Music today has been a playlist of progressive rock songs generated automatically when my own playlist ended. Many classics stood out but I picked an album that doesn’t get much attention, Yes’s second album Time And A Word (1970). It opens rather strangely with a Richie Havens cover, No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed. But the song is also credited to Jerome Moross which must allude to the orchestral theme in the middle of the song. The orchestra appears here and there throughout the record, apparently, due to this and guitarist Peter Banks‘s discontent with it, he was sacked and replaced by Steve Howe who incidentally appears on the US cover art but didn’t play on the record. The UK cover art was deemed not appropriate for the US market, that old chestnut of nudity is rude, even in a surreal drawing. Another cover version on the album is Buffalo Springfield’s Everydays from the second album Again (1967) written by Stephen Stills, it’s something of an interpretation, to say the least. The track I heard on the playlist was Astral Traveller, listen to Chris Squire’s bass on this one, wow. The lineup also features Tony Kaye who was gone after their third album (The Yes Album, 1971) and Bill Bruford who eventually defected to King Crimson, Jon Anderson on vocals. Crossover classic, sixties to seventies jazzy orchestrated prog.

Music Of The Daze

Note: Steve Howe appears in all the videos although he didn’t play on any of the songs (it was Peter Banks). Spot the video where Chris Squire and Tony Kaye swap instruments.