YESSONGS

In 1989 I bought my first CD player, and this was one of the first CDs I purchased. I had all of the other Yes albums on cassette (except, maybe, for Yesshows), and had avoided Yessongs because I thought it was a greatest-hits album; I figured I already had all of the songs.

Overall, taking recording fidelity, performance, and song selection into account, Yessongs is the best live album, by any band in any genre, that I own.

Most of The Yes Album and Fragile are here, as is all of Close to the Edge. And with the exception of keyboardist Rick Wakeman's "Excerpts from The Six Wives of Henry VIII", that's it. So in terms of song selection, that's three of the band's best albums. The playing is great; new drummer Alan White fits right in (Bill Bruford appears on two tracks). The singing is also strong throughout. Lead vocalist Jon Anderson is in great form, and while the backing vocals (by bassist Chris Squire and guitarist Steve Howe) sound weaker than they do on the studio versions of these songs, they don't detract from the proceedings.

Wakeman is on fire, so to speak, throughout the album (the songs were actually recorded at about six different concerts throughout 1972). He's especially effective when he's playing a lead or "solo." Most notably, his solo on the "Würm" section of "Starship Trooper" is one of his best ever. He's also incredible on "Close to the Edge" and "Siberian Khatru."

The studio version of "Perpetual Change" is one of my least favorite songs from this era of Yes, but the Yessongs version is very well done, and one of the few cases where I prefer a live version of a Yes song to the original studio recording. The Yessongs renditions of "Siberian," "The Fish," and "Starship Trooper" also rival their respective originals - - but really, in terms of performance, the whole album is great.

But how about in terms of sound quality? It wasn't until the internet that I discovered that Yessongs was widely considered to be a relatively low-quality recording. Frankly, I'd never noticed. Given that this is a compilation of concert recordings from 1972, I thought the sound was acceptable on the original CD (Atlantic, 1987), and even better on the 1994 Gastwirt remaster, which sounds fine to me. There have been additional reissues since then which I haven't heard, including at least one Japanese remaster.

There are a number of edits and splices on Yessongs, although none gets in the way of my enjoyment. Other than the angelic three-part harmonies in "Starship Trooper," there don't seem to be egregious studio overdubs.

When I submit this review, a few seconds from now, I'll get a warning: don't hand out too many five-star ratings! But that's really the only rating I can fairly give Yessongs. A masterpiece, essential, et cetera.