Yessongs - Is this live recording as bad as reviews make it out to be?

Sound quality can vary widely among lp masterings. Find the right one and it sounds decent enough.

 

I bought a great copy of Yessongs maybe about ten years ago at a local record store and I really wanted to love it. I love live albums and I have a pretty good tolerance for those that are considered less than optimum (I even prefer Uriah Heep Live to this), but every time I tried to play Yessongs, I just had to take it off. It just sounded awful to me. And when you've got a band whose studio albums sound so incredible, it's really a bummer to hear a live album of that same material and not appreciate the sound. A Yes live album should sound sparkling and pristine, and Yessongs falls far short of the mark. I ended up getting rid of my copy a couple years ago.

Shortly thereafter I got the Progeny LP set and it's much better, although I have to admit that Yes live doesn't really move me quite as much as I expect it will. Something's not quite happening there. But Progeny is by far the better sounding set.

 

It sounds practically mono but it doesn't bother me because Howe is so up front and on fire with a great bite to his tone.
I just turn up the bass a bit to get more Squire in the mix.

 

I think my vintage LP sounds about as good as it's ever going to get, but I really wish someone would do a remix.

I've always wondered if the iffy mix was due to the actual recording, or if Eddie Offord was just forced to mix 2+ hours of music very quickly to meet a label deadline. We have Progeny now, which is awesome, but I'd still love a remixed Yessongs, particularly since it included songs that weren't played on the US leg.

 

Amazing music. I love it.

 

Yes it sounds fine. And I think that is what is disappointing about both sets. they sound fine. Whereas the original albums sound fantastic and are audiophile bliss! I think the performances don't vary that much from the studio cuts. So it's cool to listen to them in a nostalgic sense. But are far less satisfying than the studio versions. I like Progeny. But not near as much as Fragile, The Yes Album or Close to the Edge.

 

Some live albums like Uriah Heep '73 and Peter Gabriel Plays Live hold up as great works in their own right. Yessongs isn't one of those albums. It's messier in a lot of ways than their studio recordings, and has a few bright spots but not enough to call it a first-rate release. Having said that, I like Yes a lot, and own a copy. I like it for the extra insight it offers into how their songs are played and arranged.

 

Yessongs is certainly not a great sounding album but that never bothered me. For some reason it sounds pleasant to me even though the fidelity is low if that makes any sense. There is something magical about Eddie Offord's mix even though it's almost mono.
The Progeny mix OTOH sounds weird to me, especially on headphones. With it's extreme seperation it makes Yes sound almost like an old Beatles stereo mix.

 

I was listening to this album and loving every minute of it long before I had even heard the word audiophile.

 

Yessongs for me as a 14 years old teenager was a huge disappointment. As much as I loved The Yes Album and Close to the Edge, I vividly remember being appalled by the thin sound and the lack of a decent stereo image on Yessongs. I returned my triple album a few days later and got a copy of Déja Vu and The Best of Cream instead.

The Japan SHMCD mini LP version was decent and last year I also forked out the dough for the hybrid SACD with the 7" replica sleeve, last year. Again pretty underwhelming in the audio fidelity department.

After all the fanfare of the (re-)discovered master tapes, the Progeny compilation brought back those bad memories from 1974.... After one spin, Progeny ended in the bin for the next garage sale. Whoever was responsible in 1972 of recording Yes, shame on you.

 

Sounds fine to me & as for the music....

 

If people think the LP's/CD's sound bad take a listen to the Blu-ray, how it ever got approved for release is baffling. Lifeless muddy mono that just ruins the thing, horrible, just horrible..

 

Seems to me, regardless of how picky anyone is over the sound quality that this is the epitome of vintage LP production with incredible artwork, triple gatefold, a small book. You can unfold it and display it while listening, stands up by itself. If I was a prog rock collector it would be high on my list of things to have as it comprises a nice document of the band from that era.

 

The sound is not great but also not any worse than most live albums from the era.

 

I'm not exactly an audiophile, but I've found the sound on Yessongs to be a little muddy and distant. The liner notes to Progeny indicate that the Dolby heads were misaligned when the concerts were recorded. When Brian Kehew and his team revisited the tapes, they manually aligned the Dolby heads which, they said, made a noticeable difference in the sound quality. There were other fixes too - my favorite is that Squire's bass was tinny and subdued, so they played his bass track on the tape through a bass guitar amplifier to beef up the sound. The box set also includes stage banter, bum notes, and other verite moments, including when one of Rick's keyboards was picking up a local radio station.

The Progeny highlights set replicates the set list of their fall 1972 US tour, with no duplication of performances found on Yessongs. The box set gives you seven complete concerts, including all but four of the performances on Yessongs. (The "Six Wives" solo is edited together from two performances, both on the box set. About two minutes were edited out of the Yessongs version of "Yours Is No Disgrace"; the complete performance is on the Progeny box.)

 

For those who own the box set, was there one particular show that really shined above the others?

 

I think that "Yessongs" sounds awful, particularly compared to their studio records of the time. It sounds like an AM radio broadcast coming from the next room.

I got it as a present many years ago. Once I overcame the initial disappointment and accepted it for what it is, I found the record enjoyable and the performances are generally very good, except possibly for some backing vocals.

 

I remember Knoxville being an especially good one, but they were pretty consistent. Nassau Coliseum is interesting for hearing Jon struggle with a malfunctioning mic during "Heart of the Sunrise."

 

The Blu-ray is a completely different story as there are no known multitracks available to refine the sound, unfortunately. But to visually see a band at a high point of their prowess is priceless.

 

I don't have a specific opinion on this album (haven't listened to it in 30 years, unfortunately), but AllMusic reviews are generally garbage (IMO) until proven otherwise.

 

who cares?

Its a powerhouse band giving some of the best live performances I've heard on album anywhere.

Live albums from the early 70s arent supposed to be studio quality are they?

I dunno, this just seems weird to me. I've listened to that album hundreds of times, aghast at how incredible the playing is... not once have I thought, this "Sounds" bad.

Only on Hoffman.

Sheeeesh.

 

As an aside, the movie is free on amazon prime streaming now

 

If fidelity keeps you from this monster that would be a sad turn of events.

It's quite simply one of the greatest live albums I've ever heard.

 

Sounds great to me! Best live album ... Period!

 

Yessongs is a GREAT album. Even with the sound as it is.