Yesterdays

This album always makes me smile. I know it's supposedly been made superfluous now by a number of other releases, remasters, etc. that also include the extra tracks that were at the time previously unreleased ("America" and "Dear Father"). But I always come back to this particular compilation. It's a really nice selection of tracks from their first two records, and as far as the extras?...they are amazing.

"America" is pretty commonly known by now of course, and it's an absolutely brilliant rendition, but the one song from this record that always gave me chills? "Dear Father." It has all the components of a classic Yessong...the impeccable musicianship, strong melodies, and sense of drama, but most importantly...emotion. When I say this song gave me chills I mean it literally. Listening to this song as a kid was like a religious experience for me. To this day it gives me goosebumps. It actually boggles my mind as to why this was originally left off the Time And A Word album, as I think it's stronger than most of the other songs on it (and I love that album). The song has been added to the Rhino remaster of Time And A Word, thus correcting this terrible oversight, but it also brings me back to another reason why I need to own Yesterdays: I hate the sound of the Rhino remasters. But that's a discussion for another time. ;-)