re: #12 Charles Johnson

I’m usually less than impressed with “remastered” versions of classic albums, but this one really is terrific:

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I still think this might be the best album by Yes - the one where they found their unique voice. The remastering process brings out the qualities of each instrument in the mix beautifully, and it’s striking how dry and un-effected the instruments were. Occasionally there’s some light reverb on the voices, but even there most of the harmonies are dry as a bone. That was part of their sound.

I had a friend in high school who had an unrequited crush on my best friend. When he finally gave up on her, he became kind of ascetic and anti-materialistic, and he gave me all his albums (like 75 of them), except the ones by Yes. He kept those. I have a Yes-shaped hole in my listening history.