The Yes Album
Encyclopedia
The Yes Album is the third studio album
from the English progressive rock
band Yes
, released on Atlantic Records
. It is the last record to feature keyboardist Tony Kaye
until 1983, and the first to feature guitarist Steve Howe
, who replaced Peter Banks
in 1970. The album was written and rehearsed at a farmhouse in Devon
shire, then home to Langley Studios, which was later bought by Howe who now lives there.
Upon its release in February 1971, The Yes Album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart
and number 40 on the US Billboard 200
, where it was certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
. The Yes Album is seen as the group's breakthrough release, setting the stage for their success with their following albums Fragile
(1971) and Close to the Edge (1972).
Jon Anderson
is credited as John Anderson on the album. Soon after, he dropped the "h" from his first name.
The album cover shows Tony Kaye with his foot in a cast. He had been in a car accident shortly before the picture was taken.
and Relayer
.
The spacey, electronic-sounding guitar effect in "Starship Trooper" was achieved via a flanger
, a device that was relatively new at the time of the recording.
Tony Kaye
preferred Hammond B-3
and piano over the "new" (at the time) Moog synthesizer
s 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. (On the album cover's inside gatefold, however, Kaye is pictured playing a Hammond spinet organ, probably an L-100 or M-100.)
In 2000 Q magazine placed the album at number 86 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
Howe's solo acoustic tune, "Clap", was heavily influenced by the Davy Graham track 'Fingerbuster'. The piece was written to celebrate the birth of Howe's son Dylan
and the baby's attempts to clap in his pram.
According to Alice Cooper
on his radio show Nights with Alice Cooper
, Anderson claimed to have written the first two movements 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 part of "Starship Trooper
" is a continuous cadenza of chords (G-Eb-C) played by ensemble and repeated adlib: first accompaniment: electric guitar on the right stereo channel, then acoustic guitar, bass pedals, and drums from middle channel, then organ and bass guitar with vibrato and distortion from left channel, then starts the guitar solo, that 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
. 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.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
from the English progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
. It is the last record to feature keyboardist Tony Kaye
Tony Kaye (musician)
Tony Kaye is a British musician.Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995...
until 1983, and the first to feature guitarist Steve Howe
Steve Howe (guitarist)
Stephen James "Steve" Howe is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes...
, who replaced Peter Banks
Peter Banks
Peter Banks is an English guitarist. He was the original guitarist of the progressive rock band Yes.-Early career:When Banks was a young boy, his father bought him an acoustic guitar...
in 1970. The album was written and rehearsed at a farmhouse in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire, then home to Langley Studios, which was later bought by Howe who now lives there.
Upon its release in February 1971, The Yes Album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and number 40 on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, where it was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
. The Yes Album is seen as the group's breakthrough release, setting the stage for their success with their following albums Fragile
Fragile (Yes album)
Fragile is the fourth studio album from the English progressive rock band Yes, released on Atlantic Records. It is the first to feature keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who replaced Tony Kaye in 1971, and the first to feature cover art by Roger Dean, who would design many of the band's records.Upon its...
(1971) and Close to the Edge (1972).
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
is credited as John Anderson on the album. Soon after, he dropped the "h" from his first name.
The album cover shows Tony Kaye with his foot in a cast. He had been in a car accident shortly before the picture was taken.
Background and content
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", foreshadowing the many side-length tracks that followed on Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic OceansTales from Topographic Oceans
-2003 CD re-issue:A remastered edition was released in 2003, which restored a two-minute ambient section at the beginning of the album's first song. This section was deleted at the last minute before the album was originally pressed...
and Relayer
Relayer
-Personnel:*Jon Anderson – lead vocals*Steve Howe – acoustic and electric guitars, vocals*Patrick Moraz – keyboards*Chris Squire – bass guitar and vocals*Alan White – drums, percussion-Production:*Produced By Yes & Eddie Offord...
.
The spacey, electronic-sounding guitar effect in "Starship Trooper" was achieved via a flanger
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
, a device that was relatively new at the time of the recording.
Tony Kaye
Tony Kaye (musician)
Tony Kaye is a British musician.Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995...
preferred Hammond B-3
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
and piano over the "new" (at the time) Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
s 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
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
and his array of electronic keyboards from Strawbs. (On the album cover's inside gatefold, however, Kaye is pictured playing a Hammond spinet organ, probably an L-100 or M-100.)
In 2000 Q magazine placed the album at number 86 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
Howe's solo acoustic tune, "Clap", was heavily influenced by the Davy Graham track 'Fingerbuster'. The piece was written to celebrate the birth of Howe's son Dylan
Dylan Howe
Dylan Lee Howe is a jazz drummer, bandleader, session musician and composer.- Early life :Howe grew up in Hampstead, London, and is the eldest son of Yes guitarist Steve Howe....
and the baby's attempts to clap in his pram.
According to Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
on his radio show Nights with Alice Cooper
Nights with Alice Cooper
Nights with Alice Cooper is a radio show hosted by rock and roll artist and shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper. It is syndicated by United Stations Radio Networks and broadcast on over 100 radio stations in the US, seven in Canada, and is also available in the UK , Germany , Ireland, Australia ,...
, Anderson claimed to have written the first two movements 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
The Word is Live
The Word Is Live is a live box set by progressive rock band Yes and was released in 2005 through Rhino Records.Considered the live companion to 2002's studio In a Word: Yes box set, The Word is Live serves to document the band's live story from early BBC recordings in 1970 with Peter Banks to 1988...
) is credited to Chris Squire
Chris Squire
Christopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire , is an English musician, known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock group Yes. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.-Before Yes:...
.
The Würm part of "Starship Trooper
Starship Trooper (song)
"Starship Trooper" is the third track and closing of Side A of progressive rock group Yes's 1971 album, The Yes Album. It is presented in three parts: "Life Seeker", "Disillusion" and "Würm" and is credited to Anderson/Squire/Howe sequentially....
" is a continuous cadenza of chords (G-Eb-C) played by ensemble and repeated adlib: first accompaniment: electric guitar on the right stereo channel, then acoustic guitar, bass pedals, and drums from middle channel, then organ and bass guitar with vibrato and distortion from left channel, then starts the guitar solo, that 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
Bodast
Bodast were a late 1960s rock group from London. Its most famous member was Steve Howe, later to join Yes.The group recorded an album in 1968. Their label Tetragrammaton Records had success in the United States with Deep Purple, but went out of business just before scheduling a release date for...
. While "Wurm" (without the umlaut
Umlaut (diacritic)
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
over the "u") is an Old English word for "dragon" (worm, wurm, wyrm), the Würm
Würm
The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villages of Gauting, Krailling, Planegg, Gräfelfing and Lochham as well as part of Munich before joining, near Dachau, the Amper, which soon afterwards...
is a river in Germany which gave its name to an ice age in geology.
Side one
- "Yours Is No Disgrace" (Jon AndersonJon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, Chris SquireChris SquireChristopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire , is an English musician, known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock group Yes. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.-Before Yes:...
, Steve HoweSteve Howe (guitarist)Stephen James "Steve" Howe is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes...
, Tony KayeTony Kaye (musician)Tony Kaye is a British musician.Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995...
, Bill BrufordBill BrufordWilliam Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
) – 9:41 - "Clap" (Howe) – 3:17
- Recorded live at The Lyceum TheatreLyceum Theatre (London)The Lyceum Theatre is a 2,000-seat West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand. There has been a theatre with this name in the locality since 1765, and the present site opened on 14 July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. The building was unique...
, London, 17 July 1970
- Recorded live at The Lyceum Theatre
- "Starship TrooperStarship Trooper (song)"Starship Trooper" is the third track and closing of Side A of progressive rock group Yes's 1971 album, The Yes Album. It is presented in three parts: "Life Seeker", "Disillusion" and "Würm" and is credited to Anderson/Squire/Howe sequentially....
" – 9:25- "Life Seeker" (Anderson)
- "Disillusion" (Squire)
- "Würm" (Howe)
Side two
- "I've Seen All Good PeopleI've Seen All Good People"I've Seen All Good People" is a song performed by the band Yes and written by Jon Anderson and Chris Squire. It is included on 1971 The Yes Album. It is said that the song originated from Gary S...
" – 6:56- "Your Move" (Anderson)
- "All Good People" (Squire)
- "A Venture" (Anderson) – 3:18
- "Perpetual Change" (Anderson, Squire) – 8:54
2003 remaster bonus tracks
- "Your Move" [Single Version] (Anderson) - 3:00
- "Starship Trooper: Life Seeker" [Single Version] (Anderson) - 3:28
- "Clap" [Studio Version] (Howe) - 4:02
Personnel
- Jon AndersonJon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
– lead vocals - Steve HoweSteve Howe (guitarist)Stephen James "Steve" Howe is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes...
– guitars, vocals, vihuelaVihuelaVihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...
in "I've Seen All Good People" - Chris SquireChris SquireChristopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire , is an English musician, known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock group Yes. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.-Before Yes:...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Tony KayeTony Kaye (musician)Tony Kaye is a British musician.Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995...
– organ, piano, MoogMoog synthesizerMoog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled... - Bill BrufordBill BrufordWilliam Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
– drums - Colin Goldring – recorders on "I've Seen All Good People"
Reissues
- 1988 – Atlantic – CD
- 1994 – Atlantic – CD (Remastered)
- 2001 – JPN Limited Edition – ???
- 2003 – Rhino – LP & CD (Remastered with bonus Tracks )
- 2010 – MFSLMobile Fidelity Sound LabMobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a company known as an innovator in the production of audiophile-quality sound recordings. All releases are advertised as being produced from the first-generation analog master recordings, and using proprietary technology, which MFSL claims allows for improved sound...
– CD (Sourced from the original master tapes)
Rhino reissue
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 refer to the song as "The Clap". The Rhino reissue refers to the song as "Clap" on the traycard, as Steve Howe intended.Sources
- The Yes Album, CD booklet essay, Bill Martin, c.2003
- AllMusicGuide.com
- "Top Pop Albums 1955–2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002
- Prog Archives: The Yes Album
- YES: The Authorized Biography, Dan Hedges, 1981.