Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A few flaws on an otherwise stellar performance, August 7, 2000
This is the version to get. I was listening to this CD with a friend who got all upset and yelled, "Hey wait! My CD doesn't have Starship Troopers!" Indeed, we checked and there are two separate versions of the recording available on CD. Make sure that the one you purchase has "Starship Troopers". It is easily the high point of the album.The negatives: -Chris Squire is sorely missed. His creative bass playing as well as his vocals would have made this fine concert even better. He is one of the few electric bass players that doesn't merely fade into the background. His distinctive voice would have enriched the harmonies. -Bill Bruford has spent way too much of his career trying to remind everyone that he is a percussionist and not a drummer. Fine, we understand. Now please throw away your electronic drum set! Some of the more powerful moments in the recording are given a coat of cheese when he bangs on these things! -Teakbois(This studio version of this song was painful enough!) -Owner of a Lonely Heart(I can only guess that Howe decided that he'd trash this Rabin tune.) The positives: -Incredibly clear recording job. -Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe are clearly at the top of their game. -Most of the songs are energized by lively performance making them accessible to anyone who enjoys great music. -This is a very long recording and provides hours of good listening. Don't let my criticisms stop you from purchasing this great set of CDs. There is so much good happening on this album that it makes the bad stuff a little more conspicuous.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sans Starship Trooper!!??, April 11, 2005
First of all, I love reading these reviews on Amazon... sometimes you realize something that you didn't before... Like the fact that I didn't have Starship Trooper on this recording... nor did I know that other people did, nor did I realize that this CD had two versions. ODD indeed... now I am going to attempt to find the copy of the song from this CD. iTunes don't fail me now. 99 cents for a long song is quite a deal. I also didn't realize that Tony Levin was not playing here.. very interesting.
Anyway, I love this CD. The songs are as tight as they can be for Live YES MUSIC (this stuff is complicated, and I saw them on this tour back in 89 -with Tony playing) So, the songs are great, and if you buy this CD I suppose you already know the songs, or are already familiar with YES. If you don't know anything about YES, this is not a bad way to start out, although I would recommend purchasing Fragile/Close to The Edge/Relayer/Tales from Topographic Oceans, then this.
The only trouble I have with this release (other than getting robbed of an apparently great version of Starship Trooper) is the fact I felt the bass playing was very weak... the bass was desperatley needed on the ABWH CD as well.. but learning that Tony Levin was not with them on this live recording explains a lot. That is the only problem I have with this CD.. and filling in the shoes of Chris Squire and Tony Levin must have been tough stuff on two days practice. Lets just say that was impossible for Jeff Berlin to really do convincingly.
ALL in all, a good cd, with excellent playing on the part of Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe.
If you like YES, you will enjoy this pleasently long Cd.
Have fun
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
ALMOST the definitive Yes live album..., July 6, 2000
The recording quality of this album...on gold discs, no less...is superb. It's probably the clearest live Yes recording in existance, and it captures every bit of the excitement onstage that evening. Even with songs as tired as "Roundabout", you can hear Jon Anderson bouncing around the stage, laughing and shouting "Woo hoo!". The album sizzles with energy.It has two elements to its detriment, however. Despite the stellar versions of songs by Yes and ABWH, there's quite a bit lacking in the bass...if Tony Levin had been there that night, oh, if only. But the one aspect of this album that really hurts it is Bill Bruford's insistance on only using electronic drums. He plays a damn fine set of e-drums, but that doesn't save the band from sounding like they're backed by a really talented drum machine. The snares sound like machine guns. For its price, this is an indispensable live album, but it's not quite what it could have been.
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