Classic Yes [Remaster]

Performer: Yes
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: CLASSIC YES includes extra live tracks originally issued on a bonus 7" EP as part of the original LP package. Yes includes: Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Bill Bruford, Alan White, Tony Kaye. Producers: Yes, Eddie Offord. Compilation producer: Chris Squire. Recorded between 1970 and 1978. Originally released on Atlantic (19320). Digitally remastered by Joe Gastwirt (Ocean View Digital). Compiled by Chris Squire (in case you're wondering how "The Fish" made it this far upstream), Classic Yes was Atlantic's initial attempt to distill the band's best music. Subsequent compilations have swelled to four discs (Yesyears), been abridged to two (Yesstory), and further compacted to a single disc (Highlights), any one of which offers a bigger selection than Classic Yes, but not a better one. The key to this collection is in the title: this is the band's "classic" music. Anything prior to The Yes Album is cut out, no attempt is made to salvage snippets from Relayer or Tales From Topographic Oceans; Drama and Tormato are dispensed with. What remains is what made this band great: the science fiction and fantasy-laced epics, the tangible wizardry of their arrangements, moments that crystallized the magical power of music, and two unreleased live tracks from 1978 that find the band tethered to the realm of mortals." The logic behind the live tracks is pretty simple: "Roundabout" and "I've Seen All Good People" are two tracks that missed the original LP cut, so live versions of them were included with the LP as a bonus 45 rpm single. With the advent of CD technology, these two songs were appended to the disc and the whole thing was digitally remastered in 1994 (which is the version to own). It's only a minor complaint, though, and one easily overlooked in lieu of the music that made the first cut. Squire's picks are undoubtedly the right ones: "Heart of the Sunrise" to start things off, "And You and I" in all its ten-minute glory, "Starship Trooper" and "Yours Is No Disgrace" from their third album, and "Long Distance Runaround" and "The Fish." Classic Yes remains the place to start if you're interested in the band or just want to hear their best music in one sitting. ~ Dave Connolly How do you effectively anthologize on a single record the career of a band known for side-long epics? You either pick some of their shorter songs, or their finest, most representative epics. Somehow, this 1981 compilation, which encapsulates the band's '70s career, manages to do both. The sparkling ballad "Wonderous (sic) Stories" and the poignant "Heart of the Sunrise," with its shifting dynamics and heartfelt vocal, are Yes at their song-oriented best. Longer, multi-part "suites" like CLOSE TO THE EDGE's "And You and I" and THE YES ALBUM's "Starship Trooper" present the more complex, structurally sophisticated side of the band, where the interaction between Steve Howe, Chris Squire and either Rick Wakeman or Tony Kaye is the key to the elaborate arrangements. It could have easily been a double or triple album, but for a concise snapshot of Yes in the '70s, CLASSIC YES fills the bill nicely.

The longest-running prog-rock group in the business, Yes flew on the strength of Jon Anderson's high, angelic voice and the group's instrumental virtuosity. The band began in England, rising from the ashes of pop-psych outfits like Tomorrow, Bodast, and Mabel Greer's Toyshop. Extending the technical facility of psychedelia and downplaying the trippiness, it helped forge the template for progressive rock and reigned as its most popular practitioners in the '70s. Over the years, Yes has weathered personnel changes, lawsuits, and changing public tastes while holding on to its original vision.

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