YES Beyond And Before 1969 DEBUT ALBUM | REACTION

[@kennethmckinney2532]

YES!! No pun intended...

[@kato0828]

LET’s GO!! The Yes discography up next!

[@lesblatnyak5947]

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Squire and YES the greatest show on earth. The journey begins, I got shotgun 🙏🎶

[@markdrechsler5660]

This is a really strong debut album. Not quite the fully formed Yes that I first knew, but I have come to really appreciate this record. And the second as well. I hope you continue on, lots of greatness to discover in Yes’s first dozen or so albums.

[@reneolthof6811]

Magnificent choice. Yes with Bruford and White as a drummer are quite different. Even more so pre HOWE and pre WAKEMAN. But no matter what line up, YES are among the best bands ever.

[@EnoVarma]

Yes! Now we're talking. Love this album "with warts and all". "The Yes Album", which came out two years later, is such a masterpiece that this debut often gets neglected, but I love it. The band doesn't yet know how to produce their material, but the ingredients are there. I liked your analysis a lot. I'm on board this journey.

[@mattleppard1964]

First song first album. What a start! THE BASS!!!! ❤ THE ORGAN ❤❤ ALL OF IT ❤❤❤

[@jaymez3461]

Please tell me you're going down the Yes rabbit hole. I know you already did Going for the One, but everything before it is great stuff. They were a big inspiration for the band, Rush. You'll understand that when you hear Chris Squire's bass lines. Excellent stuff! The debut album is very good, but they got better.

[@jeffhauf5598]

Awesome. Just like Queen I never listened to Yes’ first 2 albums when I first got into them. I started at the The Yes Album. Unlike Queen I still have never heard Yes’s first 2 albums so I’m looking forward to this.

[@jeffhauf5598]

Like the first song. I can hear some Yes sounds especially the bass, Jon singing and the backing vocals. Definitely feels sixties to me. Can’t wait for the rest.

[@kennethmckinney2532]

Me too. I actually started with Yessongs and built around around it but never got the first 2 either

[@ono1dij]

Yes is another of my bands of my life, incredible discography... I hope you enjoy this journey!!! Olay attention to Chris Squire, one of the most incredible bassist of the universe

[@toddc28]

So glad you are doing early Yes. Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman are not in the band yet but that’s ok. I do like Tony’s keyboards on the early albums. By their third album they develop their 70’s prog sound they are most known for. You can hear the beginnings of it on their first two albums. Many Yes fans probably don’t listen to the first two albums very much. It’s very 60’s sounding. But there are some really decent songs and playing here.

[@TheReaperMan275]

I'm glad to see you exploring more Yes, Justin. They are and have been one of my favorite groups, my whole life, from 16 onward. I'll be 60 in another 2 months, so that gives an idea of the time span. Chris Squire is the GOAT!

[@yes_head]

All of us Yes freaks *really* appreciate this, Justin. Hopefully your numbers get a boost out of it. Sorry for my usual wall of text, but it's Yes... In the late 60's, American labels were busy shopping for British rock bands, and Atlantic wanted in on the action. Atlantic didn't really know the British scene (they were mainly an American jazz and soul label up to that point), so Ahmet Ertugun was more personally involved than usual. By the way, the other rock group he signed at the same time as Yes was Led Zeppelin. That worked out well. 😉 But with that intro Chris makes quite the statement of intent, eh? 😄 The original formula for Yes that Jon and Chris came up with was to marry great vocals to great instrumental playing. So it's no surprise that from the get go Yes had a pretty dense sound, similar to bands like Vanilla Fudge (who were the main inspiration when it came to the souped-up covers.) This is the only song on the album that's a holdover from anyone's pre-Yes groups. Peter Banks had been in The Syn with Chris in 1967, but was never in Mabel Greer's Toyshop. The Toyshop was a group founded by two other guys. Chris joined and then Jon. Chris and Jon were stronger personalities and as they started to assert themselves friction arose. Chris and Jon thought "F-it, rather than bend these guys to our will let's just start our own band." A quick phone call got Peter on board, and they auditioned for Tony and Bill. And yeah, Bill was still a college kid who had almost no professional experience up til then. If you're interested there's a video of Yes playing "Beyond and Before" on French TV in 1969. Oh, and re: the 3-part vocals, Chris always took the high part with Jon in the center and Peter low. That formula held up basically til the mid-late 70's when Chris' voice started to deepen (he was a heavy smoker) and he and Jon would flip (because Jon's voice was somehow getting remarkably higher!)

[@kennethmckinney2532]

Stoked for a Yes journey 👍

[@desijohnson7543]

Good place to start and see the arc of how the musicians evolve. Havent heard this in a while.

[@JJ8KK]

Chris Squire was absolutely the father of YES. He once said that one of the reasons he wanted to create his own band was because he would try back then (1967?) to get work as a session player, but no one liked how he played the bass. So he already had plans to form his own band when he met Jon Anderson & they found they both loved bands that featured great vocal harmonies (Chris had sung in some Big Deal Church Choir in his youth, thus his taste for those soaring, ascending vocal harmonies). YES was always going to be a progressive experimental rock band that *_loved to sing_* (maybe only the Moody Blues saw it as equally important within the Prog Rock genre?) So there's no doubt Chris was determined that in _his_ band, his contributions would be clearly heard in the mix. With his band mates all understanding the need to create a Unique Sound in the London music scene, they all saw the wisdom of adding their contributions around Chris' Industrial-Melodic inspirations. For me, it's always been the single most appealing feature of YES' catalog that I've always loved, Chris' dominating virtuoso bass inspirations. In the first 5 albums, his contributions almost always received the emphasis in the mix that is usually given to the lead guitarist. I only started to lose my infatuation with YES in the 1990's when Chris seemed content to be "just the bass player" in a talented ensemble of musicians. He had started to dial back his "super participation" after the Close To The Edge album, but would still offer regular jaw-dropping bass inspirations in later albums (the *Gates Of Delirium* stands out) but more generally, surrounded by some very talented musicians (Howe & Wakeman), he seemed to just want to be part of the gang most times. You were quite a bright star in the eyes of many, Chris Squire...

[@yar9333]

I of course had heard Yes music all my life, on the radio coming out of my college roommates speakers in early 1982. But my first full album listen was Topographical Oceans which is a hard listen but I really enjoyed it. My second full album 90125. You can’t get more diverse in the Yes universe. I love that album. But that was pretty much my Yes listening until 3 years ago I went down the Yes rabbit hole and went through their entire discography in release order. It is vast, complicated and wholly satisfying. What I learned is that I always feel good after listening to a Yes album, even the ‘bad’ ones, and there are some clunkers, but there’s always something good on all their albums. Even their new stuff is satisfying to me. There are definitely different camps of which line up is best blah blah blah……but the reality is just lots of good music no matter who’s in the band. I would take the journey in chunks, do 3-5 albums take a break and resume so as not to get ear fatigue as things can get complicated but in the best way possible 🤩

[@bukeksiansu2112]

Chris's bass was already grips even on the they first album. He's the only original Yes member that never leave the band

[@NewOldVideos-d5o]

Yeah, I saw YES in concert too... Their opening act was a Popeye Cartoon! So good,

[@scottzappa9314]

Really? Yes? Thank you! They are a supergroup much like Rush or Genesis chock full o' geniuses. Few singers will outshine Jon Anderson. What the hell, I've never heard this song or of this album??? Holy shit. I foolishly thought the other much more well known album would be their debut. (Like most everybody else) This is great but I'm not even sure if it's totally represents early Yes. Regardless, you're going to love it.

[@TheAmazingSpaghetti]

They said they were pretty much newbies in the studio, and that they didn't really know what they were doing as far as recording their songs. But it's a good record, a mix of a unique sound and the common psychedelic sound of the time.

[@raymondregis6219]

Love Geddy, Deacy, Entwistle, Bruce, Jaco, Murray, McCartney, JP Jones and Rutherford BUT Chris was the most unique, powerful and beautiful.

[@kennethmckinney2532]

Justin this is the only Yes album I don't have in my collection up to 1980. It will be great to hear their beginnings as I have never heard 60's Yes with the exception of the live tune you mentioned which I loved. I have a crapload of their 70's solo albums as well including of course Fish Out Of Water and a bunch of Wakeman stuff. Also later when Jon hooked up with Vangelis also. I was nuts buying albums back in the day. My daughter and son will fight over my collection once I meet my maker one day. They have already expressed that they want them. Cheers brother and am excited about the journey upcoming. Skip Tales From Topographical Oceans though. Just my suggestion...

[@Johnnywr]

Awesome, Justin, a Yes trip! The first two Yes albums are like a separate band in itself. I've a few friends who don't like Yes (for the usual offered reasons: bloated nonsensical prog rock etc) but who love those first two albums.

[@raymondregis6219]

... and Bill is my favorite drummer.

[@deboraclark5791]

Back then I heard yes on the radio but I never bought any of their albums, so I know nothing much about their music. So it's pretty much new to me. The harmonies are pretty good, and its music is mainly typical of the time, to me some of the 60s music didn't travel through time very well, several bands from that time I never listen to now. But that's just my opinion, I feel that way about some of the 50s music too.

[@kennethmckinney2532]

The biggest problem (if you consider it a problem) going down the Yes rabbit hole is it will be time consuming. I'm all in of course. Much like Rush they change over time but much like Rush there is nothing but good stuff into the mid 80's. I know for you and for me Power Windows is sort of the line of demarcation with Rush. Right around 85' is the same for Yes but that's just my opinion. I'm sure there is good stuff beyond that. If I'm not mistaken Big Generator is 87'. 100% up to 90125 everything is really good. Thanks again. I am enjoying the 8:30 and 5:00 content at this point. Genesis wasn't my jam back in the day but they are good....

[@reneolthof6811]

EVERY band was hugely influenced by The Beatles, but Jon Anderson especially, since he was in several Beatles cover bands before Yes!

[@JustinPanariello]

Oohh interesting

[@JimboKM]

Overall, YES has been my favorite band throughout the years. That being said, I never have gone back to this album after buying it and then feeling like I had to listen to it. Pre-Steve Howe YES is just so primitive.

[@JustinPanariello]

thats alright lol i'm sure its different but it's interesting to hear the beginning. And i'm digging the 60s vibes.

[@yar9333]

This is a perfect band for you since most of Jon Andersons lyrics don’t mean much of anything, he just likes to put different sounds together for sounds and rhythms. They are very ‘hippie dippie’ most of the time

[@garysteinert8040]

You really need to do the Armenian earthquake relief video. Smoke on the Water. There is also a full documentary about the making.

[@mpkelley20]

I was not a Yes fan until later but I wonder what their fans said when their music evolved. Did people get pissed when the 80's hit? LOL

[@kennethmckinney2532]

The last Yes album I bought back in the day was Tormato. I didn't hear the 80's Yes till much later in life but it's actually different but good for the most part