What does it sound like?:
Gather round all you Yes fans – others have permission to leave the room! A 14 cd set encompassing 7 shows from late 1972 taken from recently discovered and restored tapes.
The set list is the same for each show, although there are minor variations in the performances of individual songs of course.
Some of this material was used on Yessongs, but these cds, unlike that album, do not include any material from earlier tours – so favourites such as Starship Trooper, Long Distance Runaround and Perpetual Change are absent.
What you do get is a run through of classic era Yes material with the band firing on all cylinders and at their improvisational best.
The set is accompanied by an informative illustrated and detailed booklet with articles on the discovery and restoration of the tapes and the background to the album, and comes nicely presented in a box with new Roger Dean artwork.
What does it all *mean*?
A 2cd highlights set is available as well, but hardcore fans will want the full 14 cd 12 hour experience experience, which is a worthy addition to the catalogue.
Goes well with…
Classic prog from the 70s – this ranks alongside, if not betters, any work that the band’s contemporaries were producing.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
For Yes fans, prog fans and those who want to hear one of the most influential bands of that period at a time when they were still young and hungry and full of musical ideas which were backed up with their playing abilities. An era in which music of this type was still new and groundbreaking and the band still had fire in their bellies!
Sounds great. Not sure I’ll be investing, but I feel the world is a better place for knowing it is there.
I gave up Bollinger and curries for Lent in order to afford to pre-order this.
I’ve been thinking of buying the 2CD highlights set.
For someone who has and enjoys “Yessongs” but is only a casual Yes fan, would you say that it’s still worth me getting the 2CD set, Bargepole? How different are the songs from the versions on Yessongs? Is the sound quality significantly better?
The sound quality has been cleaned up – there are fewer tracks than on Yesshows, as mentioned above, but some which were edited on that album have been restored now to their full length.
Very very tempting for a Yes lover like myself. A bit out of my price range right now, but I will have to go for the full set in the not too distant.
The darling wife is buying me the box set for my birthday which coincides with my retirement so I have plenty of time to relax and listen ; ))
What better way to start the leisure years !
A few months have passed, and I’d be interested in your views. Was this a worthwhile release? Did you even play every disc? Was it worth the money?
I tried playing some of it on Spotify, but none of it sounded “right” and anything like as good to my ears as Yessongs.
It’s an interesting document of where the band was at during that period – the playing is first class. Obviously the fact that each show is, with minor variations, the same is not ideal – some of the shows appear better recorded than others though, so have tended to stick to these, although did listen to them all at least once!
TBH the ‘highlights’ set probably would suffice for most!