Yessongs - Best Live album ever - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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micky

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 21:54

NaturalScience wrote:

yessongs is not even my favorite live album by Yes. Tongue

mine either.... give me Yesshows anyday...

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Padraic

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 21:34

yessongs is not even my favorite live album by Yes. Tongue

micky

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 21:30

no way... obviously for rock.. but not even for prog...

off the top of my head...

Space Ritual or Live at Carnegie Hall

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moonlapse

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 20:54

pero wrote:

My fav woud be

...and non prog:

Hendrix - Band of gypsies, Woodstock, Atlanta, San Diego, Berkley

Wishbone ash - Live dates

Uriah heep live

Deep purple - Made in Japan

Mountain - Twin peaks

Johnny winter - Live and

Humble pie - Live at Fillmore

Allman brothers band - Live at Fillmore

Taste - Live at Isle of Wight

Grand funk railroad - Live

Glad to see Johnny's album get mentioned here Smile

First album I ever bought, and still listen to it today. Great stuff.

andu

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 13:04

Yessongs production may not the best... But my first encounter with Yes was by "Live at QPR". Now THAT's a poor sound. It made me lose at least a year for getting into Yes. Maybe that's the reason I love Yessongs, but it also stands by itself as a great live album.

Bj-1

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 11:32

Great album, though not my favorite live album of all time. Still a great listen!

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bhikkhu

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 10:25

I do enjoy "Yessongs" quite a bit, but best live album ever? That title goes to Peter Gabriel, "PLays LIve." Another contender is "Stop Making Sense."

a.k.a. H.T.

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StyLaZyn

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 10:08

Yessongs is great. One of my favorite live albums. To add:

Rush - Exit...Stage Left (I love the rawness)

DT - 5 Years in a Livetime (the cover song snipettes are cool)

PT - RockPalast and Arriving Somewhere (these guys CAN jam)

Sean Trane View Drop Down

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 10:03

pero wrote:

No it's regular DVD (120 min). They performed half of Thick as a brick, and half of Passion play my two fav albums.

Martin "Lancelot " Barre was in form of his life

Jethro Tull Golders Green Hippodrome February 10, 1977

http://rarecddvdconcerts.tripod.com/

Still a bootleg as the whole list on that site seems to be...

Best way is to click on the link and check out the text in the box of your bottom toolbar.

But I have seen some of these performances sold openly.

Edited by Sean Trane - March 08 2007 at 06:53

let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword

fuxi

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 09:51

Chris Stacey wrote:

Whoever said you cannot find perfection within imperfection?????

or enjoy the sweet repetitive sound of an artist????

Just a theory I believe in, in that you do not need a prefect sounding record to make it a masterpiece. I think Louie Armstrong sounds close to perfect, craters, crackles and hisses included, different genre I know.

Of course you can enjoy imperfections; that's why I praised Yes's spontaneity. Many of Howe's guitar embellishments during the live 'Close to the Edge' are improvised. Some sound more convincing than others, but at least he's TRYING, following the flow of the music, letting himself go...

And like you, I enjoy live jazz CDs, which are full of experiment...

But sloppy playing, when the playing actually needs to be precise and 'orchestral' (as on 'And You and I'), I merely find disappointing!

Norbert

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 06:54

Excellent live album, I would not declare it the best ever, but really great.

Shortcomings in recording and mixing don't disturb me really, the music and the performance is incredible.

valravennz View Drop Down

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 04:25

Chris Stacey wrote:

[
But to call YESSONGS flawless? The band mess up the mellotron climaxes in 'And You and I' - which they also did when I first saw them live, during the GOING FOR THE ONE tour, in Antwerp. Must have taken them a number of years to get those right! (On the YES SYMPHONIC DVD, with orchestra, everything finally fits perfectly.)

I'm afraid I can think of quite a few live albums which are more convincing and more exciting than YESSONGS. But don't let this spoil your fun! It's absolutely true that you can tell how audacious these guys were...

Whoever said you cannot find perfection within imperfection?????

or enjoy the sweet repetitive sound of an artist????

[/QUOTE]

Hi Chris -

I think I would (and do) enjoy the imperfections in a Louie Armstrong album rather than some of the poorer quality "live"albums out there. However, I do have to concede that "perfection can be found within imperfection". Take KC's "Earthbound" - a gem of a live recording (KC's first live release) despite that it sounds that it was recorded on the fly. True Fan's of the group will forgive them anything including the imperfect album here and there

"Music is the Wine that fills the cup of Silence"
- Robert Fripp

Chris S

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 04:10

[
But to call YESSONGS flawless? The band mess up the mellotron climaxes in 'And You and I' - which they also did when I first saw them live, during the GOING FOR THE ONE tour, in Antwerp. Must have taken them a number of years to get those right! (On the YES SYMPHONIC DVD, with orchestra, everything finally fits perfectly.)

I'm afraid I can think of quite a few live albums which are more convincing and more exciting than YESSONGS. But don't let this spoil your fun! It's absolutely true that you can tell how audacious these guys were...[/QUOTE]

Whoever said you cannot find perfection within imperfection?????

or enjoy the sweet repetitive sound of an artist????

<font color=Brown>Music - The Sound Librarian

...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR]

valravennz View Drop Down

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 03:51

I have found "Yessongs" a major disappointment, in quality of sound rather than content. I admire your enthusiasm for the album, Giant HogWeed, but like many others it unfortunately does not rate highly amongst my favourite "live" albums - most of which have been mentioned in previous posts. Special mention goes to Deep Purple - Made in Japan and Kansas Two For the Show. I would also add Camel's "A Live Record" to the list of great live recorded albums. Cheers

"Music is the Wine that fills the cup of Silence"
- Robert Fripp

fuxi

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 03:47

As far as I can tell, YESSONGS is a pretty accurate reflection of what the band must have sounded like in the early seventies. If they sound muddled, it's not so much the production, it's the way they played. You can tell from the Yessongs movie: same era, different performances, similar way of playing.

When I first bought YESSONGS (the album), back in the seventies, only a few weeks after I'd discovered CLOSE TO THE EDGE, I had to swallow hard. 'Close to the Edge' itself, for example, sounded so much rougher and more chaotic than the studio recording! But I soon came to enjoy the live performances for their own sake, and for their spontaneity.

These days, I only ever play the YESSONGS versions of 'Yours is no disgrace' and 'Starship Trooper'. I love Steve's extended guitar break on 'Yours is no disgrace'. The film version sounds completely different. I wish Yes would/could follow Robert Fripp's example and give us a boxed set with two or three unreleased performances of this track from the same tour. (I've never bought Yes bootlegs.) 'Starship Trooper' also sounds majestic, and its grand finale has never been bettered.

But to call YESSONGS flawless? The band mess up the mellotron climaxes in 'And You and I' - which they also did when I first saw them live, during the GOING FOR THE ONE tour, in Antwerp. Must have taken them a number of years to get those right! (On the YES SYMPHONIC DVD, with orchestra, everything finally fits perfectly.)

I'm afraid I can think of quite a few live albums which are more convincing and more exciting than YESSONGS. But don't let this spoil your fun! It's absolutely true that you can tell how audacious these guys were...

Edited by fuxi - March 07 2007 at 03:49

pero

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 03:26

No it's regular DVD (120 min). They performed half of Thick as a brick, and half of Passion play my two fav albums.

Martin "Lancelot " Barre was in form of his life

Jethro Tull Golders Green Hippodrome February 10, 1977

http://rarecddvdconcerts.tripod.com/

Edited by pero - March 07 2007 at 03:49

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 03:14

pero wrote:

Jethro tull - Live at hyppodrome london, 1977

Hey Pero - what's this then - is it a bootleg?

pero

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 03:03

Yessongs are not my pick as best live album. My fav woud be

In prog:

King Crimson - Earthbond

Zappa - Roxy and elsewhere, Best band you never heard in your life

ELP - Ladies and gentleman

Jethro tull - Live at hyppodrome london, 1977

Pink floyd - Pompeii

Mahavishnu orchestra - From nothingness to eternity

Focus live at rainbow theatre

Gentle giant - Live at BBC

Traffic - On the road

Colosseum - Live

and non prog:

Hendrix - Band of gypsies, Woodstock, Atlanta, San Diego, Berkley

Wishbone ash - Live dates

Uriah heep live

Deep purple - Made in Japan

Mountain - Twin peaks

Johnny winter - Live and

Humble pie - Live at Fillmore

Allman brothers band - Live at Fillmore

Taste - Live at Isle of Wight

Grand funk railroad - Live

Edited by pero - March 07 2007 at 03:32

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 02:56

No - Yessongs is a shocker - you cannot attribute the "best" accolade to such a poor recording.

My vote goes to Renaissance at Carnegie Hall. Winner on performance, recording quality and material. Pretty much the PERFECT album, live or otherwise.

Special mentions to......

DP - "Made In Japan"

Jethro Tull - "Bursting Out"

Maschera Di Cera - "In Concerto"

Wishbone Ash - "In Chicago"

And for those of you who with hi-end hi-fi and want to hear, arguably, the best recorded live (some studio tracks on it) album ,certainly in my collection............

Fairport Convention "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue - Acousic Vonvention" - people often use The Eagles' Hell Freezes Over" as a hi-fi test CD. The Fairport outclasses that my a didtance. Come on Progarchives - let's add this to the Fairport db.

And the most exciting live album?.......

Grand Funk Railroad - "Grand Funk Live"

Drachen Theaker View Drop Down

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Posted: March 07 2007 at 02:55

One of the Yes biographies said the production makes it sound like the band was calling in from a phone booth in Grand Central Station!

Despite that it's still the best prog live album IMHO and shows just how hard-edged they could sound live. Steve Howe gives an exhibition of sustained guitar brilliance. His solos on Yours is No Disgrace and Starship Trooper are astounding and completely smoke the studio versions.

"It's 1973, almost dinnertime and I'm 'aving 'oops!" - Gene Hunt