Once you recognize there is no perfect Yes collection, you'll eventually come around to the idea that Classic Yes is a pretty good album. A reasonably complete compilation of Yes' best work would consume several CDs. This single CD does a decent job.
The album suffers from poor song selection. How could anyone put the LIVE version of Roundabout on a best of album and still call it Classic? Unbelievable. There's also the issue of mediocre sound qualty. The more recent Highlights has improved sound quality and the studio version of Roundabout...but it has problems of its own. Classic Yes is an imperfect collection, but still a must for fans of 70s Yes.

I want to make it clear before I write anything more that I know nothing about Yes. I don't know the name of a single member in the band, except Jon Anderson and I don't even know what he does in the band. I don't know who the lyricist is, I don't know the inspiration for any of these songs, and this is the first Yes album I've listened to. So, if my review is sketchy. Forgive me. My friend let me borrow this CD and listening to it, I have to say that these guys rock. They're true musicians, they all play what they play so well. The bassist is one of the best bassists I've heard in a song. He's up there with Geddy Lee and Flea (two odd people to be together I know). The keyboardist is one of the best keyboardist's ever bar none...The singer sounds like a mix between Geddy Lee and Steve Perry, even though I'm pretty sure he was around long before the both of them. Almost all the songs on this CD are long, which is something I usually don't like. I really don't like long songs, but these were cool. They're songs start off one way and, usually, take a completely different direction towards the end. It's like two songs mixed into one. Although I know nothing of the band, I think solely by listening to this I can say that these guys are some of the best artists of rock. Here are the songs and some opinions I have on them;

1. Heart of the Sunrise-5/5-I heard this song in Vincent Gallo's movie "Buffalo 66".
This song would've worked better as an instrumental (even though about 85% of it is). The music they've worked out is killer.
2. Wonderous Stories-5/5-The lyrics to this song are really cool.
3. Yours is No Disgrace-5/5-The musicianship on this song is awesome. It sounds really cool.
4. Starship Troopers-5/5-This song takes so many different turns, but it's still great.
5. Lond Distance Runaround-5/5-A fantastic instrumental.
6. The Fish-5/5-Great keyboard playing. Everything about this song is cool.
7. And You and I-5/5-This song's really awesome too.
8. Roundabout-5/5-This song is totally awesome, it's Yes's "Stairway to Heaven". Is the original version live though?
9. I've Seen All Good People-5/5-I'd heard this song before in movies like "Almost Famous". It's a really beautiful song, with fantastic lyrics.

This whole CD is rocking. If you haven't listened to Yes you should really check them out...If you like Rush (and I know the guys of Rush like Yes) then you should like this band.
GRADE: A

There are a few other compliations of "Yes" music. I think this is far and away the best one. The great guitar bassist of Yes' Golden Age - Chris Squire selected the songs on this compilation. Most are the orginal remastered studio versions. The last two (Roundabout, I've Seen all Good People) are from live preformances. Because Chris compiled this, you might expect that he would select those songs where the bass figures prominately. By and large he does (The Fish, Starship Trooper, Heart of the Sunrise, Long Distance RunAround...) , but he picks some songs like "And You and I (Cords of Life)" where Steve Howe on Acoustic guitar and Wakeman on Keyboards are the dominate features. "Wonderous Stories" is another great piece where bass plays a relativley minor role. So I think Chris Squire did a fair. balanced job of choosing the tracks for this compilation.

All songs are taken from Yes' "Golden trilogy" of albums: "The Yes Album", "Fragile", "Close to the Edge", which many consider to be Yes' finest work. "Yesterdays" is another compilation of Yes' first two albums (before Howe and Wakeman) "Yes" and "Time and a Word" when the group was immature. If you were going to choose one album from the "Golden Trilogy", I would make it this compilation and get the very best of all three. Chris selected the very cream from that 3 album era and they are arranged not by album but in a very pleasing way. I believe that I would have selected the same songs - He certainly selected the best one off of each of the 3 albums: "Heart of the Sunrise", "Starship Trooper" & "And You and I". Those songs represent the most "Progressive" songs from each of the albums, where the focus is the music displaying many "voices". "Heart of Sunrise" has at least 4 distinct themes interweaving their taprestry of sound.

I personally would have tried squeezing in "Fragile"'s 'South Side of the Sky' - but you can not have everything. Summary: best compilation of Yes' most critical era - when the band was at its most creative and before wholesale changes in personel diminished the talent of the group. Here you get the talent ("chops") and the composition - you get it all and the very best.

I enjoy Yes' music quite a lot, and have quite a few of their CDs. However, I am not sure why I have this particular one. This CD is essentially another collection of their best, and is thus a "best of" collection. However, I have the CDs from which each of the songs derived. My usual excuse or justification for these kinds of collections is that either they are another combination of favorite songs, or they are great for the more casual Yes fan. However, I've come to notice that there really are very few casual Yes fans. We are either generally rabid fans, or for those who aren't, they don't care for Yes at all.

I can't fault the collection. The music here is all good, though some of the versions are cut down from the versions as originally released. "Heart of the Sunrise", "Wondrous Stories", a personal favorite, "Starship Troopers", "The Fish", and many more. Yes fans have heard them all and likely have them all collected on at least one CD. Which takes me back to the beginning: Why own this CD at all? Well, I guess I fall under the category of rabid Yes fan. I own it because it is Yes, and while Yes has had CDs that perhaps were less than stellar, I have still liked every one. You, on the other hand, may not be as enthused about collecting everything Yes ever did. If you already have all their early CDs, then best pass this one by. If you have some of their other collections, same answer. Of course, if you just have to have all their CDs, then heaven help us all because you may have to pass by a Spock's Beard or Transatlantic CD to pick this one up, and you probably need those too.

I give this CD 5 stars because these songs are the best of early Yes. However, given that the songs have been collected elsewhere, and the albums from which they came are pretty good, I have to fall short of recommending this CD as a must buy if you have a lot of Yes music. Consider your collection and musical goals well before you buy this one.

Yes, one of the greatest and most underated rock bands ever! This is a must to any serious rock fan's collection! To begin with, I purchased this album as an introductory to some of Yes' non-radio music.

As a casual Yes fan, i was only really familiar with their radio friendly hits, "Roundabout", "Long Distance Runaround" & "I've Seen All Good People" all which are true gems! I've always loved Jon Anderson's voice. I'm a sucker for bands with high pitched lead singers!

Musically, Yes is truly as good as it gets! I instantly fell in love with "Heart Of The Sunrise", just a masterful, mind-blowing, dark, gloomy 10+ minute track! While the beautiful "And You & I" doesn't fall back much, another classic Yes track. After listening to this album a few hundred times within a month or two of purchase, i had to listen to more Yes and wound up getting Fragile... one of the truly great classic albums ever!

If you're someone who is looking to get into Yes, then this album will surely fill your need! If you're just a casual fan and want this album for the radio friendly tracks... then stay away! As "Roundabout" & "I've Seen All Good People" are live versions, not the studio tracks!! They're still very good live songs but even i was disappointed at first since they weren't the regular studio tracks.