The Yes Album

Background

Yes had already recorded two albums for Atlantic Records by mid-1970, but neither had been commercially successful and the label was considering dropping them. They had replaced founding member Banks with Howe, who enjoyed playing a wider variety of styles, including folk and country music, and played a mix of electric and acoustic guitars. Singer Jon Anderson later said that Howe could "jump from one thing to the other, very fast, very talented." After some warm-up gigs with Howe, the band moved to Devon to write and rehearse new material. They arrived at a cottage in Churchill, north of Barnstaple, but the group felt restricted there and were not to allowed to make any noise after dark. They advertised in the local paper for a new location, and moved to Langley Farm in Romansleigh, near South Molton, some 20 miles away. Howe in particular enjoyed working on the farm, and eventually bought it. Following rehearsals, the band booked Advision Studios in London with producer Eddie Offord and spent the autumn recording. The band enjoyed the sessions, and soon had enough material ready for an album.

In November 1970, the group were involved in a car accident returning from a gig in Basingstoke. The band all suffered shock, and Kaye broke a foot. He had to do the next few gigs, and the album cover's photo shoot, with it in plaster.

Howe mostly used a Gibson ES-175 semi-acoustic guitar and a Martin 00-18 acoustic for recording, though he did attempt to play a variety of styles with the two instruments. Kaye's main instruments were the Hammond organ and piano, including a solo on "A Venture". Kaye had previously played the Hammond M-100, but for this album used the B-3, a move which he saw as "a turning point". He was not interested in playing electronic keyboards, which had started to appear on the market. This proved to be a problem with the other members of the band, and Kaye thought his style conflicted too much with Howe's. He left the group during rehearsals for the follow-up album in mid-1971, to be replaced by Rick Wakeman.

Songs

Yes had started their career being a covers band, performing radical re-arrangements of hit songs, and their first two albums included covers in this vein. However, The Yes Album was the first to feature group-written material in its entirety. Some familiar elements remained; Anderson, Howe and Squire sang three-part vocal harmony throughout the record, while Squire's melodic bass and Bill Bruford's spacious drumming made up their unique rhythm section.

"Yours Is No Disgrace" originated from some lyrics written by Anderson with his friend David Foster. This was combined with other short segments of music written by the band in rehearsals. Howe worked out the opening guitar riff on his own while the rest of the band took a day's holiday. The backing track was recorded by the group in sections, then edited together to make up the final piece.

Howe's solo acoustic tune, "Clap" (wrongly written as "The Clap" in original album pressings), was influenced by Chet Atkins and Mason Williams' "Classical Gas". The piece was written to celebrate the birth of Howe's son Dylan on 4 August 1969. The version that appears on the album was recorded live at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 17 July 1970.

The spacey, electronic-sounding effect in "Starship Trooper" was achieved by running the guitar backing track through a flanger. Anderson wrote the bulk of the song, while Squire wrote the "Disillusion" section in the middle. The closing section, "Würm" is a continuous cadenza of chords (G-E♭-C) played ad lib. It evolved from a song called "Nether Street" by Howe's earlier group, Bodast.

"I've Seen All Good People" is a suite of two tunes. Anderson wanted the piece to start quietly and develop, leading into a large church organ sound, before moving into the funky second movement. The band had difficulty recording the initial "Your Move" section, which was resolved by making a tape loop of bass and drums, over which Howe overdubbed a Portuguese 12-string guitar, miscrediting it as a "vachalia" on the album's credits. Gnidrolog's Colin Goldring played recorder on the track.

Anderson wrote "A Venture" in the studio, which was arranged by the rest of the band. Kaye played piano on the track, contributing a jazzy solo towards the end. Howe played a guitar solo on the original recording, but it was left off the final mix, which faded out just as it started. The song was never played live by the original group, but an arrangement was worked out when Yes decided to play the whole album live in 2013.

Anderson was inspired to write the lyrics for "Perpetual Change" by the view of the countryside from the cottage at Churchill. The middle of the track features a polyrhythmic structure, where two pieces of music in different time signatures are playing simultaneously.

Cover

The front cover was shot by Phil Franks the day after the Basingstoke gig accident. Franks had already taken some photos from the Lyceum gig, but felt he needed something more for the front cover. The band showed up late having been in hospital earlier that day, and only 30 minutes were available for a shoot. Unable to get a satisfactory photo in the studio, Franks took the band round to his flat, grabbed a polystyrene mannequin head from a bin, put a 1,000 watt bulb in the kitchen light fitting, and improvised the shot. Franks credited the sleeve designer, Rolling Stone art director Jon Goodchild, for making the cover a success. When Yes performed a live version of "Yours is No Disgrace" for the German television series Beat-Club in April 1971, footage of the band was combined with that of another mannequin head spinning over a chair, mimicking the cover's concept.

The inside of the album's gatefold sleeve shows Kaye playing a Hammond organ, while the front cover showed his leg in plaster, following the accident. Anderson is credited as "John Anderson" on the album but he had dropped the "h" from his first name by the next album, Fragile.

Release

The Yes Album was released in the UK on 19 February 1971. It was a commercial success and was the band's breakthrough album, selling around 60,000 copies upon release and reaching number 4 in the UK. and number 40 in the US. It has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over one million copies.

Squire later said a key reason for the success was that there was a postal strike which prevented chart returns being sent, and reducing the available ones to a few retailers in London. Yes had the largest fanbase in these stores, and that allowed a good chart position. By the time the strike had ended, the album had started to sell well due to its initial apparent success.

The 1971 Italian issue of the album differs from the original UK issue in two respects. The title on the front cover is "The Yes" instead of "The Yes Album", although the spine bears the correct title; and the track "The Clap" appears as the third track on the second side.

Reception

The album had a positive reception from critics. John Koegel, writing for Rolling Stone, praised the instrumental unity between Squire, Howe and Kaye, but missed the cover versions present in earlier releases. The album is one of three by Yes to appear in the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Author Tom Moon preferred the group unity that he felt was missing on later releases and gave a positive impression of Anderson's vocals, saying the melodies in "I've Seen All Good People" were "instantly singable and still somehow deep."

Anderson was worried about the initial response to the album, but after about a month noticed that fans started singing along at concerts, and concluded that this musical style could be developed and still remain popular. Kaye concluded that overall it was "quite a simple album, considering where Yes went onto from there." Rush singer and bassist Geddy Lee included The Yes Album among his favourite albums. Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks has said it his favourite Yes album and preferred the band when Kaye was a member. "It was the addition of Steve Howe's guitar pyrotechnics that finally allowed Yes to find their true identity. The Yes Album is a giant leap forward," wrote J. D. Considine in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

Reissues

The Yes Album was remastered and reissued in 2003 by Rhino Records with several bonus tracks, including a studio version of "Clap", entitled as Howe intended. In 2014, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree created a new stereo mix and a 5.1 surround sound mix, available as either a DVD or Blu-ray Disc. It was released on 21 April with bonus tracks including the 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 also features an instrumental version of the album, a needle drop sample of the original vinyl release, and additional live tracks.

Personnel