Customer Reviews

In a Word

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4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes..In a Word.....

What's wrong with this picture, Box set number two released approximately 10 years after the first, including 55 tracks of which 5 are previously unreleased, one is an alternate mix (not far removed from the original) and one song with the original extended beginning re-attached. Besides the seven tracks mentioned are 40 odd songs that if you have all, if not most of the catalog, and the three Greatest Hits packages (Including Yesterdays) you HAVE them all?!?!?! Were they even re-mastered?

Now fast forward a few months and the announcement of re-released albums with EXTRA CUTS! Talk about fleecing the fans and collectors!

The opportunity to include these cuts in the box was missed! As well as the 3 live cuts from the Magnification releases that were conveniently distributed amongst three separate releases (that were in different stores to share the wealth!) Also missing in action is the NOT YET SEEN ON CD acapella version of Leave It (not to mention the "dance-mix versions" which were extremely popular in the 80's, BUT part of the 90125 "mystique") The alternate (and much better) mix of Quartet: I'm Alive from the In The Big Dream Video and Vultures which was an extra cut off of the ABWH album that surfaced on a cd single (which is long out of print)
ALSO missing in action are the cuts from the proposed Dialogue album, and the "XYZ" session material from when Jimmy Page worked with Chris Squire and Alan White to form the "eX Yes Zeppelin" project!

As a collector of rarities and oddities, (i.e. bootlegs and recordings of indeterminate origin) I know that these recordings exist in one form or another, and should have been released in this box as opposed to the 48 studio cuts that most people that would be interested in this set would want!

Who is this box set for, you may ask? People that do NOT own any more than one Yes album, People wanting an EXTREME greatest hits package, "Complete-ists" that need it to complete their collection, or people that are going to buy it, copy the rare tracks, and sell the set to a used CD outlet. (which would be the best way to obtain this) Is it a must have? NO! Just like the KeysStudio disc which puts all of the studio cuts from the two Keys to Ascension releases on one CD. (easier to copy and burn them off of the discs you already own)

The first reason for buying a box set is to have a collection of music from your favorite band, all in one place. From this particular box set, I was expecting to get a well thought-out, chronologically ordered collection of my favorite Yes songs from 1969 up to the present. In that respect, it really delivers. I have to say that I am a bit dissapointed in the exclusion of such masterpieces as "And You And I" and "Awaken". But this is MORE than made up for by including ABWH and Keys To Ascension material. A sampling from literally every Yes line-up is included. We get Anderson, Squire, Banks, Kaye, Bruford, Howe, Wakeman, Moraz, Horn, Downes, Rabin, Sherwood, Khoroshev, and even Groupe. How can we complain about that?

The second reason for buying a box set like this is to have a great colorful book on the band. In this respect, this collection really delivers as well. The book is authored, in two distinctly separate sections, by two classic Yes authors. The first section is by Chris Welch who is famous for his excellent Yes biography entitled "Close To The Edge". The second section is authored by Bill Martin who is known for his philosophical analysis of Yes music entitled "Music of Yes: Structure and Vision in Progressive Rock". Both authors do an excellent job with the text, providing two very different perspectives - one which is more biographical, and the other which is more analytical. The book summarizes the history of the band and includes a very nice discography of the albums from which the box set songs were taken. We also get an excellent introduction from Cameron Crowe who references his film "Almost Famous" and tempts us into watching for the scene which was based on his experiences with Yes.

The third reason that people buy a box set is for new material. In this respect, "In a Word..." is a little weak. We are presented with 6 previously unreleased songs. Four of these (Tango, Never Done Before, Crossfire, and Last Train) are little more than uncoordinated jam sessions which, in my opinion, should have remained unreleased. These only bring the band down. Also included is a remixed version of "Fist of Fire" from the ABWH album. All that has been done is that the guitar was brought up in the mix (undoubtedly at the hand of Steve Howe). I personally think this is a better mix than the original, but hardly worth calling a "new" song. The last bit of new material is, by far, the best. It is entitled "Richard" and is apparently an outake from the Tormato sessions. This song is, in a word, fantastic. It suffers from a bad mix, but I can only hope that this song will, someday, be re-made by the now re-united core group of Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, and White. It is literally that good.

Any complaints? Well, I have a few. The first is that the packaging, although beautifully designed, is very stiff. That is to say, the book is very difficult to get out of its designated storage pouch, and the CD's are very hard to remove as well. This is a small, but annoying pet peeve. Secondly, the origin of the new material is not intuitively obvious. For example, I could not easily discern the year or line-up of the new songs because the information was not presented in an obvious place. After much searching, I finally found what I was looking for in the discography section. But it is truly hidden in the notes. The last flaw that I can see is that no live material is inlcluded. Live performance albums have been so much a part of the history of this band that I would have liked to have seen a sixth disc with a compilation of live material. But, this is a very minor point and might be best left for a future collection.

Comparing this set to YesYears is pointless because it is meant to cover a different range of songs and appeal to a new generation of fans. With that said, this set is, for the most part, well-done. And it should be purchased and enjoyed as an accurate representation of a truly unique and amazing band.

Yes formed in the late sixties, became one of the most important practitioners of progressive or art rock. While the band at times has been both acclaimed and disparaged. They have however, continued to produce albums and stick to their musical ideals. This set is a 5 disk set with 5 unissued tracks and an alternate take. It also contains the full length version on their 1972 cover of Paul Simon's "America". The set features material from 1969-2002. This set is meant as more of an introduction to casual Yes fans. It provides remastered versions of some of their best songs. This is especially helpful to those upgrading from lp and who can not afford to convert every lp to cd. The "classic" line up of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Bill Bruford/Alan White is well represented. Classic cuts include "Starship Trooper", "I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout", "Long Distance Runaround", "Close To The Edge" and "Wonderous Stories". The set also includes more commercial material like "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", "Hold On", "Leave It" and "The Calling" from later editions of the band. In addition it contains forgotten favorites like "Sweet Dreams", "Time And A Word", "Perpetual Change", "South Side Of The Sky", "Siberian Khatru" and "Don't Kill The Whale". The music has an ethereal quality due to Jon Anderson's vocals and the mixture of acoustic and electric guitars from Steve Howe while keyboardists Wakeman, Kaye and Moraz provide interesting textures. Along with Emerson Lake and Palmer the use of keyboards by Yes became somewhat standard among progressive bands. Chris Squire was the bass hero of many a player while the complex time changes never seem to bother Bill Bruford and Alan White. I have some Yes albums but not all of them so this provides a means of aquiring some great cuts from some otherwise mediocre albums.

However, the set despite its length and remastering is still not perfect. It omits such tracks as "The Fish", "And You And I", "Ritual", "Sound Chaser", "Parallels", "Awaken", and "On The Silent Wings Of Freedom". It might have been interesting to include a live disk or two of material from throughout their career to trace the development and personnel changes within the band. These criticisms aside the set does provide a great sounding introduction to one the most influential progressive bands in rock music.

I suppose there's two obvious ways to put together a box set for a band with a catalog as large as Yes has. One way would be to strictly include the most popular/successful songs from each of their albums in order to please casual fans of the group. The second way might be to rely heavily on unreleased and rare live material in order to please the diehard fans. Of course, you can also try to do both. And that's what it appears this boxset tried to do, but it kind of shoots itself in the foot.

The choices of material from the studio albums is for the most part excellent. The first Yes boxset, _YesYears_ left off some pivotal Yes moments such as "South Side of the Sky", "The Gates of Delirium", "To Be Over", and "Turn of the Century," which are all included here. In addition, a lot of Yes music has been released since 1991 and Disc Five is dedicated to these years. Disc Five reminds people that Yes still were making good music in the 90s like "The Calling", "I Am Waiting", and "Homeworld."

The sound quality on the studio material is excellent; the unreleased tracks are another story. For the most part, they are pretty underwhelming, with only "Richard" (taken from the _Tormato_ sessions) seeming like it could've realistically appeared on a Yes album. "Tango" and "Never Done Before" are taken from the 1979 Paris sessions before Anderson and Wakeman left and it's a good thing for everyone involved that they did as these songs are not a good representation of what each musician was capable of. "Crossfire" is a short little instrumental piece that is nothing special. The alternate version of "Fist of Fire" contains more Howe than the version on _ABWH_, but this is not a good thing as it does support theories that when recording his parts for _ABWH_ and _Union_, he was more or less "soloing all over the place." "Last Train" from the _Magnification_ sessions is also not good, and actually very close to embarassing. I wonder why they included some of these unreleased songs on the set as I really can't see anyone thinking they're very good. It's unfortunate that Yes chose these unreleased songs to put on the boxset. Yes is known for having better songs that have not appeared on studio albums. I think the biggest omissions from this set is the Drama-era lineup's two songs "We Can Fly From Here" and "Go Through This," both of which have generally been very highly regarded by those that have heard demos. There's also the excellent "Vultures" from the ABWH-sessions that has also been higly regarded by those who have heard it. A better idea might've been to on every disc include maybe one *good* unrleased song and one rare live performance. That would've been an easy way to please casual fans and diehards alike. As far as some *good* unreleased moments - "The Revealing Science of God" contains about a minute and a half ambient keys/guitar intro not found on the original version and "I Would Have Waited Forever" is slightly different from the original version with an extended outro.

Regardless, I still rate this boxset favorably as it *is* Yes music and it is great to have their entire career thus far in one set. The booklet inside is also very, very good - with tons of rare photos and articles by Cameron Crowe, Bill Martin, and Chris Welch. Members of Primus, Tool, King's X, and Phish are also quoted and offer a little insight into how influential Yes has been on them. If you're looking to be blown away by the unreleased material, you will be very disappointed. But if you're looking to get a lot of Yes music for a reasonable price, you really can't go wrong with this.

Rhino Records has released the definitive Yes boxed set. Each of the five discs is filled with over 70 minutes of music. In addition to another excellent Roger Dean cover, there is a large booklet containing informative liner notes, interesting essays and lots of photos. The compilation opens with the Yes cover version of the Beatles' song "Every Little Thing." It was a bold move for a young, unknown group to reshape a song by the Beatles, but Yes pulled it off magnificently. When Steve Howe replaced original guitarist Peter Banks, the Yes sound really solidified. The first album with him contained their first American hit, "I've Seen All Good People." Shortly after that album, original keyboardist Tony Kaye left. Thus, THE classic lineup of Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Rick Wakeman recorded the next several Yes albums.

"Roundabout" kicks off disc 2, being their best known song from the album "Fragile." "South Side Of The Sky," "Heart Of The Sunrise," and "Long Distance Runaround" are also included, although the last song appears out of chronological order in disc 3. "Close To The Edge" contains the entire title suite of songs, as well as the classic "Siberian Khatru." Some have complained that the "And You And I" suite of songs were left off the boxed set, but that would have duplicated the entire "Close To The Edge" album and kept other songs off this collection. Worse yet, it may have forced them to include edited versions of such epic songs as "The Revealing Science Of God: Dance Of The Dawn" and "The Gates Of Delirium," instead of the full length versions contained in this boxed set.

Disc 4 contains three of the five previously unreleased songs, the most unusual one being the instrumental "Crossfire." The album "Drama" is represented with two songs, even though lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman had left the group at that time. That's fine, since "Tempus Fugit" fits in well among other Yes classics. Jon Anderson rejoined the group, only to have Steve Howe depart. This ushered in the Trevor Rabin era of the group, their most commercially successful period. That era is well represented, including the massive hit "Owner Of A Lonely Heart," as well as "It Can Happen," "Rhythm Of Love" and "Love Will Find A Way."

Disc 5 continues where their previous boxed set ended. Highlights include the epic "Mind Drive" and two songs which should have been hits, "Open Your Eyes" and "Homeworld (The Ladder)." "Last Train" (an outtake) and the "In The Presence Of" suite of songs from their 2001 album "Magnification" close out this collection. Would I recommend that all fans of great music buy this boxed set? In a word, YES!

It's over the top. Like other reviewers mentioned I'm wondering which kind of fan this boxed set is geared towards. I can't see one of the uninitiated wanting to spend 70 dollars just to check out a band, yet I also can't see a hardcore wanting to shell out 70 bucks for the few rarities that are included. I own all the studio albums, most of the live ones, and many videos and DVD's yet I didn't see the point in paying such a high price for the few bits of material on here I didn't have.

"Last Train" is so bad that it sounds like they threw it together just so they could have an outtake from the new album to include, and the tracks from the Paris sessions are nothing special, but there are a few highlights in the form of the Abbey Road style rocker "Never Done Before" and "Tango." However, it doesn't even include my favorite track from the sessions, an early version of the Drama track "Run Through The Light" (titled "Dancing Thru Lights" on bootlegs) which is a curious full-on new wave track with Jon's voice processed through a vocoder throughout. It's not necessarily a great piece of music but interesting when you consider the musicians involved. One major plus, if you're looking for decent sounding versions of these songs this is the set for you, as all of the bootleg versions sound awful.

As for the rest of the set, the music they DID include was great but there are many curious ommissions. "Beyond And Before" and "Harold Land" were the strongest tracks on the first release, yet not included. Although Going For The One is a consistant, strong album start to finish they once again didn't include either of the two best tracks, which are the rocking-as-only-a-church-organ-driven-song-can-rock rocker "Parallels" and the magestic 15 minute + epic "Awaken" which is considered by many fans to be the pinnacle of their recording career. The middle period of albums are also not served well by a compilation since Relayer, Close To The Edge, and Tales... contained 3, 3, and 4 lengthy tracks respectively there's bound to be some favorites left off. On a positive note, all of the best tracks from The Yes Album and Fragile are represented.

The hardcore will also notice that gems such as "Does It Really Happen?" (one of the best of the rockin' Jon/Rick-less Yes), "Hearts," "Changes," and many others weren't included. It's also funny that the one song that actually got them a grammy nomination (the intense instrumental "Cinema") wasn't included at least for historical purposes. Why they chose to include tracks from the awful Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe album is beyond me. You would also think they would include Trevor Rabins one nod to progressive rock from his era with Yes on here to give him a little cred with the 70's fans which would have been his and Jon's multi-part suite "Endless Dream" but they didn't.

Bottom line, Yes has way too much good music to be served well by any kind of compilation, especially one that focuses mostly on previously released studio material. If you are interested in the booklet and are a hardcore that wants decent recordings of the Paris sessions and doesn't mind shelling out a large wad of cash then this set is for you.

If you're new to the band you are much better off picking up the new Rhino remasters of their catalog, all of which contain interesting outtakes and studio run-throughs of the epic pieces. Totally investigate the 1969-1983 era of the band, starting with Fragile, The Yes Album, and Close To The Edge, and go wherever you like from there. Yes always were an album oriented band whose magic can't be confined to any kind of compilation, not even one that fills up 5 CD's.

If you're interested in a Yes boxed set, the first one, "YesYears" was light years better.

If you look at the negative reviews, you will notice a common statement. The reviewers are saying "*I* own every Yes album so there's no need for *me* to buy this box set."

Box sets can be divided into two camps: One full of rare b-sides and alternate takes for the hard-core fan with a few hits thrown in for good measure (see XTC's Coat of Many Cupboards for a good example of this). The other kind of box set is a comprehensive collection of the band's best material throughout their career, hopefully remastered. This Yes box belongs in this second group. Of course most of this material will be redundant for the hard core fans, but for the casual Yes fans who doesn't own every Yes album or the people who lost touch in the 80s, this is a great way to catch up. There are a lot of great tunes here full-album length that many Yes fans might have missed- songs from Relayer and Tales from Topographic Oceans... or later songs like Homeworld that deserves comparison to Yes' early music.

Whatever your reason to buy this, this is an excellent package of beautiful music that spans the entire career of a great band, a band that had a lot of ups and downs. And the book that comes with the set will get everyone up-to-date on what they might have missed.

If you are a hard-core fan or have the previous Yes box there might not be enough for you, but for the rest of us there's over 3 decades of fine, and to some lost, music.

This boxed set is a real disappointment. However, I blame the record label more than I blame Yes. The music is great; no doubt. However, it's just a rehash of songs I already own. I own every Yes album ever released --and then some. The four previously unreleased tracks are not enough to make this set worth having; especially since I already have YesYears. I thought that this set was going to include a lot more previously unreleased material. Yes definitely has loads of it.

When it comes to boxed sets, Jethro Tull's label did a great job with their "20 Years of Jethro Tull" set. The vast majority of the "Essential Tull" CD of that set consists of previously unreleased live recordings; not just a rehash of a bunch of studio material. Furthermore, the other two CD's also have some previously unreleased material.

I was expecting a really cool set from Rhino records; even better than YesYears. Alas, I was very disappointed to see only four previously unreleased tracks from a five CD set. Two thumbs down for the Rhino label's job on this one.

In closing, Yes is phenominal. They are, without a doubt, my favorite band. So, if you are thinking about purchasing this as an introduction to 30+ years of Yes music, buy it now! However, if you are a long time fan like me, forget about it; unless you are a collector and must have everything Yes.

Along with Pink Floyd, Yes defined the prog rock era of the late 1960s' and early 1970s', and along with Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jethro Tull and a select few others, they were one of the reigning classic rock bands of the era.

Unlike those aforementioned counterparts, Yes never quite had the impact that they had, despite being just as good as them. It's a shame, because in their prime, Yes were brilliant. And even once they fell from their artistic as well as commercial crest, they still produced solid music.

For proof of this, look no further than the 5 cd boxed set "In A Word: Yes (1969). Complete with many Yes classics, lesser known album tracks and a rarity or two, this is the ideal Yes compilation, regardless of price. The sound quality on every song is astonishing (for those who can't stand hearing "Roundabout" for the millionth time, just give it one more spin just to hear it sound better than ever), and the liner notes, complete with excellent essays by Cameron Crowe (who used two classic Yes tunes in my favorite movie, "Almost Famous"), Chris Welch and Bill Martin, are a dream come true for Yes fans.

This boxed set is definitely bar none the finest Yes collection on the market, and should appeal to both die hards and new fans. Should you buy this set? In a word: YES!

First off, I think that other than the sound quality being not up to snuff, the hard to find YesYears box set is a far more appealing and satisfying box set than this.

Now on to this box set. First off, the good points I'd like to make about this box set is that :

A) This box set is remastered with great sound quality.

and

B) This box set does not just stop at Big Generator like the previous YesYears box set does. It goes up to Magnification.

Now onto the bad points -
whereas the previous box set YesYears had a lot of the essential Yes tracks (especially from the glory years), this set has a lot of gaps missing and in some instances, some of the tracks on his box set should have been replaced by better choices.

IE. Awaken instead of Release Release and/or Arriving UFO.

That being said, missing in action are:

Everydays (single version)
Something's Coming
No Opportunity Neccesary, No Experience Needed
And You And I
Run With The Fox
The Fish
Ritual

Sound Chaser
Awaken
Does It Really Happen?
Make It Easy
Changes
Cinema
and some of the mid '70s solo contributions from Squire, Wakeman and Andersen (see Rhino's re-issue of Going For The One)

What's worst about this set is that a lot of it is out of order.
(ex. Long Distance Runaround & Siberian K in beteween The Gates Of Delerium & The Revealing Science of God).

Bottom Line: Rhino did a great job of the remastering process. All the tracks sound superb. Especially on The Revealing Science of God. It's just that a. the tracklisting needs to be tweaked a bit and b. needs to go chrnologically if you start pretty much chronologically.

C