Yes - 'Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome' CD Review (Frontiers Records)

The latest album from Yes, Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome, was recorded this past May during the band’s “triple header” tour where the band played 1971's The Yes Album, 1972's Close to the Edge and 1977's Going For the One front to back during its shows. I have mixed feeling about this new live album as it comes right on the heels of 2011’s In the Present – Live from Lyon where the band played three of the six songs from The Yes Album and this recording only includes The Yes Album and Going for the One sets.

Before getting into the album, I should note that I never got around to listening to Yes’ latest studio album Heaven & Earth so this live show was my first exposure to vocalist Jon Davison and, vocally, he is more of a dead ringer for Jon Anderson than Benoit David was. Now for the show – the mix on this recording is extremely crisp and the contributions from all the members of Yes are clearly captured. Across the disc, Steve Howe’s guitar work and Davison’s vocals, along with some strong keyboard and piano flourishes from Geoff Downes, drives all of the songs.

When describing the impetus behind the ‘triple header’ tour, Steve Howe told Billboard: "We wanted an easy time and a hard time -- in other words, we wanted some challenges to rise to make the three-album concept work…So 'The Yes Album' is kind of the easy stuff because we've played a lot of it pretty regularly. And the challenges were bringing back 'Close to the Edge, which wasn't too tricky, and then doing 'Going For the One' really did give us some challenges because 'Turn of the Century,' 'Going For the One' (the song), 'Parallels,' those are formidable arrangements and (songs) we haven't done for a long time. We seem to have radically upped the game."

The positive side of this disc is that only a small handful of tracks from Going for the One have been included on previous live albums so it was great to hear this album performed live. Some of the highlights from this set are Howe’s flamingo guitar work on “Turn of the Century” and Downes’ piano/keyboards on “Awaken”. The negative side of this disc is that most of the tracks from The Yes Album have been on numerous other live discs from Yes and the ‘definitive’ live versions of these songs can be found on 1973’s YesSongs. Also, now that there is a well-established expectation for what these songs should sound like live, sluggish tempos on some of The Yes Album songs on this new live recording make these versions sound somewhat disconcerting (i.e. the transition as “Your Moves” shifts into “All Good People”). On a positive note, slower paced numbers like “Perpetual Change” sound brilliant with Davison’s soaring vocals and Howe and Downes put down some great jazzy licks on “A Venture”.



The Bristol Post covered this show live and here is a link to their review: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Review-Yes-Bristol-Hippodrome-9-10-Michael/story-21084469-detail/story.html

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Yes (band) Will Play Three Complete Albums At Show At Beacon Theatre on April 9th

I have such the aversion to 'tribute bands' that I cringed when Yes replaced vocalist Benoît David (who fronted the Yes tribute band Close to the Edge) with Jon Davison (who fronted the Yes tribute band Roundabout). It equally seems like a bad idea that Yes is going out next year and playing three albums back-to-back that 2/5 - 3/5 of the current lineup played on. I would have loved to have seen Yes do something adventurous like play through albums like Time and a Word, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Drama or Open Your Eyes but, unfortunately, it looks like Yes wants to play it safe but...this moves the band somewhere between Moody Blues (who last released an album in 2003) and tribute band territory.

Legendary progressive rock band, Yes, today announced its upcoming North American tour, kicking off March 2013 in West Wendover, NV and wrapping up May 2013 in Detroit, MI. On this tour, fans can look forward to a totally new and unique Yes experience; the band, for the first time in its storied history, will perform three of its most popular albums in their entireties, The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, and Going for the One. Due to performance time limits in several venues, Yes will perform two albums, The Yes Album and Close to the Edge, in their entireties.

Performing three of rock’s most renowned albums will see Yes members, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, and Jon Davison, playing Yes staples that have dramatically influenced rock music over the last four decades. Fans will enjoy long time favorites, including "Yours is No Disgrace," "I’ve Seen All Good People," "Starship Trooper," "Close to the Edge," "And You And I," "Going for the One," "Wondrous Stories," "Awaken," and more, in a completely unique format. Moreover, Yes will perform all tracks in the order they appear on their corresponding studio albums.

"These albums we all easily agreed on—they are complete works in themselves. And several of the songs have rarely been performed live," says Yes guitarist, Steve Howe. "I believe the one song we’ve never performed in concert is ‘A Venture’ from The Yes Album," states Yes co-founder and bassist, Chris Squire. Yes drummer, Alan White goes on to say, "This is a great opportunity to show the growth of Yes throughout different eras, and to once again enjoy the great memories of those times, as well as create brand new ones. We’re looking forward to performing these albums. It’s going to be fun for us, and we think our fans will love it as well."

Tickets for the Beacon Theatre go on sale Dec. 14th and ticket prices range from $39.50 - $125 (or $53.25 - $143.60 after TicketMaster fees). (Update: I was curious to see what sort of tickets were left and the Beacon/TicketMaster website shows no tickets available, at any price - I'd be shocked if the show sold out that quickly so I'm wondering if it was canceled).

For anyone who wants to see what the current lineup looks like - here is a live video from a tour stop over the summer.



Links:
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Yes - "In the Present: Live from Lyon" CD Review (Frontiers Records)

One of the challenges in writing a review of a long-running band’s “greatest hits” album is that the band (most often) has an established and well-known sound so the reviewer adds little value. I feel like I’m in that quandary with the latest live album from Yes, In the Present: Live from Lyon, as Yes has already released over a dozen live albums, CDs and DVDs and the set list on this new disc is predominately comprised of Yes’ greatest hits. One could argue that this is the first live album with vocalist Benoit David but, while his voice sounds closer to Trevor Horn’s than Anderson’s, he delivers the songs in the same style as Anderson so that doesn’t seem to be a valid counterpoint. Songs like “Roundabout” or “Starship Trooper” simply haven’t changed that much over the last 30 years (see comparative Anderson / David live videos below).





In the Present: Live from Lyon was recorded on 12/1/09 at La Bourse du Travail in Lyon, France during the band’s 2008-09 “In the Present” tour. This tour served to introduce Benoit David to Yes fans so the set list consists of the ‘chestnuts’ that are likely on ALL of Yes’ previous live albums along with a few ‘surprises’ in the set list – “Astral Traveler”, “Machine Messiah”, “South Side of the Sky” and “Onward”.

Here is the track list:

Disc 1:
1- "Siberian Khatru"
2- "I've Seen All Good People"
3 - "Tempus Fugit"
4 - "Onward"
5- "Astral Traveller"
6 - "And You And I"
7 - "Corkscrew" (Steve Howe Solo)

Disc 2:
1 - "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
2 - "Southside of the Sky"
3 - "Machine Messiah"
4 - "Heart of the Sunrise"
5 - "Roundabout"
6 - "Starship Trooper"

While this show doesn’t break any new ground (and I assume its main point is to prove that Benoit David can sing like Jon Anderson in a live setting), it captures a solid performance by the band. My one complaint is that the band slows down the tempos on some of the faster material so it is a bit disconcerting not to hear the expected burst of speed and energy as (i.e.) songs like “Your Move” shift into “All Good People”. This complaint, though, isn’t unique to this new recording as Yes has been slowing down for the last couple of years. My other complaint is that Oliver Wakeman doesn’t have the flair of his father and the keyboards sound rather bland. The good news is that Steve Howe and Chris Squire both sound perfectly on-point (and Howe adds a spark to the end of “Yours is No Disgrace” with some innovative guitar work) and Howe and Squire’s backing vocals perfectly balance David’s alto tenor.

There are a number of live video from this show posted to YouTube so you can check out the recording in advance to see if this is for you.





It would have been nice if this record had broken some new ground (a complete run-through of Drama would have been brilliant) but In the Present: Live from Lyon doesn’t diminish the band’s 40+ year legacy.

Links:
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Yes - "Live On Air" CD Review (XXL Media)

Yes - Live on Air documents the band on the last stop of the 90125 tour and this show was recorded at Estadio C. A. Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 1, 1985.

Ignore all the track lists for this disc that are posted on the internet as they list the complete set list for the 2+ hour show and this disc runs exactly 60 minutes. Sadly, even the track list on the package is wrong. Here is what is on this disc:

- "Leave It" (4:18)
- "Hold On" (6:27)
- "Changes / And You and I" (13:26)
- "Soon" (3:43)
- "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (4:57)
- "It Can Happen" (6:58)
- "City of Love" (9:34)
- "Starship Trooper" (6:19)
- "Gimme Some Lovin'" (3:54)

This show was pro-shot and was likely broadcast on TV as a Spanish-speaking announcers cuts in briefly between "Changes" and "And You and I". There are also a couple tracks from this show posted to YouTube.





While I think this is a disc that Yes fans are going to want to hunt down, I want to mention two 'issues' with the disc that may scare off hardcore audiophiles. The first is that the disc was recorded track-at-once so there are gaps between the songs. The second is that there is some slight "noise" in the recording that brings the overall sound down to a "VG+" as opposed to being a crystalline soundboard recording.

Regardless of these minor flaws, this disc captures an energized Yes and does a great job of documenting the 90125 tour. (Note: I always considered 9012Live: The Solos a complete throw-away so there is really no comparison between the two discs).

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Yes - "Fly from Here" CD Review (Frontiers Records)

It is starting to feel like 1979/1980 all over again, [Jon] Anderson and [Oliver] Wakeman both leave Yes, Yes regroups with vocalist Benoit David (a Trevor Horn sound-alike) and keyboardist Geoff Downes, Roger Dean does his first Yes album cover in years and the material focuses around songs brought to the group by keyboardist Geoff Downes and producer Trevor Horn.

The disc starts off with the twenty-four minute / five–part epic “Fly from Here” which was originally brought to the band as “We Can Fly from Here” by Downes and Horn in 1980 but ultimately left off of the Drama album. This new re-working of the song includes the original song plus “Sad Night at the Airfield” (a demo from The Buggles’ 1981 album Adventures in Modern Recording session), another previously unreleased Buggles demo “Madman at the Screens” and a new jittery composition by Steve Howe entitled “Bumpy Ride” that borders on Talking Heads' style funk. Continuing to leverage the some of the Buggles’ previously unreleased recordings, Chris Squire has said that "Life on a Film Set" is based on "Riding a Tide" (also released as a bonus track on Adventures in Modern Recording).



Of the remaining tracks, Steve Howe and Chris Squire both contributed separate pieces. The only song written by the full band (including Oliver Wakeman, prior to his departure) was “Into the Storm”, which sounds like something out of the 90125 era. Howe’s contributions are “Hour of Need”, where David sounds like a dead-ringer for Jon Anderson and the guitar instrumental "Solitaire", which is Howe's 'update' to "Mood for a Day".

Collectors Note: A significantly longer version of “Hour of Need” (6:45m) is included as a bonus track on the Japanese issue of Fly from Here.

Chris Squire takes lead vocals on his contribution, “The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be", which has an early-Yes/Syn vibe. This song was written last decade for an aborted solo project and it was co-written by Gerard Johnson (who played with Squire in The Syn) and Simon Sessler.

Fly from Here is fairly mellow and nowhere near as edgy as Drama but it is a solid and mature performance from a band that had seemed to be running out of gas. As to be expected, the same “you can’t have Yes without Jon Anderson” drama is flaring up on the internet. Most interesting was a “sour grapes” comment from Jon Anderson who told Rolling Stone “I wasn't really convinced…The new singer is singing good, but it sounded a bit dated to me. Also, the production wasn't as good as I expected. They've got a great producer with Trevor Horn, so what the hell are you doing?" The nay-sayers should keep in mind that, while this disc doesn’t break any new ground, it is head and shoulders above some of the band’s releases in the 90’s (specifically Talk and Open Your Eyes).

Yes is currently touring the summer sheds on a co-headlining bill with Styx and the set list includes "Fly From Here" from the new disc and "Tempus Fugit" from Drama. In other Yes-related news, Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman will be playing a string North American shows in the fall.

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