A Couple of Older Yes Albums

Yes.  On the right is Time and a Word is the second album by progressive rock band Yes, released in mid-1970 in the UK and November 1970 in the US. This was the last Yes album to feature the group's original line-up, as Peter Banks was fired before the album's release.  Time and a Word (Atlantic 2400 006) reached #45 in the UK.  The North American release of the album (Atlantic SD 8273) did not chart.  Shown is the alternate cover, released in the US.  With Jon Anderson's decision to use a live orchestra on most of the album's songs (as Anderson reported in the YesYears video), Peter Banks was very much at odds with the decision. Tensions within the band increased, and just after the album's recording was completed in early 1970, Banks was asked to leave. Steve Howe would join the line-up that March, replacing Banks. The album includes two songs Jon Anderson wrote with David Foster, a former band mate in The Warriors.  Time and a Word's use of a studio orchestra seemed intrusive to some critics, and the album was received in a lukewarm fashion (UK #45, Yes' first chart entry at home). The opening track contains an orchestral intro to Richie Havens' song "No Opportunity Needed, No Experience Necessary", featuring a main theme from the 1958 film The Big Country by Jerome Moross.  Also, the track "The Prophet" borrows from Gustav Holst's "Jupiter" from the Planets Suite.  

On the left is the US copy of their eponymous debut album.   Yes is the 1969 eponymous debut album from British progressive rock band Yes, considered among the first progressive rockalbums. The original Yes line-up of vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Peter Banks, keyboardist Tony Kaye, and drummer Bill Bruford remained intact for the album's recording.  Lester Bangs favourably reviewed the album in Rolling Stone, writing that it was "the kind of album that sometimes insinuates itself into your routine with a totally unexpected thrust of musical power."