The two hundred and ninth album: #209 Yes - The Yes Album
The Yes Album opens with a 10 minute prog rock track, similar to other albums of the time, that make their way through several different sections, playing with the technology and feeling like it serves as a show case for everything the band can do. The message - an antiwar one based on the Vietnam war - obviously gets pushed to the sections with vocals. The album has Clap as an instrumental interlude, setting the format used for both sides - two long tracks with a three minute 'interlude' that feels less significant and more intends to set the table.
Starship Trooper is the second major song of the first half and it feels even more constructed - three sections to build to and on each other to create an outstanding adventure. Similarly, the second side is opened by I've Seen All Good People, which starts like a relatively calmer, more romantic song leading into an early 1960s rock inspired riff. It's a simple take off from existing elements, and the (relative) constraint in not building too much pays off incredibly well here. The album finished with Perpetual Change, again at time slightly smaller, but also at times a glorious finish to an album that feels like it does prog rock incredibly well.