In a Word: Huh?

[Dragonfly]

The "News" section on YesWorld has this to say:"...[T]he most definitive Yes retrospective ever produced, featuring more than three decades of music, ranging from 1969’s YES to 2001’s MAGNIFICATION..."Wow. That's a big set."[S]uggested retail price of $69.98...55 tracks spanning the band’s ... career.Ouch! Hmmm, well for that price it should be awesome! :thumbup:Along with full-length album versions of classic Yes tunes such as “Roundabout,” “Long Distance Runaround,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” and “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” this deluxe five-CD package also includes six previously unreleased tracks..."O.K. Now wait a minute. I'm spending $69.98 to buy 49 songs I already have just to get six that I don't? That's $11.66 per song! The YesYears boxed set did WAY better than that. Six? That's all? No rare live tracks even?

I'm gonna have a hard time buying this one. Too bad I have no choice. (You'd think that last line was funny, but it's not.):rolleyes: I'm disappointed.

Dragonfly :yesbird:

[yesboy81]

Well, look at it this way. Yesyears had some input by the band, but it wasn't produced by Yes or any of the individual members. Where with Yesyears, it was in a way put together haphazardly with single length versions of some songs(America/Soon) or horrible masters of songs that the individual members had their own masters to ( i.e. VeyVey part. 1/2). thus leaving the band members disappointed with Yesyears. Steve Howe is producing this one (along with the other guys) and it's supposedly "remastered in sterling sound". So, hopefully any of the songs from the garbage remastered remasters of Tales, Relayer, GFTO, Tormato, etc. will be in way better quality. Hopefully akin to the Japanese HDCDs reissues.

[Shikedants]

Originally posted by illusion
Hmm. Seems like Yes is ripping the fans off. Personally I'd download them, but to me "unreleased" tracks stay unreleased for a reason. Hence I'm not going to bother.


Did I hear someone say Led Zeppilin's "Coda" or ELP's "Works vol.2"?

[yesboy81]

Originally posted by illusion
Personally I'd download them, but to me "unreleased" tracks stay unreleased for a reason. Hence I'm not going to bother.


I feel that unreleased tracks should be released, and not lay dormant for years because they give a different perspective of a familiar song or what an album could've been like if a particular unreleased song or the x amount of songs were orignally on there. Like for example, one of the sides of Tales, I believe it was Ritual, was edited down from a half an hour (approximately) to about 22 minutes. Now, we can't hear the original length of that one because that was thrown out along with all of the other edits. But, we can only imagine what that missing section sounded like. And the same goes for the ending of "Close to the Edge". Eddie Offord edited out the Season of Man section and then pasted it with the wrong edit, which ended up going on the record. but, however we do hear the original ending live, which is two keys down from the studio version-for all of the musicians out there who knows what I mean-. But we're still missing what was orignally supposed to be heard on the album. Since that was also thrown out too, but on accident by "the mean and vicious" cleaning lady (as described by Bill Bruford in Yesstories).
My opinion on presenting the unreleased material to the public however is like this: I feel that the unreleased material should only be presented and aimed at the hardcore fans and not for the casual fans. or maybe for the casual fans release a sampler of the unreleased music, which is what ATCO should've done with Yesyears when they released the Yesstory compilation (the abridged version of Yesyears). But, I'm all for releasing unreleased materials, unless it's really really awful.

[Jackaranda]

Unreleased tracks, unless they're live (and there are way too many of them. Yes needs to put out a CD and video of every tour), remain unreleased usually because they aren't that good. Did anyone really care for "Money" or the song about the horse (I forget the title) on YesYears?

YesYears was pretty lame compared to what it could have been. I say 2 boxed sets. One a retrospective and the other all the tours. And videos too..Jack.

[Dragonfly]

Originally posted by jack gowen Did anyone really care for "Money" or the song about the horse (I forget the title) on YesYears?I LOVE "Money" - or would if I could excise Rick's naration. His speaking part is funny - once. Then, it just gets in the way. But it's still a fun song.

I guess "the song about the horse" is Abeline. I thought it was an interesting song, but it didn't really do much for me. Too slow.

"You've got a face and you are spacey.":crazy:

Dragonfly :yesbird:

"Suns do shine, moons do glow. Simplicity everyone knows. Don't hurry me!"

[yesboy81]

Originally posted by jack gowen
unless they're live (and there are way too many of them. Yes needs to put out a CD and video of every tour), remain unreleased usually because they aren't that good. Did anyone really care for "Money" or the song about the horse (I forget the title) on YesYears? .

There are not too many unreleased live Yes recordings, unless you're talking about audience recordings, that's the reason why they haven't really released any "classic" live performances (with the exception of the BBC, Beat club, Philidelphia, QPR, Union Tour). Much of that is due to tapes being lost or sound qualities are beyond repairs. This is why Yes welcomes the trading of audience recordings because they do not have an abundance of live recordings from the 70s that would be for release. Even the "classic" performances that are out now (QPR and Philidelphia) don't really have the digital treatment they deserve. Mostly because there were no stereo mixes made or they were lost. Hence they can't release exactly every single tour from 1969-1980.

As for Money and Abilene (the "song about the horse"), I like both of them. I wish the mix was better than what was released on Money. Abilene is just a little pop song almost, I like it. It's not what we're used to from Yes, but that was the thing of listening to Yes, to hear something unexpected.

Mark

[RobAdams]

IN A WORD sure has changed since first reports of it began. I think many of us , including me, thought it was going to be a box set of ALL their albums including bonus tracks. Sounds a bit huge, but considering the Grateful Dead box Rhino just recently released, it didn't seem too unbelievable.

I don't expect to get this one too soon. I'd like to see Rhino rerelease all the YES albums, at the very least ALL the ones on Atlantic & Atco. Each should have enough bonus tracks to make each disc at least 70 minutes. The odd rare tracks from YESYEARS and IN A WORD should be placed accordingly throughout the remastered collection. Not to mention adding studio outtakes, demos and live material. 9012LIVE could actually be more than a half hour.

I hate buying the same music over & over again. I'll do it once more with YES if they do their catalog the way THE WHO have so generously remastered & revised their collection.

ABELINE was not an unreleased track. It was on the B side of the DON'T KILL THE WHALE single, except in the US. I remember searching for an import of this single way back when...Not a bad song. I like the quirky guitar solo. It's also an oddity in that it is a Steve Howe only composition that is NOT an acoustic guitar solo piece. Steve Howe writes a pop tune....ha ha.

[yesboy81]

Illusion and Jack:

Now you both agree that unreleased songs should remain unreleased because it usually means they're not that great. Well, my question, and this is mainly to Illusion. Well, if you're not going to buy the box set or feel that unreleased should remain unreleased, then why are you downloading them? Then why bother downloading them in their inferior sound quality than buy them with really pristine sounds if you feel unreleased should stay unreleased?

Now I download them, but I download them to hear them. I download them for historical purposes. And not every unreleased songs aren't bad, they could just be songs that didn't fit with the album or it was just something that wasn't put on an album because of time constraint but was a piece to a particualr album. I'll sure as heck buy them in any upgraded form officially. It's really worth the money. I know this from being a collector of Jimi Hendrix as well.

[RobAdams]

A good case in point regarding the "unreleased for a reason" thing. Sometimes artists aren't very good judges of their own material, and the occasional masterpiece is left "on the cutting room floor".

One of the best examples of this I think can be heard on the BOB DYLAN box set THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL.1-3 . Dylan left many wonderful things off his albums. Much of this album's tracks are leftovers that Bob didn't think were worthy of release. One Dylan album I love is INFIDELS. The BOOTLEG SERIES has about 5 songs left off that album, like FOOT OF PRIDE, TELL ME, LORD PROTECT MY CHILD, and BLIND WILLIE McTELL. These songs are OUTSTANDING. After I heard them I realized just how much more fantastic INFIDELS could have been.

[nightliner]

Its been my understanding that the unreleased songs in the box set were those known as the Paris tapes. I've heard these songs, and they should remain unreleased. If you've never heard them, you're not missing much.

[jcostello]

Originally posted by yesboy81
Well, look at it this way. Yesyears had some input by the band, but it wasn't produced by Yes or any of the individual members. Where with Yesyears, it was in a way put together haphazardly with single length versions of some songs(America/Soon) or horrible masters of songs that the individual members had their own masters to ( i.e. VeyVey part. 1/2). thus leaving the band members disappointed with Yesyears. Steve Howe is producing this one (along with the other guys) and it's supposedly "remastered in sterling sound". So, hopefully any of the songs from the garbage remastered remasters of Tales, Relayer, GFTO, Tormato, etc. will be in way better quality. Hopefully akin to the Japanese HDCDs reissues.

Steve's producing it, eh? Does this mean that we can blame him for the song selection, or was that something that the group decided? I want to know who to complain to/at that they're trying to charge me almost $12 a song, and they're not even giving us all of Paris sessions tracks that they could.

It's nice that the songs will sound "better" (do the words "remains to be heard" mean anything to you?), but how many times will Yesfans have to keep shelling out to get "better sounding" versions of the same songs.

You've all read, in another thread, the voluminous number of excellent suggestions for what Yes should release from the vaults, so I won't go into it here. But I must say, even though Rhino usually does a sterling job with box sets, I can't get very excited about this one based on what I've heard about it so far. Are they going to at least select a number of tracks that weren't on the Yesyears boxset, or is this basically the same songs?

Peace, Love, and Please Tell Me Again Why I Should Bother with the Rhino,

John C.

[WalrusOct9]

I just think they're greedy. More and more bands are opening their vaults and giving fans what they want: discs of all unreleased material. Marillion has been doing so for awhile, Steve Hackett just released an archival box set, Genesis released two archive box sets and are planning to release live shows online for fans in the near future. Even Asia had a label release live shows (even though they were awful sounding audience tapes), all (except one) from the John Payne era, not exactly feeding to the masses, but obviously they thought enough people would be interested in it.

Now despite whatever their current status is, Yes is the king of all the prog rock groups of the 70's. Genesis was big, ELP was big, Crimson was big, but Yes is still the most famous of the 70's prog "movement." Someone should realize that their fan base is still there and would spend ----loads of money on unreleased stuff all put together in a package. They should also realize that most of us already own all the Yes albums. I wish the whole Yes community was online so maybe we could get something together and boycott the box set. Not boycott to piss off Rhino or the band, but to make a statement that we realize they're ripping us off.

Maybe if everyone on yesfans.com sent either the band or Rhino emails demanding a little respect (and some archival goodies), then they'd wise up.

When the Genesis box sets and the Beatles Anthologies came out, I, for a little while, hoped that the companies had wised up and realized that box sets were only bought by diehards who own everything already, and that they'd stop issuing these awful "greatest hits + a few rarities" compilations. Guess I was wrong.

-Steve C.

[RobAdams]

I would certainly like to see a series of live 'complete concert' cd sets, simillar to the Grateful Dead DICK'S PICKS series. We could have a complete TALES show, a complete show with SOUTH SIDE, a TORMATO show, a 1976 show, a 90125 show, a UNION show etc...

There should be a CD release that puts all the unreleased YES IN A WORD and YESYEARS tracks together, as well as anything from CD singles. The full version of THE CALLING, GIVE AND TAKE for those with the US version of UNION. Also include the accapella version of LEAVE IT, and the live CITY OF LOVE (b side of LEAVE IT) as well as the live IT CAN HAPPEN (b side of studio IT CAN HAPPEN). Don't forget the full version of CHILDREN OF LIGHT so we don't have to buy KEYSTUDIO. I'd also add AMERICA and DEAR FATHER so YESTERDAYS becomes optional. Now THAT would be a package. It should be chronological as well.

I think they should do this because it sure would be a popular bootleg. I'd rather YES get paid for this.

[RobAdams]

I can think of a couple tracks I don't care if I ever hear again, much less own. Those horrid dance mix versions of OWNER and LEAVE IT.

[Martin Riley]

Oh dear!! I fear I may have upset both i-and-i and Yesboy as I have just recently posted something similar in the latest NFTE. However, I'll plead ignorance as I'm new to this internet game and hadn't even discovered Yesfans at the time. But as regards In a Word I must plead to be as disappointed as everyone else. I din't even buy Yesyears as it was too much for too little so there is no chance of my parting with what I presume will be about £50/£55 over here, for a paltry 6 rare tracks.

Originally posted by i-and-i
I can think of a couple tracks I don't care if I ever hear again, much less own. Those horrid dance mix versions of OWNER and LEAVE IT.

Gives me a shudder just thinking about it....brrrrr

[Jackaranda]

I bet you're a closet Rabin fan. No dance mixes? Perish the thought!!!

Seriously, though, I'd love to hear whatever live material is available. We all know that Yes is a GREAT live band, so why not?

Originally posted by jack gowen
We all know that Yes is a GREAT live band, so why not?


Probably has something to do with Rabin.

[Jackaranda]

Originally posted by yessiree



Probably has something to do with Rabin.

COME ON!!! Do you have YesYears and the live tracks with the Rabin line-up? I know you're kidding--at least, I think I know you're kidding. You are kidding right?!?!?

Originally posted by jack gowen
COME ON!!! Do you have YesYears and the live tracks with the Rabin line-up? I know you're kidding--at least, I think I know you're kidding. You are kidding right?!?!?

You know Jack, I still get a cringe whenever I encounter Rabin in any manifestation. I know you and you family love him and that's great. But it's going to be hard for me to get past that deep seated cringe I feel whenever I see or hear that guy. It's like it's organic--not something I created or invented. And perhaps I need to listen more. I have not completely ruled that out.

[ycantibu]

Weren't the Leave It & Owner dance mixes Squire's project?

[Neverthirst]

What is NFTE?

[Q]

Notes From The Edge, www.nfte.org, is one of the oldest online sources of Yes info

and it is archived online, so you can go all the way back to its beginnings and read all the historic announcements

[Matthijs]

I want to go back to the unreleased stuff topic, ok? ok!
First, I realy like Abilene very much and I like Money more than most of the Rabin stuff (but that's a whole other discussion). I think that unreleased material has a very retrospective importance and doesn't have to be bad at all.
Personally I don't like the Paris sessions, but they realy are important for a historic point of view. The inspiration is lost on it and one can easily hear why Jon and Rick left the band. It was heading the wrong way. And after hearing these sessions I enjoy Drama even more, for it also can be seen as a come back out of a deep dark hole.
An other addition to the topic is the story of the great Can You Imagine and the mighty Mind Drive. They were first recorded before Cinema and released 15-20 years later. So they have been unreleased for a very long time, but that didn't make them bad songs (I know that back then they weren't completed but the intention of 2 great songs was there).

I see why people can call songs like Abilene, Money, Vevey, I'm Down, Paris-demo's etc lame and/or unnecesary for listening pleasure only (I admit, it doesn't have the ultimate Yesquality, but alot of their laterreleased songs don't have it either, only batter working-out), but it also brings more insight in the acts of our Yesmen. It just illustrats a period of time in Yeslife. That even goes for the dance-remixes.
There also can't be a rule that every unreleased Yessongs is a badsongs. How about the CC commercial, Johnny Harris song All to bring you morning (Jon, Steve and Alan very much in the principal part), Make it easy (one of my fav. Rabin songs), the promising XYZ-demo's, there we're some very nice tunes on the ABWH demo for their unreleased second album, and who knows what Last Train will be like? I don't recall to have heard Backing Track 2, but I have high hopes. And were did all the Yes/Moraz recordings for GFTO go? I would realy want to get my hands on that.

[yesboy81]

I couldn't agree with you more. Those are exactly what I would like to hear. I would die and to have gone to heaven hearing the GFTO Sessions Mach I (meaning with Moraz). I was wondering however if there was ever a studio version of "For Everyone", which was included on Something's Coming (Beyond and Before): The BBC Session. If there is/was astudio version of it, that would make a nice bonus track to the re-re-reissue of "YES".
I had mentioned earlier that one of the sides of Tales was cut from approximately 30 minutes to 21 and that the originally ending of CttE was cut and thrown away. Those original sections were thrown away, lost, or destroyed, but it would nice to hear those if they were some how discovered. But at anyrate the bottomline: (with the same enthusiasm I have for Hendrix) Bring on the unreleased stuff!

[Moon Theme]

Is there anyhwere that has the track listing for the upcoming box set??

[YesNY]

Near seventy dollars for six songs that couldn't even make the YESYEARS cut? And the remastered 49 other songs? Well, unless a brand new stereo system comes included in the price (that would surely NOTICABLY improve sound quality for the listener), I think I will take a pass on this one.

I will eventually be able to put this saved money in the Yes coffers if the planned live box set has some unique stuff and is not just more versions of the same classic era songs by the classic lineup that already has been well documented on their live releases. Translation: We do not need anymore live reduxes of Roundabout by Wakeman versions of Yes. A version by Drama Yes? Now that would be interesting.

Then there are live songs that, by any version of the band, would be a treat to have on CD: To Be Over (would have to be Relayer-Yes unless they do it next tour, which is not likely), Southside of the Sky (though without the middle section, it is probably a bit disappointing), I'm Running, TORMATO songs, etc. I hold out a lot more hope for the planned live box set than the YES: IN A WORD box set. I hope they do us Yes fans right on the live box.

[Dantalion Rides Again]

^Well I haven't yet felt compelled enough (or wealthy enough) to get that new live boxed set ... what's it called again? Oh yeah ... The Word Is Live. I get the titles confused. They both have the word 'word'. One's got 'a', the other has 'the'. One has 'In', the other's got 'Is'. You see how easy it is to confuse the titles.

Anyway, today I finally got this boxed set we call In A Word. After years of waiting for a reasonable price to justify buying this thing, I finally paid $30 (That's roughly eleven U.S. pennies, after conversion, to those of you outside the US ;)).

While it's quite redundant, I think it's a pretty awesome set to behold. The package is stunningly beautiful. Can't wait to supplement my bonus tracks collection with these exclusives.

Can you believe I got Ultimate Yes today as well? Got that one kinda cheap too ... I have YesYears as well. Bought it new when it came out!

Maybe I'd better also consider The Best of Yes, Classic Yes, Yes's Greatest Hits, Yesmusic For Dummies, Yes 1 - The Number Ones.

[Meng]

Does anyone know the story of the different intro to "Clap" that's on this set?