Question: When is a prog-rock album not a prog-rock album?
Progressive rock existed in 1969, this much is certain. But for Jon Anderson and Yes, I’d be hard-pressed to call their self-titled debut prog rock. If anything, the disc has more of a jazz feeling to it—so anyone picking it up expecting to hear earlier works in the vein of “Roundabout” or “And You And I” will be in for a bit of a shock, albeit not an unpleasant one.
There are certain aspects even in these eight early offerings that show insight into who Yes would become at the height of their popularity. Jon Anderson’s vocals—and the harmonized vocals that the band offers up as early as the opening track “Beyond And Before”—are are instantly recognizable, as is the thundering bass work from Chris Squire. And you could be forgiven for thinking the staccato guitar lines at times were coming from Steve Howe, but he was not a member of Yes at this time. No, these come courtesy of Peter Banks, whose playing style does appropriately set the table for future releases.
Musically, Yes holds its own, even if it has more of a jazz feel to the songwriting. Only the album’s closer, “Survival,” begins to suggest what would come soon from the quintet—but it, too, quickly seems to dissolve into an amalgam of prog and jazz. The thing is, the mixture works fairly well. Tracks like “I See You” and “Sweetness” all suggest that this path could have worked for Yes.
Where Yes stumbles is the fact that this is still a band discovering who they were in terms of musicianship and songwriting. Relying on two covers—one from the Byrds, one from the Beatles—isn’t a terrible thing in and of itself, and both tracks are respectably handled. But originals like “Harold Land” and “Looking Around,” while good, don’t quite fully satisfy the listener. It’s almost as if each track could have said something more, but Yes backed off on the gas to play it safe.
Make no mistake, Yes is still a surprisingly good initial outing from the band, and is one of their albums that hasn’t necessarily gotten the same fair shake as one like Close To The Edge or Going For The One. It’s worth discovering—or, in some cases, re-discovering—as long as one tempers their expectations. I’d stop short of calling this release great, but it certainly is worthy of praise.
