The best one, IMO, both for punters and the hardcore. It has the best actual song craft compared to other albums and without all the bloat to murk it. It has no Wakeman and you know what? Good. They never mixed the synths right on any Yes album with Wakeman, IMHO, I’d rather hear him solo. Meanwhile the piano and organ totally jam on this thing, right up front, awesome shit. And the bass…so creamy, also better than any other Yes album, IMO. Occasionally you even find females who can sing these songs with you, good luck trying that with Relayer…
This is some semi recent 180g pressing, not the Steven Wilson version. I have no issue with it whatsoever. Fantastic quality all around.
Something seems to be drifting in the phono stage of my Marantz 2230, mids are harsher than they used to be, the bass and treble reduced, not terrible but noticeable since I know this receiver very well. It’s probably the 49 year old capacitors finally letting go…I’ll look into it eventually, in a year or two. In the meanwhile I decided to bypass the problem with the Audio Technica AT-PEQ30 which I have to say is pretty nice. The sound is back to normal basically but separation/imaging is better than ever, I’m pretty sure. For a not cheap but not $$$ unit I recommend it.