British progressive-rock band Yes has been through more
\npersonnel flips than your typical roller-coaster. With bassist
\nChris Squire being the only constant in the ever-changing lineup,
\nYes should have thought about installing a revolving door on their
\npractice room.<\/p>\n
After eight members from various incarnations reunited for the
\ndreadful one-off
\nUnion<\/i>, some people thought the glory days of Yes were over.
\nHowever, if any band embodied the “never say never” epitomy, Yes
\ndid —
\nKeys To Ascension<\/i> captures the classic lineup of Jon
\nAnderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Alan White and Squire live
\n(save for two new cuts), and having lost little of the magic they
\nonce showed.<\/p>\n
This nearly two-hour set takes seven old standbys from Yes’s
\nthirty-year back catalog, and adds two new studio cuts into the
\nmix. And while their true glory years are behind them, the end
\nresult here isn’t bad at all.<\/p>\n
The live material, while good, is nothing more than a retro-act,
\nwith most songs dating back to the early ’70s. Despite the passage
\nof three decades, Anderson’s voice hasn’t changed at all —
\nsurprising, only because many lead vocalists experience some sort
\nof change the longer they perform.<\/p>\n
In fact, the only real change is in Wakeman’s keyboards. In the
\n’70s, they had the bombastic sound familiar to the technology of
\nthe times. In the ’90s, he has definitely moved away from the
\nHammonds to the Rolands — the sound is much more synthesized, and
\nis actually not as strong. In this case, I’ll fault the technology
\n— either that, or he needed to be brought up more in the mix.<\/p>\n
Howe remains an amazing guitarist, though it sounds like some of
\nhis chops — especially in the opening and bridges of “Roundabout”
\n— might be slowing down just a tad. White shows why he remained
\nbehind the skins with Yes for so long, and Squire — well, no one
\nhas ever made a Rickenbacker four-string sound so sweet.<\/p>\n
Recorded in San Luis Obispo, California, Yes shows why their
\nmusic was some of the most influential in both the ’70s and in the
\nentire progressive rock genre. Cuts like “Siberian Khatru” and
\n“Starship Trooper” have gotten better with age, and I will always
\nlove “Roundabout.” Even a selection from
\nTales From Topographic Oceans<\/i> sounds fresh here — and
\nlong-time readers know how I feel about that album. (I’d rather
\ncastrate myself with a steak knife from Ponderosa than listen to
\nthat album again… but I think I’ve gone off-topic.)<\/p>\n
Of the live selections, “America” is the only one that
\ndisappoints — even though it sounds almost exactly like the
\noriginal version. If anything, I wish that more live material had
\nbeen included on this collection. Then again, maybe that’s what
\nKeys To Ascension II<\/i> (released on a different label) was
\nfor.<\/p>\n
The two studio cuts here — “Be The One” and “That, That Is” —
\nshow that some doses of reality have made their way into the cosmic
\noneness\/weirdness that made up part of Yes’s career. Both songs
\nhave their moments, though neither strikes me as being superior.
\nStill, after almost 20 years of not playing together with this
\nexact lineup, not a bad first effort upon reuniting.<\/p>\n
However, a permanent line-up was not to be — from what I’ve
\nread, Wakeman departed the band yet again. Then again, this might
\nhave been a good thing; does Yes really want to tour the country as
\nan “oldies” band, or do they want to continue developing new
\nmaterial and possibly lead progressive rock back into the public
\neye? That’s really the only problem with
\nKeys To Ascension<\/i> — though the playing is good, the band is
\ntrying to recapture glories of old with the songs of old. Even the
\nlive double-album from Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe,
\nAn Evening Of Yes Music Plus<\/i>, mixed the old in with the new.
\n(A studio album,
\nOpen Your Eyes<\/i>, did soon follow, in defense of Yes.)<\/p>\n
Those who grew up with Yes being AM radio staples will no doubt
\nenjoy
\nKeys To Ascension<\/i>, as will those like myself who have
\nenjoyed Yes a good portion of their lives. But even though
\neverything old is new again, one wonders when the focus will shift
\nback to the new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5713],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-35936","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-yes","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35936"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35936"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}