The Aspestos Album

Overall Album Score: 8.8 out of 10

Hey, this is where Steve Howe enters the band! Hah! He was a member of Asia! …And he’s a good guitar player. And Yes sounds better than ever on their third release aptly titled The Yes Album. But Rick Wakeman isn’t in the band yet? Maybe that’s why everyone likes Fragile the best. Rick Wakeman is awesome.

But anyway, this is the first Yes album that people generally consider to be classic. (Although their first two albums were formidable in themselves, The Yes Album is apparently where they discovered their path.) But yeah, it’s time for that epic rock nonsense! And for the most part, it’s well polished and gloriously pompous.

Yes’s most recognizable song on here is “I’ve Seen All Good People.” I hear them playing that chorus all the time on the radio. The rest of the song isn’t as instantly memorable but I enjoyed listening to it. Another biggun in here is a song called “Starship Trooper.” That’s an epic song for the masses, and it’s really well done.

Few prog rock bands were ever able to rock like Yes. (And I’m pretty sure that most prog rock bands of this era didn’t even want to rock.) They can rock and give us some nice classical inspired stuff. John Anderson even graces us with a two-minute upbeat folk song called “Clap.”

Unfortunately, the album’s last two songs leave a bit to be desired. The Beatlesesqque “The Venture” just doesn’t seem to work. They didn’t put enough elbow grease in that one! Likewise “Perpetual Change,” though it’s perfectly nice in its own right, is probably the weakest of the 9+ minute songs of the album.

Nevertheless, this is a good effort! Perhaps it’s overrated by Yes fans, but I suppose there’s reason to. … This record hasn’t convinced me to convert to Yes fandom, but it does come close.

Overall Album Score: 8.8 out of 10 (A minor masterpiece. It would have been better if they didn’t seem to give up on it during the last two tracks. But it’s a good album regardless.)

Average Song Score: 8.8 (Nice beginning … classic middle … boring end.)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (There are many great moments here that nobody can ever want to snub it! It rocks pretty well.)

Artist Rating: 9.0 (Nice prog-rock … It’s accessible and arty and everything.)

Track Reviews

Yours is no Disgrace 9/10

This song is nearly 10 minutes long! Hasn’t anyone told Yes that we just can’t stand for these kinds of shenanigans???? … OK, just kidding. For a progressive rock band to make a song less than five minutes long is a mortal sin. You should listen to this song in headphones if you can. The guitar solos come in one ear and out the other. SWEETNESS!!! … As far as this song goes, it’s prog-rock that rocks. It has a thundering, epic quality that only Yes could ever accomplish. Genesis are wimpy! The melody isn’t memorable. The way this song is presented and played is what keeps it moving.

Clap 9/10

This is the track where Yes shouts to the world: “Yes! We have a new guitarist!” It’s a live cut of three minutes worth of acoustic guitar playing. It sounds more folkish than prog rock, but who the heck would ever complain about that? And Yes, if you didn’t believe it on “Yours is no Disgrace,” this new guitarist really can play.

Starship Trooper 9.5/10

In typical prog-rock fashion, this is a nine-minute song that is done in three sections. It also wants to tell a story of some sort. All I really care about is how the song sounds, though. The first section is nice in its epic, pretentious quality. Toward the end of this section, the melody overstays its welcome a bit. Nothing major there. The second part features more of Steve Howe’s acoustic guitar finger pickin’ … (Hey! They got a new guitarist! Sweet!!) The instrumental section at the end of it is one of those loops that keeps on repeating itself. It starts non-eventful, but gets more dramatic and heavy at its end. Nice build up.

I’ve Seen All Good People 10/10

If you want a song with a memorable melody, you’ll have to turn to this track. … Or maybe it’s not memorable and I just remember it because I hear it frequently on classic rock radio. … I still think I’d like the melody even if this was my first exposure to it. It begins with a pompous a cappella part, and then some light strumming and recorders start playing in the background whilst Jon Anderson starts singing pretentious lyrics. Cool introduction of the hammond organ at the three minute mark … this helps the song sound epic. A bouncy electric part comes shortly after that, but the melody is exactly the same. (Hey, they’re showing off their guitarist … might as well, you know!) Oh, Yes has a nice drummer, too. Cool drumming all throughout this.

A Venture 7/10

Not so bad, but it fails to really take off like the other tracks did. It kind of reminds me of a Beatles song from The White Album except without a catchy melody. The instrumentation is kind of strange and disjointed. Perhaps not a lot of effort was put into this. Oh well.

Perpetual Change 8/10

The beginning is neat at first with its guitar strumming playing what sounds like whole-tones to me. The rest of the song seems to be like a mesh between country music, jazz and rock. But it’s all very classical rock. It’s a nice listen but it all comes off as uninspired and even boring at times. It’s nothing like “Starship Trooper” or “I’ve Seen All Good People” that’s for sure. The end of this song is probably my favorite. It has an “I’ve-just-seen-the-wonders-of-the-world-and-now-it’s-off-to-bed” feel to it.

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