The first part of the career of this legendary progressive rock band

Yes are the archetypal 1970s progressive rock group. Playing powerful and adventurous music when it was briefly part of the mainstream, the band thrilled millions with their iconic albums and epic live shows. Records like Fragile and Close To The Edge helped define an era, and although the band dissolved at the end of the decade, Yes emerged once again with 90125, a streamlined, modern sound in the 1980s and a US number one hit single in ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. Now in their sixth decade, the band continues to release albums and play live into the new millennium, despite numerous, sometimes controversial, lineup changes. Revised and expanded from the author's single-volume edition first published in 2018, this first of two books examines each of Yes’s studio albums between their debut in 1968 and the controversial Union album and tour, highlighting the many high points and the rarer missteps, and focusing on the changes in band dynamics that led to varied – but always interesting – music. As well as a complete re-examination of those seminal early albums, It includes a more detailed examination of the live recordings released during this period, making this the most comprehensive examination of the music created during those 23 years yet written.