Album Reviews

Yes

Jon Anderson was always busy exhorting listeners to “Get up!,” “Look around,!” “See yourself!,” etc. His lyrics feel like a Tony Robbins self-improvement course (“Take the straight and stronger course to the corner of your life,”), but Anderson and co. were doing it first and setting the self-help lectures to bombastic musical constructions. Because of Anderson’s lyrical themes, Yes could be preachy, pretentious, mechanical and cold, but you had to respect the musical craft—especially the rhythmic suppleness (it was smart to unleash Bill Bruford) and the group’s sophisticated manipulation of dynamics.

After two albums of pop-length tunes, Yes stretched out on the breakthrough The Yes Album, their 3rd, originally issued in 1971. There are three 9 minute suites, two of which are divided into “movements.” The group made effective use of the extended format, coming up with gripping themes, tension-building transitions and rousing, sweeping finales that were almost symphonic in scope. The group’s musical virtuosity allowed for stunning arrangements where the lowest organ pedal rumble and highest squealing feedback-drenched guitar combined to set off sonic fireworks of the highest order.

The original, thick, George Piros mastered “1841 Broadway” American pressing was and is a record to treasure. It has clarity, definition, subterranean bass, sparkling highs, and exquisite transients. Early pressings issued after the Warner Brothers’ buyout were also Piros mastered, and so probably sound fine. Don’t bother with the later editions lacking the “GP” scribe on the “dead wax” (a non-audiophile record collector term, if there ever was one).

As for Rhino’s 180g vinyl reissue? Don’t bother unless you absolutely cannot find an original. Bass is mushy, transients are soft, detail is lacking and dynamics are squashed. Mastering was at Capitol with no one credited. I don’t know how good or bad Capitol’s lathe is today, or the rest of the mastering chain for that matter, but for whatever reason or reasons, this LP, said to have been cut from the original analog master tape, is lackluster and not worth getting. If you bought it and think is sounds pretty good, you are right. It does: until you hear how much better it can sound.