AN EVENING OF YES MUSIC PLUS (DVD)

Thank you Voiceprint for finally re-releasing this fantastic live film on DVD. The live CD album of this show has long been a favourite of mine and here I have the complete show in both audio and video. For those of you who don't know, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe it is the band that really deserved to be called Yes in the 80's, much more so than the line-up that owned the rights to that name during that time.

Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson had left Yes after the Tormato album in 1978 while Steve Howe stayed for another album before he left too. Chris Squire and drummer Alan White then brought Trevor Rabin into the band as well as original Yes member Tony Kaye (who played keyboards in the band before Rick Wakeman). Soon after, Jon Anderson re-joined and now they were three original members of Yes. However, the album that resulted did not sound like the classic Yes albums! It wasn't very progressive and rather commercial music aimed at radio play (which they did get with Owner Of Lonely Heart - the worst song ever to bear the Yes name).

Around the same time as this questionable version of Yes did another album called Big Generator, another band started working on a new album. This band involved original Yes-men Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford. They were not allowed to use the name 'Yes' so they called themselves 'Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe' instead. In my opinion, this band was the real Yes of the 80's in everything but name. They released a very good self-titled album in 1987 that sounded much more like Yes than Yes at the time. Then they toured and performed songs from this new album together with many classic Yes songs. During this tour this concert film was shot.

On this DVD we can see four of the very best musicians of all time, playing an amazing set list full of some of their very best songs ever! The show starts out good with Jon Anderson alone on stage singing a medley of three songs from different eras of Yes and from then on it just keeps getting better and better and better. First, with Steve Howe's great acoustic solo performance and then with Rick Wakeman's amazing solo spot which features the most amazing keyboard playing on earth! The next track Long Distance Runaround contains a powerful and diverse Bill Bruford drum solo (with snippets of Heart Of The Sunrise).

Other great tracks classic tracks are Close To The Edge, And You And I, Heart Of The Sunrise (now in full), Roundabout, Starship Trooper and I've Seen All Good People. Plus several tracks from the then new Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album, here all sounding livelier than the studio versions.

The sound and picture quality is sadly not perfect though, and there are a few moments of sound problems. Still, this is essential for Yes fans and very good for all others! My version is a limited edition double DVD set that comes in a digipack. It also contains In The Big Dream as bonus feature on the second disc which consists of three music videos from the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album, plus some studio footage of the band while they were recording the album and some short interviews with Jon. I am a very happy owner of this treasure!!

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