Another Ian Hartley pro job. It improves significantly on the Yesshows sound for me, which I've never been enamoured of.
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Sometimes the lights all shining on me, other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it’s been. -
Wasn't Yesshows released using first mix or something, rather than a final mix? This is good, though the drums are strangely high in the mix.
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I'm not sure of the mix of the original. I remember buying it, loving the cover (which was used again for Dan Hedges band biography), but not liking the sound of if that much. Given that the tracks came from tours over a three year span, no effort seemed to have been made to balance them against each other so that at least an illusion of it being a full show might have been made. I find the variations in the overall sound distracting. A bit of a rush job. I believe it was originally intended for it to have been a triple album, mirroring Yessongs, and I think it fell to Chris to put it together as best he could in the time allowed.Originally posted by madbear View PostSometimes the lights all shining on me, other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it’s been.Comment
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Wiki:
In June 1979, the Yes line-up of singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and drummer Alan White, finished their 1978–1979 tour in support of the band's ninth studio album, Tormato (1978). Their label Atlantic Records had approached the group about the possibility of putting out a live album as a follow-up to their first, Yessongs (1973), and Squire had the task of sifting through hours of tapes of concerts recorded since then and select the best cuts. He also undertook mixing duties, and prepared a selection of tracks from the 1976, 1977, and 1978 tours across five dates from his studio, Sun Park Studios.
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Band opinion of this second live album by Yes was divided, at least up to the 1990s. As reported by author David Watkinson, the label did not inform everyone of events. Wakeman, who was not in the group at the time of release, said that Squire's mixes were "good but nothing exciting. The next thing I know was that somebody gave me a copy". While he, Anderson, and Howe did not care for the final release, Moraz, White, and Squire gave it more approval.
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I've always loved the sound of Yesshows. Despite only having a few songs, it's far and away my favorite live Yes album - barring the excellent Quebec 1979 bootleg.Comment
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This is fantastic. So glad I took the time to listen. It is so great to hear these guys at their peak. Damn they were great. Sometimes I forget how magical it all was.Comment
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Funny how tastes vary. Yesshows is to my ear the best live album the band has ever put out. Performance, track selection, mixing, and mastering (Joe Gastwirt 1994). The thought of someone improving on that is almost laughable to me, but I am glad for those who are enjoying it.Comment
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I have never owned this album. I may have to get the remastered CD version with the complete Ritual un-spilced.Comment
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Gate of Delirium and Ritual from Yesshows are my favorite versions.. I like them better than the versions on Relayer and especially TFTO. Never had a problem with the original live mix or mastering. Raw and robust. The versions on Symphonic are interesting as well.Originally posted by Davy View PostComment
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Related topic: I never knew that the sound quality of Yessongs sucked until I read it on the internet.Originally posted by Chrisklenox View PostComment
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Yesshows was the fourth Yes album I bought, for $5.99 or something. Yes, I heard Ritual, Gates and Parallels before I heard stuff like Close To The Edge, Starship Trooper or Awaken. I also didn't know that it had sound issues that nobody liked, it sounded normal to me. It's probably my favorite Yes live album, I have a soft spot for Yesshows. At one point, I thought Don't Kill The Whale was an exclusive new song for the album since I was unaware of the existence of Tormato. In 1985, Tormato wasn't available at your local record store chain like Sam Goodies, only as used copies at the Record & Tape Exchange type places. I only learned of Tormato from reading the band description on the CD cardboard long box for 90125.Comment
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[QUOTE=patrickq ] Related topic: I never knew that the sound quality of Yessongs sucked until I read it on the internet. [/QUOTEOriginally posted by Chrisklenox View Post
And the to the others who liked the sound & feel of Yessongs & Yesshows, I agree & this is why I don’t like Live at Montreux. It was recorded & mixed by people who don’t know Yes music and what live Yes really sounded like. It sounds way too polite & conventional. Alan’s drums sound like any other rock band’s drums. Chris’ bass has no high end. Backing vocals are mostly under mixed, & even Jon’s voice is often not loud enough. The low end distorts in Rick’s solo & elsewhere. And maybe that’s why the bass pedals are not there (at least in the stereo mix).
And the video editing choices? Clueless. Chris is almost absent from the video. Alan is almost always filmed from the back. Rick too. Extreme close-ups of the end of a phrase, or an empty fretboard. The same audience closeups are reused, an early version of the fake audience responses that eventually make ARW Live at the Apollo & Yes 50 Live very annoying experiences. But I digress.
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[QUOTE=Khatrooper;n33027]
I agree, one of my least favorite DVD's. It does seem like an outside job as far as the sound and not much Chris. I really enjoy Lugano 2004 and the Symphonic DVD's though! Captured some modern day Yes magic for sureOriginally posted by patrickq
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