The Yes Album by Album Thread (Part 3)

I'm in your boat. Between Yessongs and Yesshows, I couldn't see the need for more live material so I skipped both Keys sets upon release, but later picked up Keystudio. Keystudio, while not wholly succesful, is surprisingly good considering all the missteps that preceded it. More comments after a fresh listen. . .

 

are we not covering keys vol 2 seperately?

 

That will be covered after the BBC Recordings.

 

just asking don't mean to be a pain...great thread

 

Just my opinion but at a minimum, invest a few bucks for the first KYA CD. There are some great live moments on the CD. The version of Onward is truly amazing IMO. I think you will like it. However, you are doing some duplication so it may be a toss up.

 

Not at all. Heck, I have screwed up the chronology in the past so I need the reminders.
Now that I think about it, maybe it would be better to do KTA 2 next instead of breaking them up. KTA 2 was released a month after the BBC stuff.

 

I just want to comment on some yes related stuff around this period...

king biscuit released its shows on cd and one of them was a rick wakeman show which is terrific. high recommendation

saw the 2 tours steve howe did, not necessarily accoustic and pulling strings tour, awesome!!! small clubs and was able to meet him after each show....not acoustic show is on cd

also the christmas album by anderson...oh boy does this stink, I was really looking forward to hearing him sing some christmas music but his ego got in the way

 

Rick Wakeman's Christmas album is no picnic either, a real snorefest. Chris Squire's Christmas album with Steve Hackett and the English Baroque Choir is the best of all the Yes solo Christmas releases. If Steve Howe did an instrumental guitar Christmas album or if he brought in some good guest vocalists I would think that would probably be good.

 

Keys To Ascension (I)- The band is back together!
I talked about how happy I was that this was happening but I didn't really get into the music.

The band goes back to their "prog" sound with the Keys material. I know that's a bit of a contradictory sentence but it works for me, most of the time.
Not so much with "Be the One" (not even Asia I level for me) but "That, That Is" is that.
I like the tougher lyrics and melody from Jon here. It's a nice change. Vocally he's still a force, that's for sure and really well recorded.
The ending sounds a bit forced but the rest of the parts come together nicely, the transitions are smooth and the 19 minutes go by pretty quick for me. The intro of the long piece is some fantastic stuff from Howe which I appreciate more now than I did at the time of release. I wish the ending went differently but overall, That That Is is very solid B+ Yes for me.

The live material is nice to have if not totally essential, all the time. I remember a fan at Tower Records on release day was very excited to be getting a live 'Awaken'.
It's a good version but tough to top the studio version.
All the live versions are good. Onward is beautiful (as mentioned) with more great acoustic playing from Howe. Steve is starting his cleaner electric guitar tone phase which sometimes
bothers me a bit but I understand why guitarists like to change up their sound. I just love it when he has a bit of dirt coming from his fender amp.
Anyway, it was great to have good to have Revealing, Awaken, Onward and America added to the official live cannon.

The packaging and booklet are really nice. The new Heaven and Earth almost seems to be based on the Keys I artwork.
The cd sound is too bright for me but nothing an eq fix can't help.

 

That and using amateur video effects during the songs. It was worse than the 'charlex' effects during the 9012 Live video.

 

I prefer 3 Ships to Swiss Choir, as I dont find Hackett or Squire really add that much of note instumentally to the latter and I prefer Anderson's singing by a long shot to the choral vocals. But dont listen to either more than once a year, if that often (guess which month)

 

A lot of Jon's songs can sound festive and xmassy anyway so Three Ships kinda works for me.

And as for Chris Squire's Swiss Choir...... which came first, the name or the actual project?

 

Catching up on Keys To Ascension...

I kind of like Be the One. It's kind of like if Union didn't suck because it's a long track but it's got mostly standard pop rhythms and also Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe soloing a bunch. So it's disjointed but kind of fun. I like the parts where there is a little call and response between Anderson and background vocals (Squire/Howe, I guess) and lots of great energy. It's a glorious mess in a way that even though it is the 70s lineup, the Rabin era is still there in how they compose.

That That Is has a lovely intro and Chris Squire is a beast during the verses. The lyrics about social consciousness and the "ghetto" is... uh, wow. Interesting. It's kind of crazy to hear this. I kind of love it and I never want to hear it again. All I can think of- and this probably non-sequitor- is hip-hop made inner-city life cross over into mainstream consciousness. I would love to know if Anderson was into Public Enemy or, I dunno, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy or something. I'm probably one of the few people in this thread who love that stuff as much as Yes so hearing this clumsy smashing of the two in a way is so far my favorite thing of re-visiting Yes' discography.

 

As we're about to discuss Yes' BBC archive release, here's an hour long career overview interview with Peter Banks.

 

It's a shame Yes could not have done something at some point with Peter. He seemed to have improved his chops over the years, and probably would have jumped at the opportunity. The BBC liner notes written by him could have used a bit of editing.

 

A few comments on a few Jon Anderson albums we skipped over, which to I feel are the best things he put out after Animation, arguably including his work with Yes in this period.

Deseo (1994)

1. Amor Real (4:17)
2. A-DE-O (3:19)
3. Bridges (3:32)
4. Seasons (3:34)
5. Floresta (3:04)
6. Cafe (3:19)
7. This Child (2:14)
8. Dança Do Ouro (4:29)
9. Midnight Dancing (3:50)
10. Deseo (5:32)
11. Latino (3:18)
12. Bless This (2:56)

This album has really nothing to do with progressive rock, as it features Anderson collaborating with Latin American and South American musicians on styles that range from funky danceable music to more acoustic songs with elements of the folk music of this region. Parts are sung in Spanish (at time by Amderson, at times by others), some parts are very strong melodically while others use the voice in a more rhythmic way. I find it extremely effetive and infectious and wish Anderson had pursued this direction further. If you like the danceable aspects of it, you may also enjoy the 1995 Deseo remixes CD which accentuates this aspect of the music.

The album this reminds me most of is Supralingua, by Planed Drum (a group led by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead).

 

Change We Must (1994)

1. "State of Independence" Anderson, Vangelis 5:37
2. "Shaker Loops" Anderson (lyrics), John Adams (music) 5:31
3. "Hearts" Squire, Anderson, Rabin 5:03
4. "Alive & Well" David Tolley, Anderson 4:43
5. "The Kiss" Anderson, Vangelis 3:51
6. "Chagall Duet" Anderson 3:31
7. "Run On, Jon" Tolley, Anderson 2:46
8. "Candle Song" Anderson, Vangelis 3:36
9. "A View from the Coppice" Tolley, Anderson 2:46
10. "Hurry Home" Anderson 6:52
11. "Under the Sun" Anderson 5:01
12. "Change We Must" Anderson, Vangelis 5:39

This album consists largely of orchestrated versions of material that Anderson had recorded in the 80s either with Vangelis, with Yes or Solo (along with a couple new tunes). The orchestrations are very tastefully done and to my taste most of the versions here are preferable to the original recordings. This is not the bloated sort of thing you get on records like The Symphonic Music of Yes, but rather very musical rearrangements of the material to exploit the capabilities of the expanded lineup.

 

Toltec (1996)

• Part I
  • 1. The Book Opens (4:59)
  • 2. Quick Words (Talk- Talk) (Anderson/Perez) (2:54)
  • 3. Shall We Play The Game (3:45)
  • 4. Semati Siyonpme (3:16)

• Part II
  • 5. Good Day Morning (2:02)
  • 6. Leap into The Inconceivable (3:53)
  • 7. Song of Home (1:11)
  • 8. Building Bridges (Anderson/del Signore) (5:55)
  • 9. Sound And Color (4:01)
  • 10. Longwalker Speaks (2:48)

• Part III
  • 11. Maazo Maazo (1:23)
  • 12. Enter Ye The Mystery School (7:54)
  • 13. Ave Verum (Mozart) (3:08)

This is Anderson's one fully realized attempt at creating a "major work," either alone or with Yes after Olias of Sunhillow. As with many of his ambitious projects, it had a long gestation period, being released as "The Power of Silence," a promo only album without dialogue in 1992, before its commercial release in 1996. It has some overlap in content with Deseo (released in the interim) as Bridges and Burning Bridges are different recordings of the same core song, albeit in very different arrangements. Unlike many of his ambitious projects, he actually gave birth to this one.

I can't say this album totally works for me. It is a very interesting listen, but not that often. It is based on the writings of Carlos Casteneda and fully indulges a lot of Anderson's New Age leanings, including trying the listener with extended passages of a Native American Chief "Longwalker" holding forth. While interesting to hear, this is less rewarding on repeated listens (beware the bonus tracks on the 2008 CD which contain an extra 17 plus minutes of this stuff). But it does contain some very nice tunes, and it is interesting to hear Anderson's vision fleshed out to this extent. Parts of this music remind me of certain Peter Gabriel stuff including parts of Security, Passion, and Big Blue Ball.

I would very much like one day to hear the earlier narration free version "The Power of Silence." Anyone familiar with that or know if it is available for listening anywhere?

 

I enjoy Deseo quite a bit. Some catchy stuff there, "Amor Real" in particular. Haven't heard the other two.

 

Did you folks see this? I can't remember when I got so many "likes" for a post on this forum.
There are more Yes fans on the forum than I realized.

Can the Bob Dylan 1965-1966 LP Trilogy Be Topped?*

 

The original 1985 version of 3 SHIPS is the one to have. Jon Anderson's 2007 revamped version completely gutted the album and completely sucks.

 

Thanks for mentioning these. I have limited time at this point due to having to move so it would have been tough for me to get to them.

 

Sorry, gotta go with Dylan. Too much of the music I most love would have never happened without those three. Though I give TYA, Fragile and CTTE all 5 stars.

Except, I'd probably (shocker) give the US trilogy of Rubber Soul, Yesterday & Today, and Revolver the nod over either.

 

I said that I could argue the Yes trilogy comes close but I could never argue they top the Dylan trilogy. I would be a fool to try to do that.
The Yes and the Dylan trilogies are possibly my most listened to trilogies.

 

RRB, around the time the iTunes store began in 2004-2005, I downloaded a Yes re-recording of "Roundabout" that featured a shuffle feel and slower tempo. Do you know what I speak of here? Are you going to cover this re-recording?