I'm 1/2 & 1/2 on this- I love yours, Roundabout, Heart, and Perpetual change, but never listen to the close to the Edge stuff.
I'm 1/2 & 1/2 on this- I love yours, Roundabout, Heart, and Perpetual change, but never listen to the close to the Edge stuff.
Nah, I'm just thinking of classic albums with bad mixes Rand.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Kinda not fair about the Crimson comparison....Earthbound sounded like it was recorded over the telephone and Robert knew it should not have been released in that state. Their first real live album that sounded good was USA and a lot of that was overdubbed in the studio. i/e. The Eddie Jobson violin parts covering up what David Cross had played on the stage. I still to this day don't understand why Fripp did that. Zappa's live albums like Just Another Band From L.A. and The Fillmore East albums didn't sound that great on the first pressings. By the time Roxy and Elsewhere was released he was slamming out great sounding live albums.Originally Posted by polmico
ELP-WBMF2TSTNE oth sounds like it was recorded in a cavern.
1980. I was 9 years old and my parents sent me away to spend a week with my crazy uncle. (what were they thinking?) He picked me up at my grandmother's house in is black and gold Mercury Capri and took me up to his cabin in the Adirondacks. My first real prog experience was listening to the Yessongs version of Heart of the Sunrise as we were flat-tracking up a dirt road at "ludicrous speed." I was blown away by the music. My uncle spent many hours of the following week playing various things from his huge record collection for me. Flash, Deep Purple, Genesis, lots of Yes, Van Halen, Styx, ELP, Steely Dan, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Jethro Tull, etc....I went home to my parents a changed child. Up to that point the only album I owned was the Waylon Jennings album that had the theme to the Dukes of Hazzard on it (and, as it turns out, Waylon's cover of Steely Dan's Do It Again)
It's been a slippery slope ever since. I love YesSongs. I've never even noticed if the production is less than stellar. I DON'T CARE. The performances are amazing and I owe my entire musical life to the album. When I bought a copy of it for myself, I found it at a flea market. I bought Songs, Close to the Edge and Tormato for $3. Songs was still sealed in plastic.
Brings back a lot of fond memories for me, as well.
This was THE album to get when I was in my sophomore year in college. I was a fan of some of Yes' songs, but not of the band as a whole. I remember that the sound clarity was rather mushy &, for this reason, never really warmed up to it. I still have the vinyl somewhere in the eaves of my attic, along with CTTE, Relayer, & Fragile.
Rick should have recorded a studio version of Yours Is No Disgrace imho.
Member since Wednesday 09.09.09
I still only have this on vinyl, so I'd have to say that on the basis of what I know it's a series of stellar performances badly marred by appalling production - that and Bruford's drum solo on 'Perpetual Change' is the epitome of pointlessness (and I speak as a huge fan of Bruford's entire career).
???
This, like a couple of others have said, is my favorite album of all time! I wore out at least 3 copies of the vinyl which cost a fortune in paper route money! I also remember difficulty finding a playable copy of this. The shipment from my local record store contained many copies that were warped or otherwise screwed up. I don't find the sound quality of this to be bad, I actually love the way the guitar is so prominent. The one thing that kind of bugged me was when Howe's Echoplex tapes slipped during the double guitar part in Heartof the Sunrise. Now, I consider it part of the song and couldn't do without it! Oh, and Yoiurs is No Disgrace melts your face, particularly the solo.
This and Relayer are the only Yes I need... Fabulously better than the studio versions.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
I knew someone was going to say that; that's why I added the "note." I was thinking about Great Deceiver or some of the KCCC releases, but I guess Fripp had the benefit of enhancing these recordings with some modern technology. Still, those recordings sound so much better.
I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.
Do yourself a favor and track down the New Haven version from the last show of the USA '71 tour. It unreal. There's a remastered version out there that, quite frankly, should be released.
When I first bought Yessongs, I would listen to it on my Pioneer SX737 Receiver and played it on my Pioneer PL-12D Belt Drive Turntable, I had some Sansui LM-330 speakers, yeah it was a great album, I also recall the first time I saw yes, I was a kid and the Tickets were in three price ranges $4.50 - $5.50 - $6.50, since I only had a paper route, I opted for the mid price tickets...(LOL)
I think Yessongs was the first triple album in rock. It was too expensive for me, as a young person, but I was given a copy.
Member since Wednesday 09.09.09
"All Things Must Pass" preceded it.
I bought it on vinyl when it came out, never liked it, and haven't played it in...30 years. Mainly due to the thin sound I think, but there was something strange about the whole thing. Liked Siberian Khatru, and Wakemans Firebirdimpressions. Made me buy his six wifes album.
Exactly - that was a complete mystery to me !Originally Posted by kid_runningfox: Bruford's drum solo on 'Perpetual Change' is the epitome of pointlessness (and I speak as a huge fan of Bruford's entire career)
But since 99% of you praise it as the holy grale of YES, perhaps I should give it a spin one day...
I've heard that. To me, though, the Yessongs version soars above New Haven. The way they let you down gently after Steve's insanely punishing solo, and then lift your spirits back up with the Mellotron after the final "Death defying, mutilated armies gather near..." refrain is downright spiritual to me -- like you've been absolved of all past sins or something. They then finish you off with the last paint-peeling verse. And I love the bit in the movie where the camera catches a kid putting his head down as if to say "I give up!"
That is some amazing shit.
I found this list of triple albums:
1. Library of Congress Recordings Woody Guthrie (1964)
2. Woodstock by Various Artists (11 May 1970)
3. All Things Must Pass George Harrison (30 November 1970) The first non-compilation triple album by a single artist.
4. The Great Concert of Charles Mingus (1970)
5. The Concert for Bangla Desh by Various Artists (20 December 1971)
6. Escalator Over the Hill by Carla Bley & Paul Haines (1971)
7. Delusion of the Fury by Harry Partch (1971)
8. Europe '72 by Grateful Dead (5 November 1972)
9. Will the Circle Be Unbroken by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1972)
10. Yessongs by Yes (27 April 1973)
Member since Wednesday 09.09.09
Arguably not the best live album ever records, but a good one none-the-less.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
This was the album that really turned me on to Yes. I'm afraid I don't have much of a critical POV on it. For me it is an essential Yes recording, everything I love about the band is right here.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
I'm from 1970, and my first experience of Yes was 90125, when I was 14. But in the same year someone lend me this 3-LP, which - for a 14-year-old especially - was like a treasure. So, although I'm 10 years behind the release-date, this one is still a huge part of my prog-history. A classic, for me.
The movie is the reason I am even on a message board such as this.
Saw the movie on USA's Night Flight and went the following day to buy some Yes. Ended up with Fragile (.99 cents), which I bought at a "Heavy Metal" record store which was mostly specialized in stuff that had little to no appeal for me. Liked Fragile but wanted something more in line with what I'd seen in the movie, so I bought the triple live album at a nother record store soon thereafter. My musical life was really never the same after that.
Funny, but as a youth everybody I knew that knew this album rated it very highly. I don't recall anybody ever saying anything negative about the sound and, in fact, I think it was regarded as a good sounding live album. It certainly sounded live and was a very realistic presentation of an actual concert. I can understand some of the complaints about it but until there was an "internet" I never heard them. I do think some of the complaints are way overstated, and I also think this album sounded a lot more "alive" on vinyl. I suspect the EQing that it often got by cutting engineers served it well in terms of what people want from it. From what I've gathered, I think Yes on US vinyl was often really EQd, and I think that might be part of why some people like those crazy, jacked up Japanese CD versions of this one, because the US CDs just don't feel "right" to them if they grew up with this on vinyl. I can understand this, but still feel the original 2CD set in the "fatboy" case is the best way to hear this on CD. It just sounds best to me overall and if you give it a little volume, it really comes alive nicely.
I spent countless hours with this album and it set the standard by which music was judged by me for quite a long time. I consider it an extraordinary release from the artwork to the presentation to the music. I also think the version of "Yours Is No Disgrace" on this is absolutely astonishing. Never heard a better version and it smokes the one they used in the film.
Best thing they ever did
Actually, my only gripe with the sound on Yessongs: Steve Howe’s microphone is too loud (i.e.: it’s turned on at all). On the studio recordings, his voice is wisely buried but on Yessongs, he’s louder than Squire.
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MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"'Thin Thighs For Your Man.' But I don't *like* men with thin thighs" --Daria
N.P.:“Waves Part 2”-Jade Warrior
I love this album. One of my fondest memories of being a teenager is of my dad driving me to the record store (before I got my license) so that I could buy this triple-LP set. It was a beautiful autumn day and I remember the excitement of buying that album and taking it home. What a buzz. And then the sheer pleasure of listening to all six sides! A question, though: why is there still no new remaster of this available? All the other Yes titles were remastered around 2003, with the exception of Yessongs. That's a weird omission. The version on the market now is okay, but it was remastered in 1994. Seems to me the label could compile a really tasty deluxe boxed set around the existing tapes plus, perhaps, previously unreleased material. Along with new photos, a book, etc. Rhino Records: are you listening?
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