Yes
The Yes Album (Super Deluxe) RHINO
Prog cornerstone’s breakthrough album, now effectively re-repackaged.
In 2014, a ‘Definitive’ edition of Yes’s third and breakthrough record The Yes Album was released. It was jampacked with as many bells as there were whistles: the original album, freshly remastered; some unreleased material; recordings from two live shows; and the obligatory Steven Wilson 5.1 Surround Sound mix. Cut to the next scene: it’s 2023, and now we have a Super Deluxe version of the album. It’s been remastered. There’s some unreleased material. There are recordings from two live shows. There’s a Dolby Atmos remix from Steven Wilson.
Quite where all this repackaging and repurposing is headed is anyone’s guess, but we’re surely beyond the point of diminishing returns –and there are a couple of things about this Super Deluxe version where things are truly diminished. The first is the inclusion of the single edit of which is a reasonable enough curio, but it’s spineless without the transcendent section of the original, with its gorgeous build-climaxrelease prog-gasm. Then there’s the mono version of thepreviously lit up by Steve Howe’s guitar panning maniacally from left to right and back. Acollector’s item, perhaps, but in a package that is so clearly aimed at audiophiles its inclusion seems a little obtuse.
