Just hearing your praise of that cover in the podcast inspired me to comment further.

Not only is it a great cover. I feel that it really should have been the blueprint for Yes entire career and it is my greatest disappointment that 70's Yes never really follow the blueprint of the debut album

One of the questions that people ask is "Who is The Beatles of the 70's". The answer there isn't anyone who can fit the bill

However hypothetically The Beatles of the 70's would combine the brilliant pop songwriting of The Beatles with 70's era technical virtuosity (perhaps spiritually the band that closest reaches that goal would be Gabriel Era Genesis and in particular songs like Moonlit Knight and Supper's Ready but they don't have the same atmosphere and vibe as The Beatles)

The Beatles main criticism by skeptics has always been that none of the members of the band are virtuoso. Even ignoring the fact that their playing is great for the purposes of the song. It would have been interesting to hear a virtuoso Beatle-esque album

Yes debut album is the closest album you are going to get in reaching that hypothetical Beatles album. Brilliant 60's sounding pop song mixed with virtuoso playing. Songs like Beyond and Before has the whole psychedelic 60's pop vibe but it has virtuoso bass playing that is highly melodic bass playing. Yes Every little Thing in a parallel universe could have been the ultimate statement of purpose that Yes were going to be The Beatles of the 70's by creating this epic version of Beatles pop song. Maintaining the melodies and the happy vibe of the original but mixing it with epic guitar playing a and turning it into an epic. The songs on the debut album are still all at it's heart pop songs but there is a professional virtuoso sheen that isn't present to other 60's act of the same era and that's what makes it such an interesting album

As a result of songs like Every Little Thing Yes debut album is one of the all time great album and the only thing stopping me from giving it a 15/15 is that I don't really care much for the proggish Survival (which is often considered the signpost of 70's classic era Yes) however it's a solid 14/15 or Hex E album. IMO Every Little Thing should have been the basis of what the entire career of Yes should be about instead of a once off quirky experiment

Yes didn't really go in that direction. As a result I have a rather respect but not love for Yes in the 70's. I felt they had the potential to be The Beatles of the 70's but I'm disappointed that they didn't head in that direction