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Yessongs
Opening with a few bars of Stravinsky to set the adoring crowd on its feet, this once-three-LP set is Yes at their finest. This was, after all, probably the most mainstream act that had even provisional "prog rock" status, and their tunes show it. While "Heart of the Sunrise" may be one of the more modestly titled Yes songs (compare it with "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" or "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" or even "Total Mass Retain"), it also bears marks of the band playing at its most frenetic pace around Jon Anderson's soaring near-falsetto. Rick Wakeman's grand synthesizer flashes are more than textural, finding visual meshes aplenty with Roger Dean's cryptic cover art--most of which is shrunken or absent on this two-CD reissue. When Yessongs was cut, Marshall stacks were in their heyday, and Yes happily engaged in harmonic and melodic excessiveness as well as carefully planned layers of complexity. "Roundabout" was the band's biggest hit to this point. It appears here faithfully reproduced. As for the rest, it's entertaining in a 1970s way--full of light shows, staged visuals, and more. It took a few years for prog rock to dwindle and for punk-colored art rock to swerve toward songs about buildings and food. On Yessongs, the band was peaking, singing songs with far grander purpose (Siberia, the Apocalypse, etc.). By any account, this is one of the classic live albums of its generation, and as the soundtrack to the hip 1998 film Buffalo 66 hinted, at least one manic Yes song ("Heart of the Sunrise") passed muster for drama in the 1990s. --Andrew Bartlett
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Tracks| 1 | Opening (Excerpt From 'Firebird Suite') | | 2 | Siberian Khatru | | 3 | Heart Of The Sunrise | | 4 | Perpetual Change | | 5 | And You And I: A. Cord Of Life/B. Eclipse/C. The Preacher The Teacher/D. The Apocalypse | | 6 | Mood For A Day | | 7 | Excerpts From 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII' | | 8 | Roundabout | | 9 | I've Seen All Good People: A. Your Move/B. All Good People | | 10 | Long Distance Runaround-The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) | | 11 | Close To The Edge: A. The Solid Time Of Change/B. Total Mass Retain/C. I Get Up I Get Down/D. Seasons Of Man | | 12 | Yours Is No Disgrace | | 13 | Starship Trooper: A. Life Seeker/B. Dilillusion/C. Wurm |
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