The veteran English band Yes recently released “Yessingles,” a compilation of 12 of the band’s bigger hits. While 1970s progressive rock bands such as Yes were in no danger of being labeled Top 40 factories, the band did manage to hit the singles charts a few times, most noticeably with “Roundabout,” which reached the American Top 20 in 1972, and “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” which made it to Number One in 1983.

The newly released collection is a bit of a novelty/nostalgia piece. The record company, in this case, Atlantic, severely chopped almost all of the songs length-wise from their original album versions to fit onto a 45. The new album is available in physical format solely on vinyl, adding to the retro collectible aspect.

Musically, the compilation is not an existing Yes fan’s first choice for listening pleasure, nor the best available introduction for those unaware of the band’s work. The edited versions are painful, especially if you’ve heard the originals. Still, in these truncated versions, in most of the songs a listener will find glimpses of the melodic gift that permeated Yes’ work, even when it was at its most aggressively adventuresome.

Yes’ history is remarkable in that it is one of the few bands in rock history to scale the heights twice via reinvention. After its first two albums showed some promise, a personnel change in the presence of all-world-class guitarist Steve Howe coming on board jumpstarted the band’s creative and commercial fortune. February 1971’s “The Yes Album” quickly inserted itself onto freeform FM radio station playlists, with the fresh, complex yet accessible inventiveness of songs such as “Starship Trooper” and “I’ve Seen All Good People” endearing themselves to a burgeoning fan base. Yes, along with other progressive rock acts such as Emerson Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, and Gentle Giant, brought top-flight musicianship and a willingness to push the envelope of what worked in a rock format to the masses, and while the critics mostly scoffed, the fans lapped it up.

Yes completed its transformation into a legend later in 1971 upon keyboardist Rick Wakeman’s arrival. Wakeman, rivaled solely by Keith Emerson in sheer playing brilliance, added even more flavor to the band. “Fragile,” released in November 1971, cemented Yes’ place in rock royalty with what became the band’s signature song “Roundabout,” along with other classic tracks such as “Long Distance Runaround” and “Heart of the Sunrise.”

The next album, 1972’s “Close To The Edge,” remains close to the heart of classic rock fans everywhere, including those who normally would disdain anything having to do with progressive rock. Things slowly declined afterward, and after 1980’s “Drama,” the band appeared finished.

However, a most unexpected revival began two years later. Two members of Yes, namely its ferociously creative bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White, teamed up with South African guitarist Trevor Rabin and Yes’ original keyboardist Tony Kaye for a new band called Cinema. Record company personnel suggested that the group should bring in Jon Anderson, Yes’ angelic high tenor lead vocalist, to front the band. Cinema made the addition; the band changed its name from Cinema to Yes, and much to the amazement of pretty much everybody, the band suddenly found itself riding high atop the pop charts courtesy of 1983’s “90125” album and its lead track, the Rabin-penned “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”

Yes’ post-“90125” career has been marked by a gradual decline in public favor and numerous, often acrimonious, personnel changes. It is the band’s early ’70s work, specifically “The Yes Album,” “Fragile,” and “Close To The Edge,” that remain nearest and dearest to the heart of the band’s many fans, although later releases have their moments.

There is a spacious freedom in Yes’ music, one using dramatic sudden sonic shifts and dissonance bursts not for their own sake but rather as an undercurrent pushing the group into sonic areas other bands simply cannot emulate. Even Yes’ more accessible moments, such as “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” contain far more creativity and drive than standard pop fare. Along with Rush, Yes is, and probably always will be, the only progressive rock band enshrined in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. It is an honor that honestly means little, but it does show that when you have something this good, occasionally, even idiot rock snob critics get it right.