\u201cIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not that even Charles Dickens could come up with a saga as overcrowded and fraught with melodrama as that of the inimitable prog-rock juggernaut known as Yes… but if the quote fits, why not use it?<\/p>\n
The year 1991 saw the erstwhile divided factions of Trevor Rabin (guitar\/vocals), Chris Squire (bass\/vocals), Tony Kaye (keys) and Alan White (drums) on the one hand, and Jon Anderson (vocals), Bill Bruford (drums), Rick Wakeman (keys) and Steve Howe (guitar) on the other, combine forces to throw together one of the worst studio albums of their (or, for that matter, any prog-rock outfit\u2019s) career in the heavily doctored and thoroughly detestable Union<\/i>\u2026 and follow it with a spectacular once-in-a-lifetime mega-tour featuring all eight Yesmen.<\/p>\n
The last show of this unique musical voyage, at\u00a0the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California\u00a0on August 8, 1991, was filmed and subsequently released on video in Japan, but quickly went out of print and became a sought-after rarity. Until now, as Gonzo Multimedia has re-released it in a Special Limited Edition Deluxe Package (holy repetitive redundancy, Batman!)\u2014a two-DVD, two-CD extravaganza that includes the original concert on a single DVD, two CDs capturing the film\u2019s audio, plus a bonus DVD with bootleg video of two other shows on the tour.<\/p>\n
I was intrigued by this package mostly because I missed the tour in question and have always wondered what it was really like seeing the \u201980s lineup share the stage with the guys from the \u201cClassic Yes\u201d of the \u201970s. Interesting, is the answer, if uneven in a number of respects. One thing\u2019s for sure; it breaks out nicely into sets of pros and cons.<\/p>\n
Pros:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve Seen All Good People\u201d with eight guys on stage rocks big time and is an unquestionable highlight here.\u00a0 Ditto for the absolutely magnificent set-closing rendition of \u201cAwaken\u201d captured in this film.\u00a0 Anderson has said a number of times that whatever else you wanted to say about the Union<\/i> album and tour, he got to play \u201cAwaken\u201d every night with all eight guys on stage.\u00a0 I get it now, Jon.<\/p>\n
Rabin and Wakeman\u2014said to be developing a new project with Anderson as I write these words\u2014clearly got along famously on this tour. Wakeman adds dynamic solos to \u201cRhythm Of Love\u201d and \u201cOwner Of A Lonely Heart\u201d (even deploying the infamous key-tar on the latter) that bring new dimension to both tunes. \u00a0Later, Wakeman comes down from his riser during \u201cYour Move\u201d to clown on maracas while sharing Rabin\u2019s mike, and moments after can be seen cracking up in the background when Rabin\u2019s roadie muffs a guitar switch and leaves Trevor without a working amp connection right when he\u2019s due to solo.\u00a0 Finally, Rabin guests on Wakeman\u2019s solo spot, adding a speedy, classically flavored solo to Wakey\u2019s standard \u201cExcerpts from Six Wives of Henry VIII\u201d that works remarkably well.<\/p>\n
The other three big ensemble numbers\u2014opener \u201cYours Is No Disgrace,\u201d \u201cHeart Of The Sunrise\u201d and the closing \u201cRoundabout\u201d\u2014also fare well for the most part, as you might expect; they\u2019re sprawling, energetic tunes that lend themselves well to the expansive, almost orchestral treatments they receive here. This is what the audience came for, and the boys don\u2019t disappoint\u2014up to a point.<\/p>\n
Cons:<\/p>\n
As just noted, people came to these shows to see eight guys play Yes music, not eight guys each take a solo spot. You\u2019d think for this tour they would have had the good sense to stick to ensemble pieces and play around with the arrangements to give each guy a rest during the set.\u00a0 But no, the demands of ego require us to sit through one solo or duo piece after another\u2026 and, they\u2019re mostly the same solo pieces each guy has been playing for decades.\u00a0 Zzzzz.<\/p>\n
Rabin\u2019s \u201ccontributions\u201d to \u201cYours Is No Disgrace\u201d and \u201cHeart Of The Sunrise\u201d serve only as reminders of why he should never, ever attempt to play Classic Yes songs. He\u2019s clearly a very skilled technical player, and a decent pop songwriter\u2026 it\u2019s just that every time the song calls for a guitar solo, the man turns into a hopeless wanker.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear from the film that Kaye and Bruford\u2014two of the group\u2019s original five members\u2014were in fact onstage and manning their instruments during these shows. That said, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to detect contributions of any significance from either, unless you count Brufy doubling White\u2019s cymbals and Kaye\u2019s occasional stray Hammond runs.\u00a0 (And really, Bill?\u00a0 Electronic drums?\u00a0 Might as well have played trash can lids.)<\/p>\n
About the bonus disc: it\u2019s quite worthwhile. On the main film and CDs, the camera work, editing and mixing are all solid\u2014nothing special, nothing terrible. The less polished \u201cbootleg\u201d footage, while not up to professional video or audio standards, is surprisingly watchable, and features complete concerts from Denver and Pensacola. As a consequence, it includes several numbers that seem to have been edited from the main film for some reason, including most notably the resplendent \u201cAnd You And I,\u201d as well as a drum duet between Bruford and White that succeeds in being merely exotic as opposed to utterly ridiculous. The bootleg footage also features the \u201cin the round\u201d staging that seems to have suited this lineup so well, which the main film unfortunately doesn\u2019t, capturing the group in a standard amphitheatre setting.<\/p>\n
While it seems doubtful that the quality of the music would have suffered if Rabin, Kaye and Bruford had been absent, their presence is in the final estimation what made the tour (and this set) so special. The sheer density of sound achieved on some of the ensemble tunes lends them a majesty and sense of unstoppable momentum that\u2019s unique and quite enjoyable. And again, Anderson was right; whatever its flaws, this tour is worth preserving just for the chance to see and hear a truly transcendent rendition of \u201cAwaken.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5713],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42249","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\/42249","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=42249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42249"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}