Upcoming Yes archival release: "Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy Two"

If you mean "The Word is Live", that's not true at all. Of the 26 tracks on the box, only 2 were previously released - "Then" and "For Everyone", the first two tracks in the set. Everything else is previously unissued. It's a good box.

If you mean the "In a Word" compilation, then of course it's mostly stuff that's been previously issued - it's a career retrospective. There are some previously unissued and unique tracks on it, too.

 

... officially.

Let me go though it:

Disc 1:

1. Then
2. For Everyone

BBC 1970. Already released on the BBC Sessions.

3. Astral Traveller
4. Everydays

Gothenburg 1971. Taken from bootleg soundboard recording.

5. Yours Is No Disgrace
6. I've Seen All Good People
7. America
8. It's Love

London 1971. Never heard before. This is a great recording!

Disc 2:

1. Apocalypse
2. Siberian Khatru
3. Sound Chaser

Detroit 1976. A great find, presumably from the YesShows test mixes.

4. Sweet Dreams

QPR 1975. From the video bootleg.

5. Future Times
6. Circus of Heaven

Oakland 1978. Brilliant. Also presumably from the YesShows test mixes.

7. The Big Medley

Inglewood 1978. Bootleg sourced.

8. Hello Chicago
9. Roundabout

Chicago 1979. Bootleg sourced.

Disc 3:

1. Heart of the Sunrise

Oakland 1978. See Future Times / Circus Of Heaven.

2. Awaken

Chicago 1979. See Hello Chicago / Roundabout.

3. Go Through This
4. We Can Fly from Here
5. Tempus Fugit

New York City 1980. Not only sourced from a boot, but an appalingly bad sounding one.

6. Rhythm of Love
7. Hold On
8. Shoot High, Aim Low
9. Make It Easy/Owner of a Lonely Heart

Houston 1988. Bootleg sourced.

The unreleased material is great. And using bootleg material to flesh a release is a great idea but in this case, almost the entire set is taken from boots. For example, the Gothenburg 1971 performances are great but it's frustrating to think that they have a complete London 1971 show that went unused. I would have been delighted to see both Gothenburg and Yale as a bonus to a complete London show (that would have made a smashing 2CD set, come to think of it!). The complete YesShows test mixes should have been used. Inglewood and Chicago are great shows but when they had an unreleased show from Oakland lying there it's maddening to think. It could have been an amazing release but it was only adequate. Maybe Progeny is the beginning of a process to right this wrong. Let us hope.

 

This forthcoming set.....as well as the expanded Allman and Humble Pie Fillmore
boxes, is one of the very few reasons why I am glad to be of an advanced age.
And just curious, do we know who the opening act was on this 1972 Yes tour?

 

Of course, officially. I'm not concerned with whether something has been bootlegged before or not. Officially these were unreleased tracks before this box came out.

That said there's obviously enough in the vaults to do a better job representing Yes' live output throughout their history.

 

It varied, but included bands like Eagles, J. Geils, etc. See: http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/dates.asp?qdec=1970#y1972

 

No, actually, after White joined, he began writing for Yes, starting with contributions to Tales ...and has written rather more than some fans are aware of since then, contributing melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. He has certainly written far, far more for Yes by now than Bruford did.

His own website cites a few examples:

Drum notation? Bruford didn't read then, and claims not to be much of a reader even now. He's said there were no charts for the tunes back then, they were all 'head arrangements'. And in fact from day to day, while putting together Close to the Edge, they occasionally forgot what they'd played the day before, and could not re-generate it, unless it had been recorded. Stuff wasn't written down.

 

“There were giants in the earth in those days;…”

“Even at this early stage I don’t think you can overstate the importance of these new discoveries; the Symphonic Rock equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

Billy1, March 2015

Rejoice!

Due in May - 7 lost Chapters from the Book of Jon.

Yeah, there is no downside to this release (well not for me). In fact, i'm so excited I think i'm gonna have to go and lie down.

 

We're talking at cross-purposes.

Bruford came up with drum patterns, and the band would build on that. That's what he said, and that's what the liners to Fragile say. I short-handed that to 'writing drum notation' because that's what it sounds like to me. It's unimportant if he wrote the pattern out, though, it's a fact that this approach was different from White's.

Aside from Ritual, White's contribution has been actually more substantial, as you say, as he is much more concerned with melody and harmony.

My original lament was that I prefer the formula of the Bruford era for the reason that the drum parts were more fundamentally at the center of things. White being more melodic does not change that.

 

I think far too many are over-emphasizing Bruford's writing role. He has, what, three co-writing credits on songs they play regularly (Yours Is No Disgrace, Heart Of The Sunrise and And You And I). He has 2-3 further credits, and that's it. In contrast, White is a co-writer for all of the music on Tales and Relayer just for starters! If the band had built up the tunes based on Bruford's drum patterns, he would have had far more co-writing credits.

 

As an aside, my favourite Bill Bruford writing credit is for the King Crimson piece Trio which was the start of a live improvisation.

Robert Fripp said that Bill had the good musical taste not to play anything when it wasn't needed, and for this he is given c0-writing credit

 

Seems the triple vinyl will be out on 18 May.
http://www.whatrecords.co.uk/items/64980.htm

 

I think that Fripp has coined the wording "admirable restraint" for this type of composition...

 

P.S.
If will be Japanese SHM Mini LP version of Progeny Highlights some day, it's long way down the road. So far, Japanese are in a hurry to release the same box and 2CD set two weeks earlier (on May 20), using the same non-Jpn discs, but price is much higher:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOIMP-10557

 

With Close to the Edge on both side 4 and 5 apparently..

 

Well spotted, I never spotted that

 

They should make the cut right after "Not right away…Not right away…"

 

New member, love the discussions.

Interested in the Progeny highlights disc, never liked the SQ of Yessongs. Amazon is currently showing the price as $48. Am I missing something or does that seem expensive?

 

I was shocked at the price of the full 7 concerts. My buy decision is now on hold.

IMHO both versions are far too expensive.

 

I saw that too and I'm guessing it's a mistake since the LPs of the highlights are selling for $16.99!

Bullmoose has these for pre-order (on CD) as $68.97 for the full 7 discs and $14.97 for the highlights. Not bad at all IMO.

 

The Amazon UK pre-order price is Pd 65.20

 

14 discs for 70 bucks is far too much?

 

3 LP highlights album on Amazon for $16.99

 

Looks like a pricing error. CD version is $47.99

 

k why on amazon is the lp set at 17 bucks ad the cd set at 47? is this an error, or should i hope on this....i dont wanna get the cd by mistake.....

 

I just ordered the LP for $16.99. My order shows vinyl LP. If they send the CD I'll just return it as order filled with incorrect item. If not I'll get the LP for a good price.