Yessongs again

[gathernear]

Every time I watch the Yessongs video (DVD now), it seems to restore (renew?) my faith, or whatever it is, in this great band around which we gather.
It always happen when 'Close To The Edge' starts. You know, under the circumstances, this very different band, playing this wonderful, uplifting, but very complicated music, with a new drummer, and totally hitting everything perfectly, and we can SEE it! In the first 5 minutes of the song, check out the shots of Chris and Steve, their hands. And Jon between them, looking from one to the other, and smiling, laughing. Alan, also laughing, and standing at times, does that help him hit the drums even harder? He just bashes the things! Even during Rick's organ solo in the middle, Alan is like 'Ba-Da-BOOM!' But I think it adds more intensity to the part, which is good.
You know, I know some of you don't think much of this video because of the rough (well, let's face it, bad) quality of the film. I agree. I wish it had been filmed by D. A. Pennebaker, or the Maysles', that did 'Gimme Shelter'. But it wasn't. And until something previously unseen surfaces, this is all we got. And through the murk, the brilliance is still there.
So, if you've avoided this video because of any bad things you've heard, you've gotta, you must, must, must forget about all that and see it! Do it. I mean it. Please?

Larry

[Faceintheplace]

I totally agree. And despite it's sound problems in the first section, QPR is also essential viewing. "And You And I,", "Ritual", "Sweet Dreams" and "YIND" always make my speakers go up in flames.

[RABARKS]

I only know the bits that are on YesYears, but it seems to be very good.

In my country, the Netherlands, we have a pop quiz show called Pop Quiz A Gogo. Recently the candidates were "pop-professors". A clip of the yessongs version of Roundabout was shown, and questions were asked. (Maybe I should post this under Yes In The Media, but anyway)
Everyone in the quiz was very negative about it. Three out of the four so called professors didn't recognize them at first, but thought they were very bad anyway. One of them thought it was Queen! The same one sad it was bad, because of the excessive make up! He probably didn't have his glasses on, because the only time I've seen Yes with any make up on was in the video of It Can Happen...

My girlfriend said "Does the singer know what the guitarist is playing?"
She did have a point there. For us Yes fans it's beautiful, but we know these songs in their original versions, but if you don't then it does sound quite chaotic!

I thought the same thing when watching an old clip of Cream doing a live performance, back in '69 or something. In that case I didn't know the song and I couldn't make any sense of it... :headset:

[Albedo]

I agree, this is an ESSENTIAL recording. Despite the middling sound quality and cheesy cutaways to marine life videos, this DVD gets me high every time I watch it. The energy of the performance is incredible. Steve Howe attacks his guitar like you never see anymore. The smile on Alan White's face is priceless. And it's the best recorded performance of CTTE ever, imo. Buy it!

[YesJen357]

'Live in Philly '79' suffers from similar problems to Yessongs, in that the quality lacks what you might expect from an official release, but I wouldn't be without either of them.
If there was something better, you could be forgiven for not bothering with these shows, but they are a living record of Yes history.
A valuable one, IMHO.

[Vic W.]

And it's the best recorded performance of CTTE ever, imo. Buy it!

It's the same performance that made the Yessongs record. Which in itself makes the video worth the price of purchase. The closing credits video of Wurm matches the Yessongs album version, too. I'm pretty sure the rest of the songs in the video don't.

If there is one thing in this world I could ask for that I can never have, it would be a video of the Yessongs Perpetual Change performance (keep the camera on Steve, please...). Mmmm... the thought makes me drool...

[Earl Grey]

I saw Yessongs at my local theatre when it first came out...

They only did one showing.

We were a bunch of rowdy, noisy, out of control teenagers smoking unmentionables in the early 1970s.

I remember during CTTE, every time a graphic would come on-screen (the cut and paste Dean stuff, or the cheesy bits where the camera zoomed in on an aomeba or a jellyfish) a strange bohemian scent would waft from all concentric points in that darkened room of youthful iniquity...

The theatre was looking a little 'smoggy' when the projectionist finally had his fill of us.

He turned off the film, turned up the house lights, and shouted from his cubby-hole:

"You kids put out those marijuana cigarettes right now! And quiet down, or I'm shutting this thing off and you can go home!"

I don't know if that had ever happened before in movie theatre history.
Or whether it ever happened again, but there you go...

70's life in a blue collar town in 'progressive' southern california...

I can't watch Yessongs without remembering this, it always gets a chuckle from me!
~~~~~~~~~~

I LOVE Yessongs.

It's my wayward youth in a time capsule.
The recording is horrible, the film is grainy, and yet Yessongs remains a wonderful document...

The 'roughness' gives Yessongs a certain authenticity. That is the way it sounded in the theatres back when...

It sounded worse on the theatre sound system, truth be told. We loved it then, I love it now!


EG:yesbird:

[gus]

'Live in Philly '79' suffers from similar problems to Yessongs, in that the quality lacks what you might expect from an official release, but I wouldn't be without either of them.
If there was something better, you could be forgiven for not bothering with these shows, but they are a living record of Yes history.
A valuable one, IMHO.
I agree. I heard so much negativity about Yessongs and live in Philly, that I put off buying them. But I finally said, screw it I wanna buy them. I did, and I agree the quality is bad, but they both are still live footage from Yes in the 70’s and it is very worth seeing. Sure I would love the quality of a Symphonic, but if this is all we got, I am still glad to have it. I’m very glad I finally bought them.

The only thing I’ve regretted is that I listened too much to other people complaining, who delayed me from purchasing these videos for so long.

[YesJen357]

Well Gus, You will also read some very unflattering posts about the lack of quality concerning the Tsongas DVD.
Please do not believe a word of it. Threads on this site like "another crap Yes DVD" could make people reconsider shelling out their 'hard earned' on this new release. But do not be misled.
The Tsongas DVD rocks!

[Yes2Yes]

Now I need to get it back from my brother! I lent it to him and I want to watch it now!!

[gus]

Well Gus, You will also read some very unflattering posts about the lack of quality concerning the Tsongas DVD.
Please do not believe a word of it. Threads on this site like "another crap Yes DVD" could make people reconsider shelling out their 'hard earned' on this new release. But do not be misled.
The Tsongas DVD rocks!
Sounds good Jen, and yea I'm buying it regardless of what people say. :)

[yessongs72]

What the nagative of Yessongs and Philly is they didn't release the complete show. Just when you are getting into the DVD it's over. It's just not right.

[JaneEyre]

Just got my copy today and can't wait to watch it!

[gathernear]

Just got my copy today and can't wait to watch it!

Please let us know what you think about it...

[Hugh Shiebler]

I agree, this is an ESSENTIAL recording. Despite the middling sound quality and cheesy cutaways to marine life videos, this DVD gets me high every time I watch it. The energy of the performance is incredible. Steve Howe attacks his guitar like you never see anymore. The smile on Alan White's face is priceless. And it's the best recorded performance of CTTE ever, imo. Buy it!

I like those cheesy cutaways to the marine life videos! So what if they do seem to have been taken from an 8th grade science film strip. If a dewdrop can exalt us, then why not some krill, an amoeba, or even some anemones?

[Vic W.]

'cause Steve's fingers working the fretboard in the intro to Close to the Edge can exalt us even more...

[Hugh Shiebler]

Good point!

I guess that I just have very trippy memories of seeing "Yessongs" as a midnight movie in the late '70's. And with that mindset, back then, those sea creatures seemed indescribably cool. We fled from the sea, whole...

Now that I think of it, though, someone must posess the original tapes from which that movie was put together. Maybe they could release those minus the sponge bob out takes, and add some other songs - - Long Distance/The Fish, for example...

[gingerbaker]

Well Gus, You will also read some very unflattering posts about the lack of quality concerning the Tsongas DVD.
Please do not believe a word of it. Threads on this site like "another crap Yes DVD" could make people reconsider shelling out their 'hard earned' on this new release. But do not be misled.
The Tsongas DVD rocks!


I myself have never listened to a live Yes recording that i did not like.YESSONGS is a classic. Every live show is not going to be flawless; it is the nature of the beast. An evening of Yes Music was a classic. Have not gotten Tsongas yet but i am sure i will like it when i do.

[jonanderson]

Dude, to sum up the tsongas cd in 1 word is Holy----ing----thiscdrocks.
The best yes dvd i have ever seen.

[Altres]

http://www.alyon.org/generale/theatre/cinema/affiches_cinema/y/yessongs.jpg

[Buglunch]

NICE poster! I'm watching CttE on my VHS version right now. The sound is
way too splayed and hissy and messy but it's a great document.
Love the Venus flytraps opening up!

Guitar is too loud when Rick is doing important things; who actually plays the ranggy, loud scrubbing stuff after the huge pipe organ bits? Steve is just scritching along wa-waing and Rick's Minis don't sound like it's only them.
Recorded? Chris on pedals?

Any of YOU guys in front rows? :) Especially wiht cameras?
Look at Alan and Rick........wow!!
And the gear... Analogue isn't all there is but they sure made heaven with it.
Rick's home-made mixer looks like a cash register - eep!

Is the sound any better on DVD??

[gathernear]

Rick's home-made mixer looks like a cash register - eep!

LOL!!

Is the sound any better on DVD??

Well, maybe a little better. Maybe. You can hear all the instruments, but not very clearly.


Larry

[tomas]

Guitar is too loud when Rick is doing important things; who actually plays the ranggy, loud scrubbing stuff after the huge pipe organ bits? Steve is just scritching along wa-waing and Rick's Minis don't sound like it's only them.
Recorded? Chris on pedals?


I think you might be thinking of chris' bass part during this section. He often plays a real crunchy bass part with wahwah during this part.

[Buglunch]

Wow; I'll have to fire it up and listen again.
Tough job but somebody has to do it.
;)

[Earl Grey]

Ah, it's no worse than a good bootleg! You'll love it.

Here's a scary thought. What if Yessongs hadn't been released as a film?

Damn, I might never have done 'strawberry mescalene'.

:ele:

[steve4001]

If there is one thing in this world I could ask for that I can never have, it would be a video of the Yessongs Perpetual Change performanceI'll second that!

[True Believer]

http://www.alyon.org/generale/theatre/cinema/affiches_cinema/y/yessongs.jpg
Brian, I have this poster on my wall too!

[nicmin64]

Steve shreds on i`ve seen all good people,they dont play it like that anymore.

[Buglunch]

Never seen the movie, waaaaa.

Please give to this hobo generously.

[Scooty]

http://www.alyon.org/generale/theatre/cinema/affiches_cinema/y/yessongs.jpg


Bastard!
This poster is always going for a fortune now on Ebay!!! ;)

[relayeire]

it's a cool poster... interesting, the prominence of Rick's name... he'd had solo success by then...

[Orbert]

Saw the movie at the local theater way back when. Midnight showing, of course, no mesc or acid but plenty of non-tobacco to smoke, it was a great time. The theater didn't support quad sound, but the local planetarium did, and they showed it a few years later, by which time we'd discovered some of the more trippy substances. High school daze (subdivide that as you see fit).

I think it was a thing back in the 70's, having midnight movies and laser shows at the local planetarium. I know I hit quite a few of them, and they were always a blast.

[BrianD]

it's a cool poster... interesting, the prominence of Rick's name... he'd had solo success by then...

But of course at the time of the release of Yessongs (1975) he wasn't in the band!

[relayeire]

Brian - correct... that's marketing for you!

[Orbert]

But of course at the time of the release of Yessongs (1975) he wasn't in the band!
Picky, picky, picky!

[BrianD]

Picky, picky, picky!

Maybe - but it is interesting to look back at how big Wakeman was as a solo artist in 1975 - so big that he gets star rating in the advertising even when he wasn't in the band.

I think it is always important to view these things in an historical context.

[Orbert]

Maybe - but it is interesting to look back at how big Wakeman was as a solo artist in 1975 - so big that he gets star rating in the advertising even when he wasn't in the band.

I think it is always important to view these things in an historical context.
Oh, I agree; I was just being facetious. Rick may not have been in the band at the time, but to many people (myself included), what mattered was that he was in the movie; he was in the band for the performance we see. And obviously the marketing folks wanted to make sure we knew that, too.

I had forgotten how big Rick was as a solo artist, though, so that is indeed interesting. I remember when "Six Wives" came out, with that picture on the back with Rick and all the keyboards in a semi-circle around him -- I thought that was about the coolest damned picture I'd ever seen.

[Faceintheplace]

There's a used keyboard store here in Ottawa that have that picture on their wall.

[gathernear]

I watched this one again last night. Close To The Edge is so great on this disc. I wish there was more footage of this era. If you haven't seen Yessongs, get it!!!


Larry