July 25, 1969 - Yes and Yes

On July 25, 1969 another new rock band from London, England makes their debut with the eponymous "Yes". But who is Yes? They are a five-piece progressive rock band with members Jon Anderson (lead vocals), Peter Banks (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Tony Kaye (keyboards) and Bill Bruford (drums, percussion). There are certainly a lot of great young musicians coming out of London in the late 60s. Yes definitely fits that bill and although this album was not a commercial success, that doesn't mean it isn't a good album. Let's find out!

Side 1 begins with "Beyond & Before", a rock-and-roll song with some cool bass and guitar. We hear Anderson's high voice for the first time, which sounds a little pop-y, but he still has a great voice. Next is a cover of The Byrds with "I See You". It's led by a cool guitar riff and some la-la-la vocals. Banks delivers a nice guitar solo, followed by some much softer guitar and cymbals from Bruford. There's even another guitar solo and some cool bass from Squire as well. Track 3 is "Yesterday And Today", a love song about thinking of you always. It has some slow acoustic guitar and some cool piano and keyboards from Kaye. Kaye really shines on side 1's closer "Looking Around", which starts with a cool organ riff. There are great keyboards throughout the song and Banks let's loose on two more solos! There's even a short organ solo as well. All these awesome solos make this song my favourite thus far, but there is still side 2!

Which begins with "Harold Land", a song about a soldier who left for war for two years and was not the same when he came back. It has some more great keyboards from Kaye. The next song is a cover of an early Beatles song, "Every Little Thing". Yes adds over 3 minutes of new material to the song, mostly in an instrumental section at the beginning. Banks also plays the riff from "Day Tripper" before they start covering the actual 2-minute Beatles song, which features a nice guitar solo. Track 7 is called "Sweetness", another love song with a nice melody. It has some slow organ, acoustic guitar and light drumming. The album concludes with "Survival", the longest track on the album. It has a real rockin' opening with great playing from all members. After about 2 minutes it slows down into a softer feel with light singing from Anderson. The lyrics talk about an egg and the hatched chick, and it surviving in the wild. It's a pretty cool song and sums up the feel of this album nicely.

That is the end of "Yes", and I think it was a pretty solid debut. Tony Kaye plays some excellent keyboards and Peter Banks is pretty good on guitar as well. I look forward to seeing this group develop and get even better. I would normally say goodbye until a later date, but on this day I have two albums that came out! What an exciting day July 25, 1969 is!


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