Yes - Time And A Word (1970)

After the release of their debut album 'Yes' in July 1969 for Atlantic Records, Yes resumed extensive touring across the UK. The line-up of the group at this time included lead vocalist Jon Anderson, guitarist Peter Banks, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Bill Bruford, and organist Tony Kaye, and towards the end of 1969 they booked time at Advision Studios in London, during gaps between shows, to record their second record. At Advision, Yes were joined by producer Tony Colton, a friend of Anderson's who was also the singer of the rock band Heads Hands & Feet, and audio engineer Eddy Offord was also brought in to assist Colton in the album's production, because of his skills and hard work. The group continued to follow their early musical direction of performing original material and rearranged cover versions of songs by pop, jazz, and folk artists, and the album eventually consisted of eight tracks, with two covers, as did their debut. A discussion amongst Squire, Anderson, and Colton during the writing process led to the decision of incorporating orchestral arrangements into some of their new songs, as Anderson felt that Banks and Kaye had not worked together to create a strong sound that their new arrangements required. To attempt to solve this, the group thought about using a Mellotron, and tested one out, but the idea fell through. Instead, a brass section of session players and a string section formed of students from the Royal College of Music were hired to perform arrangements written and conducted by Tony Cox. 

Banks did not support the idea of an orchestra and thought it merely followed what rock bands Deep Purple and the Nice had already done, and also he argued that it merely played parts originally written for the guitar or organ, leaving his active participation on the album a minimum, or his guitar buried in the album's mix. Banks also disagreed with the decision to have Colton produce the album, and claimed that he lacked the experience, with his ability being questioned by Squire, who recalled one incident during the mixing of 'No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed', which Colton mixed using "a crappy pair of cans that did not reproduce bass", rather than using the studio's monitoring equipment. He then asked for more bass, but Squire and Howe noticed that the bass levels on the monitors were already high, and the bass is still noticeably overpowering on that track. The album's six original tracks are credited to Anderson, along with either Squire or David Foster, Anderson's former bandmate in The Warriors, and Anderson's lyric content began to move from simple love themes to topics of greater scale. The album received a mixed reception, but a review by Roy Carr in New Musical Express in August 1970 hailed it as one of the best releases of the year. Following the recording of the album in early 1970, tensions within the band increased, and Banks was asked to leave, with Steve Howe replacing him that June. To hear what Banks wanted the album to sound like, I've removed all the strings and brass, and boosted the organ to fill out the gaps, so that we now have 'Time And A Word' as just played by the band themselves. The general consensus is that the one track to benefit from the orchestration is 'Clear Days', but I've still removed it just so that you hear what it would have sounded like in a stripped-down version. To distinguish it from the standard edition I've housed it in the US version of the cover, which features Steve Howe, even though he didn't play on the record.  

Track listing

1 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed
2 Then
3 Everydays
4 Sweet Dreams
5 The Prophet
6 Clear Days
7 Astral Traveller
8 Time And A Word