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Rating: The artist is a generous man, art that is not shared has no reason to exist. Art elevates man from his material condition, art is an illusion, art is born from the love of life, but above all from the fear of death, from its dark nature... but art is a gift, music is a gift, and every great composition gives "joy and well-being". Here, for me, music is all this... Wandering through the reviews on DeBaser, I discovered with dismay that there was no review of "The Yes Album", so I am compelled to write it myself.
"The Yes Album" is a stunning record, played sublimely, it has nothing to envy of the two subsequent Yes albums, also stunning. Agreed, “Close To The Edge” is a masterpiece, but I find “The Yes Album” superior to “Fragile”, more homogeneous... Steve Howe joined Yes, and the encounter between rock and his Jazz guitar gave birth to irreproducible sounds, melodies, and solos. It would be enough to mention the opening track of the album “Yours Is No Disgrace” to listen to a true masterpiece, made of magically played guitar with repeated solos, stylistically very different from each other, amazing choruses, and fortunate melodies. The album continues to be stunning with the third track, divided into 4 parts “Starship Trooper- Life Seeker-Disillusion-Würm”, with melodic singing and the usual Howe guitar, acrobatic, between rock and jazz, gifting us warm, virtuous notes, but never boring. The track “The Clap”, despite showcasing Howe's eclecticism, in my opinion, feels like a “fish out of water” and interrupts the continuity of the album.
I conclude with the last track of the album “Perpetual Change”, an absolute masterpiece of harmony between vocals, guitar, keyboards, and drums, specifically in this track Howe's Jazz guitar stands out, with two solos of warm and precise notes, as only the greats can do. For the sake of truth, I want to clarify that I consider this album a "masterpiece," not being a fanatic of Yes, but rather of Genesis, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Yours Is No Disgrace (09:41)
Yesterday a morning came, a smile upon your face
Caesar's Palace, morning glory, silly human race
On a sailing ship to nowhere, leaving any place
If the summer changed to winter, yours is no disgrace
Battleships confide in me and tell me where you are
Shining, flying, purple wolfhound, show me where you are
Lost in summer, born in winter, travel very far
Lost in losing circumstances, that's just where you are
Yesterday a morning came, a smile upon your face
Caesar's Palace, morning glory, silly human, silly human race
On a sailing ship to nowhere, leaving any place
If the summer changed to winter, yours is no, yours is no disgrace
Yours is no disgrace
Yours is no disgrace
Death defying, mutilated armies scatter the earth
Crawling out of dirty holes, their morals, their morals disappear
Yesterday a morning came, a smile upon your face
Caesar's Palace, morning glory, silly human, silly human, silly human race
On a sailing ship to nowhere, leaving any place
If the summer changed to winter, yours is no, yours is no disgrace
Yours is no disgrace
Yours is no disgrace
Battleships confide in me and tell me where you are
Shining, flying, purple wolfhound, show me where you are
Lost in summer, born in winter, travel very far
Lost in losing circumstances, that's just where you are
05 A Venture (03:18)
Once a peaceful man laid his old head down by a river,
Thought about his childhood life, his father and forgiver,
Who couldn't hide away, hide away.
He controlled his horses with a handclap or a whisper,
Drink he couldn't combat but in all he was no sinner,
Couldn't hide away, hide away.
He told all his sons of all the antics of a venture,
Then he told another one who drove himself to drink
Not to hide away, hide away.
Better men have realised alone is not a venture,
A peaceful man would realise alone is no adventure,
Just to hide away, hide away.
He told all his sons of all the antics of adventure,
Then he told another one who drove himself to drink
Not to hide away, hide away.
06 Perpetual Change (08:55)
I see the cold mist in the night
And watch the hills roll out of sight
I watch in every single way
Inside out, outside in
Every day
The sun can warm the coldest dawn
And move the movement on the lawn
I learn in every single day
Inside out, outside in
Every way
And there you are
Making it up that you're sure that it is a star
When all you see
Is an illusion shining down in front of me
And then you say
Even in time we shall control day
When what you see
Deep inside the day's controlling you and me
And one peculiar point I see
As one with many ones of me
As truth is gathered, I rearrange
Inside out, outside in
Inside out, outside in
Perpetual change
And there you are
Saying we have the moon, so now the stars
When all you see
Is near disaster gazing down on you and me
And there you're standing
Saying we have the whole world in our hands
When all you see
Deep inside the world's controlling you and me
Who'll see perpetual change
You'll see perpetual change
And there you are
Making it up that you're sure that it is a star
When all you see
Is an illusion shining down in front of me
And then you say
Even in time we shall control day
When what you see
Deep inside the day's controlling you and me
As mist and sun are both the same
We look on as pawns of their game
They move to testify the day
Inside out, outside in
Inside out, outside in
All of the way
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Other reviews
By simak14
"In 'Yours is No Disgrace,' there is so much music that many bands don’t compose in a career."
"The quasi-acoustic arrangement of 'Starship Trooper' makes it still very current in sound."
