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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only the beginning for Yes. Great sound too!, February 7, 2003
Having discovered Yes's music in the second half of 1996, and have been a Yesfan since then, there's no doubt that admist all the other prog-rock bands I've listened to from then until present day, no other seems to quite match the expansiveness and unique style of Yes.Having owned the mid '90s Atlantic remaster for a long time now, and knowing how most of Rhino's remastering makes a lot of these old albums sound fresh again, as well as the bonus tracks (which are nothing new, but still a worthy listening) were my enticements to snatch up this, the first Elektra/Rhino reissue of the Yes catalog. One word can only describe what my ears heard with the opening bass-line of "Beyond and Before"...WOW! The remastering really has bought more warmth to the mid range, more depth into the low-end, and more crispness into the high-end EQ's. My main gripe with the old remaster from Atlantic was that it was way too muddy and there just wasn't that 'warmth' in Jon Anderson's vocals. Also it seems they've done their best in cleaning up alot of the tape hum / hiss noise that usually is a problem with old albums. It's still here (to an extent), but what can you expect from a 1969 issuing? They got around this well. As for the bonus tracks, they are nothing new. Everyone's heard, by now, these versions of "Dear Father', "Everydays' and "Something's Coming". However, these versions are much, much better sounding than what you hear on the BBC Recordings double-CD set released several times over in 1998-1999. This is not saying I have anything against that compilation..it still gives one an idea of how Yes performed in a live setting back then, plus those tapes were badly deteriorated. The first versions of this trio of songs have the same quality as the rest of the original LP this CD contains. Better yet, these versions are in stereo. The 2nd set of this trio of songs are mono mixes and have slight changes. With the tehnical side through, now for the tracks. There's early signs of Yes's forthcoming sounds that would be matured by the time "The Yes Album" and "Fragile" would come around. For me, the standout tracks here are "Survival", "Every Little Thing", "Beyond and Before" and "Harold Land". All of these to me, show the beginnings of what was to come for Yes. "Yesterday & Today" and "Sweetness" are sappy in lyrical sense, but still worth a listen. "Harold Land", (so many songs dealing with war were written back then in those days when war seemed to be on everyone's mind....can't blame Yes for that. I wasn't around for those years, but hearing songs like this tend to give em an idea just how people thought and felt about war back then...and also present day with all the current events and what-not.) is one of their attempts to tell a story without the spacy, mystical lyricisim Jon would throw into later works (Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, for example).. There are 2 covers here, the aformentioned "Every Little Thing" (orig. by The Beatles) and "I See You" (orig. by The Byrds), which has great jazz-like drumming by Bill Bruford. "Beyond and Before" lyrically has leanings of later Yes works, and "Survival" as well, along with its odd chord changes....this song goes all over the musical scale. Overall, great remastering work by Rhino, and a good look into what Yes would become just a short 2 years later.
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