Rating: Summary: Makes a great Music CD Review: The video and the audio are distracting to the point that I won't watch it. The Songs and the tightness of the band are phenomenal. A CD I belive was already available. great to listen to but not what I bought it for.I agree. It is a flawed product. They need to fix this.
Rating: Summary: Just listen. Not for watching. Review: Reasons to get this DVD: 1. You want to see footage of people skiing during "Going for the One". 2. You want to watch musicians in stylin' "step-action-cam" during some of the solos, so that you can see their facial expressions, and see their hands touching the instruments, but be protected from having to really watch how they play. 3. You like the idea of some of the lyrics fading in for you to read as they are sung, so that you really pay attention to what those Yes lyrics are like. 4. You want to hear this excellent live set, and really don't want to pay for the studio tracks that are on the KtA CDs.
Rating: Summary: 2 1/2 hours of incredible Music Review: I almost didn't buy this DVD because of other reviews. Bad mistake. It's now one of my favorite concert DVD's. The video is sharp and clear ... yes the superimposed shots are annoying at times but not that bad. The audio and video being out-of-sync bothers me more than the visuals. The sound is stellar, as good or better than HOB. The set list is incredible! Where else can you find live versions of Close to the Edge, Going for the One, America, and Starship Tropper on DVD with great sound? For all the people whinning about the visuals ... turn them off, and you have 2 1/2 hours of incredible 5.1 DVD audio.
Rating: Summary: Did YES even watch this before allowing the release? Review: While this DVD boasts a stellar songlist, the abysmal failure to synchronize the audio and video totally wrecks what could have been a solid effort. What were they thinking when they released this DVD? Did anyone in either Production or the band itself bother to watch this? Why does Alan White hit a snare and then we hear it a second later? This is horrible. For a band that has more raw talent than nearly anything released today, this is a disgrace. I didn't even mind the visual effects. In fact, I liked what they did for Starship Trooper. But how in the world could they put this to market with such an obvious flaw. Anyone with a computer and music software understands how simple it is to fix a minor adjustment like time-sync. Wow. I hope they admit to this error and offer a replacement to any fan that invested in this product.
Rating: Summary: Amen to everyone else's comments about cheesy visuals Review: Can't agree enough with all the other reviewers who essentially nail it when they criticize this DVD for the video. I won't repeat it all but suffice it to say if you read all the other reviews, they cover it all and are absolutely correct. And to think that at one time when there was no indication this video would ever be released in the US, I once considered ordering it as a laser disc from an on-line importer from Japan and buying a laser disc player solely for this video! Now I am about the biggest Yes fan you can find; hard-core. And I'm generally very forgiving of the group's less than stellar releases. But this is almost unforgiveable! But yes, knowing what I know now, I would buy this video again being as I said, a hard core fan and this at least gives a record of these historic concerts. But the House of Yes is much better if you prefer to watch an actual concert. Regarding the sound, I don't understand why some say KTA or House of Yes lack bass. On KTA I had to turn my subwoofer way down it was so loud. And although I haven't had to turn it down on House of Yes, the bass is very solid. Perhaps these folks don't have a separate subwoofer. Thanks for reading.
Rating: Summary: One masterpiece after another Review: Those of us who weren't fortunate enough to attend this magical show in San Luis Obispo, Calif., can at least attend it vicariously with this video. It is nothing short of Yes's best works, ever, all in one performance. I for one am not bothered too much by the added-on visuals. Although the double and even triple superimpositions can and do get overdone in spots, I think it adds a level of rewatchability. I get bored with a concert film if all it is is guys playing their instruments - although there is also plenty of instrumentation being shown, for those who like that. The song line-up includes concert standards like "Siberian Khatru" and "Roundabout" alongside those rarely if ever performed live before - "Close to the Edge" (the single best song in recorded music history), "The Revealing Science of God," "Onward" and their spectacular extended version of Paul Simon's "America." This is a must for any progressive rock aficianado's collection!
Rating: Summary: Awesome Review: A truly awesome perfomance. Maybe not as slick as House of Yes, but clearly more inspiring for the true Yes fan. This is Yessongs 2000. The music speaks for itself. The video interaction plays an important role in defining the musical message. A must for all Yes fans, especially the ones who have been around awhile and remember performances of this nature. To bad the crowd is completely out of it. An enthusiatic audience would certainly have made this performance even better.
Rating: Summary: Not as bad as some depict Review: I just picked up this DVD and enjoyed it. The visual is not great, but not terribly bad. Whereas a lot of concert videos I think lack severely in full stage shots (YES: HoB, for example), this video has plenty of them. It's nice to see the whole band playing as if you were down in the seats yourself. The video production is very amateur, but that was known going in, I believe. The audio is excellent. BTW- The singing you here in the mix that no one on stage apparently is doing is actually overdubbed. It's documented in several fan reviews of the concert, SLO-bootlegs, and subsequent release of the KTA CD that there were overdubs performed, after the fact; but, people forget that these concerts were actually intended to be recording sessions, albeit of a live show! There were no behind-stage performers. In short, there are plenty of shots of the band. The nature overlays are kind of dumb, but you still get plenty of YES. I agree with other reviewers that there are not enough close-ups on important solos, but that should not be a reason, necessarily, for not picking up this DVD. An important part of YES history, and Wakeman's last stint with the band. Almost 2 and a 1/2 hours of music! It's worth getting, especially for the price.
Rating: Summary: the music makes up for the vedio Review: i think this dvd is a must for any yes fan. the classic line up along with a great set of music. as stated the 5.1 is great (could have a little more bottom end) the vedio, its a shame. yes is a band that should be watched to appricate all there talent and with all the roger dean art work takes away from the performance, they cut away from key solos and fingure work to show tasteless art work. the biggest example of this is in the revealing science of god the audio was off, some of the vedio was backwards and there singing going from people that arn't there??? but over all this dvd is a must,it was a great show. i gave it 4 star only because of the art work
Rating: Summary: Very Disappointing Review: I was really looking forward to this DVD, considering how much I enjoyed the audio CDs from these Fremont concerts that were released a few years ago. And since the DVD was released several months AFTER the VHS version came out, I thought they may have used that extra time to put some extra features on it, give it some expert post-production, etc. No such luck. The good points: The song selection performed at these Fremont concerts was, of course, wonderful, the musicianship superb, and the sound quality very strong. (But we knew this already from the Keys to Ascension audio CDs.) Also, it's a beautiful theater, with a nice set and tasteful lighting. The bad points: All the really cheesy slow motion video effects, straight out of the 80s - I may as well have been watching Gary Newman's "In Cars" video. Enough has been said about that already by other reviewers below. But much worse than that, for most of the concert the audio track lagged behind the video about a quarter of second, and this was EXTREMELY annoying, and unforgivable in my opinion. You see Alan hit a crash cymbal well before you actually hear it. I can't believe they released this thing which such a glaring defect. I'm also surprised that no one else has complained about this in their reviews. The person I was watching it with last night noticed it, too, so I'm not crazy. Finally, I can see now why Rick left the band again shortly after these concerts. He looked very bored and out-of-it for almost the entire show. And also, this DVD does reveal something VERY disillusioning: Rick was not playing all the keyboard parts himself - there must have been a tape used, or someone else was playing keys from somewhere offstage. There's ABSOLUTELY no doubt about it. There's one point towards the end of Going for the One in which there's this blazing piano part going on, but the camera clearly shows that Rick is only playing some simple chords on a synth, and definitely not flying all over a piano. Very upsetting. There may have also been a backing vocalist somewhere offstage, as well. Almost wish I'd never seen these shows now, but instead still lived with the false belief that the concerts I heard and loved on the KtA audio CDs were actually being played live. (Note: Yes did use an offstage keyboard player for the 90125 tour, since Tony Kaye just could not handle all the Wakeman and Rabin parts himself, simply not being talented enough. So, this is not a first for Yes, but still shocking considering this is Rick Wakeman we're talking about, not Tony Kaye.) Overall, this DVD is a waste of money. Second only to the appallingly un-mixed Relayer concert released about ten years on laser disc, this is the worst video production I've ever seen of Yes. Stick with the KtA audio CDs which you probably already own.
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