Review Summary: A transition to much greater things to come.
Before they broke out with
The Yes Album, Yes recorded two albums that aren’t particularly remembered as great achievements. Their self-titled debut was however quite good, and very interesting in hindsight of what they’ve gone to achieve later. Not exactly the same can be said about
Time and a Word. While Yes’ second effort is decent, it is more of a transitional record, not all that strong on its own. The formation of Anderson/Banks/Squire/Kaye/Bruford of the group’s debut stayed intact, though Banks was fired shortly before this album was released, to be replaced by none other than definitive Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
The album's most distinct feature is that it includes fairly dominant string arrangement in many songs. Unfortunately, this did not mesh too well with the band’s developing style, and in effect was left behind them quickly after this record. The tracks here aren’t quite as memorable as those on its predecessor, but some minor highlights can be found in the organ-driven songs, most notably
Astral Traveller. The main problem remains that while the songs in themselves aren’t bad, they don’t contain a lot of energy and can be a slight bore, lacking a daring edge that could be found in the melting of rock and jazz on the debut.
As it is,
Time and a Word is good, but remains mostly forgettable, containing none of the things that made Yes such an powerful group at their peak. They did however build to this peak after this album, finding out what they really wanted and exploiting it in grandiose progressive epics.
Time and a Word will be interesting only for the more collective of Yes fans.
Time and a Word’s Yes was:
- John Roy Anderson ~ Lead Vocals, Percussion
- Peter William Brockbanks ~ Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Christopher Russell Squire ~ Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Anthony John Selvidge ~ Organ, Piano
- William Scott Bruford ~ Drums, Percussion
TO BE CONTINUED...
