Beyond & Before

[yarstruly]

I LOVE This track! What a way for Yes to begin their carrer! I Love the opening bass line, the harmonies, the dynamics...It is a real taste of what was to come....anyone else agree?

[ANTIOCH]

I have always held a personal fondness for their debut release.
It was 1969 and 'The Beatles' were breaking up and my faith in music was sinking, when I stumbled upon the import album with the bubble cover. What a shock it was to hear YES for the 1st time and realize 'a new beginning was unfolding'.
From beginning to end "YES" is full of the brilliance I have enjoyed for 35 years and the band has never given us anything less than the effort before.

[Purple Wolfhound]

I most certainly agree, yars! Always one of my favourites and definitely for that thundering bass and those opening harmonies that give me goosebumps every time I hear it. Great lyrics, too - we get a taste of Jon Anderson's idiosyncratic style of writing right from the get go. One of my Yes dreams has always been to hear this played live as a concert opener - the fanfare for a reunion show of the original members, perhaps?

[yarstruly]

Didn't Chris write this though?

But othewise I totally agree! I Love Banks' guitar work on this too!

[Robert Shupe]

I have always enjoyed this song. It is actually a carry over from Chris and Peter being in Mabel Greer's Toyshop. It was written by Chris Squire and Clive Bailey also of Mabel Greer's Toyshop.

It is heavy yet it carries it's melody nicely.

In Yes Stories Chris talks about it as an acid rock kind of song with psychedelic lyrics and Peter talks about who knows what the lyrics mean.

I don't worry to much about the lyrical interpretation. To me it has some nice nature analogies which fits in well with the whole mother earth motif of the band's catalogue.

I think it is a strong opening track on their debut album.

Time like gold dust brings mind down.

Robert K. Shupe

[Purple Wolfhound]

Originally posted by Robert Shupe
It was written by Chris Squire and Clive Bailey also of Mabel Greer's Toyshop.


I stand corrected - you guys are right - but the lyrics do have a certain Anderson-like flavour to them, don't they? So who influenced whom, then? :confused:

[mattquarterstein]

Yeah, the lyrics do sound very Anderson-esque. Maybe Chris Squire was cosmic-minded in his younger years and it jumped from him to Jon.

Great song. My favourite from this album.

[The Prchr The Trchr]

Beyond and Before is great not only in Chris' bass tone, but in Bruford's swing. Check out the kick drum in the intro with Chris at the 4th bar. Wow.