Rating: Summary: House of YES Soars... Review: There are two types of music listeners out there. Those who love YES music, and those who don't get it. If you are the latter, don't bother reading on.I was blown away by the sound quality of this DVD. As a rabid YES fan I have seen the band in concert many times and I must say that this was an excellent performance by each member of the band. Jon Anderson's vocals on this show are excellent, and the camera work perfectly conveys the emotion he feels on stage. Steve Howe is (as usual) technically brilliant. His pedal steel work on "And You And I" is a beauty to behold. This show captures Steve in peek performance playing multiple guitars, and adding backing vocals. Very Solid. Chris Squire after a few years of looking bored on stage has gotten back to the old groove, and shows why he is one of the great bassists in all of rock & roll. He really seems to be enjoying himself. Sadly, neither of his concert showcase pieces; "The Fish" or "Heart of The Sunrise" are included here, but he does shine none the less. Alan White continues to play excellent percussion, and is solid and very enthusiastic throughout. Igor Koroshev, new to the band at the time of this recording, aquits himself with a great performance, as he tackles the keyboard parts of legendary YES players Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye. He also shines on the new material from "The Ladder". Long time YES fans should give this guy the benefit of the doubt, he is trying to fill some very big shoes after all. Billy Sherwood contributes on guitars and backing vocals. Billy is great when it comes to songwriting, and studio work, but i feel his presence on stage with YES is somewhat superfluous considering that all the classic material was constructed for a five piece band. The video is as crisp as I've seen for concert footage, and the 5.1 audio is tremendous. If you have never seen YES in person, this is about as close as you are going to get. An excellent DVD all around... two thumbs up!
Rating: Summary: DE COLECCION Review: Este dvd tiene todo lo que uno espera, exelente musica, exelente imagen, exelente sonido y exelentes musicos e interpretes. De la musica y los musicos no voy a hablar ya que seguramente todo aquel que se interese por este dvd ya conoce que fue YES para la musica. Lo que si me gustaria comentar es el alto nivel tecnico de este dvd, la imagen es de las mejores que vi en este formato, y con respecto al sonido, creo que es una muestra de que mas alla de que sea DOLBY DIGITAL, y no DTS el resultado es impresionante, sobre todo si lo comparamos con el dvd INSIDE JOB de Don Henley, que a pesar de ser DTS, es superado ampliamente por este de YES. Esto demuestra que siempre lo mas importante es el resultado final, mas alla del sistema con el que se halla grabado. Creanme que a todo el que le guste, o le haya gustado en su adolecencia la musica de YES, se va a sentir mas que contento con la compra de este dvd.
Rating: Summary: Good, not great Review: Helium-tinged vocals and soaring themes that border on Sixties cosmic lunacy abound on this video. It's typical Yes in a well recorded performance. Steve Howe is still technically brilliant. Chris Squire is still enjoyable to listen to. Alan White, never a good substitute for Bruford, is still mediocre on the drums. The two new guys fill in the holes well. Jon Anderson, an interesting vocalist for a while, is as goofy as ever(especially at the end of the show). Not being a rabid Yes fan, I don't think I would buy this. It was decent as a free DirectTV event.
Rating: Summary: We're Not Worthy! We're Not Worthy! Review: Saw this same show some 5 weeks later in NY and it was even more impressive than the DVD. Purchased the DVD on release date back in the spring and think the following excerpts from my concert review apply to the DVD as well... In 21 years of YesShows, this was unparalleled for tightness. There were literally no Flubs other than Steve's guitar tech not having an ax hot enough when he handed it to Steve mid song. It was however; my second favorite show to 1989's ABWH shows (although they contained some flubs) for the following reasons: Bruford > White, Wakeman > Khoroshev, Levin > Squire. I love Alan and Chris. They are first rate players any way you look at it. But, Bruford and Levin are World Class and proved it on the 1989/90 tour. As for Rick, he is just not of this earth and it is unfair to compare anyone to him, even the absolutely phenomenal Igor. I understand if you disagree with this as a Yes fan. But if you really are a musician with any real training, there is no denying the superior technique and presence of Bruford, Wakeman, and Levin. Enough of this... The reports that Jon Anderson looks more like the Jon atop the rotating stages of 1978-9 are dead on. He really looks as great as he sounds. His speaking voice was somewhat weaker than usual, but he had no problem hitting everything he sang. Whatever it is, clean living, Janeeeeeee, or mother earth, I've got to get me some of this guy's eternal looks, sound, and soul. Also as reported, Steve is playing the best of his career. The solo toward the end of YIND just set the tone for the entire evening. Chris looks much healthier and even sober compared to the slurring Squire of the Yes Years Retrospective Video. Alan was his ever-solid self. I believe that Alan does more new things with his playing than anyone else in lineup. If you compare Alan's live work from 1973, to 10th Anniversary, to 9012 Live, to Union (when I think he really started to become a force), to Keys (where he shines)...he really has grown and tried a lot of different twists. Credit where credit is due folks, if Chris and Alan don't carry this mission through the lean times of Drama, XYZ, and Cinema, there is no Yes 1999. Igor is immaculately clean and crisp. He slaved his stacks of keyboards nicely through his midi controller up front so that during the majority of his playing he was looking us all dead in the eye. His playing on Homeworld was precise and his version of Awaken was better than Wakeman's on the Union and KTA Tours, making this my favorite piece of the evening (despite my usual preference for Close to the Edge as the Magnum Opus segment,...confetti was a really cool touch). Igor also did a cute cowbell left/G-trills right during choruses on Roundabout which was mercifully shortened(Contrary to other's disappointment, Yes played the parts that mattered and in missing Steve's acoustic parts the guys bowed to Igor who just beat the stuffing out of his organ in a well deserved show off segment). And You And I was also as sweet as ever. The climbing unison lines of It will be a Good Day also give me the chills. Face to Face was extremely powerful. The Messenger is akin to Saving My Heart ...I keep waiting to hear a Coca-Cola Ad somewhere in there! All Good People was crowd favorite. Very glad there were no self absorbed egotistical solo segments like so many other Tours of the past. I did not miss regulars like The Clap, Heart of the Sunrise, LDRR/The Fish, Starship Trooper. There's always next time! I did miss regulars like Siberian Khatru. Now the verses I sang don't add much weight to the story in my head so I'm thinking I should go and write a punch line, so here it is... Billy is as good as any utility guy. Igor can definitely take this thing forward if Jon, Chris, Steve and Alan are true to their philosophy that Yes is bigger than the individuals and all about the music. Wakeman has suggested that this could go on like the London Philharmonic goes on. I would like to think that there is a Yes in 2999 and the Peace, Love, and Positive Energy will be there for all eternity. It is all very easy to imagine, except when it comes to Jon. Jon is really a one of a kind (did you ever get the feeling that he's not from here???). There is no emulating him. Perhaps we can get an exception made to this "sheep only" thing and get this man cloned, or he can record a hologram to be programmed, modified, and maintained for those that will follow???
Rating: Summary: One of the best Yes products in a LONG time! Review: Summer. 1971. Jethro Tull had recently released "Aqualung", and I bought a ticket for 5 bucks to see Tull at the New Hampshire Hampton Beach Casino. General admission, I was pushed up to the front of the stage, people were climbing in the windows, and toppling air conditioners in the process. Had I not been a teenager, I would have probably been smart enough to fear for my life. The opening band was Yes. They had most recently released The Yes Album. Absolutely incredible! Music like I had never heard before. Their music that night stayed with me, and left more of an impression on me than the fact that I was recruited by Ian Anderson to help him steady a large column speaker in the ensuing riot at the end of the show. A happy coincidence, the next week my family vacationed in Montreal, Canada, and I was able to purchase "Yes", "Time And A Word", and "The Yes Album". Back home in the states, I asked all of my friends if they had ever heard of a band called "Yes"....they thought that they were being so witty when they replied "No"! I knew that it was only a matter of time before this band caught fire....and indeed, they did. My fondest memories (memories are scarce, this was the 70's, and they say if you remember the late 60's and early 70's you weren't there), are of the Yes concerts every year. I never missed one if it was close enough to get to. I remember catching them 3 times inside of 2 weeks one year. Witnessing "Tales From Topographic Oceans" in quadraphonic sound at Boston Garden was one of the highlights of my concert-going life. Tracking the and down and actually meeting them (all too briefly) was a thrill I'll never forget. As Jon Anderson says in an interview on the disc "Where did the last 30 years go?". And it's so true. It doesn't seem like all that long ago to me, but, I guess it was. Somewhere in the late 70's early 80's, I stopped going to Yes concerts. Again, in 1992, I went to see them, and they were terrific. Within a couple of years, I saw them for my last time, they had recently gotten together just about everyone that had been in the band for this tour. (Except, notably for Peter Banks, the original guitarist that formed his own prog-rock band called "Flash" - I went to see them in Boston in the early 70's, but the turonout was so dismal that they refused to play, but that's another story). Out of loyalty over the years, I have picked up the cd's that Yes were putting out, sometimes a year or two after they were released. All but the classics were relegated to my "I'll listen to these someday" pile. So, when "The Ladder" showed up on the shelves, I grabbed it. Now, I have a cd player in my car - not a changer, so, being essentially LAZY, I leave the same cd in there for long runs. This one has really grown on me! I bought the DVD, mostly for the 5.1 Dolby surround (Yessongs is one of the POOREST-sounding CD's, VHS, OR DVD's you could possibly find!). Getting old? Sure. I can't describe the wave of melancholy that comes over me when they flash the pictures of the band members at the opening of the concert. This is the Yes I remember, the concert pictures from the years I attended. Back when I believed that Jon Anderson was a holy man. Now, through jaded eyes, I see him as a tiny bit affected. Still, all in all, a good role model, and a great lead vocalist. The music on this film and their most recent CD "The Ladder" is truly the best that they have come up with in years. It's not merely hype when Jon says that this was a return to their roots, provoked my their manager (who Jon says is "in Heaven", so I assume he has died, unfortunate). The musicianship, as always, is lightyears above most rock and roll recording artists. Jon is in good voice, Steve never stopped practicing, and Squire, I believe IS the best bassist to ever grace the stage. If you don't own a subwoofer, do yourself a favor and BUY ONE before you get the DVD! Keyboardist Igor has the requisite bank of Wakeman keyboard products, and knows how to use them. This "wunderkind" was probably pretending to be in Kraftwerk or Triumvirat while in the womb. Guitar-tunist Sherwood, who is shown for a total of 15 seconds of the whole 2 hours, probably pays the band to be onstage with them. I thought he was, perhaps, a roadie. Pretentious? Perhaps. I went through a period wherein the lyrics almost embarassed me. But, this was my world growing up, much preferring prog rock and Yes to the swill being trowelled out by K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Bad Company. Better musicianship than you'll find almost anywhere. I can't believe it has been 30 years, either, guys! And if you're all looking a little old in the tooth, what does that make me? Be good, all of you, and I'll tell you tales of seeing Genesis do "The Lamb" and "Selling England By The Pound", with Gabriel AND costumes, AND stage-blowing-up, 8 rows back in very small venues. Gotta run, "Awaken" is playing.
Rating: Summary: The best video concert from YES Review: This is really a such good show. Anderson, Howe, Squire and White prove that the news songs remain with the same quality of the old ones. The new members also made a very good blend and the result is a fabulous shows that all YES fans must have.
Rating: Summary: Amazing Concert! Review: Despite the fact that Yes, as a group, has been around for around 30 years, it is very clear that they have not gotten any worse with age. This video shows them performing both their classic material and new songs. I have to admit that I bought this DVD only for the older material, but after hearing the new stuff, I was extremely impressed; the material from the Ladder is superb. Also, they were definitely performing at peak on the older songs. The only regret I can think of is that they cut a few songs from the original concert, particularly "Close to the Edge." However, the material that is given is top quality.
Rating: Summary: What more could you want Review: A great Yes concert (as usual), and a great looking and sounding dvd. What more could you want? Any fan of Yes or anyone looking for a music dvd to show off your system should by this disc.
Rating: Summary: Three YES DVD's and the latest is good. Review: (This is a brief review covering all of YES's material on DVD to date.)Yes has always been either my favorite band or one of my favorite bands, so one of my first DVD moves was to get all of their existing DVD material. You need to know how much I like them because I have learned in the 30 intervening years that Yes fans are not only a minority, but the majority that doesn't love them usually hates them. That said, these discs aren't great even by fan standards, but they're pretty good. YESSONGS is the original film from 1970; it certainly has history going for it even though it wasn't that great a record of their best years. Still, it IS a record of their best songs, and holds up mainly for that reason. LIVE IN PHILADELPHIA is just the opposite; it's neither their best period (1979) nor are their best songs here. There's still a few good ones, however, and the disc is worthwhile for fans. The brand-new HOUSE OF BLUES set is great fun; the members of the band sound nearly as good as they did in 1969 even though they all look like death warmed over. Moreover, they play a lot of original stuff, including most of the original YES album (the set even starts off with "Yours Is No Disgrace.") The actual point of the set was to promote their latest album, THE LADDER, which is a pretty good Yes-effort as well. Perhaps the best thing about the HOUSE OF BLUES record, however, is that it's the only one of the three that is shot with modern equipment so you can REALLY see and hear the band. If you're already familiar with YESSONGS and a non-hardcore fan, I'd skip the two earlier discs and just buy or rent HOUSE OF BLUES. In the end, there's a LOT of great YES music out there, but I've yet to see a truly great video record of the band.
Rating: Summary: Steve Howe & Yes are still the best in the world ! Review: I just love the concert video, its great to able to see them play now on video, Jon looks great and sounds great on most songs, Steve Howe was unbelievable and even smiled a few times. They did a great job on all the songs. A must see for the Yes fan..
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