Yes Live in Philadelphia

[Koko]

Does anyone 'know' what the 'Quality' of the Yes in Philadelphia DVD is Like??

I saw a copy yesterday (retailing for £16-99 / $24-00(ish)...

I'd be grateful for any pointers / reviews .

Diolch en Fawr

Kokopelli.

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ALL LIFE IS SACRED

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[Purple Wolfhound]

Me, too. I keep seeing this dvd in the store and was wondering how good (or bad) it is...

Peace,

Phil

[yessongs72]

It's about the same as Yessongs.It's also only like 50 minutes, so over half of the show is missing. It's worth having IMHO just because of so little from the 70's. It's in the round, and camera work is crappy, but like I said , it's worth owning.

[yesiam]

I got excited cause I thought this thread was about Yes deciding to take up residence here in Philly.

I had it in my hand a few weeks ago but didn't get it cause I'm trying desparately to control my impulse buying now that I'm work-challenged. But if they come out with a dvd after next month's Tower shows I'll get them both.

[Genevive]

It is true that there are a great many songs missing on the DVD that were played in the show that would have been a tremendous contribution to the film. The setlist on the DVD is as follows:

-program start
-siberian khatru
-circus of heaven
-starship trooper
-drum solo
-leaves of green
-your move, AGP
-roundabout
-end credits

The actual show contained:

-close encounters of the 3rd kind
-siberian khatru
-heart of the sunrise
-future times/rejoice
-circus of heaven
-(medley) time and a word/long distance runaround/the fish/perpetual change/soon
-leaves of green
-clap
-arriving ufo
-and you and i
-starship trooper
-wakeman solo
-awaken
-tour song
-ISAGP
-roundabout

Just imagine all of that on a DVD! I agree that it is a good film, even if the viewing quality is not supreme. But I take that in the context of when it was filmed as well. It is a good experience in the round, Jon in the center, mike hanging down, Yes playing to all sides of the audience.... recommended! :D

[nightliner]

It is a poor grade dvd, and as mentioned previously, it is missing over half the show. It was re-released in the UK, but I don't know if the quality/length is any different.

I also wish they had shown more shots of the audience. I was in the third row.

[Martin Riley]

This is the review of it on Amazon.uk - Doesn't seem too good does it?

Amazon.co.uk Review
The classic Yes line-up (Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Alan White) playing some of their finest music: that's the good news about Yes--Live in Philadelphia, 1979. The bad news is that the picture is mediocre, the sound is awful and the content is a 50-minute TV programme (minus credits) edited from a complete performance. The concert opens with the barnstorming "Siberian Khatru" from Close to the Edge, before the lightweight "Circus of Heaven" (from Tormato) offers a delicate contrast, and the pace changes again as Alan White unleashes a powerful drum solo. The packaging claims the next track is "The Ancient" from Tales from Topographic Oceans, but it's actually a two-minute extract followed by a fade to black.

The remainder of the disc is essentially Yes' standard encores: "Starship Trooper", "I've Seen All Good People" and "Roundabout", though it would have been nice to have seen the show which preceded them. Yes are in fine form and offer a spectacular light show to match their musical pyrotechnics, but with the gig cut to shreds and the appalling technical quality of the disc it's hard to recommend this to any but the most die hard of collectors. Try the much more recent Yes--Live in Amsterdam instead.

On the DVD: Yes--Live in Philadelphia is a concert filmed for a 1979 TV programme cropped to 16:9 ratio, so that even anamorphic enhancement can't compensate for the butchered visual compositions. One of the purposes of DVD is to present everything in its original ratio, not to reformat old programmes to fill widescreen TVs. The picture also looks soft, lacks detail and often displays a shimmering rippling effect right across the screen. The sound claims to be Dolby Digital 5.1 and perhaps, technically, it is, but if so it is the same mono TV soundtrack fed separately to each channel. Not only that, but it is harsh, metallic mono with no depth, definition or bass, reducing Yes' complex multi-layered arrangements to an indigestible sonic hash.

Notably, no one from Yes has lent their name to this DVD, so rock journalist Chris Welch provides an introduction and commentary. Unfortunately he struggles to say anything that isn't obvious or banal, lapsing into silence for considerable periods. --Gary S Dalkin

Video Description
DVD Special Features
Introduction and optional track-by-track audio review from rock journalist Chris Welch.
Main Feature: 90 minutes
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 16.9

[stevepenn]

Got it. It pretty much sucks. Good for history buffs (and fools) like me, but not something to sit down and groove to with a fatty.

[Koko]

Thank-you everyone for your input.........


I went in again last Wednesday and it had Gone...so If it's there next time I go in...It's (all down to chance!) goona come Home with Me!......if it ain't it won't ...etc etc.

Mucho Gracias

Kokopelli

[nzyesfan]

Originally posted by Genevive

<snip>
Just imagine all of that on a DVD! I agree that it is a good film, even if the viewing quality is not supreme. But I take that in the context of when it was filmed as well. It is a good experience in the round, Jon in the center, mike hanging down, Yes playing to all sides of the audience.... recommended! :D

agreed, but with reservations. Apparently its been remixed to 5.1 but its not real 5.1 as its a conversion from the original stereo. Don't expect Yessymphonic in the round. As Gen says, for the time it was produced its a _good_ document. IIRC the power went out at this show and Jon did some acoustic interlude. How come they didn't film the rest of it after that? I'd sure like to see film of that medly if only to see Rick doing the battle section/soon parts of Gates.

Whoo!


paul

[Peter S Benson]

I just found this DVD at suncoast video for only $12. I just had to have it even though I had never seen it or really heard about it for that matter.
My first Yes Concert was at MSG in Sept of '78, and second was at MSG in '79 and this DVD brought me back to that era. (camping out for tickets behind Scottys records in Summit NJ) Yes the sound/video quality is not that great, BUT it was great to see upclose (I had nose bleed seats at both shows and it got pretty rowdie up there) AH the good old '70's. :D

[jmorley]

I bought this recently in the UK - was excited by the prospect of owning a slice of hitherto unseen and oft talked about vintage Yes.

What a disappointment - very poor quality pic and sound. OK, I suppose there os not much you can do with the source elements if from this period, but I think if enough care had been taken they could have improved on what is here.

I cannot believe this is a 5.1 track - it sounds dreadful. Most of the instruments, and in particular Squires bass, are totally buried in the mix. The crowd noise is far too prominent as well. Sorry, but I don't favour those realistic-you-were-there type of live mixes.

As for picture, not much better. Extremely dark, with very limited coverage.

In terms of content, buried in there are some very good live renditions of some of the well known stuff. I particularly like Wakeman and Howe's Keyboard/guitar duel on Starship Trooper. It was also interesting to hear Circus of Heaven. OK, not everyones fave track ( or album, though for me it certainly is nnot the worst), but well performed, and good to hear something different live. I am sure we will certainly not hear it played live again.

I did briefly check out some of Chris Welch's commentaries and intros - I know Chris is a big fan of the band, and I have read a lot of his stuff, but I got the impression he was struggling to try and make the concert sound more exciting than it appears.

The next question is - what about the Live at the Rainbow DVD that is currently being talked about? Anyone know anything about this, when it dates from, line up details, track listing etc?

And while I am pontificating about Live Yes stuff, can anyone advise as to the quality of the Yessongs DVD? I did have this on DVD some years back, and just wondered if the DVD improves it any?YES

[the'YES'kid]

Even though this is one of Yes's most intresting tours, the quality is horrible. The audio is very low, the image look like if it was a 3rd generation tape, and there's a song where you actuallu see lines, like if you where seeing a tape, but what the hell, if we sometimes waste so much energy and money buying bootlegs why not having this one on DVD?:fmad:

[Dale Cleary]

After having paid $89.95 for the Japanese import that I'd reserved at the shop, I saw an Aussie edition for $36.95 !!
I bought this on VHS when it first came out. The DVD isn't much better and the real reason I got it was to have the complete collection. Plus I wanted Siberian khatru on DVD.

Only get it if you want the collection like me.

[Xanadu]

In complete honesty, the quality of the video is no better than the VHS tape I've had of this same show since '86. Apparently the Master wasn't stored correctly, leading to less-than-stellar video quality. Yes never wanted this released, much like the QPR show, andit's apparent why. I'm wondering where the OTHER footage is, as surely the camera's were running all night.

[the'YES'kid]

For those who don't know, here is some aditional info about this DVD. As you all know in the Yesyears video they show bits of that "Philadelphia" show, but the audio used for "Siberian Kathru" in Yesyears is the audio from the "Yessongs" LP (which sounds a lot better). The same with "Yours is no Disgrace", the visual is Yessongs video, but the audio is also from the LP. That 's why when Chris is playing that cool bass line, you see he stops playing about 3 notes, but you can still hear the whole line.
Kinda of a blooper.
:pee?: