YESSONGS

Designed to showcase Yes' prowess in the live arena, no expense has seemingly been spared for this luxurious, triple-gatefold, three disc beast of a live album. Constructed from the group's successful North American tour of 1972 and featuring material spanning the British outfit's true golden period between 1971's 'The Yes Album' and the following year's 'Close To The Edge', 'Yessongs' proves both a highly-indulgent treat for Yes fans and a cleverly-assembled live compilation of the group's key material up until that point. The mammoth running time means that you get all of 'Close To The Edge', though appearing here in reverse order, lots of 'The Yes Abum' and the very best of 'Fragile' thanks to a stellar version of the FM radio classic 'Roundabout'. As a bonus offering, also included amongst the captivating full-length renditions of 'And You And I' and 'Roundabout' is a six-minute excerpt of Rick Wakeman's own 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII', taken from the keyboardist's solo album of the same name. It all adds up to one epic listen, making for the same kind of feeling one gets after eating too much rich food. However, despite its inordinate length and size, 'Yessongs' actually reached a highly-impressive no.7 on the UK Albums Chart during it's initial 1973 release, at a time when the group could seemingly do no wrong. Nowadays, all three discs of the many original LP copies of 'Yessongs' still lying about can be acquired for virtually nothing, but don't let that put you off. Although by no means essential, this is still an impressive live document from some of the genre's truest exponents. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2013