The Daily Deep Cut

The editors at JamsBio like to think of ourselves as music fans first, not critics, and that’s the sensibility we strive for at JamsBio and that we seek in other sites as well. That’s why we’re so jazzed about Damn Fine Day, a site that each day profiles a deep album cut that’s been overlooked, but deserves a place in everybody’s collection. In the name of spreading the gospel about great music, we present “The Daily Deep Cut,” where we add our two cents about the songs featured on Damn Fine Day. Once you read our unique take, we’ll send you over to Damn Fine Day so you can stream the full track and download it if you like. Sometimes we might even suggest another deep track from the same album or present some other novel twist on what their hawking.

Yes is one of those progressive rock bands I could never really stomach. I’m more of a Soft Machine and Caravan kind of guy. You know, digging the Canterbury scene. But hearing an early Yes track (”Sweetness”) in Vincent Gallo’s quite enjoyable indie flick Buffalo 66 made me take a deeper look into the back catalog of perhaps the world’s most popular prog outfit. So I set out to take in everything from 1969-1974, arguably the band’s heyday. And as much as I wanted to be floored by the head spinning instrumental prowess of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe and Squire, I was pretty much left cold. The concise single “Long Distance Runaround” didn’t do it for me and neither did the side-long self-indulgent song suites from Relayer and Close to the Edge. What I did enjoy, however, were the understated and underrated pop gems from the band’s first two records, 1969’s Yes and 1970’s much maligned Time and a Word. The latter album contained the dizzying “Sweet Dreams,” the chamber rock ditty, “Clear Days,” and the complex, soulful re-working of Buffalo Springfield’s “Everydays,” which I was pleased to find is today’s selection on Damn Fine Day.

Maybe one day I’ll come to appreciate the epic noodling of prime Yes, but until then, I’ll stick with my “Sweetness” and “Everydays.” Before heading over to Damn Fine Day to stream “Everydays,” take a listen to the song (thanks to Mr. Gallo) that set me on the Yes journey. And then add Buffalo 66 to your Netflix queue. You won’t be sorry.

“Sweetness” by Yes (from Yes, 1969)

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