New YES release - From A Page- O Wakeman/Benoit era

[Sunlight Caller]

I have seen each and every incarnation going back to 77, but I never felt the need to pick up any of the recent live releases. I bought the triple vinyl of AWR because it was a bargain, but I regret that now, the crowd effects ruin an otherwise good performance. However I will pick up this cd set with the Lyon recordings, my interest is piqued by people I respect on this thread, and I feel Oliver and Benoit are deserving of a better place in the Yes history.

[Frumious B]

This is good stuff. You can hear the love and care that went into putting this release together and the tunes and playing are solid. It doesn’t sound like unreleased leftovers from a decade ago to me.

[Top Cat]

and I feel Oliver and Benoit are deserving of a better place in the Yes history.

The positive response to this release brings a smile to my face because I feel the same way.
Also a lot of people commenting on YT for the video have been mostly positive and state similar feelings.

I think we must remind ourselves Benoit David was having vocal problems and towards the end of the tour was having issues of not being able to hit some notes, singing off key, etc.
Whether it was health issues from excessive touring or his vocals not being in strong enough condition for a full length tour like this, it did affect the quality of those final shows.

[Top Cat]

and I feel Oliver and Benoit are deserving of a better place in the Yes history.

The positive response to this release brings a smile to my face because I feel the same way.
Also a lot of people commenting on YT for the video have been mostly positive and state similar feelings.

I think we must remind ourselves Benoit David was having vocal problems and towards the end of the tour was having issues of not being able to hit some notes, singing off key, etc.
Whether it was health issues from excessive touring or his vocals not being in strong enough condition for a full length tour like this, it did affect the quality of those final shows.

I find it ironic that two singers for Yes wound up leaving and it affected them emotionally. What Trevor Horn experienced for the Drama tour was brutal, the fans were horrible and all the mean nasty comments I think affected his confidence for years.
And Benoit David has disappeared from the music industry since being relieved of his lead singer duties. I had hoped he would continue on with Mystery but he is no longer their singer as well.
Loved the stuff he did with Mystery.

So for me at least, it's good to close the Benoit David/Oliver Wakeman Yes chapter with a positive ending.

[Dan Roth]

I think the release's reception has benefited from a lack of expectations or significance. As no-one knew this was coming, people hadn't worked themselves up, either denouncing it as awful before they heard it for missing Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman or expecting it to be the proof of the band's vigour and an equal to Close to the Edge. It also doesn't matter if you like it or not: in the sense that you're not taking sides in the Howe/White/Downes vs. Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman war. Nor is it any augur for future Yes: it's a dead end, in its own world. Instead, it is what it is and the music speaks for itself.

I do wonder if the response would generally be this positive if they did the normal marketing. If history tells us anything, it would go like this: First, the announcement that this was coming (followed by fans yelling "scraping the barrel", "cash grab", etc), then the cover art (Roger Dean is mailing it in!), then the samples (This isn't yes! Jon Anderson is my one true lord!), followed by the ARW comparisons (IF ARW released something, it would be so much better, etc). And by page 57 of this thread, the album would finally come out.

Rhino Records (if that is who they are signed to now) could learn from this release. Less is more, when it comes to the build-up of the next Yes release.

[battema]

I love FFH (both versions in their own ways) so I sprang for this. As leftovers go, they're fine. IMHO the band made the right decision to set this material aside to focus on what was actually released.

Pros:

* David sounds really great, better than I would have expected. In fact, at first I thought maybe Jon Davidson had re-done the vocals.
* Oliver definitely echoes his dad's style, which means the keyboard lines have a bit more of that "classic" Yes feel.
* Any of these songs beats the pants off the bonus tune on FFH Return Trip.

All IMHO of course.

[Progatron]

Benoit David has disappeared from the music industry since being relieved of his lead singer duties. I had hoped he would continue on with Mystery but he is no longer their singer as well.
Loved the stuff he did with Mystery.

I love the Benoit Mystery albums as well, but their two most recent (Delusion Rain and Lies & Butterflies) are two of the strongest albums they've done, IMO. Jean Pageau has a great voice, and is also a keyboard/flute player, which adds another flavour to the band. Their new live album is excellent!

[Kanukisbrave]

I'm in the camp of "want these unreleased tracks but already own Live in Lyon" so I don't know when or if I'll ever buy this...

[Top Cat]

I love FFH (both versions in their own ways) so I sprang for this. As leftovers go, they're fine. IMHO the band made the right decision to set this material aside to focus on what was actually released.

Pros:

* David sounds really great, better than I would have expected. In fact, at first I thought maybe Jon Davidson had re-done the vocals.
* Oliver definitely echoes his dad's style, which means the keyboard lines have a bit more of that "classic" Yes feel.
* Any of these songs beats the pants off the bonus tune on FFH Return Trip.

All IMHO of course.

Great post John, I agree 100%.

I love the Benoit Mystery albums as well, but their two most recent (Delusion Rain and Lies & Butterflies) are two of the strongest albums they've done, IMO. Jean Pageau has a great voice, and is also a keyboard/flute player, which adds another flavour to the band. Their new live album is excellent!

I agree at first I thought Jean's wonderful voice would be too strong and overshadow the music but he's got one helluva voice and it has a similar tone to Benoit David's to me.

I'm in the camp of "want these unreleased tracks but already own Live in Lyon" so I don't know when or if I'll ever buy this...

It makes perfect financial sense to release this in as many options as possible.
I think this was put out to test the waters, and we will soon see options of delivery being offered.
As Sean mentioned, I hope for a US retailer to carry the vinyl as shipping to me is too high for a EP.

[yamishogun]

I think this was put out to test the waters, and we will soon see options of delivery being offered.

It was released this way because Yes knows that a small percentage of fans will want it immediately. I don't think the other options of buying will be available until next year.

[Sunlight Caller]

I find it ironic that two singers for Yes wound up leaving and it affected them emotionally. What Trevor Horn experienced for the Drama tour was brutal, the fans were horrible and all the mean nasty comments I think affected his confidence for years.
.

I saw the Drama tour and some people in the crowd were a bit negative but no means the majority. I don’t think it had a negative impact on Trevors confidence or career, by his own admission he never actively sought the spotlight, and after Yes he immediately went from strength to strength as a producer, and he simply owned the 80’s.

[Steve983]

Really enjoying these tracks especially The Gift Of Love which has many moments of beauty.

[Yestor]

I'm loving this release. To me it is better than anything on "Heaven and Earth". Not classic Yes but very, very good. I really like Steve Howe's playing.

[Sean]

It's exclusive to Burning Shed so far. I would expect a broader release at some point... which might mean years.

Henry

Will you buy me one and ship it to me? I can PayPal you the $$.

[yamishogun]

Until the Yes version goes up on youtube, this is a good stand in. It gets a little proggy at 2:06...

[Frumious B]

Will you buy me one and ship it to me? I can PayPal you the $$.

I got it from the U.K. in just a week and I only selected the default shipping option because I knew I wouldn’t be available to sign for a package. It seems to me that Burning Shed are pretty good at this stuff so I would trust the shipping to them.

[Adm.Kirk]

I've ordered the vinyl of just the 4 tracks. I got the 3 LP Lyon album upon it's release but I have not yet received my order from Burning Shed yet although I don't really expect it until next week. I did get notification that it had shipped.

Bill

[Top Cat]

I saw the Drama tour and some people in the crowd were a bit negative but no means the majority. I don’t think it had a negative impact on Trevors confidence or career, by his own admission he never actively sought the spotlight, and after Yes he immediately went from strength to strength as a producer, and he simply owned the 80’s.

Hopefully Henry can shed a little light on the reception by fans to Trevor Horn. I just seem to remember an interview where he himself spoke of people yelling at him in the audience and how he was affected by it, but can't remember the totality of the interview.
Just reading posts on Yes threads anywhere on the internet one can pick up how cruel and darn nasty fans can be.

Granted this is information from wiki, but it does summarize other media I've read about the Drama tour:

Horn faced issues with nervousness, as he had never done large-scale touring before, and with his voice, which increasingly strained as the tour progressed due to his efforts to match Anderson's high register.[3] While marketing for the tour was mute on the lineup change, much of the North American leg was still a success. The tour included three sold out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the band were awarded a commemorative award for selling out the venue sixteen consecutive times since 1974.[39] The UK leg, however, was not as well-received with many audience members expressing their anger with the lineup change by booing and shouting at Horn and Downes.[12]

I am jealous you got to see that tour btw.

[JJ88]

I saw the Drama tour and some people in the crowd were a bit negative but no means the majority. I don’t think it had a negative impact on Trevors confidence or career, by his own admission he never actively sought the spotlight, and after Yes he immediately went from strength to strength as a producer, and he simply owned the 80’s.

I used to listen to Fish's show on Planet Rock. He played some great music but also had some fun anecdotes. I distinctly remember him saying the show he saw on this tour had the single most hostile atmosphere he'd ever known at a concert!

I've listened to a show from the US part of the tour in Boston a few times (a very clear audience recording). It's musically good but vocally...not so much. The harmony vocal blend is just not there and Horn couldn't hit the high notes like Anderson did. Not being identical to another singer isn't exactly cause for eternal condemnation. It's just that Yes just happened to have one of the more distinctive rock voices around so you have to sing the songs that way.

The then-new songs did come across well, although I found the 'Video Killed The Radio Star' vocoder (or whatever it was) stuff within '...White Car' very corny.

[per anporth]

^^^

Like Sunlight Caller, I caught the Drama tour, in Edinburgh. For the most part, my recollection is that the audience were pretty supportive throughout. The gig, as I recall, was a bit of a mixed bag, & Horn certainly struggled. (I have a couple of bootlegs from the US leg of the tour, & his singing had got much worse by then.) My recollection is that the audience was more critical at some venues in the UK than others.

I have to agree though, that even if Horn's confidence as a performing vocalist took a bit of a knock, his overall work wasn't unduly affected - on the contrary, as SC suggests!

[Top Cat]

^^^

Like Sunlight Caller, I caught the Drama tour, in Edinburgh. For the most part, my recollection is that the audience were pretty supportive throughout. The gig, as I recall, was a bit of a mixed bag, & Horn certainly struggled. (I have a couple of bootlegs from the US leg of the tour, & his singing had got much worse by then.) My recollection is that the audience was more critical at some venues in the UK than others.

I have to agree though, that even if Horn's confidence as a performing vocalist took a bit of a knock, his overall work wasn't unduly affected - on the contrary, as SC suggests!

I think the whole Yes experience and Drama tour helped Trevor become the great producer he is and I've been a big fan of his since Video Killed first appeared on MTV.

[Steve983]

I was at the Lewisham (south London) show on the Drama tour, my first Yes gig. Horn sang flat the whole evening, there where call outs for Jon Anderson and insults like Wan*er shouted out, it was a bit ugly but when the singer cant sing....

Its ironic that he became such a huge producer whose speciality seemed to be taking bands with very little talent and making superstars out of them.

[MudShark22]

Like that no good bunch o wankers "Cinema"
He certainly whipped them into shape!

[emoji3]

[gearHed289]

I saw the Drama tour in Chicago, but I was a very high 16 year old, super excited to see CHRIS SQUIRE for the first time, so I don't recall what the rest of the audience was up to. I definitely recall the sort of "bait and switch" where tickets went on sale before anyone knew about the lineup change. My former bro-in-law who was taking me wanted to sell the tickets when he found out. I'm glad I talked him out of it. It was a very enjoyable experience, but yeah, listening to bootlegs, Horn was rough.

Like that no good bunch o wankers "Cinema"
He certainly whipped them into shape!

[emoji3]

Yes he did!

So, conveniently, I never bought the Lyons album, so I'll be picking this up.

[yamishogun]

Its ironic that he became such a huge producer whose speciality seemed to be taking bands with very little talent and making superstars out of them.

Seal had almost no talent in 1990 and look how Horn held his feet to the fire and made him the artist that he became...