9012LIVE: THE SOLOS

First let me say that I love 90125, for taking Yes in to a whole new sphere. It paid them dividends, as (most of) their subsequent output shows. Having never seen the 9012 Live video (yet) - it was released years before we got a VHS! - I'd kind of ignored the 9012 live solos mini album.

Well, that's not quite true. I'd heard the Squire 'Amazing grace' solo a couple of times, and was left wondering why he'd bothered with it. So, having found an mp3 copy of this album, I thought I'd at least try it. Oh dear.

The mix is dreadful. Bass is nowhere, drums are right on top of you. This shows strongly with the very iffy version of 'Hold On', which is nowhere near the studio version. A real pity. Positively, the version of 'Changes' is better, but still a bit flat.

The real problem I have is the toe-curling solos. Tony Kaye is not in the same league as either Rick Wakeman or Igor Khoroshev and you really hear it. Doing a bit of classical for two minutes is stretching it badly. I like Trevor Rabin's guitar work generally, but he's not Steve Howe. I don't know quite what he's trying to do with "Solly's Beard" but it comes over a bit light. 'Whitefish' is the one good part of these - Jon Anderson has been doing the 'soon' solo for so long its nothing new - and is straight back to the great days. The mix is still flat, and you really want to turn that snare down a few notches, but there are flashes of very early works in there.