East/West [Live]

Opening (Excerpt From 'Firebird Suite')
Siberian Khatru
Heart Of The Sunrise
Perpetual Change
And You And I: A. Cord Of Life/B. Eclipse/C. The Preacher The Teacher/D. The Apocalypse
Mood For A Day
Excerpts From 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII'
Roundabout

Tracks:

I've Seen All Good People: A. Your Move/B. All Good People
Long Distance Runaround-The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)
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
Yours Is No Disgrace
Starship Trooper: A. Life Seeker/B. Dilillusion/C. Wurm

Amazon.com essential recording

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

Customer Reviews:

Great music but horrible sound.......2007-03-09

The choice of music is perfect (one is missing, which is "South side of the sky) This is the perfect live hightlight of the three previous CD
(Album-Fragile-Close to the edge) but the sound is horrible.
You should consider Keys to Ascension Vol I and II for great performance and sound, instead of this one. Music is five star but sound is one single star, hence the mid section rating of three stars.

Yes' classic live album years on still sounds superb!.......2007-02-13

English prog rockers Yes released its sixth album Yessongs in May of 1973.
The Yessongs album was initially released as a TRIPLE LIVE ALBUM which was recorded on the band's Fragile and Close To The Edge tours of 1972.
The band consisted of lead singer Jon Anderson, bass player Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboard player Rick Wakeman and drummers Bill Bruford (who appears on two tracks) and Alan White (whom plays on the rest of the album).
Many critics complained that prog rockers were boring live but the concert stage was where bands like Yes, ELP, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull prospered as this live album proves (I first heard the album in 1997 when I acquired this remastered CD).
We begin with the Firebird Suite Intro which then gives way into a killer version of Siberian Khatru which flies by at a speedy pace and explodes like a bomb. Killer start to the album. Next is a spirited rendition of the classic Heart Of the Sunrise which rivals the studio version and easily kicks the studio version's a** in a major way.
Perpetual Change is next and is better than The Yes album version and Bill Bruford does a stellar two minute drum solo showing why he is one of the world's greatest rock drummers. Next is And You And I which is arguably better than the studio version with Howe playing the acoustic parts on his double neck Gibson electric guitar.
Howe then shines on his acoustic solo Mood For a Day which is played on an acoustic guitar instead of the classical guitar which was used on the original. We then follow with Wakeman's stellar keyboard solo The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth which shows why Wakeman is one of rock's greatest keyboard players. Then we segue into a killer rendition of Roundabout which is arguably better than the studio version.
I've Seen All Good People is next with the Your Move section playing well before giving way into an almost spiritual feeling version of the All Good People section which kicks a**. Next is the medley of Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindlera Praematurus) which has Bruford on drums. This track shows us why Chris Squire is the king of the Rickenbacker bass and one of rock's greatest bass players as he plays the bass guitar like it was his last gig.
Next is Close to the Edge which rivals its studio version. This performance has the band playing like this was their last concert. The I Get Up I Get Down section gets some drums added to the organ section (the pipe organ sounding section) and sounds like a religious experience here. Awesome version.
We then have a superb rendition of Yours Is No Disgrace which is five minutes longer than the studio version and White's drumming being more harder edged than Bruford's jazzier feel on the studio version. We close with a stellar version of Starship Trooper which is better than the studio version, especially the ending section.
Yessongs initially peaked at #11 on the Billboard album charts in 1973 and sold a million copies Stateside.
In 1994, the album was re-released as a digitally remastered CD and is miles ahead of the 1980s CD issue although an updated remaster is in high demand.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Great Music-Poor Job of Remastering.......2007-01-30

The peformances are stellar, but Joe Gastwirt who remastered it at Ocean View Digital should be ashamed of himself. Muddy bass, poor dynamic range, etc. I only hope that the good folks at Rhino Records will eventually get around to REMASTERING it properly. They have done an amazing job on the Expanded and Remastered reisssues of the first four Yes albums.

Bessongs.......2007-01-28

All the Best songs at the time for Yes live in 1973. Performances are high with energy and in some cases like "Close to The Edge" and "Perpetual Change w/ Bill's drum solo" they are better than the studio versions. I would have liked to hear more of the "then" recently departed for King Crimson Bill Bruford, he only is on 2 songs here, the rest is the new drummer at the time Alan White.

Just like being there!.......2007-01-10