page_title: The Yes Album
section_title: Songs
hierarchical_section_title: The Yes Album / Songs
caption_attribution_description: English: Lisbon Portuguese guitar.Português: Guitarra de Lisboa.
context_page_description: The Yes Album is the third studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 19 February 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was the band's first album to feature guitarist Steve Howe, who replaced Peter Banks in 1970, as well as their last to feature keyboardist Tony Kaye until 1983's 90125.
  The album was the first by the band not to feature any cover versions of songs. The band spent mid-1970 writing and rehearsing new material at a farmhouse at Romansleigh, Devon, and the new songs were recorded at Advision Studios in London in the autumn. While the album retained close harmony singing, Kaye's Hammond organ, and Chris Squire's melodic bass, as heard on earlier releases, the new material also covered further styles including jazz piano, funk, and acoustic music. All of the band members contributed ideas, and tracks were extended in length to allow music to develop. Howe contributed a variety of guitar styles, including a Portuguese guitar, and recorded the solo acoustic guitar piece "Clap", live at the Lyceum Theatre, London.
context_section_description: Yes had started their career as a covers band, performing radical re-arrangements of hit songs, and their first two albums included covers in this vein. The Yes Album was the first to feature group-written material in its entirety. Some familiar elements remained: Anderson, Howe and Squire sang three-part vocal harmony throughout the record, while Squire's melodic bass and Bill Bruford's spacious drumming made up their unique rhythm section.
  "Yours Is No Disgrace" originated from some lyrics written by Anderson with his friend David Foster. This was combined with other short segments of music written by the band in rehearsals. Howe worked out the opening guitar riff on his own while the rest of the band took a day's holiday. The backing track was recorded by the group in sections, then edited together to make up the final piece.
  Howe's solo acoustic tune, "Clap" (incorrectly titled "The Clap" in original album pressings), was influenced by Chet Atkins and Mason Williams' "Classical Gas". The piece was written to celebrate the birth of Howe's son Dylan on 4 August 1969. The version that appears on the album was recorded live at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 17 July 1970. The studio take of the piece, which was added as a bonus track on the 2003 Rhino remaster, continues into a section that would return almost unaltered in Howe's next solo acoustic piece "Mood for a Day" on their next album, Fragile.
  The spacey, electronic-sounding effect in "Starship Trooper" was achieved by running the guitar backing track through a flanger. Anderson wrote the bulk of the song, while Squire wrote the "Disillusion" section in the middle. The closing section, "Würm" is a continuous cadenza of chords (G-E♭-C) played ad lib. It evolved from a song called "Nether Street" by Howe's earlier group, Bodast.
  "I've Seen All Good People" is a suite of two tunes. Anderson wanted the piece to start quietly and develop, leading into a large church organ sound, before moving into the funky second movement. The band had difficulty recording the initial "Your Move" section, which was resolved by making a tape loop of bass and drums, over which Howe overdubbed a Portuguese 12-string guitar, miscrediting it as a "vachalia" on the album's credits. Gnidrolog's Colin Goldring played recorder on the track. The group also used a Dewtron bass pedal synthesizer on the track, which Anderson would then play in concert.
  Anderson wrote "A Venture" in the studio; the song was then arranged by the rest of the band. Kaye played piano on the track, contributing a jazzy solo towards the end. Howe played a guitar solo on the original recording, but it was left off the final mix, which faded out just as it started. The song was never played live by the original group, but an arrangement was worked out when Yes decided to play the whole album live in 2013.
  Anderson was inspired to write the lyrics for "Perpetual Change" by the view of the countryside from the cottage at Churchill. The middle of the track features a polyrhythmic structure, where two pieces of music in different time signatures are playing simultaneously.
caption: Steve Howe played a Portuguese guitar, credited as a "vachalia", on "Your Move".
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