Customer Reviews

Yes - Live in Philadelphia

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I must admit I get really cheesed off when I see great DVDs of Queen, Elton John, etc cropping up year after year, and Yes fans get these crummy lousy quality drink coasters for themselves.

I thought Keys to Ascension was bad, but it's streets ahead of this lumbering piece of junk. The only redeeming quality is the lineup but you quickly forget that after about 5 mins as the appalling sound and video quality begins to sink in and you wonder why you spent 30c on this rubbish.

There's this awful metallic squeal from one of Rick's keyboards, Chris Squire is almost inaudible and Jon sounds like the cat's being strangled (this is not his fault - it's just that the EQ is horrendous and really, why didn't they just put this out in 2.0 instead of 5.1 which is totally wasted?) There is some nice stuff from the players such as Rick and Steve but as you can't really hear them above the hiss and distortion it's a bit of a waste of time. Even seeing The Ancient performed live is not really a saving grace - the mysticism and wonder of this piece is completely ruined, like watching Lord of the Rings on those tiny aircraft TV screens. . .

The producers have tried to cover up the abysmal sound quality by having lots of hysterical fans screaming at the start and end of each song - maybe an attempt to add atmosphere as well, but as I was completely disgusted by this time the effect was lost.

I skipped over to see what Chris Welch had to say, but he's bored and boring and it's nothing new anyway - it's almost as if he'd seen the video and figured it wasn't worth putting any effort into the commentary.

And that stage just keeps going round and round - The Roundabout Revolving Restaurant, I bet the band wished they could have got off before this stinker came out.

Only worth buying if you find it in a car boot sale, (which you probably will!) Buy another Yes DVD instead. ANY other Yes DVD.

If Yes is going to release an old concert from Philly, why pick one that's such poor recording? Why not release the live in Philly show from the Big Generator tour? That show has a lot more songs and is a lot better sound and picture quality. Why not release that concert from the Union tour that they kept showing clips from on the YesYears video? They could have picked a better concert than this 1979 to release. What about the Keys To Ascension show? Even if you're a big Yes fan, you should skip Live In Philadelphia 1979 because it's a big disappointment. Send the band some e-mails and tell them to release videos from the Big Generator and Union tours because they obviously filmed some of those concerts.

Stay away from this piece of garbage!!! I'm a huge Wakeman fan, and had to have it (or so I thought). Audio is beyond poor, and the video looks like a bad homemovie. Add this to a short running time, and you get a real piece of trash. Only get this if you have money you have to get rid of.

In 1979, there was a chemical reason that the sound and picture were not in synch. In 2000, did they not think enough to try to match the soundtrack with the video?

What were they thinking?

I was very excited about getting my DVD player and even more excited when I found this Yes disc. I did not expect perfect quality, but I was more than a bit disappointed in the audio and video of this disc. The quality on this disc is simply terrible. I can't imagine that they couldn't have managed to clean up the video and audio quality of this disc. I realize there were serious limitations then, but I was hopeful for more.

Overall DVD is pretty good simply because YES is one of the finest bands on the planet. It's worth it to buy this disc simply for the performance, but don't expect it to show off the fantastic video and sound of your DVD player. I give this DVD 4 stars for the magnificent performance that YES gives on this disc. Maybe the quality could have been better, and maybe the record company mastered this the best they could with the source they had. What is unforgivable is not including the whole show. I understand that Close to the Edge was cut out of the YES- House of Blues DVD. What is with these people, would it take so much effort to do it right? Yes live at Queens Park is a great video lets hope they issue that on DVD...after they know how to really make a disc. DVD is a great medium, when they utilize it to its fullest degree and stop worrying about the fast buck over quality.

It's hard to decide which is worse on this DVD, the sound or the picture quality. Sonics are extremely poor - Howe's guitar playing comes through well, but in general there's no dynamic range, and little bass response. Probably worse though is the film itself. Made in low resolution video, most of the shots are far from the stage, making it largely impossible to see the individuals or, frankly, much of anything they're actually doing on stage. The stage itself is rotating, which completely confuses whoever's directing the cameras - we end up mostly watching the back of Anderson's head. The film is also slightly out of sync with the sound, negating the experience of watching a live experience. There are inexplicable cuts between numbers, and the video itself drops out at one point during "All Good People". There's nothing here you can't get better on the CDs themselves.

I can't say I wasn't warned. I read all the reviews detailing the poor sound, poor picture, short length, etc. etc. And then I bought it anyway. My excuse is that I'm a lifelong proghead and at the time this was recorded in 1979, Yes was my favorite band. The classic lineup was about to fold, with Wakeman and Anderson gone by the next year's Drama tour. So this was a rare glimpse at one of the last shows of the 70's by the classic lineup of one of prog's greatest bands. And besides, performances like this are all too rare. Try finding actual 70's concerts on DVD by Genesis, King Crimson and others and suddenly this one looks more attractive. My DVD of ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition was wearing out too.

I also rationalised that there are a lot of negative reviews on this site of things from the pre-digital age harping on the sound and video, from reviewers who don't seem to understand that these things were never intended to be released on a medium that didn't even exist yet. I usually find things like the aforementioned ELP disc to be dated, for sure, but also thrillingly rare and historic, and therefore cool to have. So I usually take any deficiencies in audio in stride and live with it.

But I can't live with this. Sub-sub-bootleg sound quality. Way too short of a running time and a bad track selection to boot ("Circus of Heaven"???) Want bonus material? Dream on, fellow traveler! And to top it all off, and I swear I'm not making this up, the band was performing "in the round" on a revolving stage, and the geniuses who shot this thing used stationary cameras, so you get to stare at Chris Squire's back while Steve Howe is soloing, or Rick Wakeman's armpit while Jon Anderson is singing. That's while you're straining to make out what song they're playing through the sludge of distorted mess that makes up the sound.

Cheap make-a-buck rip offs like this show no respect to the fans, or the band. I was warned and I am sorry. I'm hoping to serve as a public service announcement here and add to the chorus. Please listen to us and don't buy this DVD.

Philadelphia was Yes's home away from home. The Delaware valley was where Yes came to rehearse before their tours. Everyone there was a Yes fan. I saw them in Philadelphia. Why, then, is the only visual document of that time and place this awful film?

My main gripe, besides the low-quality video, and the really sad sound, is that whoever directed the film knew absolutely nothing about the band or its music, missing cues, shooting Chris Squire when Steve Howe is soloing, giving us Jon Anderson pounding on a tamborine as Rick Wakeman burns up the keyboards. What gives?

Yessongs is much better introduction, but for historical/nostalgia purposes, this essay in amatuerism has some interest. Buy it used.

I am a huge Yes fan(have been for around 23 years).This 1979 Philly performance has much better audio quality on the Japanese laserdisc,cause I own it on LD,too.On DVD,it is very muffled and lifeless.Live in Philly,on either DVD or LD,is way too short.I saw them 3 days after the Philly show,and they played just over 2 hours.I don't understand why we get a very abbreviated show.

Why 5.1 sound on an audiance recording ?
The performance is not bad however to fully enjoy Yes you need quality sound and this DVD has none.

Don't waste your money on this DVD.