Yes (album)

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Yes
Studio album by Yes

Publication
(s)

July 25, 1969

Label (s) Atlantic Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

8th

running time

41:07

occupation

production

Paul Clay & Yes

chronology
- Yes Time and a Word
(1970)

Yes was the first album the group Yes and appeared 1969th

Band formation

In 1967 bassist Chris Squire and guitarist Peter Banks founded the band Mabel Greer's Toyshop. The other members were Clive Bailey (guitar, vocals) and Bob Hagger (drums). As a member of this less successful band than its predecessor, The Syn , Squire met singer Jon Anderson in 1968 at London's La Chasse Club in Soho , who kept himself afloat there with a part-time job. The club manager Jack Barrie introduced the two of them. The two musicians discovered that they had similar preferences ( The Fifth Dimension , Simon and Garfunkel ) and began writing songs (including "Sweetness", which would later be featured on the first Yes album). Anderson joined Mabel Greer's Toyshop and the band changed their name to "Yes" at the suggestion of Peter Banks. When they tried to short a replacement for the drummer Bob Hagger, the new band via a display in place Melody Maker the Jazz -Schlagzeuger Bill Bruford . Together with keyboardist Tony Kaye , they played their debut concert on August 4th, 1968 in Essex , England .

Creation of the debut album

During the first year of their existence, the band played concerts almost every day in London and throughout England. The live set consisted of original compositions and cover versions of current hits such as I'm Only Sleeping , Eleanor Rigby and Every Little Thing from the Beatles , Paper Cup from The Fifth Dimension and Heaven Is In Your Mind from Traffic . This included an arrangement of Something's Coming from Leonard Bernstein's musical West Side Story . The band was very much oriented towards Fifth Dimension and Vanilla Fudge , who had developed a special style when working on alienated cover versions.

Yes found their first manager in the wealthy club owner Roy Flynn. Flynn and Anderson initially continued to organize concerts, including in prestigious London clubs such as the Marquee, but also in the Royal Albert Hall , then Flynn began to interest record companies in Yes. Initially Robert Stigwood from RSO was interested in the band, then Flynn, with no experience in music management, negotiated a contract for 14 albums with Ahmet Ertegün from Atlantic Records . He and the equally inexperienced band initially thought this was an unexpected vote of confidence from the record company, but the contract was actually set up so that Atlantic could release the band at any time if the hoped-for success did not materialize. Conversely, the income of the musicians would have remained the same from the start. Only Yes' second manager, Brian Lane, would renegotiate this contract a few years later.

First the young band went into the studio with their material. Continuous work on an album was not possible because the only source of income was the concerts that Yes had to continue to play regularly. Atlantic Records hardly supported the band, as high investments in a band not yet established on the record market represented too great a risk for the record company.

The work in the studio was just as amateurish. Yes had no experience with studio technology and didn't even know basic things like the fact that you can change the mix in the headphones. In addition, the producer Paul Clay had only had experience with film music and did not know how to produce a rock album. It took Clay and the band three days just to figure out how to record a Hammond organ . Accordingly, the sound is flat and undifferentiated to this day and the musicians involved are still dissatisfied with their debut. Yes originally speculated that Paul McCartney would be a producer, but that didn't happen.

According to their set list, Yes recorded not only their own songs but also two cover versions, I See You by the Byrds and Every Little Thing by the Beatles. Beyond And Before and Sweetness, on the other hand, came from the time of Mabel Greer's Toyshop.

On July 4, 1969, the first single Sweetness / Something's Coming was released in England and France. Shortly thereafter, the album was released on July 25, 1969 under the simple title Yes .

Track list

  1. Beyond And Before (Chris Squire / Clive Bailey) - 4:57
  2. I See You ( Jim McGuinn / David Crosby ) - 6:52
  3. Yesterday And Today (Jon Anderson) - 2:51
  4. Looking Around (Jon Anderson / Chris Squire) - 4:02
  5. Harold Land (Jon Anderson / Chris Squire / Bill Bruford) - 5:45
  6. Every Little Thing ( John Lennon / Paul McCartney ) - 5:45
  7. Sweetness (Jon Anderson / Chris Squire / Clive Bailey) - 4:33
  8. Survival (Jon Anderson) - 6:17

Remarks:

  • Beyond And Before and Sweetness come from the time of Mabel Greer's Toyshop.
  • I See You is the cover version of a Byrds track
  • Harold Land is named after the jazz saxophonist Harold Land , but the song has nothing to do with this musician. Bruford mentioned the name when Anderson was coming up with a title for the song.
  • Every Little Thing is originally from the Beatles.

The album was remastered and re-released in 2003 by Rhino Records . This edition contains the bonus tracks:

  1. Everydays (Single Version) ( Stephen Stills ) - 6:23
  2. Dear Father (Early Version # 2) (Anderson / Squire) - 5:51
  3. Something's Coming ( Leonard Bernstein / Stephen Sondheim ) - 7:09
  4. Everydays (Early Version) (Stephen Stills) - 5:18
  5. Dear Father (Early Version # 1) (Anderson / Squire) - 5:31
  6. Something's Coming (Early Version) (Leonard Bernstein / Stephen Sondheim) - 8:02

Important singles

  • Sweetness / Something's Coming (Stephen Sondheim / Leonard Bernstein)

Remarks:

  • Noteworthy is the B-side of the single Sweetness , the cover version Something's Coming . Although this title anticipated the further development of Yes, it did not end up on the album.
  • The releases in England and France each contained mono mixes on the B-side. In 1970 Something's Coming was released in Holland as A-side in stereo with Dear Father on the B-side, it was only released on an album with Yesyears (1991).

Cover

In England the album is given a black fold-out cover with a speech bubble in bright, bright orange with the word Yes in it. This speech bubble logo was designed by guitarist Peter Banks, who also owns the copyrights. Thus, this logo was used exclusively for recordings with Peter Banks. Inside there are some comments by Melody Maker editor Tony Wilson, the song list and a group photo (supplemented by five portraits).

In America, where the Atlantic record company is based, a classic cover concept was used. A group photo of David Gahr and the group name can be found on the front of the simple cover. Only on the back is a small illustration of the speech bubble.

occupation

Songs by Yes on later compilations

live

Live versions of some pieces by Yes can be found on