(Album ©1971, Atlantic Records)
Yes helped to define the prog rock genre in the 
early ’70’s, and that started with their third album, 1971’s The Yes Album. After making two rather forgettable albums of marginally interesting rock music, where the highlights were covers of the Beatles, the Byrds, Richie Havens, and Stephen Stills, they were floundering. Neither album sold much in the US, which put them at risk of being dropped by Atlantic Records.
Then, with their third record, they brought in Steve Howe to replace original guitarist Peter Banks, and they cut out the cover tunes, and wrote some all-time classic songs. The introduced song suites to their catalog, with both “Starship Trooper” and “I’ve Seen All Good People” being a combination of multiple pieces or movements. While their previous album had songs with changing tempos and tones, like “Everydays” from Time and a Word, those songs feel to me like a lark, trying things out to see what might work or not. In that way, they were embryonic Progressive Rock songs, but they weren’t all that good.
The Yes Album is nearly perfect in its proggy goodness, and produced three of Yes’ all-time greatest hits. It went platinum in the US, and went to #4 on the UK charts, laying the groundwork for their next two albums, Fragile and Close to the Edge, both of which were equally successful and established Yes at the pinnacle of the Prog Rock genre.
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