The Yes Album

The band was in the weeds by this point, in real danger of getting dropped by Atlantic, and they needed a win. This wasn't really it but slightly more often than not it gets close. Typical of their later output their longform pieces are the best ones, even if the lyrical concepts are clumsy; anti-war "Yours Is No Disgrace" is incredibly poignant and supple, some of their best work ever, along with the oblique but earnest three-part "Starship Trooper" with Steve Howe's satisfyingly heavy guitar self-duet. Unfortunately, they're split by the sloppy "Clap," recorded live for no good reason and thus a famine amidst plenty, and while "A Venture" is charming in miniature "I've Seen All Good People" after awhile gets dreary in length, the kind of overwrought metaphysical chess metaphor that would make Bobby Fischer slit his wrists. Closing track "Perpetual Change" is particularly instructive: full of fascinating moments you want more of, but like your hyperactive nephew keeps erratically running off to other tangents, even audibly near the end when the music abruptly pans into one channel in an idea that probably sounded better to the engineer than it does in my ears. Well, live on to record another day, I suppose. The 2003 remaster adds a studio version of "Clap" which largely eliminates my objections to the album live cut, but the bowdlerized single versions of "I've Seen All Good People" (as "Your Move") and "Starship Trooper" (as "Life Seeker") are unnecessary, and so is the excessive 2014 Panegyric multi-format release. (Content: no concerns.)

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Yes, Close to the Edge

Some of the best prog nonsense from any band. The lyrics are gobbledygook ("total mass retain"?) and the jams go all over the place, but it's all so earnest and played so straight that it feels like it really means something, and the beauty of art rock is that it can mean anything you like. The strongest is the long-play title track, which showcases an early riff I'd swear I've heard Phish rip off plus an astonishing array of instruments and production effects, including a haunting bridge with water drips and echo as if they were playing a subterranean stage hundreds of miles beneath the surface. It builds incredibly well, too, up to a tremendous finish, something that the other two tracks, as accomplished as they are, do not manage nearly as effectively. That isn't to say they aren't good, though "Siberian Khatru" is a little too noodly and "And You And I" is a little too spare, but their chief sin is only being lesser. The 2003 reissue includes a castrated A-side cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "America" which includes their odd vocal take and excludes the more interesting jam that follows, along with the typical tedious studio outtakes, though the distilled-down single version of "Close to the Edge" as "Total Mass Retain" is a good starter track for the casual interest. This is probably the version to look for because the so-called 2013 definitive edition is absolutely excessive in what it includes and would intimidate even the most ardent Yes-head. The audiophiles will geek out on the surround mix, though. (Content: no concerns.)

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