Customer Reviews

Yes - Symphonic Live

5 star:		(113)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

On November 21st and 22nd 2001 Yes visited the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam and gave 2 concerts ... the 2nd one ... was filmed and is now available on video and DVD. ... the DVD version [has] a beautiful mix of band and orchestra ... The DTS sound gives it all an extra dimension .

The concert starts with an overture by the orchestra, that is not visible at that moment. The background is a Roger Dean-like landscape.

After the intro the band starts with the epic Close to the Edge and, immediately, you sense the asset the orchestra is for this song. It brought tears in my eyes from emotion to see young orchestra members with such dedication to music that was written before they were even born. Also on screen there appear icons for animation in the background and there are multiple camera-angles in this song possible.

Next is Long Distance Runaround from the Fragile album with a beautiful orchestra opening that is really an asset to the song.

From the new album Magnification they played Don't go first. I think it's not their most powerful track of the album and it surprised me the song did it live very well.

In the Presence Off, also from their latest album, are, together with Dreamtime, my favourites. In arrangement and length it's a 2001 Yes semi-epic.

Then, oh my God, finally, after all these years, Gates of Delirium is been introduced. Together with C.T.T.E this is the mother of all Yes epics. Tom Brislin really showed his craftsmanship in the "war" part of the song. This is a perfect song to play with an orchestra and you can hear that they do a perfect job in the changeover from the "war" part to the "peace" part of the song .Soon oh Soon let's the song end in a sea of tranquillity. Multi-camera angles and animations of war are also visible during this song.

After this epic we are attended by maestro Steve Howe and he entertains us with his guitar virtuoso by playing two songs of his solo albums.

Another golden oldie is Starship Trooper from the Yesalbum. During this song the orchestra has leave of absence and immediately you get an "unplugged" feeling when they are not there. The harmonies are perfect in this song and the only drawback is the shifting from the 1st layer to the second layer on the DVD and the lack of the Wakeman solo on his moog during the end of the song because Brislin played it a little thin in my opinion.

Anderson states that the day before they played the next song for the first time live and he introduces the title track of their last album; Magnification. One of the highlights of their album and played perfectly on stage.

It's back to 1972 with And You And I. Played live a zillion times but never lost it's charisma. In the multi-camera angle you can see animation with 2 robots.

If you haven't seen this, you ain't seen nothing yet ; Ritual, from the "Tales" album is one of the four tracks of this double album and one of two, for me, accessible tracks. The drum part in the middle with Anderson, Squire, Brislin and White makes it an attraction of the first order. What an energy pours out of that song!

From the time of it's first release on the Yesalbum "I,ve Seen All Good People"has always been a great rock song that survived decades of rock history. So get up and boogie: as Anderson says in the intro to the audience.

... with all the cameras rolling, Steve had to make concessions and "Owner" was played before the last song from this evening; Roundabout from the Fragile album. During this song the stage is filled with all the members of the orchestra waving and dancing on the music and expressing their joy of being part of performing in timeless music by a timeless band.

Yes, what a wonderful, magical evening it was. Every bit of it captured on a perfect DVD.

This excellent production will rapidly become the Mecca of Yes on film. After nearly 34 years and counting the band had still not released an adequate visual representation of their powerful live concerts. `House Of Yes' (from the House of Blues on `The Ladder' tour) came nearest, but the 1970s attempts (`Yessongs' and `Live In Philadelphia') are sub par, and the 1996 `Keys To Ascension' video was ruined by post-production and appalling graphics. Now, finally, they've pulled it off. Two and a half hours of sublime music, intelligent filming, good direction, sensible production and great sound.

The occasion, as most reading this will know, is the 2001 Yes Symphonic Tour - in this case a concert in Amsterdam. The fact that the shoot took place in Europe adds to the enjoyment, as audiences in this part of the hemisphere tend actually to listen to music rather than to yell and scream while it is happening. This removes most irritating aural distractions from the listener's perspective, and avoids elimination problems at the production end.

The idea of Yes appearing with an orchestra was greeted with understandable scepticism in some quarters. The possibilities of overkill, mismatch or descent into musak were enough to make anyone who cares about their music nervous. Fortunately, composer Larry Groupe handles arrangements of classic material with taste and restraint, and the young European Festival Orchestra under Wilhelm Kietel was well settled in by the time this was filmed. Indeed they seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. It is good to be able to hear what they add. This was not always possible as a member of the audience.

The highlights of the concert are undoubtedly superb versions of three 20-minute Yes epics: `Close To The Edge', `Gates of Delirium' (from `Relayer') and `Ritual' (from `Tales From Topographic Oceans'). The playing and the mix are top notch here. What's more, director Aubrey Powell understands the need to ensure that visual and musical events are in synch. Obvious maybe, but not evident on past Yes video outings. Those who dismiss Yes as sound and fury signifying little might not be entirely assuaged by these performances, but is difficult for some of us not to be moved by the grandeur, ambition and architecture of their sound - even if we may have moved beyond the moment in time that was progressive rock in other ways.

`And You And I', `Long Distance Runaround' (with a rather incongruous cinematic orchestral prelude) and `Starship Trooper' also come off well, even if they emphasise the fact that bassist Chris Squire's dress sense is as laughably misguided as ever. Steve Howe provides a good acoustic guitar interlude with the Spanish strains of `Mood For A Day' and his arrangement of the second movement of Vivaldi's Lute Concerto in D major. The latter makes me slightly anxious, as it doesn't really do justice to the original. But it has a few interesting harmonic quirks to enliven interest. The new material (from the `Magnification', album, 2001) is mixed in its live realisation. The longish `In The Presence Of' works well, especially the driving coda. Only the cloying opening theme lets it down. `Don't Go' is a frivolous add-on, frankly. The title track sounds pretty good here, but it lost its accents and embellishments in the actual concerts. The ability to mix the orchestra better on this DVD/video production helps enormously.

At the end, Yes throw in a surprise `Owner Of A Lonely Heart' (without orchestra) as well as the ubiquitous `All Good People' and `Roundabout', on which the orchestra re-appear to jive engagingly in the background. Steve Howe is clearly none-too-keen on his role in the Trevor Rabin-era material, and who can blame him? For the most part he strums, allowing keyboards sideman Tom Brislin - who plays wonderfully throughout - to adapt the mid-song solo through some judicious synth pitch bending. Howe returns at the end to add something much more guitaritic, but in his own style.

This DVD features the entire concert, Jon Anderson's amusingly off-kilter between-song patter included. There are visual augmentations available, but thankfully you can switch these distractions off, put your feet up and focus on the playing of all concerned. And with a set list like this, who wouldn't want to?

One final, pedantic point. Though the word symphonic is used carelessly as a synonym for everything involving a larger-than-chamber orchestra these days, this is in fact `Yes orchestral'. There have been laboured attempts to find sonata form in their longer works. But everyone knows that they were not written with that intent, and the symphonic moniker misses the point. Yes at their best (on the three classic albums from which over an hour of this superb film is taken) are powerful and inventive in their own right. They do not need misplaced attributions from other genres to make the credible. Yes may look aged, but their sound has continuing vitality. Check it out.

Yeah, its kind of late to be entering a new review, especially since I bought this DVD the day it was released. But hey, I got inspired.

This DVD isn't perfect, for all the reasons that others have noted (Steve's lack of stage presence, his weak electric guitar tone, less-than-perfect sound mix), but as a visual and aural record of an amazing tour, and as a statement of what Yes has accomplished during its career, this is absolutely perfect.

And that's what one wants out of truly artistic music, right? When the sum somehow magically transcends the individual parts? Yes has managed to make a career out of true transcendance. Or, "Ascension" rather.

Other reviewers have mentioned other highlights ("Starship Trooper", "Gates of Delirium", "Close to the Edge", etc.), but I wanted to point out two others. The first is "In the Presence Of." When I saw the band on this tour in Atlanta, I didn't particularly care for this song at all, except for the fourth section (the "sacred ground" part). When the album came out, I liked this song even less. But for some reason I kept listening to it. Eventually, I got used to it and started liking it quite a bit. But when I first heard (and saw) the version on this DVD, I was blown away. This song truly does transcend. There are parts where the orchestra and Steve's guitar reach this peak where you feel like you're soaring. This song now never fails to sweep me up when I hear it, whether it be the version here or on the album (MAGNIFICATION).

My other highlight is "Ritual". This of course originally came from TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, and is sort of the culmination of that album. It's an astounding piece of music, compositionally speaking. Originally 21 minutes, their live arrangement has always been closer to 30. The most inspired and exciting moment of any Yes concert is when the band breaks out into the percussion feature, and the orchestra comes in with that chord that just keeps building and building as the band is wailing away on various drums...and then it all comes to this great crashing climax where everything stops while Steve comes in on guitar with this single note...that constrast between the thunderous excitement and then that almost bittersweet loneliness of Steve's guitar is a crushing moment, and literally brought tears to my eyes on the "Masterworks" tour.

And that's another thing that one wants from truly artistic music: something that has the power to move the listener emotionally, spiritually...to make one's spirit leave the physical world for a little while and soar to another plane...

*That's* that reason to buy this DVD.

Alan

Okay, I'm not going to go over all of the excellent points made in all the previous reviews I've read of this absolutely INCREDIBLE piece of art. But I will note a few minor differences of opinion, and give my overall impression.

First the latter ... when I first saw that YES was touring with an orchestra, I immeadiately dis-missed it. I had bought "Symphonic Music of Yes" a few months back & while it was nice, I wasn't terribly impressed. So I took a pass when a friend asked me to see the show, which caused him to not go as well.

Flash ahead a few months & the DVD's release. I picked it up, hoping for an improvement over the "House Of Yes" which I also own. And from the first strains of "Close To The Edge" it is clear I was getting all that and more. It is, without a doubt, the best Concert DVD I have yet seen - both visually & musically. The picture s so clear, you'll swear you're there on stage. And the sound is so much an improvement over their previous DVD releases, it's like comparing a CD to a gramaphone. It is THAT startling. Add to that, the incredible set list, and the orchestra, and this is THE DVD to see for YES fans, both casual & hardcore.

Now then, where I tend to disagree with the other reviwewers here. First - Tom Brislin. I'll be the first to admit that I am a HUGE Wakeman fan, and I might be overly rough on other keyoard players because of that, but he HACKED the solos on "Close to the Edge." And seeing as that was the FIRST SONG of the show, I was soured on him from that point on. Luckily, the orchestra filled in enough throughout that it was mostly a non-issue. And I'll admit, he did a better job than Igor did on "House of Yes,"
but that's it. Second - I LIKED the new material, especially "Don't Go." Is it as good as their early stuff ? No. But that doesn't make it BAD.

One final note, and a somewhat politically in-correct one. I have never before seen an Orchestra with THAT MANY attractive women ! I certainly don't remember ANY of the girls in my High Scool Symphony looking like that.

This is the best ever DVD capturing the classic progressive rock band performing live on stage recreating their classic master pieces recorded in studio some 30 years ago. By having this DVD, unless you are looking for a collection, you did not miss anything if you have not already purchased 'House of Yes' and 'Keys to Ascension'. It provides the top picture and sound quality enabling you to enjoy the whole concert.

In terms of team effort, each member of Yes performed remarkably well in conjunction with the orchestra. It is obvious that the songs played in this concert are carefully selected enabling the European Festival Orchestra can fully complement the symphonic treatment of some of the evergreen yes songs - 'Close To The Edge' and 'And You And I'. Nevertheless, the above arrangement quietly highlighted the importance and influence of Rick Wakeman in 'Fragile' and 'Close To The Edge'. The symphonic ensemble simply confimed one thing - you need an orchestra to replace Rick on stage if you seriously want to replicate the songs in these 2 albums.

In this DVD, it is obvious that Steve Howe has lost the steam, particularly in 'Roundabout'. Explosive guitar solo in 'Starship Trooper' and dynamic layers of fill-ins and scales in 'Roundabout' and 'I've Seen All Good People' originally available in the album and previous concerts are not played. Yet it is considered pre-matured to say Steve has passed his "use by date"at this stage; his vast experience and skills salvaged him from devastation when he had a bad start playing 'Mood For A Day' and enabled him to "simplify" those highly demanding guitar arrangements when he was playing these 2 songs during the concert without too much significance.

Overall, as stated on the DVD cover, this is no dry rock plays the classics affair. Yes and European Festival Orchestra complement each other during the whole concert and one could not have played the songs the way it was played without the other. If you are a Yes fan, you must have this DVD. If you simply enjoy seeing DVD with top sound and picture quality, you should have this in your collection.

First the positive:

YES music works incredibly well with an orchestra. I feel the arrangements were interesting and paid attention to as many elements of the 5-piece instrumentation that is YES music as a whole. In particular to Squire's bass lines, which I find time and time again to have the most orchestral qualities in YES music. When the orchestra duplicated his bass lines on certain songs, it seemed that was the way it was always meant to be heard.

Anderson's vocals are really as good as they ever were, and I liked the fact that less FX were used. Often in the past he has had tons and tons of FX on his voice and it in no way augments YES's repertoire, it buries it. Symphonic gives you Anderson's voice pretty clear and un-effected.

Chris Squire & Alan White still prove to be the strength of YES throughout all its line-ups. Their energy and enthusiasm keeps this disc from slipping into the

NEGATIVE

which is Howe's performance throughout. Not in his execution and playing, but in his schoolteacher, you are the student attitude that prevails throughout the performance. At one point, Squire comes over during Gates of Delirium to Howe, and as they are playing the same notes, looks to him for some sort of interaction. Howe looks at him like he's asking him for money, or doesn't understand if there's something wrong with the other side of the stage where Squire's just arrived from. I found this off-putting and distracting from one of the best performances on the DVD which is Gates of Delirium. Another reviewer has commented about Howe's guitar sound, and I have to agree. It has lost alot of its bite and drive and the parts now suffer from lack of energy but not execution. Howe is still a wonderful player, but I honestly do not 'feel' anything from him in this concert.

Its the major weak point in an otherwise really good concert. The three songs from MAGNIFICATION I found to be the other weakness. I know alot of YES fans have said that this is their best work in a long time, and maybe YES decided to play the three most uninteresting songs from the actual album, I cannot tell having never bought it. I just re-listened to them again a few days ago to see if my opinion had changed. I understand YES's insistence on returning to longer pieces, concerning IN The Presence Of, but since 96's Keys to Ascension, I just find these longer pieces don't have enough going on in them to justify being 10 minutes or longer. Not the case in older Yes material that far exceeded the 10 minute length. They just kind of drift on one theme and then move to a completely different theme for another 4 minutes without any sort of inventiveness that used to be there in their work. Still, Squire & White carry the energy required to get through those pieces, and the orchestra seemed to like the songs. They just did nothing for me. Yes since 1996 have left me wishing they would go forward instead of backwards.

Recorded very well and much better than Keys To Ascension, an orchestra added to their music is something to see and enjoy, particularly on the material where it can really be shown how intricate and special YES music was at a certain time. Despite the negatives I've brought up, I would recommend it over the other live performances released by Yes the past few years.

I was a little hesitant about buying this DVD after seeing the symphonic show live two times. The sound of the orchestra was never mixed right the nights I saw them. But the DVD is excellent. The sound quality is the best of any Yes DVD to be released to this point. And the band and the orchestra play with a great deal of energy. Steve Howe is his usual subdued self but his playing is flawless. Howe looks especially bored on "Owner of a lonely Heart" but anyone who had just played pieces like "Ritual" and "Gates of Delirium" would be bored playing a little pop tune like Owner afterward. Anyone who is a fan of the classic yes line up will love this concert. This is one of the best concert videos, if not the best, I have seen.

Yes? Aren't they a 30 plus year old rock dinosaur with a few moldy hits from the seventies? The short answer - no, no, a thousand times no! If that's how you feel about this eminent prog rock band, this DVD will blow all of your preconceptions away. A fresh mix of classic epic masterpieces and new songs from last year's "Magnification," this DVD is Yes music to it's fullest glory. The combination of top musical performances by the band, including guitar maestro Steve Howe and bassist Chris "The Fish" Squire, with the European Festival Orchestra packs a musical punch that will leave you breathless. Yes' music have always had a symphonic sound and you'll be amazed at how the orchestra brings out the real power and impact of their songs. "Close to the Edge" and "Gates of Delerium" stand out in particular.
Perhaps the only disappointment is the inclusion of "Roundabout" and "Seen All Good People" in the set - these songs have been played ad nauseum in the past and it would have been nice to see something different as a finale.
In a musical landscape dominated by teen pop fluff and angry rock/rap clones, Yes represents an old way of thinking - music as art. So is their music still relevant today?
Perhaps more than ever.

In this case, we love when they play! This is an accomplishment that will be appreciated in the highest way by real YES fans. Not just the bands performance, which is professional and powerful (Steve Howe shows his refined spirit and superb ability, despite the criticisms from some on here), but Tom Brislin the highly capable (and high strung) keyboardist along with Wilhelm Keitel and his orchestra take the songs to a very fine space. There is quite a mutual lovefest going on between the grateful fans and the musicians. Energy is pouring forth in both directions, as it should be when the atmosphere is this charged. Many of the long reviews below go in to appropriate detail and give the song by song highlights, and there are many! I have to say, it gets annoying when some people focus on form (or image) over substance and criticize Howe's demeanor (this is the same guy here we all know and love - he's all about the music, not show) or gripe that they think his guitar tone sounds wimpy (as if ANY of the detractors could touch the sounds he creates - his tone is spot-on for the occasion...his judgment seems good to me). Jon is Jon...his voice, song-writing ability and spiritual presence inpire many of us, he sounds as good as ever. If every singer had to have a super-cool, strutting stage presence to look like the perfect rock star, and screeched the obligatory Metallica death growl, how boring would that be? I don't have any idea how someone can be a YES fan and still be hung-up by Jon's voice or spirituality...this is fundamental to the YES magic, get over it! Saying that Squire seems to be imbibing??? What a load of crap - he obviously is there, that night, to lend his uncompromising musical ability and perfectionism to this event and pulls it off with a soaring performance, as usual! Other YES events with Squire missing ARE missing something fundamental - HIM! How many musicians perform under the influence of something? Why would his supposed use of anything even bring a comment? I wouldn't be surprised if someone decided they didn't like it because Chris Squire's pants are too tight or shoes too big! I might as well give kudos to Alan White's great and meditative performance as well. He is very in tune with the orchestra throughout. I know! Many of you go on and on how Dream Theater's drummer is way more impressive, or this or that new band shows YES a thing or two...like YES fans care??? They are not YES! This band does it's own unique and powerful thing, if others don't feel it or get it, go listen to Guns 'n' Roses. Let's give credit where it is due as they say and THANK YES FOR GOING TO THIS HUGE EFFORT to please the fans and take their wonderful songs higher with this very interesting arrangement. I have no doubt that lovers of this sort of prog-rock will be very content with this great dvd. Maybe the rest of the catalogue can be brought into the fold for a few other Symphonic YES cds (this music is very adaptable to further orchestration). The sound and production are very nice, and the camera highlights individuals at the right moments for the most part - I can't get enough! If you love this band, JUST GET IT, it is an excellent and inspiring event (and YES I'm thrilled that Gates of Delerium and Ritual made it on here, more of Topographic would have been even better). Lift a glass to the band, THEY ROCK!! P.S. I got the limited edition with the extra 75 minute cd included...NICE EXTRA!

I am perhaps a bit biased, being a lifelong Yes fan. However, it is a simple fact that this DVD is just about flawless in every respect. The band turns in an excellent performance (how they manage to play material of this complexity, with essentially zero mistakes, all the while knowing that they can't blow it because they're being filmed, is beyond my understanding). The video quality is superb (essentially as good as the "House of Blues" DVD, which was impeccable in its video quality), and the sound mix, especially the dts track, is extremely well done. A previous reviewer stated that the band lacks energy -- I submit that the important thing is for the music to have energy, and that is certainly there in abundance. Let's please remember that these guys are all in their 50's, and it is a blessing and a gift to all of us that they still have the creative drive to put out music of this quality after all these years. The fact that they don't jump up and down on stage is, if anything, a refreshing change from the frenzy-heavy and talent-light drivel that seems to fill the airwaves these days. These men are true virtuoso musicians, and they channel the energy where it belongs -- in their minds, in their arms and fingers, and in their creativity.

A paricularly positive aspect of this DVD is the presence of the orchestra. Being a "classic Yes" fan, I had misgivings about the addition of an orchestra to what is, arguably, already very "orchestral" music in its own right. I was wrong -- the orchestra added wonderfully to the sound, and detracted nothing from it. Plus, it was comprised largely of young, enthusiastic players, who genuinely seemed to love the music and rightfully acted as if it was an honor to be there. Plus, I LOVED the "Roundabout" encore, when the orchestra-girls (of which there were many, and quite nice-looking) stepped out onto the stage and proceeded to dance up a storm with the band -- you could tell that Alan White loved this, and even the ever-serious Maestro Howe couldn't help but grin -- it was a memorable moment, and a powerful testament to the positiveness and the wonderful life-spirit of Yes music. As to the rest of the concert, the personal highlight for me was "Gates of Delirium" (played flawlessly) -- this is an extremely complex piece of music (aren't they all?), and the orchestra, especially in the percussion section, was very, very tight and locked in with the band -- fantastic job.

All in all, a must-have DVD for any Yes fan, and a perfect introduction to the band for any novice. Buy this, folks, especially you younger ones that were raised on Grunge and Rap --this is the way rock music was written and played before it became a crime to play one's instrument well, and before it became unfashionable to actually have a positive outlook on life.