I’m just watching Yes – Symphonic Live on Sky Arts as I type. Three things occur:
– Tom Brislin was one of their better keyboard players, it’s a shame he wasn’t with them for longer.
– Magnification was one of their better latter-day albums, it deserves to be better known.
– Yes pulled off the “rock band with orchestra” thing better than most – presumably because they had a symphonic thing going on as part of their usual working method (I realise that’s part of the reason that the prog-haters particularly hate Yes – but I’m not writing this for them). I’m not left feeling that the orchestra is just an irrelevant add-on and everyone on stage seems to be having a good time.
As you were…
fitterstoke says
Here’s a bit…
…and one where the orchestra wasn’t needed…so they had a wee dance…and why not?
Bargepole says
I agree that Magnification is indeed one of the better of their latter day efforts – it’s a shame really that even the best of their later material never gets a look in nowadays. I think the orchestra was used on the album to substitute for keyboards as they’d recently sacked the Russian guy, Igor whatsisname.
Of course on the subsequent tour they had both orchestra and keyboards – I saw one of the shows and they were pretty good – the last hurrah really of the line up featuring Jon Anderson.
Incidentally, anyone with tickets for the upcoming shows, they will no longer be playing the Relayer album in full – instead they’re focusing on Close To The Edge as this year marks its 50th anniversary.
Vincent says
These are the correct answers. Of the Howe-related Yes albums post “drama”, IMHO, only “keys to ascension” and ” magnification” warrant a relisten, which is a bit of a damning indictment, really, given “Drama” appeared 42 years ago . Ive had tix for the upcoming tour since 2019 and, given they’ve had 3 years to practice, I’m very unimpressed that they’ve decided they won’t do “Relayer”. I strongly suspect Geoff Downes and Alan White are not up to it. Suspect this will be my last “Yes” concert.
Bargepole says
The rather good KTA material was wasted by being packaged with the two live cds. Belatedly the record company put all the studio tracks together on Keystudio, which was released with very little fanfare, but by then the ship had sailed really.
Apparently Relayer will be performed on a subsequent tour – if there is one, as they must be running out of time now. With Alan White only contributing to short sections of the shows, Steve Howe is really the last man standing nowadays!
Vincent says
They need to get Patrick Moraz back for the “Relayer” tour. SH is a tremendous guitarist still, but the synergy and vision of the 70s line-ups is impossible to recapture, and didn’t generally happen even when classic line-ups were still possible. I rather enjoyed the 2004 tour, and in their playing bits from KTA and “unplugged” versions of classics, it actually looked like they might be getting a bit of vim back. Very much doubt they can now capture the lightening in the bottle again.
Bargepole says
The Songs from Tsongas cd/DVD from that 2004 tour is well worth investigating.
Vincent says
This was much improved for a bit of change, swing, and not being the encore:
Bargepole says
Just an update on the forthcoming tour – Alan White has had to drop out for health reasons unfortunately.
And then there was one.
tkdmart says
Meanwhile, in Iceland…
fitterstoke says
That’s really excellent…
Arthur Cowslip says
I watched this recently as well and I was surprised how good it was! Made me wish I’d made more of an effort to see them before while they were all still young(er)/together/alive. I was a bit of a purist in my younger days and while I love Yes, when I started getting into them in the early 90s I decided I didn’t care about anything post-Going For The One and would never go to see them as an old fractured group. Now I see I was wrong, and this tour looked amazing. Would also have been good to see that mega tour in 1993 or whenever it was when they had just about every past member on stage all at the same time!
I considered going to this Relayer tour this year, just to see Steve Howe more than anything else… but I don’t know, I think it just isn’t Yes any more. Maybe I’m wrong and maybe I should get a ticket.
fitterstoke says
I know it’s not quite the same situation: but the sensibility in your first paragraph might answer the question posed in your second…
Arthur Cowslip says
I thought that as I typed it actually!
But honestly I don’t know. Money is tight and I have a few concerts I want to see this year. I had a look at some youtube footage of the modern day decimated Yes playing Gates of Delirium and it wasn’t that great to be honest. Oh, decisions decisions.
fitterstoke says
According to @Vincent further up the thread, they’ve decided NOT to attempt Relayer on this tour. That might make your decision easier…
Vincent says
I’ve been booked in for 3 years, and its an excuse for a night out with a chum. I’m sure it will be entertaining. But compared to the stellar shows I’ve seen them do in the past….
Arthur Cowslip says
Decided against it, by the way. £50 even for the cheapest ticket, so not for me.
tkdmart says
I was lucky enough to see them at Hammersmith Apollo on the Magnification tour, and extra lucky that they played Gates of Delirium. This happened every other night according to the newsgroup of the time.
Also, Yes asked their fans to vote on whether they should tour with an orchestra, and by a narrow margin the fans said no. They did it anyway.
Cozzer says
I went to see the tour at Birmingham Arena (where they filmed Gladiators). It was one of the non-Gates concerts. To be honest, I wasn’t heartbroken that they didn’t play it – I would much rather hear Soundchaser or To Be Over from Relayer.
I thought Tom Brislin was the star of the show that night. He played everything with impeccable taste and his sounds palette was so much better than Wakeman’s, who IMO always sounds like he’s playing Bontempi and Casio keyboards. And he has a tendency to overplay.
It was a really enjoyable concert. Volume-wise I could have done with a few more dB but I guess that might have messed up the orchestra. Saw them again in 2002 and 2004 and after they jettisoned Jon Anderson have avoided like the plague.
I did wonder if it was Steve Howe whose playing was slowing down but some of the comments above would lend credence to the theory that it’s actually Alan White who has seized up.
Vincent says
Interesting about Rick Wakeman. Though he’s a cracking character, and has done some fantastic things, he is a better sideman than composer, and 100 albums of conceptual cheese with some horrible “Raw Sex” keyboard tones lead me to think he is better on the sprint than the marathon. I also find his choices of keyboard sounds sometimes bizarre.
fitterstoke says
The rot started when he got into bed with the Birotron – I suppose since he was a shareholder, he felt obliged to use it…
fitterstoke says
Having said that, I’ve just watched Yes Acoustic – stick Wakeman in front of a grand piano and he can do no wrong. His playing on South Side of the Sky alone was worth the price of admission.