If progressive rock — that unapologetically pompous subgenre of
\nrock which worships innovation over form and indulgence over
\nconcision — is, as a genre, a dinosaur, then the venerable wizards
\nof Yes are surely its T-Rex. No progressive band — not the
\neccentric King Crimson, nor the bombastic Emerson, Lake and Palmer,
\nnor the (toward the end) nearly pathetic Genesis — can match the
\nYes-men’s 35-year saga for either its high points or its low
\nones.<\/p>\n
Through three and a half decades of ever-changing lineups,
\nproducers, styles and levels of quality, the only constant in Yes
\n(other than bass player\/harmony vocalist\/co-founder Chris Squire)
\nhas been the persistence of extremes. 1972’s blistering triple-live
\nset
\nYessongs<\/i> — featuring what still stand as some of the most
\nremarkable live performances of the era — was followed by the
\nbloated
\nTales From the Topographic Oceans<\/i>. Four years later, the
\nreturn-to-form
\nGoing For the One<\/i> was followed by its own dark half, the
\nnearly wretched
\nTormato<\/i>. In the early ’80s, the expired-then-reincarnated
\nband’s energetic, if overly slick,
\n90125<\/i> was followed by 12 years of band-member infighting and
\nmusical mediocrity.<\/p>\n
In 1996, though, something uniquely (and typically) Yes
\nhappened. After the more commerically oriented ’80s group finally
\nimploded under the weight of long-simmering tensions between
\narena-rock guitarist\/maestro Trevor Rabin and the more
\ntraditionalist elements remaining in the band, a Yes lineup not
\nfeatured since the band’s 1978-79 world tour reunited to play a
\nseries of sold-out concerts in San Luis Obispo. And, defying the
\nodds for this sort of
\n“let’s-get-the-old-gang-together-for-one-more-stab-at-glory-before-we-all-retire”
\ngig, the guys — Squire, Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and
\nAlan White — have done well by their legacy.<\/p>\n
Certainly, on this two-disc set you’ll find the obligatory FM
\nradio staple “Roundabout” and fan favorite “Starship Trooper,” both
\nthe subject of multiple live recordings already. But both receive
\nloving and dynamic treatments here from the old masters, and they
\nare supplemented by some unexpected treats, including a rousing
\n“Siberian Khatru” (from the landmark
\nClose to the Edge<\/i> album), the first-ever live recording of
\nTales<\/i>‘ “The Revealing Science of God,” a strong version of
\nPaul Simon’s “America” (an early Yes single), and an unexpectedly
\npretty re-working of “Onward,” a nearly forgotten footnote from
\nTormato<\/i>.<\/p>\n
As an added bonus,
\nKeys<\/i> features two new songs from the studio — one (“That,
\nThat Is”) of epic 19-minute girth, the other (“Be The One”) a
\ntighter 10 minutes. Neither is quite up to the old Yes standards,
\nfeeling somewhat pieced-together rather than flowing, but both
\nstill stand head and shoulders above the majority of the band’s
\noutput over the prior decade.<\/p>\n
While falling short of old glories,
\nKeys to Ascension<\/i> was the first spark in the
\nend-of-the-century rekindling of a band that’s been counted out
\ntime and time again, and defied those expectations every time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5713],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37828","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\/37828","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37828\/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=37828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37828"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37828"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}