View Full Version : Why Was "Yesshows" Released In November, 1980?
Yesshows was released in November, 1980 -- three months after the release of Drama, which featured then-new singer Trevor Horn on vocals.
I never understood why they released a live album with Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman so quickly after the release of Drama. It came out while the band was touring behind that album.
I was new to Yes at this point and was confused. I wasn't even sure who was singing on Yesshows. I thought that it might be a release from the current tour.
Does anyone know why Yesshows came out when it did?
RickyG
02-28-2009, 11:05 AM
Well it was supposed to come out earlier, in 1979... but Chris made the mixes, as demo mixes, and the band was not in agreement on the song selection or the mixes. Steve in particular was against some edits that were done and apparently Jon, Rick and Steve were all unhappy with it. So it was shelved.
Then a year later Atlantic records just went and put Chris' demo mixes out, without any input from the band or even with telling them they were going to do it. So it was purely a "business" move by Atlantic.
This information is taken from "Yesstories".
I agree with Steve that Gates "wasn't a good mix at all", and also feel that the mixes tend to favor the bass/drums and are unbalanced in that direction with keys and guitar not getting the attention they deserved. I also thought it wasn't the best song selection. Steve said they had intended to make it another triple album.
...but I also haven't listened to this in years, so that's just the impression it left me with.
tommc
02-28-2009, 11:16 AM
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
DREAMER
02-28-2009, 11:42 AM
Yeah, you can certainly tell who mixed it !
michael
02-28-2009, 11:54 AM
because it's the "most wonderful time....of the year!! there were stages revolving and music evolving and thousands of cheeeeeers. It's the most wonderful time...of the year"
forgive me for that!
edarnold
02-28-2009, 12:40 PM
because it's the "most wonderful time....of the year!! there were stages revolving and music evolving and thousands of cheeeeeers. It's the most wonderful time...of the year"
forgive me for that!
The day I brought it home from Record Museum it was snowing. I put it on right away and soaked in Parallels. I had a puff and enjoyed some new live Yes. We didn't have many boots then and other than a handful, YesSongs was all we had. YesShows certainly was appreciated by this fan. I don't listen to it very often anymore though. Some of the boots sound better to me. Youknow, where Ritual isn't cut. (what were they thinking?)
BlueEagle
02-28-2009, 12:51 PM
The only good thing about it was the Dean cover art and the liner photos from the '79 in the round tour.
If Atlantic did release it without the band's input, it still makes no sense. Why would they sabotage Drama by putting a Yes live album in competition with it?
michael
02-28-2009, 01:56 PM
The day I brought it home from Record Museum it was snowing. I put it on right away and soaked in Parallels. I had a puff and enjoyed some new live Yes. We didn't have many boots then and other than a handful, YesSongs was all we had. YesShows certainly was appreciated by this fan. I don't listen to it very often anymore though. Some of the boots sound better to me. Youknow, where Ritual isn't cut. (what were they thinking?)
sync!! I first heard it on a snowy winter day and I certainly enjoyed it. I have a fond memeory of the south side of the sky being particularly bleak that day and some new live YES was perfect!
BlueEagle
02-28-2009, 02:16 PM
Wasn't it released after Horn and Downes left and YES's future was in doubt? I know Moraz was very unhappy with it.
Wasn't it released after Horn and Downes left and YES's future was in doubt? I know Moraz was very unhappy with it.
Nope. Novermber, 1980. Yes was touring behind Drama at that point.
I can understand Moraz being upset: His work was being put out there without his consent or input.
edarnold
03-01-2009, 12:41 AM
I was happy that 'they' put the band I loved so much up on a pedestal even though the current touring band was not reflected wholey in it.
marklovesyes
03-01-2009, 01:25 AM
Whichever way you slice it, it's the best live album they ever released, no matter how much of a mistake it was by the record company or whoever else. The only thing that could have made it better was making it another triple live album.
I love everything about it. The songs. The artwork. The mix. The pictures inside. The liner notes.
It is THE album that totally sold me on Yes.
DREAMER
03-01-2009, 03:16 AM
Arguments over the mixes etc etc aside, I agree it's a great album. I remember buying it too, it was about 30th December 1980, it had not been released here in the UK yet and I found the US import in my local record shop. I couldn't get it home fast enough to play it. I think Gates of Delerium on that album is superb, especially at the end. Listen to the final moments of Soon and hear the audience just ROAR their approval - that is surely what a live album is all about.
gitsy
03-01-2009, 04:30 AM
I remember buying this when it came out only to find the record jumped (good old vinal). I went back to the shop and got a replacement only to find the same problem. I took it back a second time and got a refund. All these years later it's the only Yes release I don't have.
Bluegrunt
03-01-2009, 05:18 AM
... it's the best live album they ever released...
Wow that's quite a statement. I sometimes think that Yes live are better than Yes in the studio. (Sometimes I think the opposite). Personally I think that my own views on Yes albums are strongly affected by what was going on in my life at the time. For me the Drama era was a low point in Yes history, with the Drama concerts my all time worst Yes experience, so I probably wasn't feeling very positive towards the band when this was released. For my money, Yessongs has a greater vitality to it.
I remember buying this when it came out only to find the record jumped (good old vinal).
Heh heh. We sometimes have a rose coloured view of the old days, and its useful to remember that sometimes vinyl could disappoint. Scratched LPs, anyone?
Olorin
03-01-2009, 01:55 PM
Given this album's history, and the band's propensity, or their management's propensity, for releasing oodles of live albums, wouldn't it be great if they went back to the tapes and did a special edition of Yesshows and made it the album that the band wanted it to be?
Given this album's history, and the band's propensity, or their management's propensity, for releasing oodles of live albums, wouldn't it be great if they went back to the tapes and did a special edition of Yesshows and made it the album that the band wanted it to be?
And then you'd have five guys arguing over the remix. It is what it is.
I'm just glad that on the remaster, they combined parts 1 and 2 of "Ritual" into one.
rojon
03-02-2009, 11:30 AM
Whichever way you slice it, it's the best live album they ever released, no matter how much of a mistake it was by the record company or whoever else. The only thing that could have made it better was making it another triple live album.
I love everything about it. The songs. The artwork. The mix. The pictures inside. The liner notes.
It is THE album that totally sold me on Yes.
Not to take anything away from Yesshows, but if you became a fan from that album you would have missed the historical significance of Yessongs for fans and band alike.
If I remember correctly, it was the first three album live release ever. Secondly based on the still relative newness of Yes to it's American audience, since the first two albums were mostly unnoticed until later, then Yessongs was *almost* like a live release of Yes' entire catalog (minus the first two).
(Not to mention the expense of the triple fold packaging itself PLUS the tour-like booklet, which showed considerable respect from Atlantic.)
jaynote1
03-02-2009, 04:01 PM
well, its certainly no Yessongs........i bought it just to have it, i think i listened to it once.............
tardistraveler
03-02-2009, 04:39 PM
An odd memory tied up with Yesshows . . .
I personally bought it when first released, as I did ALL Yes albums. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, I decided that I would buy a copy for a friend for Christmas, so I drove out to the mall. The weather was bad . . . atypical for Nashville . . . icy and snowy . . . I found the album and bought it, just as the mall was about the close, and had car problems when I got back to the car. Fortunately the mall security was still around, and someone helped me jump the car . . . I was late getting home, and even later for Christmas Eve dinner with my family . . . :rolleyes:
As to WHY it was released - for the money, no doubt.
And yes, vinyl could definitely get scratched, and did - I've had to replace copies before, and return them when the pressing was bad . . . sometimes over and over until they'd get a new batch in without the defect . . .
And although it's no Yessongs, back in the day when live performances were rare, it was GREAT to have it!
relayeire
03-02-2009, 05:19 PM
Well it was supposed to come out earlier, in 1979... but Chris made the mixes, as demo mixes, and the band was not in agreement on the song selection or the mixes. Steve in particular was against some edits that were done and apparently Jon, Rick and Steve were all unhappy with it. So it was shelved.
Then a year later Atlantic records just went and put Chris' demo mixes out, without any input from the band or even with telling them they were going to do it. So it was purely a "business" move by Atlantic.
This information is taken from "Yesstories".
I agree with Steve that Gates "wasn't a good mix at all", and also feel that the mixes tend to favor the bass/drums and are unbalanced in that direction with keys and guitar not getting the attention they deserved. I also thought it wasn't the best song selection. Steve said they had intended to make it another triple album.
...but I also haven't listened to this in years, so that's just the impression it left me with.
the band had to know at least a little bit about it... Dean did the cover art and I'm sure the band had some input there... I don't think Dean, a friend and financial client of the band, would've dealt under the table with Atlantic to put the album out... unless the art had already been settled when the project was abandoned(?)
though I love the Classic Yes album, it's somewhat obvious as a contractual filler... why didn't they just slide that one forward to become a third disc for Yesshows, as the album clearly should've had? the two triple live LPs would make good bookends, with the mountain art continuing the visual theme, as it does on the back of Yesshows... I guess it's easy to say this after the fact; Yes didn't call it a day officially until a few months after Yesshows came out... LP# 3 almost certainly would've had Awaken and maybe the full medley from which TAAW was edited... cool... I guess with some of the material on TWIL we can kind of put our own triple Yesshows together!
mixing wasn't great, but the performances were, IMHO...
though I love the Classic Yes album, it's somewhat obvious as a contractual filler... why didn't they just slide that one forward to become a third disc for Yesshows, as the album clearly should've had?
Classic Yes was released in 1981, one year after Yesshows and a few months after the band officially broke up. It was typical record company thinking to try and cash in with a compilation.
relayeire
03-02-2009, 10:25 PM
Classic Yes was released in 1981, one year after Yesshows and a few months after the band officially broke up. It was typical record company thinking to try and cash in with a compilation.
are you sure it was the company's doing? I thought I read the band owed them one more album, and Chris put that together to fulfill the contract...
Orbert
03-03-2009, 03:38 PM
I read somewhere that Yesshows was at some point going to be another triple-live, with all four Tales. As exciting as that sounds, Tales obviously would've occupied four of the six sides, and with "Gates" taking another side, that would only have left a single side for non-epic songs. Or perhaps "Awaken". Now that would have been an amazing album.
CybrKhatru
03-03-2009, 03:59 PM
Maybe Atlantic had heard the mixed reviews that the tour was getting, and decided to go ahead with Yesshows, as a contractual obligation (like others have said). Who really knows for sure? :D
The mix on Yesshows is raw, sure, but I love it. An "expanded" version of this would be sweet...even sweeter if they did not duplicate anything from The Word Is Live...
..I know...I'm dreaming again. :D
It really shows how on top of their game Yes was onstage in the 70s. Back then they may well have been better live than in studio...
are you sure it was the company's doing? I thought I read the band owed them one more album, and Chris put that together to fulfill the contract...
That probably was the case. However, Atlantic owns the masters and could have released it without Squire's input. They probably figured Yes was done for good and made Squire do it. I'm glad he did -- it was a very solid compilation.
Atlantic/Warner has released several Yes compilations since the band finally parted ways with them in the '90s. I'm sure some of them were without the band's consent or input.
Keep in mind that Atlantic also forced Jimmy Page into putting together an album of Led Zeppelin outtakes (Coda) after John Bonham died because Led Zeppelin owed them one more album.
marklovesyes
03-03-2009, 08:14 PM
the band had to know at least a little bit about it... Dean did the cover art and I'm sure the band had some input there... I don't think Dean, a friend and financial client of the band, would've dealt under the table with Atlantic to put the album out... unless the art had already been settled when the project was abandoned(?)
But by then it's the managers going back and forth possibly. Roger Dean perhaps had already released the art, as you said, or he didn't have any contact with band members directly in the end. We don't know who all the middle men were.
siberian khatru
03-03-2009, 08:50 PM
The mix on Yesshows is raw, sure, but I love it. An "expanded" version of this would be sweet...even sweeter if they did not duplicate anything from The Word Is Live...
..I know...I'm dreaming again. :D
..
I think it was criminal to just have "Time And A Word" on this album and not put on the rest of the 30 minute medley it started.
relayeire
03-03-2009, 08:56 PM
I think it was criminal to just have "Time And A Word" on this album and not put on the rest of the 30 minute medley it started.
I always thought it was odd how TAAW segued into GFTO even though they were recorded in different years! Could this be some of the "editing" referenced above that made the band drop the project initially?
Orbert
03-04-2009, 02:04 PM
I liked the segue from TaaW into GftO, then I found out that they were spliced together from different recordings and that TaaW was part of another medley. The segue never actually happened live, which was disappointing.
relayeire
03-05-2009, 01:28 PM
I liked the segue from TaaW into GftO, then I found out that they were spliced together from different recordings and that TaaW was part of another medley. The segue never actually happened live, which was disappointing.
the segue does work - I liked it myself - but then when you look at the recording dates you realize something is amiss... I was always trying to figure out the precise moment at which TAAW ended...
islandsofarabia
03-05-2009, 03:18 PM
The segue is totally awesome, and it is as good to me as if they did it live. Yes were so creative and precise about their segues, even in the "medley" which weaves through Survival, Anne of Cleves, Ritual...I've even heard the 1812 overture quoted by Chris.
But I don't think the medley would have worked so well in Yesshows, and it is cool by me that they left it off.
I'm sure there were practical reasons as well.
It duplicates 3 songs from Yessongs.
It is longer than an album side.
It duplicates Soon, but with Wakeman (Moraz played it better imo)
Lots of other reasons probably went into the decision...they wanted to put forth the hottest version of all the tunes that they had access too, so... who knows what those even were.
I enjoy the mix on Yesshows more than on any other Yes album. I'm grateful to have this document of Yes at their peak as the top live act of the 70s. I sometimes even boost the bass and drums (turn up the bass i mean) on the whole album, they sound awesome and really drive the whole band. Of course everyone else sounds awesome individually, but Alan and Chris do not get enough credit for their unbelievable music.
90125yes
03-06-2009, 05:16 AM
yesshows is better than yessongs
why did they release it - to make money ??
Hed G.
03-06-2009, 06:55 AM
The choice of sources for this release raises a few more questions for the avid Yes collector:
Parallels and Wonderous Stories are taken from the same show,
GFTO from another, all three from the GFTO tour. As far as I know,
there are no soundboard weeds or torrents from this tour,
yet the band are apparently sitting on 2 pro-recorded shows!
Why was none of the other material from these shows used for TWIL?
"Whale" is from the commonly known BBC recording, yet TAAW was recorded
the previous night. Which again means the beeb and the band have
another awesome pro-recorded Wembley '78 show in the vaults.
Don't even get me started on the Detroit '76 stuff and the long-lost film reels...
It's such a shame that Yes had so little control over their own releases.
carlo63
03-06-2009, 06:57 AM
What a spotty album, another missed opportunity. Still, I go back for "Gates" which is sheer fire & brimstone and the best ever version of "Parallels". On both Howe cooks & Moraz & Wakeman are at their peak. Too bad the entire album couldn't be that way -- imagine my horror at the time when "Ritual" was on 2 sides! And the one-plus minute of pure audience clapping before a drowned-out version of "Wondrous Stories". Yes deserved better at the time.
Bradders
03-06-2009, 07:47 AM
I love Yesshows 2nd only to Yessongs for Live Power. GoD is by far in my opinion the best version to listen to even though the keyboards are a tad low in the mix.....not the case in Parallels though with RW's solo. We in seYes base both of Parallels and Gates on these versions. You can listen to the end of our live version of Gates off this link.http://www.amsterdammusicpromotors.nl/home.swf
Chris.
bjlevine
03-06-2009, 08:50 AM
Wow. I haven't listened to Yesshows in quite a while. I remember how eager I was to get it when it first came out. I had already purchased a badly recorded bootleg of the Relayer tour that was loaded with mistakes, particularly by Patrick who was probably still learning the material. I was pretty happy overall with the album, though I had wished it contained more Relayer, Tormato and Tales cuts (as has been said, this should've been a three disc set). I loved the piano work that Rick did on TAAW. All in all, though, an album worth having. Back in the days before the internet, live Yes recordings were a special prize.
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