Artist Rundown: Yes (Part 2)

Artist Rundown is a periodic feature in which I briefly share my thoughts, memories and opinions of an artist or group's entire recorded work in chronological order. First up is one of the bands which helped developed my love of and taste in music: progressive rock legends Yes.

Yes - Time and a Word (1970)

The music is more or less in the same direction as the debut, only with a little more sprawl, a full orchestra on every song and preachy, hip-at-the-time "love is all you need" lyrics. Of course, this datedness would render any objective critical assessment unduly harsh, so good thing I love Squire's increasingly aggressive bass and Anderson's earnest vocals to pieces.

From the beginning it is clear the group is trying to up the instrumental ante, with the opening Richie Havens cover "No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed" centering itself around a catchy, muscular bassline that seems to just keep going and going. "Everydays," a song written by Stephen Stills and originally performed by The Byrds, starts out airy and mysterious before giving way to a thrashing middle section that combines punk-like speed and aggression with Banks' usual jazz-rock guitar heroics.

Also of note is the beautiful title track, which borrows just a little bit from "All You Need Is Love" but still manages to overcome its inherent schmaltziness thanks to Anderson's sincere, unaffected vocal. Elsewhere, "Sweet Dreams" is a wonderfully catchy single-length tune that manages to convey a feeling of optimism without coming off as too overbearing. I even groove on "Clear Days," a much-maligned track with Anderson crooning about everybody being together forever or somesuch over a syrupy string section and piano.

This would be the last attempt by Yes to record an album with a symphony orchestra until 2001's Magnification, and it's not hard to see why. The orchestra adds some nice color to the proceedings, but it is not used in a particularly imaginative way, save for some impressive atmospheric flourishes on "Everydays." I guess they didn't too much like the results, either -- the idea left Banks so pissed off he left the group for good shortly after the album's release.

Postscript: Hilariously, the American edition of this album features his replacement Steve Howe in the group photo on the cover.