New DVD Yesspeak

[Koen Dejonghe]

Today on my free day, I went to the centre of my hometown Antwerp(Belgium) to buy the new DVD of Yes.What a disappointing trip:I visited 4 shops and nobody could sell me the Yesspeak DVD.Maybe other fans in Europe have more luck than I had?


"High Vibration go on
To the sun, oh let my heart dreaming
Past a mortal as me
Where can I be"

[JFM]

OK, watched it last night.

First the bad news.

More sound problems. If you have a home theatre system, don't bother even turning it on. You may as well play it through your TV, which is what I ended up doing.

The sound levels between the band members dialogue, Roger Daltreys narration and the music are dreadful. And this is not helped by the fact that they often have Daltrey talking over the music, or the music plays while the band members are talking - and the sound levels of both tracks are the same. So effectiveley you are fighting to hear what is actually being said.

Traditionally the music plays in the background and is not too intrusive, but that's sadly not the case here.

Why? How difficult could it have been to have seperate, uninterrupted music clips? Did anyone actually listen to the finished product before release?

So, I gave up with the 5.1 and DTS and just played it through the TV, and it is easier to listen to. It is particularly bad for the first 30 mins, but it does get better, and thankfully it does settle down quite a bit later on. A great shame, though.

At one point I tried turning on the subtitles - but there are no English subs.

As for the doc itself, it is very good. It's probably the best insight we have had yet into the lives of the individual band members. Yes, some stories are repeated, but the real meat and potatoes are the individual profiles. The music clips (when they are not being talked over) are also very good, very well filmed. Lots of footage from different concerts, lots of backstage stuff, on the road footage - it has a very endearing, home movie quality to it.

I have to say I did not care for Daltreys narration. It sounds like he's reading it for the first time, and is desperately trying to inject some enthusiasm into it. It does not come across as natural.

But despite the problems, by the end of it I had enjoyed it immensely. I can live with not being able to play it in DTS, because it is a documentary after all.

I did check out the audio section, and that sounds fine, but I would have liked a 2.0 stereo option. I am sure most people will probably want to copy it to cd, minidisc or tape to listen to, and 2.0 stereo or PCM stereo usually sounds better on those formats.

I am glad I bought it, and it is very good as a band documentary - but bad marks for the sound quality on the doc.

[SallyKhatru]

It´s the same in germany, although I can´t talk for bigger towns. In Chemnitz and Annaberg I don´t even have to try to get anything fro YES:-( If I want to buy Yes stuff, I do it via ebay, amazon or another Internet store

[Rick N Backer]

JFM,

I agree with you completely about the sound and Daltrey's narration. I too turned off DTS and 5.1, so it's not just you. (mine goes through a Yamaha DSP BTW).

I didn't actually care much for the DVD content though (see other post).

[bender]

Rick N Backer-

I just got your message.
I can't be a Yob - I don't follow rugby union or rugby league! - i was simply having a joke.

[JFM]

Rick N backer, glad someone else agrees with me.

Solidarity, brother.

I am also using a Yamaha home theatre system.

You should not have to change your settings in any way when playing any DVD in 5.1 or DTS, let alone a live one. Yes Symphonic sounds great as soon as I put it in the player.

But whatever setting I used with Yesspeak and however I changed the various sound levels, it just did not sound right.

You know there is something seriously wrong when it sounds better through a TV than through a 6 speaker sound system.

I am just surprised more people have not noticed.

I can live with it, as it's a doc. Had it been a complete live concert, I would certainly be looking for a refund.

[yessongs72]

All,I can say is back when the official announcement was made about this documentary,I thought it sucked.Then with the help of Yesfans I decided to keep an open mind.
What I wanted was a concert dvd,now it sounds like we would have been better off with one,haha,Yessongs72 right,again :dog: !
I do look forward to hearing any new Yes news of the band and what I really want is the audio so I can put it on a cd and have a nice consert recording.
Now Yes or Yes Management, Please send us a DVD atleast of the Full Circle tour and then one of the Thirty-Fifth tour and do it right,likr Symphonic,pleaseeeeeeeeee listen to the fans.Maybe Yes management should look at what the Stones just released,a three DVD's of seperate shows and then a doc,foronly $29.99 at Best Buy.Where I'm going with this is why can't we get the same from our favorite group and best Prog group in the world.
So,maybe the next release we get from Yes will be simular or atleast a good show that we can watch over and over until they tour again.
Don,aka ys72
North Carolina,USA

[Dr Yes]

Similar sounds problems with mine too - mainly in terms of poor separation and bad levels, but it's okay as a documentary.

Sadly, Daltrey sounds like he's reading to children on Jackanory when he delivers it, but again I got used to it.

Kind of a rehash of YesYears as reported through the foggy gaze and even more foggy memory of Rick!

STUPID STUPID STUPID - not one song included in its entirity without Roger Daltrey or one of the band speaking over it. Why? The performances and audio of the concert footage sounds/looks good. Would have made a nice DVD in itself.

Kind of liked the home movie vibe but don't think I'll be watching it a lot.

Bet the uS version has all these problems ironed out.

[Earl Grey]

Oh man...

They certainly should have made it so you could seperate the dialogue from the song-track. Well, I'm still looking forward to the DVD, It's always a good thing, having new YES to watch.

But I wish they'd made it so you could seperate the narration from the songs... Oh well. I guess our VCD trading will still serve a purpose!

Hopefully the LIVE boxed set will make up for it. I want my LIVE boxed set! Wish THAT was coming out for Xmas, but so it goes!

Earlie:yesbird:

[ozwitch]

Add my comments to the chorus of disappointment.

I found the audio quality bizarre - the audio of the video song clips even when being narrated/talked over was actually superior to the live audio set, esp in songs such as Awaken which sounded fantastic with voiceover, but very muddy and jumbled in the audio set.

Roger Daltrey is plain irritating.

I knew what the content was, so I don't feel I have a complaint coming there, but I thought overall, it was poorly put together and the script was a bit banal really. It's hard to work out what market it's aimed at. Old fans know all this stuff and really, we want good quality live recordings like Symphonic, not family happy snaps. New fans won't really care for the family snaps either cos they don't know the band, so putting this stuff at the beginning of the DVD is puzzling. Open with a cracker live number, and then get to the behind the scenes stuff when your audience has been captured.

I did like the Steve Howe spotlight, but I thought also that Rick's jokes were a bit below par for him.

The really frustrating bit was seeing every now and then a few seconds of great quality source material that just didn't materialize in the production. There's a great concert DVD in there somewhere.

I likened it to watching the electronic press kit on Yesworld for 3 hours. Good for tv cuts but not much else.

[yessongs72]

Oh man...

They certainly should have made it so you could seperate the dialogue from the song-track. Well, I'm still looking forward to the DVD, It's always a good thing, having new YES to watch.

But I wish they'd made it so you could seperate the narration from the songs... Oh well. I guess our VCD trading will still serve a purpose!

Hopefully the LIVE boxed set will make up for it. I want my LIVE boxed set! Wish THAT was coming out for Xmas, but so it goes!

Earlie:yesbird:

Earl,
Hey buddy, it seem's like bootleg VCD'S are the only way now to get any Yes show's. As I said in a previous post,this was a mistake and Yes will still make money,because I will buy it just for a soundboard,mixed live recording,ahhh and also in DTS.
I do hope they come to this site and read the reviews and listen to the fans and hopefully they will get it right next time, I doubt it. Another thing that amazes me is they(Yes) alway's talk about today's technology with their recording's and the industry,but when it come's to something as simple as a DVD,they blow it!

[JFM]

I have seen and heard a VCD bootleg from the US tour last year, and the quality was abymal - both sound and pic.

I have one or two others from other bands, but there is no way the quality is ever going to be better or even as good as a professional release.

Same with audio CD boots. Some of them are listenable, but never as good as the real thing.

I really don't think we have done that badly for live DVD's from the band over the last 3 - 4 years, and there is still the 90125 re release to come.

The band were getting into a pattern of releasing a live CD or DVD after each tour, and I can remember seeing posts on this site saying they were getting a little too boring and predictable - too many releases, too much product etc.

So I welcome this DVD, it's something different.

[yessongs72]

I was just at soundchaser.org and found this post from a Yes fan in Melbourne.So I am going to share it here at this thread and I would rather see a DVD from each tour,wouldn't it be great to see some of the 70's tours,GFTO, Tormato,not to only think of what a complete Yessongs would be like.And considering that we haven't received a DVD since Rick's return,I gladly welcome the VCD'S and someone is leting the camera's in,maybe Yes! We have been deprived with concert footage from Yes,and now a copy of the post from sc.org.
************************************************** ****
ozwitch
Crossing the Shapes of the Morning


Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 9
Location: Melbourne

Posted: 28 Nov 2003 Post subject: Re: YESSPEAK REVIEW ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

S.Snail wrote:
Does anyone have a review of the YESSPEAK DVD ? Snail


Mine is below and will apear on Amazon.co.uk shortly:

= Tantalising but ultimately frustrating
Reviewer: ozwitch3 from Eltham, Victoria Australia

Unlike their more fortunate Who/Queen/Pink Floyd aficionados, Yes fans have over the years had to put up with some dreadful offerings on DVD that frankly are useful for nothing better than drink coasters. So it was with relief and excitement that I opened my new YesSpeaks double DVD today and whacked it into the player. At last, a Yes DVD that will stand up with those produced by other legends of rock. Well, does it, you ask?
Not quite. Well, actually, no, unfortunately. It’s hard to work out what the aim of this production is. If you watch the electronic press kit on the official Yesworld site, it’s rather like a 3 hour version of that. Lots of ‘humorous’ glimpses into Yes members’ lives – not really that humorous, and why start off a big production Yes DVD with family snapshots? It’s great that we are permitted into the players’ lives in this way, but it’s hardly an attention-grabber. And if the aim of this DVD is to draw new fans into the Yes audience ahead of their 35th anniversary tour, it’s a rather dismal effort as new fans don’t care enough about the band to watch Chris’s grandchildren playing on his knee. If the aim is to reward faithful aficionados, it doesn’t really work either, because what we want are good-quality live recordings, not Yes happy snaps and biographical material we all know already.
I knew it was a documentary when I bought it, so I’m not complaining I was deceived in the format. There are some good areas – Steve Howe’s spotlight and the Mr Gibson story are well told, and his solo spot with To Be Over is shown in loving closeup and sounds wonderful. It’s a pity that the short glimpses we get of live songs are not reproduced in full, and neither are they matched for sound in the live audio set, which sounds muddy by comparison to the video sound, strangely enough. A case in point is Awaken, which sounds fantastic in the background when Roger Daltrey or Rick Wakeman are talking over it, but when you hear it on the audio set, it’s a jumble of individual instruments and voices which don’t mix or balance well and the whole glorious experience is lost. The keys are nowhere and you hear Steve’s vocals but not Jon’s, etc.
And Daltrey’s narration is just plain peculiar. He sounds like he is trying to decide between auditioning for a Boys’ Own annual and Ringo’s understudy for Thomas The Tank Engine. At times his voice takes these strange squeaky leaps of enthusiasm - I was sure someone was sticking pins into him for fun. Probably Mr Wakeman, whose own well-documented views on music and the band seem to make it into Roger's narration with regularity. And I did get annoyed when watching Rick's own spotlight and hearing EXACTLY the same interview, voiced over this time, that is on the Live in Buenos Aires DVD from 1997.
However it’s not all bad. The individual spotlights on Yes members are the highlights for me, the on-road footage is par for the course – you do get to meet roadies like ‘Shoes’ Matthews, Steve Howe’s guitar tech, and we get from time to time Rick doing some - it must be said - fairly average jokes.
To be honest, I think Yes Years was a better documentary, even though it pales in production quality and is a lot older. I think this DVD is for me a frustrating experience, because I could see tantalising glimpses of what source material was actually available, but never made it on to the finished product.
As a 3 hour press kit, I guess it serves its purpose because you can then show cut versions on TV, but in comparison with other offerings from U2, Pink Floyd, Queen, to name a few, it just doesn’t cut it. Please Classic Pictures, bring out a concert DVD soon. This one isn’t enough to satisfy Yes devotees, nor enough to grab the hearts of potential Yessers.

[Nick Green]

mines on ebay already.

how many times can you say 'classic line up' in 3 hours...watch this and find out, its a lot.

The constant self promotion and praise of the band got really wearing and tiresome.

does daltrey have some kind of salivation problem?

was there really anything of interest in this dvd?

sorely disappointing.

[Koen Dejonghe]

:yesbird: :yesbird:
One week later than the official release date, I've buyed the new Yes DVD.Many things are already said in other commentaries and I fully agree with others that we watch a broken concert.I hear a superb sound and the band is playing like a real classical chamber music group.Unfortunately the documentary is more important.

A few highlights were the nice solo's from Steve and the new bass lines in "The heart of the Sunrise".The end of "Awaken" is real symphonic and leads me into heaven.The new guitarsolo in a more jazz-rock style in "Siberian Khatru" and the duo between guitar and synth in "South side of the Sky".I like the images during Strawinsky's "Firebird" behind the stage.Normally what follows is "Siberian Khatru".But what a disillusion to hear instead the voice of the leadsinger of the Who.The spotlights on the band members are sometimes too long. The book "Perpetual Change" of David Watkinson is more interesting.Steve is a great artist with all his professional preparation and I like his comment about guitar players and tennis players.They both can make faults without loosing the game.After all I prefer more to listen to the artists products instead to know if they sleep better on the right or left side!

The audio CD sounds a little bit like a bootleg.What's the meaning of this product?

I hope that we can enjoy in the near future the full concert DVD from this documentary just like the magical "Yessymphonic" DVD which I' ve seen at least 50 times.

I simply will ask the YES management:GIVE US FULL CONCERTS ON DVD!Thanks....

:yesbird: :yesbird:

"Straight light searching all the meanings of the song"

[Andersonic]

that will happen for sure, all the major Prog bands are releasing live DVD's...

[spock]

Little story : 2 weeks ago I went with my 20 years younger cousin , who I converted from a Yes-hater to a Yes-fan ( took me 2 years ) to Ghent specially for this DVD. On the way I already provoked him by mentioning that maybe there would be only 1 copy in the shop. This got him on alert, and he invited me to a run about 100m distance from the shop...which I declined....fearing defeat.
Anyway about 10 m from the door...he takes off ahead of me. I stop..look into the window...noticing the dvd and simply walk in straight to the counter. I see my cousin going through the stock of dvd's in a hurry...and me...I can't wait untill a customer with a lot of patience is asking questions to the salesman.
Anyway it's my turn..I ask for the copy in the window...still noticing my cousin in a hurry. And guess what ? I got the only copy in the shop...and no other copy's in the whole town.
So far my story...now to the DVD.
As already stated by other fans....the DTS-sound or 5.1 option should be avoided...turn it to simple stereo.
The person or persons responsible for mixing sound with Roger Daltrey's over-reacted-nonsense should be sacked.
Anybody have any notice of 5.1 ? Voices should be comming out of the center-speaker....guys !!
Anybody knows anything about mixing ? Sound of music and narration shouldn't be on the same level !!!
Try to understand what Roger's talkin' about in more than 1 scene.
This is a mixing-shame.
As to the comments of Roger Daltrey :I get it of my chest with a remark from another friend of mine who's a Yes-fan : his immeditate reaction : does your remote-controle have a button to make him shut-up ?
Sadly : also no subtitles in English. ( I wouldn't expect Dutch ).
A positive note : the images are of very high quality...they make you scream for more of this..namely a complete recording of this concert...in order to see finally The fish and South side of the sky.
The docu : not bad...some interesting stuff....but not as interesting as Yesyears where at least history isn't killed by : Don't mention Rabin ! as in this release. ( I don't care....but some fans will....and it isn't fair is it ? )
The audio-section : most of the stuff is OK...but some are rather bad mixed...anyway...don't expect quality to a normal CD and certainly compared to a DVD-audio as Fragile.
My impression is that this product was released too quickly ( why ? ) and thus lacks quality in the mixing-section.
Yours is no disgrace, No opportunity...mentioned on the sleeve...but not on the disc !
My final verdict : very bad mixing of sound with narration on many sections, docu..so and so...audio...could be better...image..very good.
5 stars out of 10.
I just wonder : does anybody of Yes have a final vieuw on this before it is released ?