Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST THEY CAN DELIVER FROM ALL THEIR PAST, IN ONE DVD !!
Review: I've been both watching and listening to YES with at least moderate excitement for 25 years or so, sometimes being stunned at their performances and pieces ( like "Gates of Delirium" on "Yes Shows" ) but often being truly dissapointed at their poor music/sound production and quality,(particularly on earlier-mid albums) and I wasn't understanding their work properly because of that. Their arrangements were poor as well, as sometimes they didn't have enough time to work on things etc. I had always thought of YES as the band that I had the most mixed feelings about,and truly different from every other because of that. BUT,if there was only one item from them that I could keep, THIS WOULD BE IT! When a band that's this musical, and technical puts all the past material together with such top notch interpretation and unbelievable sound production ( and I'm a musician with a $20,000 stereo ) then how can you POSSIBLY critisize things like the video aspects etc. as some of these other reviewers have ? Mere technicalities, and frivolous opinions ! I'm not hear to "analyse", but to get into the music if it CAN be gotten into and -- This DVD rocks !!! I OWN NOTHING BETTER THAN THIS DVD IN TERMS OF MUSIC IN EVERY MEDIA -- CD,RECORD,TAPE,VIDEO,ETC !!!When looking at the songlist, don't judge - THIS MEANS NOTHING. You will get your money's worth, as songs that weren't so great on albums etc. are now re-done, and sound very different. Unlike some of the earlier albums, the sounds of instruments come out in full character. My favorite tracks are "The Revealing Science of God", "Starship Trooper", but nothing touches "Awaken". If there is such a thing as "Ascension" while you are on this plane, you truly feel like you're going "up" to somewhere greater, as it stretches these parameters. They deserve better than a 5, as they go beyond my conceptions of music, and if you don't like them at first, just keep listening like I did. WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?
Rating:
Summary: A must have for a true Yes fan.
Review: After reading all the reviews and the negative comments about the video portion of the DVD, I decided not to buy this DVD. However, my wife bought it for me for our anniversary, and I must say as a true Yes fan I love this DVD and I am sorry I listened to those reviews. I agree that some of the video effects are a bit much, but the sound is great,and with two and a half hours of music, this DVD is a must have for any true die hard Yes fan. Don't let all the naysayers discourage you from getting this DVD. If you don't like the video portion, turn off the TV and crank up the stereo. It takes full advantage of Dolby Digital 5:1 surround sound.
Rating: 
Summary: GRAPHICS COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OR ELIMINATED
Review: THIS DVD CONTAINS EXCELLENT MUSIC! IM VERY SORRY SOMEONE LIKE ROGER DEAN WAS NOT CONSULTED FOR THE PROJECT AS FAR AS HELPING COMBINE GRAPHIC IMAGES IN CORDINATION WITH THE MUSIC! PLEASE CHECK OUT GOING FOR THE ONE !!!!! THIS IS A MUST FOR ANY YESSITE. ENJOY !!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Please take note of what this DVD is
Review: Many of the previous posts regarding this DVD ignore one very simple fact: This was NOT a concert that was videotaped for release. Keys to Ascension was a three night, LIVE ALBUM recording session. As such, there were no lasers, lighting effects, fog machines, or pre-planned video setups. They happened to video some (not all) of the takes, and some of the footage is pieced together from multiple takes of the same song. There is also plenty of amateur video incorporated in order to fill in some of the gaps. When the editors did not have footage for a particular piece, then various video effects were used to fill in the remaining gaps. The most important thing to take away from Keys is that the music is sonically awesome, the musicians were in fine form, the audience was into it (hey, after all, they were participating in a Yes recording session), and I think the editor did a masterful job piecing together a video to accompany the wonderful music. And isn't the music what it's about?
Rating: 
Summary: What's with all these cheesey effects?
Review: I don't know what they were thinking when they decided how they wanted this video to come out. If it were filmed normally without these awful, annoying effects, this video would get 5 stars from me. The songs are good, the sound is good, the picture [stinks]. It really makes it hard to watch. After years of waiting for this video to come out, I was expecting something a lot better. I recommend the House Of Yes video instead.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Musical Revue
Review: I haven't really listened to Yes for a long time, until my 6 1/2 year old son pulled Fragile off my shelf because he liked the cover. Since then, he's been mesmorized by Yes. I've bought the remastered versions of many of the old Yes recordings, and I even bought Keys I, just to hear what some the old tunes would sound like live with proper technology. I loved Yes as a kid, and listening to the old recordings and watching this DVD made me realize why. The Keys DVD is just fine for what it is. The audio is great, and watching Steve Howe is worth the price alone. Few guitarists is rock care as much about EVERY note they play as he does. Squire and White sound great, a powerful and elegant rhythm section. Wakeman looks a bit distracted, but sounds great. And Anderson sounds better than he did twenty five years ago. I guess I could nit pick about the audio "lapses" or the video "effects," but that would take away from the wonder of the music. When you're sitting with your young son watching the music of your youth, the little things don't really matter. The House of Blues DVD is great, but the band was prepared to perform for the camera there. Ironically, Steve Howe is much more animated in Keys than in HOB. Buy and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: "Special" effects ruin fine performance
Review: Having originally seen Yes during the "Tales of Topographic Oceans" tour, and several times since, I couldn't wait to watch this DVD. I was salivating to watch Howe's fingerwork up close. To see Wakeman's keyboard wizardry from two feet away was something I could only have dreamed of. Well, I'll have to keep on dreaming. The hatchet job performed on this video is criminal. After several minutes, it becomes obvious what you're watching and what you're listening are not the same performance. Would you like to be at a concert and suddenly, in the middle of a guitar solo, someone places a picture of clouds directly in front of your eyes? How about a few minutes of a flowing brook? After the 3rd or 4th time you'd want to kill somebody. EVERY solo by EVERY musician on EVERY song is visually blocked or distorted one way or another. It's a real shame, because the line-up of band members and the songs performed are spectacular. But this DVD in no way shape or form matches a concert experience. Sadder still is the lack of any special features now available on many discs. The best concert DVDs make you want to invite your friends over, crank up the volume, and soak up the total experience. This video falls way short of that mark.
Rating:
Summary: Yes Burns Up The Stage
Review: The music in this concert represents Yes at their finest. There are wonderful renditions of Awaken, The Revealing Science Of God and America. Much better than previous live albums. The problem with the CD versions was that the Live material could have fit on two CDs and the studio material could have fit on one CD. Instead of a three CD set, we had to buy two (2) double CD sets. Here now you get the entire live concert on one DVD. This alone makes it a worthy purchase. Some people are bored with professional musicians doing their thing. For others, the only important thing is the music itself. Count this reviewer among the latter group. Don't need the smoke and mirrors taking attention away from the music. That said, Yes did do a fine stage performance to accompany the music. These musicians are at the top of their game and this concert shows their proficiency. They are by no means just strumming a chord for an entire song. Sit back and enjoy the trip.
Rating:
Summary: A once in a lifetime DVD
Review: It probably will never happen again to have Anderson, Squire, Howe, White and Wakeman performing (live) songs like The Revealing Science of God, America, etc., all captured in phenomenal 5.1 sound (just the sound, which is much better than the CDs, is worth the price of the DVD). So it is amazing how some folks criticize the video of the performance, since the video is way better than the one in Philadelfia or Yessongs DVDs. Many, I think, do not know that the video was taken from two of the three performances in San Luis Obispo, and that is evident in the video mix. For instance in RSG, you may see Anderson singing with open eyes (one day) and with closed eyes (the next day)at the beginning of the song, both performances were combined in the video. In a way they tried to show how both performances were done (sometimes you see one performance in the foreground and the other in the center image). Besides that, you get some really good shots of Wakeman performing his wonderful Moog solos, or the mighty Howe performing the introduction to Onward in such a way this song is orders of magnitude better than the original Tormato take. Please, at the end, consider that all this wonderful music is cheaper than the two Keys CDs, but with considerable better sound.
Rating:
Summary: YESSTUNS!
Review: In spite of all of its visual shortcomings (tacky special effects , etc. ) I cannot give this one less than five stars. Where else can you see Anderson,White,Wakeman,Howe and Squire performing live together nearly ALL of their true classics ?
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