Jon Anderson: Vocals
Bill Bruford: Drums
Peter Banks: Guitar
Tony Kaye: Keyboard
After the moderate success of their debut, the self-titled Yes, the British progressive rock icons re-grouped the next year and gave us this. Released in 1970, Time and a word is what I would refer to as a "transition album." I'm not the first to use the phrase to describe an album, and I am certain that I won't be the last. However, I would like to somewhat dispel the negative connotation that the phrase seems to evoke in many. Every worthwhile band goes through transitions, that's what makes them worthwhile in the first place. To give some examples, I would view Meddle as a transition album for Pink Floyd, as they moved from the more tripped out psychedelia of their late 60s material, to the more progressive, space-rock oriented sound they would find on Dark Side of the Moon. I would also say that The Bends was quite an impressive "transition album" for Radiohead from the more pop-rock song based Pablo Honey, into the art-rock territory of Ok Computer. I love both of the albums listed, and I think that they were each highly important releases. For certain bands, the "transition albums" might actually be the most interesting to listen to, since they can capture two different sounds of a band without leaning too heavily on one.
Now that that's clear up, Time and a Word marks the transition of Yes out of the poppier material found on their self-titled album, but not quite yet at the full throttle progressive outings that The Yes Album, and future releases would find them. While this is quite interesting to listen to, unfortunately, it doesn't always work quite as well as I would like for it to.
Before picking the album apart too much, what are the redeeming qualities? Well, I can't speak highly enough for the musicianship here, particularly Bill Buford and Chris Squire are just playing their hearts out, and as a musician myself, I can't help but fall in love with some of the instrumental bits. Tracks like Everydays feature some of my all-time favorite Yes instrumental passages, and I don't make that statement lightly. Also, John Anderson really seems to come into his own here, taking full advantage of his brilliant voice, and adding some real balls to some of these vocal lines. Worthy entirely of its own mention is the absolutely brilliant title track, a long-time favorite Yes song of mine, boasting a brilliant melody, and all around fantastic musicianship and beautiful playing.
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| The original album cover was deemed as too controversial in America and was subsequently released under this cover in the US |
This isn't to say that the orchestra never works, because at times, such as in the high energy opener No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed, or the horns in the end of Then, we can see the potential that the orchestra could have brought to the Yes sound given the proper execution. But sadly it just doesn't quite work as I don't feel Yes was ready for such a big step forward. Fortunately, Yes tried their hand at incorporating the orchestral sound into their music again much later on Magnification, but we'll get to that later. Also, just like on the first album, there is some filler material here towards the end which, while not blatantly bad by any stretch, just doesn't quite cut it.
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| Due to disputes between Peter Banks and Jon Anderson over the matter of the inclusion of the orchestra, this was the last Yes album to feature the playing of Banks and thus ends the original Yes lineup. |
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