of theirs by far though! Robert Dunn: I fell asleep listening to this. Certainly there is a lot of excellent musicianship on display here, but (and this is my problem with prog) a hell of a lot of it is just not necessary. At one point just after I woke up, I honestly wasn’t sure if I had simply dozed off for a few moments or if I had skipped a few songs, it sounded like just any other twiddly bit from what I had heard so far. It could be that I missed the good stuff during my nap, but I am not sure that I can listen to this again. Great musicians, too much unnecessary twiddling.
Glenn Bannister: My unreliable memory tells me I first became aware of this album by hearing Starship Trooper on The Friday Rock Show (in happier times, when a mainstream rock show could indulge in such things). I quickly added it to my fledgling collection. Although it came from a then relatively recent past, I was young and it seemed to come from a time long, long ago. It already had a mythical aura, something to be revered.
Listening to it now, I’m still mightily impressed. I am a little surprised at how busy it all is, guitar, bass and drums often going off at tangents to each other, but never getting lost and held together by the glue of the keyboards and those divine vocals. I don’t recall ever thinking this was overindulgent, it was accessible, even to my nascent tastes. Marvellous stuff, even if Clap remains completely out of place.