I'm a big Yes fan, but their earlier recordings through Relayer all had glaring production issues. Have you heard the Steven Wilson remixes (and surround mixes)? He really cleaned things up, in particular the easily audible tape hiss anytime the music came down to near the noise floor. But there is/was also a lot of clarity missing in those recordings that modern tools, probably with very little effort on his part, was able to bring out.
My favorite recordings of the 70s would be the run of Steely Dan records (through Gaucho, which I think is technically early 80s). Gerry Rafferty (mention by the OP) immediately came to mind as well, just a very well balanced recording and a reminder that more isn't always more.
Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" is also a stellar pop recording. Dark Side of the Moon has always sounded good to my ears, and the remixes in the past 20 years have only improved on it, even though only slightly because it didn't need much attention.
The 70s was a sweet spot where analog was matured to the point it sounded amazing in the hands of the right engineers, and an era when musicians needed to be able to play to get on a record.
