Is this a "official" album??

[Yes_Fan_4_Life26]

Is it?

I always, when making album polls, I always think "Is this a real album?". Because I mistake this as a compliation(sp) because its gathering all the songs from the Keys to Ascension material......

So what is it?

Anybody?

[Flo]

Yes, this is an official album.
Keys To Ascension I and II were both live material. But they also featured some previously unreleased studio tracks which have been gathered in the album "Keystudio".

[frank zappa]

Listening to it just now after a long, long time. Footprints is great! No, really.
I'm too critical of my fave band (most of the Keystudio stuff I could probably live without) but this swings like mad. They should play it live when they return. And 'That, That Is' is really good too, but you already knew that.

[CybrKhatru]

It should be noted that Keystudio was either remixed, remastered, or a combination of the two.

If you compare the KTA versions to the KeyStudio versions, you can tell the mixes are different, at least. In addition, "Children of Light" is rearranged, with an introduction not found on KTA2.

Probably more info than anyone needed! LOL...

Matt

[electricfreedom]

Of all the recent YES material in the last 10 years, this would have to be the best of the bunch. And in reality, this should've been released as a single album in 1997 rather than the hodgepods of Keys I, II, and OYE. And there's nothing wrong with any one of those albums. I see though that YES might've been more commercially successful if only the studio tracks from Keys were released on just one album alone at the time. When both Keys albums were released, the live portions are superb but to release a microwaved versions of Yessongs/ Yesshows with some new stuff added for seasoning seemed pointless. But I imagine this was more or less a management or a&r decision.

And you've got the lovely Roger Dean covers. But Yes and their then label should've learned from the lesson of Union that just certain elements of what used to make a YES album a commercially successful one doesn't mean it's a quality YES album that people will buy. Along with the confusion in 97 of the near simultaneous release of KTAII and OYE, you've got one big mess. Come 2002 though, someone actually picked up on the bright idea of compiling all of the studio tracks from KTA I & II on to one disc to make a more cohesive album. What we've got here in the form of Keystudio is as stated before; something that should've happened years before.

This album has everything that a YES album in the early 70s once offered: Sharp sound production. Precision musicianship and songwriting. Great vocals. Side long epics along with the extended pieces. The Classic line up and a Roger Dean cover (though its cover's more simplistic than the usual suspect). From the opening harmonies of 'Foot Prints' to the deliriousness of 'Mind Drive' to the tranquil but yet powerful beauty of 'Children of Light', this is the YES album to own over any of the other recent audio recorded output. The Ladder would be right behind Keystudio

[ANTIOCH]

YES have never had management making positive decisions regarding the band's best interests. It would appear in retrospect that "Keystudio" (and hopefully renamed) should have come out as it's own entity and the 'live' SLO show recordings a subsequent release.

[Orbert]

YES have never had management making positive decisions regarding the band's best interests. It would appear in retrospect that "Keystudio" (and hopefully renamed) should have come out as it's own entity and the 'live' SLO show recordings a subsequent release.
That would've been so cool. The last official Yes album at the time was Talk from 1994. The best of the Rabin-Yes albums, but to fans of the 70's lineups, a letdown after getting their hopes up with the Union... um... thing.

But what if 1996 came and the next official Yes album we saw was a new studio album by Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, and White? Seven tracks, 74 minutes of new music, including two epics? And a groovy Roger Dean cover? Oh, baby! I can't even imagine the suits not putting that puppy out there and promoting the hell out of it. So what did they do? They gave us Keys to Ascension and KTA 2, but didn't spend a dime promoting them, and foisted Open Your Eyes upon us instead, a year later. Because it's new, and... well kinda hip, I guess. Or something.

Oh hell, I'm grasping at straws now. I honestly don't understand what they were thinking in 1996 and 1997. What ultimately became Keystudio should have been the massive, triumphant return of "Classic Yes". Instead, not even their own label cared.

[robin chun]

That would've been so cool. The last official Yes album at the time was Talk from 1994. The best of the Rabin-Yes albums, but to fans of the 70's lineups, a letdown after getting their hopes up with the Union... um... thing.

But what if 1996 came and the next official Yes album we saw was a new studio album by Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, and White? Seven tracks, 74 minutes of new music, including two epics? And a groovy Roger Dean cover? Oh, baby! I can't even imagine the suits not putting that puppy out there and promoting the hell out of it. So what did they do? They gave us Keys to Ascension and KTA 2, but didn't spend a dime promoting them, and foisted Open Your Eyes upon us instead, a year later. Because it's new, and... well kinda hip, I guess. Or something.

Oh hell, I'm grasping at straws now. I honestly don't understand what they were thinking in 1996 and 1997. What ultimately became Keystudio should have been the massive, triumphant return of "Classic Yes". Instead, not even their own label cared.
You're dead right, I'm sure it would have been an 'hella've uplift for most of us, sure would have been for me.
Robin

[NobodyImportant]

I honestly don't understand what they were thinking in 1996 and 1997. What ultimately became Keystudio should have been the massive, triumphant return of "Classic Yes". Instead, not even their own label cared.

My thoughts exactly! I just recently picked up Keystudio (I don't have either of the live Keys albums yet), and I think it's a great album, for the most part (especially Mind Drive). Why the label botched the return album and buried the tracks on live albums is beyond me.

At least we have the "album" now, but the Keystudio title is a bit offputting (the working title Know would have been better) and the material wasn't fresh at that point and therefore wasn't marketed well as a new Yes album. Oh, sometimes labels' management don't have a clue how to do their jobs!

:theband:

[Altres]

I think it is a compilation album. I only know these tracks through the versions on KTA I & II, is the running order different, or are their different tracks on the keystudio release?

Brian

[neilius]

This is an album i dont have. I cannot see the point with having Keys I & II. Unless there are extra tracks on this?

[nitrus]

This is an album i dont have. I cannot see the point with having Keys I & II. Unless there are extra tracks on this?

Well, Children Of Light has a pretty cool extended intro, if that counts.
And That, That Is seems to be re-mixed/re-mastered for the Keystudio release, it sounds somewhat better to my ears.