Time And A Word
1970
Atlantic Records
Yes- a timeless band. They never really do change, do they? Especially back in their early 70's heyday they were doing the same thing many other prog bands: reveling in the scene that they had intruded on. Yes was equally as fervent to produce their masterworks, but they were perhaps on the top. This, of course, was after 1972 when their hit Fragile slammed the charts and gave new light to it's other brethren. Antecedent to this, Yes was still releasing a few releases to test the waters, notably their self-titled debut as well as Time and a Word. Out of the two of them, I like them both. Except, after listening to this album, it's grown on me so much that I absolutely adore it.
The band is of course a symphonic prog band. Thus, they have an obligatory motif of acoustic echoing and orchestral-style instrumentation contained within these couple of guys. I must say that this is excellent. Of course they've done it amazingly especially on later releases, but A Time and a Word gives you a little sample of what they've got going for them and for you, the listener in the future. The album features some beautiful previously stated acoustics as well as amazing vocals. Every instrument is played to it's full extent and is free of public criticism due to this (as stated before), before Yes became extremely popular. Something that's not exactly positive but I wouldn't take away from it is how not as accessible it is compared to their other releases. It features a lot more material from the heart as opposed to fancy time signatures to please time-weathered prog folk as well as the general consensus of the modern music world. It isn't anything displeasing; in fact for me, it's even better because there's less radio-friendliness and more true light-hearted experimentation coupled with occasional ominous overtones.
This album is one for the books. It is most definitely on par with the likes of Close to the Edge and Fragile, and is much better than The Yes Album with followed it up. I suggest you go pick up Time and a Word as soon as possible if you haven't already.
2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher
Originally written for Prog Archives on 1/22/2015.
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